Post by Gilvan Blight on Nov 19, 2007 14:36:17 GMT -5
My father was cleaning out his Gaming room and shipped over a box of old PC games for me to pick through, this was one of them.
Quickly: as fun as the original with more bits and the ability to make your own levels.
[glow=blue,2,300]Summary:[/glow]
The is the sequel to the Sierra Online hit, The Incredible Machine. This is a puzzle game that challenges the player to create a variety of rube Goldberg style machines to complete some simple assigned task. There are over 100 levels starting off with the uber easy tutorials, and slowly getting harder and harder. For most early puzzles there is only one right way to win, but later puzzles may have more then one possible solution. You can compare the solution you came up with to what the people at Sierra came up with and can sometimes even come up with better ones then them. Some additions to this second release include being able to have more then one player account, a ton of new tools and gadgets, all new puzzles, a voice acted narrator (that's rather amusing), and being able to build your own levels. The last bit is the most interesting as you can make the puzzle of your dreams and then upload it for others to try to beat it.
[glow=green,2,300]The Good:[/glow]
Classic puzzle solving greatness. I loved the original game and I am quickly racking up hours on this sequel. The new tools are great additions. Things like walls with different densities, that are affected differently by different objects (especially explosives) make for some interesting puzzles. The addition of programmable objects is even better. These objects let you change the physics or some other aspect of them after you place them. An example is the Programmable Ball: you can change the elasticity, density and friction on it, enabling you to make it a high energy super bounce ball, or an unmoving rock. Really this is just the first game with lots more objects, more interesting physics (the antigrav disk rocks) and a lot more puzzles. The ability to create your own puzzles is cool, but not something I will be bothering with myself.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Bad[/glow]
The tutorials are painfully easy and go on for 20 puzzles. The next 30 or so won't be challenging to even the simplest of minds either. So you waste a lot of time getting up to a real challenge. This is an older game and it shows. No fancy 3d graphics here, no real time lighting, no shadows. It's not really that bad though as it is a puzzle game, but it does look dated. No hints when you are stuck. Except for a search online, there is no way to give up on a puzzle you can't figure out, no hint system except for the really basic ones they give you at the start of each level.
[glow=red,2,300]The Ugly[/glow]
The announcer was amusing at first and then just started to get annoying. Especially when you accidentally click on a hint when you want to pick up an object near one. Even worse is the music. It's good that they included a few different styles of music to choose from, which is better then the original, but it still only took about 3 songs before I muted the music and put mp3s on.
[glow=purple,2,300]Overall:[/glow]
Have to admit I still love this series. I don't know exactly how old this sequel is, but it's still a ton of fun. If you liked the first one, you will love this one, the new bits really do add quite a lot of gameplay. If you never played the first, I suggest you skip that and try this one. Based on it's age you should be able to find it cheap.
Quickly: as fun as the original with more bits and the ability to make your own levels.
[glow=blue,2,300]Summary:[/glow]
The is the sequel to the Sierra Online hit, The Incredible Machine. This is a puzzle game that challenges the player to create a variety of rube Goldberg style machines to complete some simple assigned task. There are over 100 levels starting off with the uber easy tutorials, and slowly getting harder and harder. For most early puzzles there is only one right way to win, but later puzzles may have more then one possible solution. You can compare the solution you came up with to what the people at Sierra came up with and can sometimes even come up with better ones then them. Some additions to this second release include being able to have more then one player account, a ton of new tools and gadgets, all new puzzles, a voice acted narrator (that's rather amusing), and being able to build your own levels. The last bit is the most interesting as you can make the puzzle of your dreams and then upload it for others to try to beat it.
[glow=green,2,300]The Good:[/glow]
Classic puzzle solving greatness. I loved the original game and I am quickly racking up hours on this sequel. The new tools are great additions. Things like walls with different densities, that are affected differently by different objects (especially explosives) make for some interesting puzzles. The addition of programmable objects is even better. These objects let you change the physics or some other aspect of them after you place them. An example is the Programmable Ball: you can change the elasticity, density and friction on it, enabling you to make it a high energy super bounce ball, or an unmoving rock. Really this is just the first game with lots more objects, more interesting physics (the antigrav disk rocks) and a lot more puzzles. The ability to create your own puzzles is cool, but not something I will be bothering with myself.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Bad[/glow]
The tutorials are painfully easy and go on for 20 puzzles. The next 30 or so won't be challenging to even the simplest of minds either. So you waste a lot of time getting up to a real challenge. This is an older game and it shows. No fancy 3d graphics here, no real time lighting, no shadows. It's not really that bad though as it is a puzzle game, but it does look dated. No hints when you are stuck. Except for a search online, there is no way to give up on a puzzle you can't figure out, no hint system except for the really basic ones they give you at the start of each level.
[glow=red,2,300]The Ugly[/glow]
The announcer was amusing at first and then just started to get annoying. Especially when you accidentally click on a hint when you want to pick up an object near one. Even worse is the music. It's good that they included a few different styles of music to choose from, which is better then the original, but it still only took about 3 songs before I muted the music and put mp3s on.
[glow=purple,2,300]Overall:[/glow]
Have to admit I still love this series. I don't know exactly how old this sequel is, but it's still a ton of fun. If you liked the first one, you will love this one, the new bits really do add quite a lot of gameplay. If you never played the first, I suggest you skip that and try this one. Based on it's age you should be able to find it cheap.