![]() Things like sliding blocks, following wires, and drawing complex shapes without taking your pen off the page. Does not computeĪlongside the Monkey Island-esque item-based puzzles come logic-heavy mechanisms that explode straight out of Puzzle Agent or the back of a cereal pack or inside of a Christmas cracker. On more than one occasion I found myself stuck simply because I wasn't looking hard enough, or in the right place. The whirring, animated circus of Machinarium has a habit of hiding must-have objects and blurring the line between things you can interact with and things that exist simply to look pretty. ![]() Unless, of course, you can't find an important item. Each puzzle is usually contained to a few screens, too, so you won't have to traipse back and forth across the city feeling bemused and confused. On the whole its puzzles are extremely clever, and clues - once again suggested by actions and visuals rather than words and dialogue - nudge you along the right path. Machinarium is a true point-and-click adventure with items to pick up, problems to solve, logic puzzles to overcome, and a bottomless inventory of junk to lug about with you. You'll definitely spend a lot of time doing that as you flutter between the game's various rooms, meeting mute characters and working towards your goals. Most importantly, it's a warm - though otherworldly - locale that you'll just want to spend time pottering about in. In some ways, the hopeless, crumbling facade of Machinarium makes for a rather grim backdrop, but the robots you meet and the events that unfold - all drawn and animated with care - give this microadventure a true sense of character.Īll in all, Machinarium presents a plausible land of automata, and not just a series of inter-connected, puzzle-filled screens. It's drenched in muted colours and dilapidated mess. There are dogs made of cogs, dancing wrenches, and elderly church-goers. It's two parts steam punk, one part dystopia. ![]() The city itself is a scrappy and arcane metropolis, laced with pipes and tubes over Victorian tiles and wallpaper. He needs to sneak back in, avoid playground bullies, save his girlfriend from robo-slavery, and defuse a bomb.įittingly, its humour is delivered in silent slapstick with over the top expressions and cute set-ups. You play as a stretchy robot boy who's been tossed into the scrapheap outside city limits. ![]() Without dialogue, Machinarium's narrative is necessarily subtle and understated. Thoughts, feelings, and desires are instead shown as doodley animations in pop-up thought bubbles, and the backstory to Machinarium's quirky city is revealed in its inhabitants, objects, colours, and mechanisms. Outside 'Save' and 'Load', there isn't a word of dialogue throughout the entire adventure. It urges would-be movie makers to reveal facts about the world and its characters through actions, rather than boring exposition and endless voice over.Ĭzech point-and-clicker Machinarium from Amanita design is all about the power of showing over telling.Įverything you need to know about the game, from the steampunk cityscape to the bullies who preside over it, from your hero's love for a tin can girl-bot to a woman's worry for her lost robodog, is portrayed through sounds, sights, and gorgeous hand-drawn art. There's an old adage passed down by screenwriters - "Show, don't tell". ![]()
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