Telekinetic Eric

Sometimes, I hate writing about flash/indie games based on a neat high concept mechanic. Every time I do, one of you pedantic monkeys promptly leaves a "what, no mention of [ancient Amiga game it's like that I didn't play because I didn't ever own a bloody Amiga]?" comment and I feel small and stupid. Oh well. Go on, do your worst.

Telekinetic Eric's a clever get-to-the-door-at-the-end puzzle-platformer, its twist being that emaciated Eric can freely move parts of the level around in order to construct an escape path. With his mind, natch.

Initially, it's sedentary dragging around of girders to build a simple route, but soon enough you're trying to rearrange parts of the room with your mouse even as you're moving along other parts of it with the keyboard - for instance sending him skywards from a trampoline, then grabbing said trampoline and sticking it directly underneath him just before he begins his descent. Don't place it in time and he'll plummet to his death. Place it too soon and it might not give him the height he needs to reach the next level of floor, which wastes one of your limited tele-moves.

There's shades of the Impossible Machine, Lemmings and Lost Vikings to it, and indeed of recent fare like Chronotron. I'm certainly getting a nagging sense of familiarity from it that I can't quite place, but it's a fun time nevertheless. The low-fi graphics charm and it's suitably taxing of both logic and timing, which means you're pretty damn satisfied with yourself when you complete a level.

I would advise, though, skipping the main Play option and going to practice mode, as the limited lives in the former quickly lead to high misery and make you replay from the very start once you're out of Erics. You lose out on uploading your high score if you play in Practice Mode, but meh.

(Link spotted over on Blues)