The game follows Tyler, a small robot that after years of being dormant is awoken during a storm, only to find his creator’s house in disarrayThe game follows Tyler, a small robot that after years of being dormant is awoken during a storm, only to find his creator’s house in disarray and having little to no memory of the events prior to powering down. The story follows Tyler as he pieces together his fractured memory and seeks out his missing master by exploring his creepy home. This is easier said than done, as the robot is only a few inches tall, making the exploration of the home quite a challenge. Luckily, Tyler is fairly agile, being able to climb, jump, and occasionally (if the controls permit it) wall run akin to Ezio or whoever is in the most recent Assassins' Creed game. He can hold his own in a fist fight (as well as use a makeshift weapon from time to time), but he’s certain to take huge amounts of fall damage, which is actually good because the platforming in this title is one of the worst, if not the worst example, in recent history. The game’s coup de grace is that Tyler runs on batteries that have the lifespan of a fly who has been fed massive amounts of premium grade crystal meth and they can only be recharged by a light source.
Having thrown a few upgrades into the battery life, I can't tell you what the out of box lifespan is, but a few levels in I had 27 seconds of power before keeling over and dying, with the last ten seconds or so including an annoying alarm buzzing in addition to Tyler moving like a sloth on melatonin. I noticed on a few occasions, once properly respawning into the game, the battery gauge was already partially depleted, giving me exactly enough time to utter an expletive prior to being greeted with yet another loading screen. This means that from the get go, your top priority is finding each and every light source in the area and turning it on, which again is no easy task, due to the complete and utter failure that is traversal. Invisible ceilings, getting caught on assets that shouldn't be an issue, and even falling inside of immovable objects are the norm, making exploration a bit of a chore, which is truly a shame because the visuals and atmosphere are stunning. Sure, there are some glitches that occur from time to time, but overall I found the detailed environments to be pleasant on the eye holes.
The dilapidated house reminded me more and more of a 3D version of Little Nightmares as I progressed. With its highly detailed wood grains, amazing lighting and shadows, interactive objects, and a number of collectibles tucked away, the world is ripe for exploration. Sadly, once the lights come on, aside from seeking out the customization items (we'll circle back around to this later), there isn't much to do as the basic quests are broken down into simple tasks such as finding X item and inserting it into X location, rinse and repeat. The only challenges in this are due to the ever-failing battery and lackluster controls.
You use a single button to jump, climb, and pretty much do anything that isn't picking up an item, fighting, or dragging items in the game world. While this works in more polished games, the frustration sets in early (about half way through the tutorial) and only ceases once the individual rooms are lit up like a Christmas tree. The combat is a bit more fluid, although rather bland with Tyler only having basic attacks that boil down to mashing the trigger buttons repeatedly, bashing enemies with bare knuckles or a melee weapon. The only other tools at your disposal are cherry bombs, which work as grenades, and the aforementioned ability to drag certain assets around the game world, which work as makeshift bridges.
I really wanted to enjoy Tyler: Model 005, but due to the horrible platforming experience in addition to the terribly implemented battery mechanic, which drains quicker than the loading screen that follows it, it's a more frustrating experience than it should be. Steam reviews seem to imply the PC port is in a much better state, but I would strongly recommend sending the Xbox One version to the dumpster along with your old Duracells.… Expand
