Thoughts by SonataFanatica (02 May 2016) – PC (DOS)
Das Telekommando kehrt zurück is a lovingly designed point & click adventure made by The Art Department, who where responsible for a number of amazing promotional adventures back in the 90s. Backstage, Dunkle Schatten, Bi-Fi 2: Action in Hollywood and Captain Zins may ring a bell with older adventure fans. The three last ones all use the same game engine which is also used in Telekommando 2 and back then, it was the clear indication of an Art Department game.
The second Telekommando game basically has nothing in common with its predecessor; rather, it is just the second promotional game made for the Deutsche Telekom. The player is put into the shoes of a technician of the Telekom who is sent to take care of a service disturbance in a large office building. It has been completely cut off from the rest of the world. Neither the BTX works, nor faxing, satellite connections of anything else. Scouting the building, the player realizes that an evil organisation called S.T.Ö.R. (= “disturb”) has established headquarters on the third floor and they have sealed off the whole floor. So it is now up to the valiant hero of the Telekom to put a stop to their game – and to demonstrate everything he has learned during his apprenticeship at the Telekom.
The puzzles are mostly concerned with fixing various office equipment. The adventure’s advertising factor is thankfully limited to small textual snippets which tell the player which job at the Telekom would teach them those skills which have just been used. Not wholly uninteresting for people actually considering to apply there (although circumstances and contents of those apprenticeships may very well have changed since then).
Unfortunately, the game is very short. It is finished after about two hours. Although the really nice VGA graphics and the soundtrack which emanates typical 90s flair (it reminds me of the background music of 1990s commercials) make those two hours into a pleasant waste of time.
All that is left to say is that at the beginning of the game, you can select whether you would like to play as a male or a female – although this decision will not actually change anything in the game. Nevertheless: nice to at least be given this choice.
Translated by Mr Creosote