Factotum 90 Review

Factotum 90 is a Puzzle game from TACS Games for Xbox One. It involves you controlling two Box-like robots to complete various puzzles including mazes and lasers.

The gameplay is unique and feels great however I found that the gimmick of controlling two characters got quite annoying. You control two different robots but only one at a time. It’s like lonely Portal 2 co-op which meant  I could only blame myself when I got the puzzle wrong (which I did a number of times). The puzzles involve various button pressing and laser beams and water hazards…very reminiscent of Portal 2 (see where I’m going here?). This is not to say that the game lacks a unique style. Controlling 2 seperate characters makes you think about the way puzzles are solved more in depth as you have the power of being in two places at once. When the robots meet they exchange beeps and noises which is quite cute even though they are just boxes with legs. Overall it is a solid puzzle game with unique features. My one major problem is that there is no walking sideways. You simply turn and walk forward or backwards which got very annoying when trying to move slightly to the left or right and then accidently falling into a pit or off a ledge.

The graphic style of Factotum 90 is interesting as the whole game gives the illusion that you are playing through a set of screens on a Spaceship. This is a nice change from the usual idea of simply controlling the character. The overall graphic level is simple and nothing to be impressed by but fits the overall style of the game. The only character that I interacted with was a rather blank-faced british man whose mouth didn’t move when he spoke which was a little weird. Considering he only speaks a little it didn’t annoy me too much.

The sound in this game is minimal apart from the clanking of the robots and the ship and the narrator. This helped with concentrating on the puzzles as there was nothing to interfere when you were figuring out the confusing puzzles however it would have been nice to have some ambient music or background noise to give the areas a little more life.

Factotum 90 is currently priced at £4.79 on the Xbox Marketplace and if you like puzzles games it is worth picking up but only if you really like puzzle games

Title provided by Xbox