Machinarium

This game has great graphics and I love the tone. The puzzles were interesting and generally well done. There are two main drawbacks for me. First, I think the game is too short given it’s price. Second, I think the hint system, which is crucial for a game like this, has a terrible flaw. Generally I don’t care that you have to play a mini game to access the walkthrough. The problem is that it shows you the walkthrough for the area you’re in, regardless of where you might be in the chain of puzzles. So you might have access to 6 or 7 areas and not be sure where to go next. You’ll have to go to each area, play the mini game, and hope there’s something you can actually do there. This also means that you will sometimes bypass the actual puzzle accidentally because the walkthrough for the area you’re in just has the final solution to another area’s puzzle.

I’ve heard a lot good reviews before I downloaded it to my iPad. Then I found that maybe the game itself has a unique style, but the experience of playing it is terrible. And I’m sure it’s not my device’s problem since mine is the new iPad Pro and I’ve played many other games while none of them have any issue. 1. The music and sound effects disappeared for many times and restart the game won’t even fix it 2. The whole screen got stuck when I tried to solve a puzzle and went back to normal once I stopped trying. So I have to give up and delete this game because I couldn’t move forward anymore. 3. The controls are very difficult. If you want to use some of the equipments you’ve obtained, you have to place them PRECISELY where they belong and sometimes even try several times for it to work. I still think this is a good game and I assume it might work better on PC or Mac. But please fix these bugs in this iOS version. Look forward to seeing its update.

It’s kind of difficult for me to pull the trigger on a game that costs money these days. There are so many free apps and games out there that I rarely see any value in it. This game is different. I was immediately drawn to this one by its beautiful artwork and animation. It’s like a steampunk-style creation with incredible graphics, a neat little story somehow told with no language, and scores of puzzles that you have to solve with virtually your own brains (though hints and blueprints can be acquired if you really get stuck). My six year-old daughter and I have a blast huddling together over my phone playing together and working out the puzzles with tiny clues often overlooked, and the story progresses at such a steady pace that you just can’t help but get absorbed by it. I would buy this game again and again without hesitation and I would recommend it to anyone.

I've been doing puzzle games since Zork; I've probably played hundreds. I love a good story and difficult solving. Machinarium is my favorite game of all time--killer music and environmental audio, gorgeous visuals, clever puzzling (the garden entrance puzzle may be the best ever). Plus, it has walkthroughs if you just get stumped and can't figure out where to go next. I've played through this probably four times, but always on a computer. On a tiny iPhone 6 screen, it's nearly impossible to see every clue or manipulate every control. The bomb puzzle nearly requires a magnifying glass, and several others had such specific click zones it took dozens of tries for an otherwise easy puzzle. This is really not the fault of the developers--they've built a lush, rich environment, densely packed with visual clues. There's probably no way to make the work on an iPhone. iPad, maybe. Computer, definitely.

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this was a solid 5 star until the arcade level. ok, the spider game to unlock hints was retro and cut, but having the *entire game* riding on how well i can play space invaders without a joystick has totally ruined it for me. (also having the game on the left and controls on the right is just poor design. have been killed wayyyy too many times because i was looking at the arcade game screen on the left and missed the button conveniently located on the opposite side of the screen.) so, yeah, if i wanted to play hours of space invaders i'd go back to the 80's and get usable controls! am going to see if my husband can beat it because i've invested so much time, but there should be an option to skip this nonsense, or play a different game, or an actual puzzle, or find a coin someone else dropped, or pretty much *anything* but this...was excited to buy your other games, but now, not so much...