![]() The mini game gets pretty boring if you use the walkthrough too much, which is a good way to encourage trying a few things on your own before just giving up and resorting to it. It is one of the better built-in hint/walkthrough systems I’ve seen. It is in comic book style, using the familiar little drawings from the thought and speech bubbles to show you the way through step by step. This lets you access the walkthrough for the screen you are on. The detector thing, when clicked, is brought up center screen, and it is then clear that it is a book with a very elaborate lock, and a screen on the lock.īy playing through a simplified side-scrolling shooter for under a minute, you unlock the book. Clicking the light bulb will reveal one hint per area, in a thought bubble cartoon as described in the story section. One is a light bulb, and the other looks like a detector of some kind. ![]() If the cursor is held near the top of the screen, inventory items will appear at the top left, and two icons will appear at top right. It’s a brilliant and funny way to solve to inventory continuity issue many gamers have taught themselves to ignore. When you need something, just stick in your arm and take it out. In Machinarium, picking up an item involves opening your mouth very wide, and tossing the item through a high arc ending in your gaping metal maw. The greatest nod to the restrictions of physical space seen in this context was to call the inventory a “Backpack” and, in truly exemplary cases, the on screen character actually wore a backpack. For decades, items collected by point and click adventurers disappeared into an extra-dimensional inventory. ![]() The robot hero will often either get toppled in some clumsy slapstick, or pull off sweet back flips and slide down banisters, depending on if the move is planned or he is taken unawares by the results of his tinkering.Įven the inventory system raises the bar in terms of cuteness and continuity. The animations contribute as well, and many times the results of solving a puzzle are humorous. It is reminiscent of those cartoons with no words, or gobbledygook words, or Mr. There is no dialogue in the game: everything you need to know is explained by cute little cartoons in speech and thought bubbles. The story isn’t superb in the sense of plot twists or anything along those lines, but the exposition is brilliant. Machinarium: Great Puzzles, Graphics, and Sound A few are more action based, which may be frustrating for those who don’t like and aren’t good at quick clicking, but you would have to really not like it and be really not good at it, as they are few, far between, and not more than a moderate challenge even for a gamer that doesn’t keep their reaction time at First Person Shooter standards. There are an astounding number of mini games, mostly being puzzles within the larger point and click puzzles, such as activating an elevator control panel by moving toggles into the correct patterns, or adjusting knobs to direct water and flood a robot crook hide-out. You discover this early in the game when after a long fall, you are forced to reassemble your strewn about components. For instance, your body can accordion to a much shorter or much taller size, and this is used in puzzles throughout the game. You have to think in terms of being this cute robot in this odd place, which helps you get into the game. The puzzles don’t always make common sense, but they always make sense according to the strange but adorable world you wander. Machinarium goes one better, often making you laugh out loud at the comical tactics needed to progress. Puzzles should take some thinking and experimenting, but when solutions are found, they should result in an “Aha!” moment, not a “What the… ?” one. Getting hung up and having to think about a puzzle and try different things is part of the fun, but if when the solution is found, it is a random and nonsensical guess, the frustration is doubled as retroactive. Most importantly, puzzles have to make sense, at least according to some internal logic of the game world. This is a big challenge: no one likes to get stuck, but no one wants to breeze through a game either. Machinarium Gameplay (5 out of 5)īeyond a solid UI, which Machinarium delivers, what makes or breaks gameplay in an adventure game are the puzzles. Gameplay refinements and even more interesting art and locales have resulted in a must play point and click adventure. Following Samorost 2, Machinarium is the most ambitious release from Amanita to date. The unique, whimsical, art style and varied sound track were tied to interesting puzzles, and gamers fell in love with these Flash games and their robot hero. Amanita Design has been wowing players with their Samorost series since it first arrived.
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