A mysterious protagonist in search of ‘secrets’
You probably haven’t heard of The Signal From Tölva, and who could blame you? Anyone who follows gaming is so constantly bombarded with news about the latest AAA release or the internet’s current favourite indie darling that the slew of smaller projects find it very difficult to gain any sort of traction whatsoever. Usually, I would lament such an unfair situation, but it is times like these that I am almost thankful for any trivial tidbits of news, so as to distract from actually having to play games as half-baked as The Signal From Tölva.
You are cast as a mysterious protagonist who has been dispatched to the planet Tölva, in search of ‘secrets’. You will commandeer robot drones on the planet’s surface, hoping to discover valuable information through probing the planet. While this is not a novel idea in itself, it does help to cut down some of the walking.
And there is walking, a hell of a lot of walking, and at frustratingly lethargic speeds. Did you ever play any of the earlier Driver games that allowed you to walk around for no real reason? Walking in The Signal From Tölva brings back those traumatizing experiences with those horrible, horrible walking mechanics.
This search for illuminating clues is aided by a basic flashlight as well a “spectral scanner” vision mode, which is a trippy visual effect that allows you to spot hidden message fragments and signals, as well as resources that are used to marginally upgrade your weapon and shield systems. These fragments and signals end up doling out most of the story, which is primarily text-based, so finding them is essential for understanding what’s happening. They aren’t hidden too far out of the way, but a few will require you to pay close attention to your surroundings. Then again, the distribution of resources to collect borders on overkill – there are so many of the shiny objects scattered around in every crevice of Tölva that I could feel myself bugging out at the thought of trying to collect them all.
Combat is fairly straightforward shooter fare, with your robots having access to laser-based weapons, including assault rifles and beam rifles. Shooting feels decent if a little unspectacular. Your robot chassis is also equipped with a shield system and an area-of-effect attack which can be used to disrupt enemies or heal allies.
The Signal From Tölva is certainly not mind-blowing with regard to its aesthetics, but it isn’t an ugly game. Even after a few hours, I still found myself admiring parts of the game, although it could easily pass for a late-generation PS3 game. With games as vast and ambitious as The Signal From Tölva, you really need a compelling plot and unfortunately this game does not deliver.