Imagine a world built of steal and dominated by Artificial Intelligence. Machinarium by Amanita Design is built on this premise. Humanity has taken the evolutionary backseat to machines. Robots now populate the world and function like humans would during their daily routines. They live in homes, fall in love, and they are even capable of committing criminal acts.
Machinarium isn’t the type of game that can be placed in any single category. While it uses a simple point-and-click user interface, it presents very challenging puzzles that may take hours to complete.
There is no spoken or written dialog of any kind. Amanita Design came up with the brilliant idea of using animated bubbles to explain the story and puzzles. Your little robot will lose himself in thought when something needs to be brought to your attention. Even the inhabitants around you communicate in the same fashion.
The mechanics are pretty straight-forward and require little knowledge of the point-and-click genre. Click on an item to pick it up and your robot will add it to his inventory. If you want to investigate something, click on the object to view it.
Puzzles range from simple to extremely difficult. Some may require you to rebuild a circuit to electrify a bridge, while others may be a series of smaller puzzles that empty a large fountain in the middle of town square. You may even find yourself playing a game of tic-tac-toe at the local oil bar just to steal the game pieces for later use. You never know what to expect from one moment to the next.
The world of Machinarium is a brilliant world of auditory and visual pleasures. The atmosphere portrayed by the environments is almost surreal. While they may appear cold and gritty, there is a certain warmth about them. It goes without saying that Machinarium’s graphics are a work of art. Your little robot moves with an uncanny fluidity, and even the inhabitants move with the same attention to detail. Even smaller, less insignificant things like cleaning droids will click and buzz as they climb the side of buildings to clean walls.
Machinarium requires good puzzle-solving skills to complete. While the game claims to offer 6 hours of actual gameplay, it doesn’t take into account the hours spent figuring out the puzzles. This also doesn’t include the time spent exploring your environment. This is one of those games that you can play at your leisure and still enjoy. There are a few tobacco references in the game, so I would be careful about showing it to small children.
I cannot recommend Machinarium enough; It’s a unique experience that shouldn’t be missed. A game like this only comes along once in a lifetime.
Score 10 out of 10
Mike “STGuy1040” Pittaro
Version reviewed: Mac
Mac OS X (10.4 or newer)
Processor 1.6 Ghz
Memory 1GB
Hard disk space: 380MB
Minimum screen resolution: 1024×768
(1280×800 or higher recommended)
Also available for: PC, Linux Based Platforms (try the demo first!)
Price: $20 (around 14 EUR + VAT or 12.50 GBP +VAT)
Developer’s– website
