Machinarium
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Game Reviewed:
Machinarium
Publisher: Amanita
Design
Developer: Amanita
Design
Reviewer: Matt
Lewis
Platform: PC
Category: Graphic
adventure
ESRB Rating: E
Game Description
Machinarium is a seemingly simple game at first glance. The
game is just a point and click adventure, the hero is a small robot, the
visuals do not jump out from the screen. In fact, everything within the game is
hand drawn. But herein lays the beauty of this exquisite little game.
Machinarium is an independent game from Amanita design. It was made possible by
the personal contributions of its developers, and a meager budget that was laid
out for marketing. Even so, this game has garnered very positive reviews. After
playing it, it did not take long to see why.
The game starts out with a small robot dumped into the
middle of a junk pile. He is missing a few pieces, so you must help him. You
use the mouse to click various objects on the screen. You hand them to the
robot. You must then decide exactly what to do with these pieces. (Is that an
arm or a leg?) Once he has been rebuilt, it continues on his way. You use the
environment and the objects around the robot to solve puzzles and advance to the next
area. That is all there is to it! Point and click, no breakneck speeds, no
frantic fighting; logic, observation, and problem solving are truly the only
skills needed for this game.
What Parents Need To Know
Violence
There are no spoken or written words. The entire story is
conveyed through subtle hints and thought bubbles. Some of these thought
bubbles show bullies shoving around our robot hero. One of the puzzles includes
electrocuting a robotic cat. It does not die, though; it merely stuns him for a
while. In a simple side game you shoot small spiders. This is not graphic in
any way.
Language
As mentioned in the violence section, everything is told
through thought bubbles. There is no foul language here.
Sexual Content
Machinarium is clean in terms of this. The only thing shown
was our robot hero holding hands with his girlfriend, and it was in the most
innocent sense possible.
Spiritual Content
At one point in the game a robot goes to church.
Misc
One scene shows the robot sitting on a toilet. In a thought
bubble, the robot is seen smoking a cattail.
Reviewers Thoughts
Machinarium is without a doubt one of the best games I have
played in the past few years. It was released in October, but has remained relatively
under the radar since its release. The few who have played it, though, are very
lucky indeed. I was fortunate enough to join the ranks.
It is an amazing puzzle game that has some very difficult
problems to solve. I found myself turning to a walkthrough on more than
occasion after I had been staring at the same scene for half an hour. It never
felt frustrating, though; rather, you wanted to play for as long as you needed
to figure out the puzzle. Also, the game has a walkthrough built in. You simply
play a simple side game and a set of pictures will give you clues as to how to
solve problems.
In terms of visuals, I meant what I said earlier: nothing
jumps out at you. Instead, it pulls you in. The entire game is hand drawn in
muted tones, and every scene was crafted with beautiful, meticulous detail. It
was worth playing an extra five minutes just to see what the next part of the
level looked like. I found Machinarium to be an amazing game and I would highly
recommend it.
Machinarium can be purchased on their website at
www.machinarium.net
