Machinarium

[Turok]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exten ... rium/53858

Lot of Art in this game, dont you thing? looks really nice.

 

[VonVentrue]

The game has been on my radar for a long time, definitely looking forward to it.

 

[Derek Larp]

Wow. This looks pretty cool. I liked when he talks to the street musician. Neat idea to animate what he says.

 

[ghostdog]

The same developers have released some flash adventures in the same style. It's freeware and the art and atmosphere are excellent. Check them out:

http://amanita-design.net/samorost-1/
http://amanita-design.net/samorost-2/

 

[hal900x]

Love the atmosphere and presence of true puzzles along with item combinations/interactions. Whenever you have that, however, the game depends on the quality of the those puzzles. If there are too tough or esoteric/nonsensical, it can make for a lousy game. If they are genuinely logical, then this will be awesome.

 

[hal900x]

The same developers have released some flash adventures in the same style. It's freeware and the art and atmosphere are excellent. Check them out:

http://amanita-design.net/samorost-1/
http://amanita-design.net/samorost-2/

Cute. Easy, but cute.

 

[asper]

Pre-ordered. The soundtrack MP3's I got were worth the price ($17) themselves.

 

[Hory]

This game is proof of the importance of art direction and of the viability of 2D in modern games.

 

[Quilty]

Been following the development for a few years now, looks really interesting.

@ Hory: Games like this remind me I'm still hoping 2D will make a big comeback.

 

[Trithne]

Dear god, that looks awesome.

 

[MapMan]

The game will be released on 16th of October. There's a new trailer at:
http://www.machinarium.com/

 

[VonVentrue]

The demo's been out for a while.
It's gorgeous, I can't help but love every aspect of this game, be it the visuals, the atmosphere, the puzzles. A definite purchase for me.

 

[hal900x]

So how is it?

 

[MapMan]

I just finished it. The art and music are great. The story isnt great, expected a little more but its not that bad. The puzzles are good, some are exactly what we got used to and some are new. Pretty cool. I dont know if its worth the money though. 20$ is too much imho, 10$ would be perfect price.

 

[MapMan]

Why no other comments? Here are some reviews:

http://www.crispygamer.com/gamereviews/ ... um-pc.aspx
http://www.brighthub.com/video-games/pc ... 52863.aspx
http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2009/1 ... chinarium/
http://diygamer.com/2009/10/just-a-smal ... um-review/
http://www.gamgea.com/2009/10/19/machin ... view-test/

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/103/1036865p1.html

The brutal difficulty will likely have you stumped even in the earlier scenes.

The brutal difficulty will likely

brutal difficulty

I'd say a lot of things about the puzzles, but not they are brutally hard. The reviewer must be retarded or something.

 

[phanboy_iv]

Just finished it and yeah, the puzzles weren't that hard really, and even if you get stuck, the hint feature will practically solve it for you. I noticed several redundant clues including the one with the butterfly that required you to solve two puzzles to get the same clue twice, or so it seemed to me.

Some puzzles are interesting manipulation/inventory puzzles, others are the tried-and-true-classical-puzzles type, which I don't much care for in adventure games.

'Bout 5 hours long, absolutely a joy to play though because of the eye and ear candy.

EDIT: Odd, double post.

 

[MapMan]

You can download some free songs(which are not included in the offical soundtrack) from:
http://machinarium.net/blog/2009/11/22/ ... -bonus-ep/

 

[DraQ]

Cool game. Could have been longer and more elaborate story-wise. Awesome art direction and, while many puzzles could have been tougher (except some at the very end), they are not trivial either.

Also, spiffy metal DVD box and it's not some fucking aluminium either (*sticks one of his neocube magnets to the case* ).

 

[Kron]

The art is kind of nice.
Played the game for about 2 hours only, and...
it's a kid's game.
That's my impression.

 

[phanboy_iv]

Cool game. Could have been longer and more elaborate story-wise. Awesome art direction and, while many puzzles could have been tougher (except some at the very end), they are not trivial either.

Also, spiffy metal DVD box and it's not some fucking aluminium either (*sticks one of his neocube magnets to the case* ).

Dammit. You Europeans and your exclusive boxed copies.

 

[Konjad]

I'm not into adventure games but demo of this one was really fun.

 

[SuicideBunny]

would play it if it wasn't a flash game with all the bugs and problems of flash.

 

[DraQ]

would play it if it wasn't a flash game with all the bugs and problems of flash.

Techwhore.

 

[SuicideBunny]

i like to alt tab out of or use windowed mode in games and not having them die on me after 5 minutes of being inactive.

 

[Tigranes]

I played the whole game with a built-in windows option, lots of alt tab, zero crashes. This kind of game would suck if you couldn't.

It's a short game, it's an easy game, but it's got charm and the art is nice. Only criticism is that you end up with a bit too many 'mini-games' - e.g. a carbon copy of space invaders and a few other 'pixel games' as well as a few puzzles. Given the shortness of the game and how straightforward the 'normal adventure puzzles' were, it felt like a bit too much.

 

[Fez]

I liked Samarost, so I was already halfway decided to get this before the reviews and comments pushed me to it. I liked the art style. The story wasn't much for me, but I was playing it for the puzzles, art and a relaxing and entertaining experience really. For that I felt quite happy with what I got. It could have been longer and contained more proper 'adventure game puzzles', as mentioned previously, but I'm willing to put up with a shorter game because of the lower price point.