Point-and-click adventures used to be one of the major genres in the early years of PC gaming. While the number of titles is dwindling significantly as time passes on, some developers, including Amanita Design, are continuing providing this vintage type of gameplay. As a matter of fact, Machinarium has just been released for the Playstation network by this very same developer to provide once again an adventure filled with puzzles with a point-and-click flavor to it.
While assuming the role of a robot named Josef, you discover that you have been dumped into a scrapyard. So you’re off to get to the city and even save your female companion who is also a robot herself. An interesting thing about your character is that he has a stomach that seems to have unlimited capacity in which you can store your items in. With such a delightful plot, Machinarium makes the point-and-click experience enjoyable and uplifting.
Initially, you enter the game without any background information whatsoever. Although this games does not have any text or voice acting, you will still be able to figure out what’s happening as you’ll see what is in Josef’s mind via his thought bubbles. The story telling is essentially told visually which is great, especially for those who just want to get down and play the game without being bombarded with constant text. Therefore, you’ll be given the opportunity to get to the brain-teasing puzzles, which is the meat and potatoes of Machinarium. As you progress further in the game, you’ll run into other characters and piece a little more insight in regards to Josef himself.
One may anticipate the controls for the Playstation 3 to be awkward for a point-and-click adventure like Machinarium. On the contrary, getting around in this game is pretty standard and straight forward. There is the left analog stick used to control the cursor on screen while the right analog stick allows you to stretch or shrink Josef. The ability to order him to move to your cursor’s location and interact with what you point at is obviously included here. And that’s pretty much it. Simple, right?
As indicated before, you’ll be travelling around and solving puzzles. You can come across situations where the problem-solving process can be long and tedious. And it can seem like it’s all about searching for specific pixels on screen to determine if Josef would be able to interact with them. But most of the time, there are puzzles that serve as rewarding and thought-provoking challenges, which can feel satisfying at the end of the day once you solve them.
Machinarium is not necessarily a game that shines with out-of-this-world graphics. However, it still holds a very good presentation with its style that resembles that of a story book. From the characters to the background images, Machinarium is depicted as a drawing that appears to be beautiful and well-designed. The audio behind this game is just as wonderful as you have the music and sound effects from the environment that functions to further enhance the soothing impression.
Machinarium has a place for those who have a spot in their hearts for point-and-click adventure games. It has a lot of brain teasers to keep players drawn to the game. In addition, the presentation does showcase Amanita Design’s imagination and creativity. However, Machinarium may not necessarily win over other types of players who seek action and blasting graphics. Nonetheless, this is a game that should be and will be appreciated by fans of this genre. If you happen to be one of them, pick this up for $9.99 at the Playstation Network and let Machinarium take you away on a memorable adventure.
