There’s a certain degree of charm in watching inhuman species exhibit human behaviour. Whether it’s our pets attempting to flush the toilet, or a fictional alien character emulating human expressions in an animated film, it never ceases to bring a smile to our faces. The geniuses at Amanita Design have chosen to harness the power of this natural reaction with the creation of Machinarium, an immaculately illustrated traditional adventure game set in a world of adorable automatons. It doesn’t revolutionize the point-and-click gameplay that the genre is known for, but with a cast of delightfully-human robotic characters, it certainly pushes all the right buttons.
The game begins with the pieces of our nameless robotic protagonist getting dumped, for reasons presently unknown, in a junkyard on the outskirts of a towering mechanical metropolis. Thankfully, due to his robotic nature, and the assistance of a robotic rodent, he is capable of putting his body back together – but remember kids, you can’t! Shortly after being reassembled, our automaton’s adventure begins with a trek back toward the city from which he was just expelled. This journey is accomplished through a series of screens that act as individual puzzles for the player to solve through clever use of the surrounding environment and some creative inventory management. However, the journey is much more than mere puzzle solving, as a surprisingly engaging story emerges in Machinarium as well.
The execution of this story is made all the more surprising by the complete lack of dialogue in the game, written or spoken. Instead, the characters of Machinarium converse telepathically, with thought bubbles filled with animated sketches provided for the benefit of the player. These animations are beautifully illustrated, wonderfully convey each character’s emotion and intent, and are quite often very funny. Through these pictograms we learn more about the inhabitants of the mechanical city, the reason our protagonist was expelled from it, a terrible plot to destroy its largest tower, and even a tale of love. These conversations are just one of the many brilliant highlights of Machinarium’s distinctive visual style.
The graphics are two-dimensional, comprised of highly-detailed hand-drawn sketches, and bathed in moody neutral tones and drab, desaturated colours. Still, the world of Machinarium feels very much alive, thanks to the amount of animation and interactivity weaved into each screen. Small robotic insects scurry about, steam pours out of vents, lights flicker, water drops from exposed pipes, and gears and pistons shift and turn to keep the heart of the city beating. The fantastic animations aren’t limited to the environments either, as the robotic characters themselves benefit from a wealth of expressive and often amusing animations as well. Where most games of this nature would often recycle a small set of key animations over and over again, the characters of Machinarium, most notably our protagonist, benefit from a vast pool of unique animations – rarely doing things the same way twice – resulting in a silent, robotic hero with a very human personality.
However, being a robot, our little hero is capable of doing things that humans cannot (beyond putting himself back together), such as stretching his torso and limbs to interact with the environment in different ways. By clicking on his head and dragging up or down, our protagonist will grow and shrink as desired, enabling him to reach items dangling above or to squeeze into a small ventilation shaft. Furthermore, despite his size, our hero apparently has a rather spacious interior, as he collects items by swallowing them and stores his inventory in his stomach. As with most adventure games, items in the inventory can be called upon at any time or combined to make new items entirely, and whenever an item is needed to proceed, our hero merely pulls it out of his mouth.
You’ll need these abilities and some solid logic if you wish to help our protagonist complete his journey, but be prepared to get stuck from time to time. While some of the puzzles are more traditional in nature, several of the screens require a much more abstract approach in order to solve them. The solutions are similar in nature to a Rube Goldberg machine, achieving a very simple goal or task in a complicated or convoluted manner. Normally, this manner of puzzle would be incredibly frustrating to solve, but the character and charm of Machinarium makes even the failed attempts a delight to watch. Additionally, there is no way to lose or perish in the game, as you are awarded as much time as you need in order to overcome the puzzle at hand.
Though if you find that your patience draws thin, and you’d rather put a particular puzzle behind you, Amanita Design has implemented two very welcome options for assistance, each offering a different degree of help. The first comes in the form of the idea button, which makes our protagonist think about the final step of the puzzle, illustrating it in a thought bubble similar to the telepathic conversations. The beauty of this method is that the game shows you what your goal should be, which is not always obvious at first, but doesn’t spoil how to achieve it. Ideally, with this new-found sense of direction, players should be able to work out how to accomplish their goal, but that won’t always be the case, and that’s where the second assistance tool comes in. For those completely stuck, Amanita Design has provided a solution book for each screen. However, obtaining that solution isn’t as simple as clicking on the book icon, or it would be far too tempting to use. Once the book is clicked, players are forced to play a shoot-’em-up mini-game in which they control a flying key traversing a cave fraught with deadly perils. If the key successfully navigates the cave, reaching the keyhole at the end, the book will open and reveal the step-by-step solution for that screen. It’s a beautifully illustrated and beautifully designed system that on more than one occasion actually discouraged me from spoiling the solution for myself, but I certainly appreciated its inclusion nonetheless.
While working out the solutions to each puzzle, or merely getting lost in the gorgeous visuals, Amanita Design has seen fit to serenade us with some wonderful music. Much like the environments in the game, the score is both moody and subdued, relying mostly on atmospheric electronic tones. Each area uses slight variations of the themes heard in those before it, or new themes altogether if the situation demands. The themes certainly aren’t memorable pieces, but they fit perfectly with the world and atmosphere that Machinarium presents. Additionally, and I know this is just conjecture on my part, the subdued and relaxing tones may help most players think. In fact, I have found the music to be so beneficial in this regard that I have actually left the game running in the background so that I may listen to it while I work (even as I write this review). Could we get a soundtrack, please?
The adventure game genre is all but extinct in the modern age of gaming, yet it seems that every year we are treated to one masterpiece such as Machinarium that keeps hopes for the genre’s triumphant return. Unfortunately, the experience is brief, as most players, especially genre veterans, will complete the game in six to eight hours, but every minute spent in this robotic world is a very pleasing one. For traditional adventure game fans, or just fans of games that make you both think and smile, Machinarium could very well be the best $20 you spend this year.
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