Mechanical bullies

Machinarium is from small Czech indie developer who have previously released Samorost 1 & 2. Both Samorost games are traditional point&click games running on Flash. The special thing about the Samorost games is their unique art style. Machinarium follows the same game-play and stylish art style.
  

As the name implies there is lot's on machines in the game. The main character is in fact a small robot. Not much is told about the story at first. Josef, our small robot is thrown out castle he lives in. Task is to get back in to the castle and to his partner. During his journey back to the castle he encounters several advisories who have at earlier time bullied him. These flashbacks are shown as a simple drawn thought bubbles. He also discovers bigger danger to the whole castle which he needs to take care of as well. Not to mention freeing his partner and assist the ruler of the mechanical castle.

Level design or rather the puzzle design is smartly done. To progress to next location(screen) a puzzle need to be solved in more or less every screen. These are mostly done with items and machines found on that same screen. Also there is not too much backtracking which is a positive note in my book. Although there are some really funny combination's are required to progress. Funny in sense that one might not know what that contraption does to begin with. A number of more logical and straight forward puzzles need to be solved as well. Such as rotate or magnetic puzzles which are in form of some strange mechanical contraptions. Josef's has also a unique ability where he can extend or contract his torso. Couple of retro themed mini-games such as Space Invaders needs to be played.

The weird art style of Machinarium relays a cold Metropolis-esq feel. At times feeling cartoon book like. If Richard Scarry had done steampunk, this how it had looked like. Minimalistic animations are adorable and manage to express emotions perfectly. Music is low-key avant garde that suit the bizarre mechanical world. 

For a flash game there is good 8h worth of adventure here. Fans of point&click this definitely worth checking.  Like on my Samorost 2 review I recommend checking out Samorost 1 out first since its available freely. Machinarium is more polished and way longer experience of course. Only downside here is the simplicity. Josef can not die and there is only way of going through the puzzles/screens. Still very enjoyable experience no doubt.