6/10/2023 0 Comments Machinarium reviewOriginal list by Jon Munday, updated by Artur Novichenko. These 25 point-and-click adventure games for iPhone and iPad should be a great place to start. You sit back, tune your brain to another frequency, and enter another world. Kicking back with a good point-and-click adventure is kind of the video game equivalent of curling up with a good book. Such games tend to feature at their core an elaborate chain of cause-and-effect puzzles involving the unlikely interaction and combination of multiple items. If you've never played a point-and-click adventure game before, typical ingredients include a focus on puzzles and dialogue over action. What are point-and-click adventure games? They're often spliced in with other genres, such as narrative games and puzzlers, but the DNA is there for all to see. Thankfully the rise of smartphone gaming has seen, if not a full-scale resurgence, then certainly a revived niche in the market for the humble point-and-click adventure. The golden age of LucasArts games such as Monkey Island had passed, and gamers have moved on to simpler, less cerebral fare. It’s a beautiful experience that reminds me why I went to University to study Computer Science and Games Technology in the first place, which was to make games as transportive and lovely as this.From the late '90s onwards, gamers have been bemoaning the fact that they don't make point-and-click adventure games anymore. It didn’t just have its hooks in me either, but my family as well, making the journey through Machinarium a shared experience that I can look back on fondly. It did make me annoyed and desperate for help in moments, but that only ever made me more engaged and determined to find the solution and feel the satisfaction when the pieces fell into place. Upon rolling credits on Machinarium, it was evident to me how much I loved the game. The soundtrack has already found itself added to my Spotify work tunes playlist and has been on repeat since I finished the game a week ago. The gameplay of Machinarium is great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the visuals and soundtrack that will stay with me for years to come. Machinarium’s Tim Burton-esque aesthetic is paired amazingly alongside a soundtrack packed with atmospheric ambient excellence. Thankfully the game exudes style with its visuals and atmosphere. Machinarium can be a slow experience at times, as you traipse back and forth between areas, finding the items needed to progress. I wish I could say that I didn’t need the walkthrough as much as I did, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t use it a few times. Despite these complaints, Machinarium is still worth a playthrough. Better yet is that the contents of the walkthrough are more of a rough guideline than they are a blatant explanation, ensuring that finding the solution still feels satisfying despite the helping hand. It's a very short game but one absolutely worth playing. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous and the soundtrack is a masterpiece that inspired soundtracks of so many games and will most likely influence future games for years to come. Posed ever so beautifully in the top right corner of the screen is the walkthrough button, which when pressed requires you to beat a simple 8-bit mini-game in order to unlock its juicy contents. I really recommend Machinarium very much. Machinarium’s visuals are grungy yet gorgeousĪlthough some moments were obtuse and frustrating given how convoluted some of the solutions were, Machinarium’s in-game walkthrough provided satisfying solace amidst trying times. In typical point and click game fashion, most of the guesses and theories were wrong, but when they were correct it was magical and sent the room into a frenzy. From the scrapyard you initially find him in to the city you aim to save, you must guide Josef through it all by using your brain to solve a myriad of involved and sometimes infuriating puzzles.ĭespite initially playing on my own, the experience of Machinarium, although single player by definition, quickly saw everyone in the household offering their opinion on what needed to be done to complete each puzzle. Machinarium for the uninitiated is an adventure inspired heavily by the point and click journeys of yesteryear, placing you in charge of a cute robot named Josef. In short, it was a decision I’m so happy to have made. According to my trophies unlocked from around the time I obtained Machinarium’s first trophy, I was playing other titles such as Borderlands, Motorstorm Apocalypse, LittleBigPlanet, all titles that I spent countless hours playing through.Īlthough I’d already been enamoured by quintessential indie hits like Limbo, Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac, and Fez, I for whatever reason never gave Machinarium the time of day again until nearly a decade later. For those of you curious about what a BlackBerry PlayBook looks like…Īnyhow, I recall playing the game for maybe 15 minutes before putting it down and presumably forgetting about it amongst the myriad of Call of Duty multiplayer matches and other games I used to play as a teenager.
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