The artwork is very steampunky, but nice and cleanly drawn, it reminds me of the artwork in Footrot Flats with the way its drawn. Nice muted tones add to the futuristic, robotic vibe of the game. The environment is nicely drawn in that its not blatantly obvious when looking at it what places are interactive without mousing over the top, like the old school animations when you could see the animated panels because they were a different colour.
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| Figure 1. Machinarium |
The main character is a little robot that you move around, as you complete tasks to move onto the next area. For example the very first set of tasks is to somehow find his missing arm and leg whilst stationary, and get across the gap in the middle of the screen. The tasks are not obvious, some requiring you to find two items and combine them in your inventory before they will become usable, others require changing height and twiddling with settings to find the right combination.
The sounds along the way are synced well with the movements, and discoveries that you make. There is a calming, peaceful background track throughout the game also, which I like because I can see some of the tasks becoming quite frustrating very quickly.
I like the concept of this game because it requires a lot of "out of the box" thinking to find the next clues however as I mentioned earlier, it could be rather frustrating if you get stuck. Especially when certain tasks require your robot to be in a specific location and/or height to trigger actions.
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| Figure 2. Alley |
Overall, I quite like the game, giving it an 8/10 overall. I would be interested in buying the game, providing there is several levels, to create long gameplay.
References:
Figure 1. Machinarium, 2009, http://machinarium.net/wallpapers/cover_1280x1024.jpg
Figure 2. Alley, 2009, http://machinarium.net/wallpapers/alley_1280x1024.jpg
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