Endearing story and plot without being overly cute, with challenging puzzles.
User Rating: 9.5 | Machinarium PC
Quirky robotic characters live in an industrialized world; the artistic quality is excellent, the plot is great and subtle, and hero is endearing. The puzzles are quite challenging which is what I was looking for. I like that it was made by a seemingly small, independent company (Amanita) that is made up of highly talented people and I wish them the best. I am addicted to games made by them now and am anxiously awaiting more games like Machinarium from them, perhaps a sequel. I especially liked the surprises along the way. For example, if you don't do anything with your hero character, after a while something happens- so don't walk away from the game while it's running- you may miss it! I also loved how the character communicate in pictures- it makes this game easily played by anyone on the planet. The only people it may exclude, but only in the end, are Deaf people, who wouldn't be able to hear the music puzzle. But then you can get around that by visiting a walkthrough, I suppose. I was never able to get into the in-game cheat book. I'm not good at the type of games where you have to dodge bullets, so I always had to use the online walkthroughs, which were fine.
