Tesla: The Weather Man

Nikola Tesla is a popular videogame character. His inventions are ideal for crazy stories that video games often have. Tesla - Weather Man is developed by two man indie studio called: Thoughtquake Studios. Game is available on Gamersgate for ~£2 (or ~$3). Game can be also bought for a similar price directly from the developers. Link here.

Game can be categorized under the platformer genre. More specifically physics based puzzle platforming action. The presentation is very plain, with lack of better adjective. Levels are hand painted flat 2D landscapes. The story is presented in similar fashion with cartoony portraits and paintings. Graphically very indie looking if one call game that. IE. bit simple looking. It doesn't matter much when the gameplay is so much fun, more about that in a minute. What player will notice straight away when starting the game is the wacky humor. Having a cast that consist of Nikolai Tesla, Thomas Edison and Mark Twain. Tesla being the hero who needs to get to Edison and his robot army. Mark Twain providing hilarious narration. Voice acting is especially crazy. Works well with the writing, at times bordering awkward but manages to have just enough jokes the make it silly enough.

The gameplay as mentioned is platform based puzzle action. Here Tesla has five special powers to aid his journey throught games 29 levels. Purpose is simple, get from left to right. Or more specifically, get to the Win -> sign. Collecting various items and components while doing this. The five powers are around Tesla's ability to manipulate weather. Such as the first power that enables Tesla to summon a lighting to struck enemies. He creates this with friction by rubbing his hands. Second and probably equally important skill is levitation skill. This enables our good friend Nikola to pick items such as crates and use these as his aids on the environment. Not too different to how Mage in Trine handles, if you have played that. Further powers which are unlocked are rain, freezing and sunshine ability.

Each power also can be upgraded after collecting certain amount of items. Upgrade system not having so much depth, reminding of actual plain Flash game upgrade. The unlocks are not fully balanced unfortunately. Picking wrong type might make the game very hard if not impossible. Sticking to the upgrading existing abilities is a safe bet always though. As Tesla in real life is most known for. His inventions around electricity play a big role in the levels. Having ability to summon lighting makes him vulnerably to water. Same time playing with lighting tends to turn into fire, especially with wooden crates around. Naturally making fine puzzle elements. The 29 levels as expected get gradually harder and various combination of freezing skills make it somewhat challenging. The combination of last three powers will come in very handy in latter part of the game. Also adding further level of depth with amount with different combinations available. For example you can make it rain and fill up every platforming part with water and then freeze and then just walk over it easily. Or freeze up certain parts and make elaborate ice bridges.

You will get good amount of value for the money here. Finishing the story takes somewhere between five to ten hours. I believe I beat the game in 8h. Tesla The Weather Man might look slightly simple, but the wacky humor and interesting gameplay makes this worth while. For the laughable low price of $3 there is no question if this is recommended or not. That is yes, incase this wasn't clear