A must-buy for any puzzle game fan!

Posted on 2009-10-01 15:33:35 by SmashManiac:

The first game I played in The Incredible Machine series was Professor Tim's Incredible Machine, also known as The Incredible Machine 3. I have been completely amazed by the wacky-yet-challenging puzzles, the pretty visuals and the varied soundtrack. With more than a hundred puzzles, this game is one of my favorites puzzle games of all time.
The game revolves around placing objects read more in an environment in a paused state in order to complete a specific task when running it. If you miss, you can always return to the original state and try again as many times as you want. In the worst case, if you're stuck, you can always refer to a hint to help you. After solving a puzzle, you can always check a replay or check the official solution. Additionally, the UI never gets in the way and is easy to use. This is a great design and it is very enjoyable.
The game also features a solid level editor powerful enough to allow recreating all of the levels featured in the main game, even up to the backgrounds, plus some extra secret holiday parts that are not featured in the main game. Homemade levels are saved as individual files and they can be shared easily with friends, by email for example.
The sequels, Contraptions and Even More Contraptions, uses the same game engine and soundtrack but with a different interface. Some will prefer the 3D visuals, but personally I prefer the charms of the 2D visuals. Also, those versions of the game have some stability issues, noticeable loading times and the holiday parts were not even updated to the 3D style. Unfortunately, Contraptions is too similar to IM3, as there is only a handful more puzzles, and they are not really challenging. Still, Even More Contraptions is worth playing through once for the extra puzzles. Just remember to turn off the annoying professor's voice.
As for the prequel, Even More Incredible Machine, the style is a bit more serious and the game engine is a bit more primitive. However, there are a lot of puzzles and they are really creative, so you have plenty of brainteasing to do. Note that there is no level editor for the older version, but considering that it also have fewer parts, it is not an issue.
This pack combines all of the official puzzles that were ever created, plus it allows playing all of the homemade levels available on a 2D or 3D style. I highly recommend it.