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Mac Rules Gaming

November 5, 2009 6:00 AM

Games32 has posted a review of Machinarium. The point and click adventure game follows the adventures of a robot who must find a way to save his girlfriend and his city from a group of villains known as the Black Cap Brotherhood. Games32 called the game "a good example of modern visual art featuring a playable concept inducing the player a unique state of mind."

From the review:

Everything that you will find out in the game will be through the character's actions and thoughts expressed into cartoonish bubbles which feature images or short animations. There is not a single dialog line written in the whole game. This method tends to be the only way the story is said through the whole game. Originality does not stop here, but continues with the graphical design. Your character is a 2D model representation moving in a sketchy static overworld where he has to solve puzzles in order to get to the next scene or open the door to the next scenario. Every new scene is actually a detailed drawing very similar with the pencil - pictures, animated by domestic robots that perform their daily duties. Compared to these robots, the main character is useless. He's only abilities is to stretch or duck in order to fetch unreachable objects that are placed near him.

This is a good addition, because you can only interact with the objects if these are placed in the 'reach area' of your character. Unlike classic point'n'click adventures where you can explore with your mouse the whole environment for key objects without the need of moving the character, here you have to use the robot as a physical link between objects and different scenes. Therefore the key objects and their solutions are placed most of the time in the same scene making the puzzles bearable.

From the graphical point of view Machinarium is a visual masterpiece. There are direct influences from the Samorost series, but this time the overall design and style is much clearer with some steam-punk elements combined with old-style sci-fi sketches. In some scenes the drawings are extremely detailed, despite the fact that everything is static and represented in 2D. There is a sense of hugeness created by the background buildings which lose detail giving the false impression of disappearing in the city's fog. Other objects have an astonishing pencil-style image created to express a macabre, even grotesque feeling, similar to the "noir" genre.

For the full review head over to the page below.

Games32: Machinarium Review
Amanita Design
Machinarium




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