Quick Review: A Virus Named TOM

Don’t let the name fool you… he’s humanity’s worst nightmare.

Doctor X: All it takes is one bad day, and...

A creation of Misfits Attic released on August 1st, 2012, A Virus Named Tom shows a futuristic world that has it all: Robot dogs, automatic sidewalks, teleporters… A technological dream! All of these were created by the visionary (but a tad unhinged) Doctor X. His latest invention veers directly into the realm of mad science, so he gets promptly fired. Unfortunately, he’s well down the path of destructive insanity, and thus sabotages his lifelong work and all the tech humanity can no longer live without.

Yep, apparently machines in the Future will
have computers in every one of their parts.

Meet TOM. He’s X’s latest creation. A computer virus, TOM can infect machines and break them. However, it’s pretty meticulous; every invention is split into areas he must seize control of in order to… well… put it out of order. Those are our worlds and stages. In every stage of this puzzle game, TOM has to navigate virtual circuit boards with various pieces showing paths. TOM moves along the horizontal and vertical axes on the board and must connect all of the available pieces together, usually through a single path started from a green power source. When everything is lit green, that part of the code has been broken.

The game doesn't start out with question marks, but it does
make the puzzles a fair bit harder if you can't quite see
what the pieces are till they're connected.

The controls are WASD or the arrows to move and Space to spin a piece in place (you must hold Space while moving around the square to do that). Semi-early on, TOM is also fitted with a new glitch program that allows him to strike back against the spider-like protector programs and stop them from moving temporarily. If TOM is destroyed by coming into contact with a protector program, he will respawn at random in one of the four corners of the board. Also of note is that TOM’s energy depletes over time and when he hits an enemy, and when it's fully depleted, you lose. The quicker you act (and thus the less energy you spend), the higher the end score for a stage, with an accompanying medal (Gold, Silver and Bronze) based on how well you did.

Oh, the protectors can't kill you... just sap your energy
and waste your time. And you do need both here!

Of course, the company that turns a profit from X’s inventions, Mega-Tech, will not let TOM do this easily. Customary of puzzle games, new mechanics are introduced regularly, making it harder for TOM to move around or connect the circuit. No green power source? Create one by crashing two spider protectors, including a green one, at an intersection together to create a blast that lights the path. Dangerous red pieces? Either avoid them at all costs, or if you can’t, create the path making sure everything lights up before getting to them. Pieces you can’t spin at all? Tiles hidden under question marks till you connect them to the green circuit? Having paths outside of the periphery of the map, meaning you need to connect everything taking those into account as well? All that, and more!

Don't worry about your little programs, Mega-Tech...
They'll be back soon enough.

C'm'on, join in! (...Oh, right, it's local only.)

Though the game can be completed as a single player, there are local-only multiplayer options here – you can beat the game with a friend(s) in a co-op mode split across 50 extra levels. There's also a vs. Battle mode where you play against friends to seize the squares on an empty grid, holding down Space to create an area of squares to claim for yourself, and then connecting them to a power source of your color. When all the squares have been claimed or the timer ends, the player with the most squares wins. Of course, it won’t be that simple, since all players have access to a glitch bomb ability that can both deactivate squares owned by another player and/or destroy the other TOMs who get caught in its blast, which will follow both axes. Like in the base game, destroyed TOMs will respawn in a corner, good to go again in a few seconds.

Makes some pretty mosaics.

Yet another example of what I expect from a puzzle game: A fresh idea, executed really well, with a gradual climb in difficulty as more variables get introduced. Gameplay is simple yet effective, while providing plenty of challenge. There’s a point where beyond just figuring out the solution, you also need excellent reaction skills. Appropriately for a game where we play the bad guy, the tone is overall comedic, whenever there’s a bit of story (such as seeing the results of our tampering). Graphics are overall pretty simple, the cutscenes are fine, the music is pretty good, and the multiplayer modes are a welcome addition. You get tokens to skip stages if you’d like, but it’s a pointless addition; since, if you skip a stage and go to the next one (never mind that worlds often give you access to two stages at a time), and fail it, it’s back to square one. Also, the game is stuck in one resolution, 1280X720, with no way to improve that. Still, overall, a pretty good experience, worth trying out at some point.

A Virus Named Tom is available on Steam for 9.99$ USD.