Human Resource Machine

Human Resource Machine is at heart a piece of educational software. It sets out to teach you the basics of programming, and it does this fairly well. Each level introduces a new concept, and you're not going anywhere until you can get your head round it and produce a piece of code that proves your understanding. As a game... well, it's not one. You can think of the levels as puzzles, but by the time you're designing complex programs and keeping an annotated list of commands for reference, any puzzle-solving feeling has faded away. It's a series of lessons and tests. There is a thin storyline running in the background, but it's negligible and there's nothing you can do to affect it. Given that the program is straightforward education, it's a shame that there's so little help or explanation offered beyond one small hint per level. Once you've amassed your vocabulary of commands and have begun trying to crack harder problems, more guidance would be welcome. There's a general philosophy of throwing you in at the deep end and hoping you figure out how to swim. Overall verdict: What it sets out to do, it does pretty well. I'm mainly disappointed because I bought it under the assumption that it was a strategy game, which it ain't. Approach it as a gamified programming course and, assuming that's what you want, you'll probably enjoy the experience.

It's not proper coding, let's be honest, but the appeal and thrill of assembling all your code and then watching the human get it right cannot be over-stated. My favourite part of the game was actually the babbling noises for the speech for the various the departments, subtle but funny.

The concept of the game is simple: You enter the elevator of some company, and on every new floor there is a new puzzle. For solving the puzzles, only a limited set of instructions/operators is available. So basically you learn how to program Assembler language. You will wind up creating your own »for loops« and so on. You will basically get a certain understanding on how modern, higher-level programming languages work. But never mind: You will be instructed properly, from the very basics. There is absolutely no need to know anything about computers. However, once you have mastered the game (it was up to level 40, I think, with some bonus levels), you will have developed an understanding of how computer programs work without even knowing it. The puzzles show some range in terms of difficulty; playing time of the game, of course, depends on the puzzle skills of the user, but should be two to four hours. Beating the additional task requirements will certainly require additional time; they are rather difficult. A simple small game with really neat logical puzzles and great instructions. The design is nice indeed, but not too opulent. I strongly recommend this game to anyone not shying away from logical puzzles. And, of course, to anyone interested in programming.

I OWN THIS ON MOBILE. This is a legit puzzle game (programming puzzles to be precise) but it happens to be a good way to find out if you have the ability and inclination to be a computer programmer. If you or someone you know is thinking about becoming a programmer, playing this game can save you a lot of pain -if you think it's stupid or impossibly hard, cut your loses and leave. AS A GAME it's straightforward -solve increasingly difficult programming assignments (with bonus points for harder constraints) and climb the corporate ladder. The screenshots and trailers show you all there is to the game -you create a visual program then "run" it by having the little guy move boxes around blindingly following its directions. All other screens show small cutscenes when you earn a promotion -there's no real story to this game, just solving assignments sequentially, although sometimes you can take small detours or alternate paths. Judging from other reviewer's comments, this is a straight port from mobile -that's why you "write" things like variable names or comments with the mouse instead of the keyboard. What I really like about this game is it is real computer programming at a basic level. On mobile it taxed the device a bit, this shouldn't be a problem on PC. While I enjoyed it a lot I didn't finish it -the programming assignments themselves are fine, but the lack of story, even if it's just a cheesy tie-in to your current assignment, means you don't have a lot of motivation to "see it to the end". RECOMMENDED if you like logic puzzles or wanna see if you have what it takes to be a computer programmer.

Human Resource Machine is a fun puzzle game, and should not be mistaken for a game trying to teach programming. It starts with basic problems to get the hang of the game's controls, then escalates to classic programming problems. The challenge is not so much how to imagine the algorithm to solve the problem than to implement it at low level with the limited instruction set. It is similar to a basic assembly language, and it quickly looks like spaghetti code when you try to make your program as small as possible, or as quick as possible, which are the two optional challenges for each problem. Knowing the basic algorithms like how to divide, sort, or extract prime factors helps, but is not mandatory. Overall, it is not very difficult, just solving the problem is quite easy, optimizing sometimes requires more thinking. The implementation is well polished, although without much pretention. Graphics are fine, sounds varied and of good quality. The music is entertaining and not boring, but it is loud and there is no volume control so I had to change my global sound settings. There are nice animations, funny and cheesy jokes, even a very few spoken dialogues. I didn't see any bug or spelling mistake. A solid release overall. The game was obviously targeted at tablets and smartphones. For example, it is possible to insert comments but they must be drawn by hand, and there are almost no settings. I regret that the PC port is mouse-only and doesn't have a few keyboard shortcuts or a way to type comments. A basic setting for the music volume would have been preferable instead of just ON/OFF. However, it is possible to copy/paste in and out of the game, which is sometimes handy since few lines are visible at the same time because of the large font (only annoying for a few problems). I had a lot of fun with the game, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes puzzles and is algorithmic-minded or at least has no objection to low-level programming.