It probably has some good aspects that have been massively done before in more dimensions, but were it could of shined was voxel based rotating isometric (3 kingdoms kickstarter). As a 2d platformer though I find it a painfully horrendous an idea; in fact I would even go so far as to say I would rather relive days of your and play pool of radiance than try this game.
I expected a horribly dull game by the look. I expected to put this game down after a single try to go back to playing my minecraft addiction or sims3' or even 1 of over 200 games on my system. I expected countless deaths at least to get tedious. In fact theres little not to love about the game. It will suck you in with a just one more try attitude as you aim for the next ship onlock to 'work that weasel... and knock it up a notch'. My best thoughts on why it's so good is that it is almost as if it was one of the best co-op space survival sim boardgame, except unlike most things has not been ruined in it's transition from turnbased to realtime. Put simply the game is a time sink and though it may not enrapture an audience the only negative i could find is the difficulty trolling through shop after shop for a specific weapon to complete an achievement. Lets face it that's my own 'completionist' fault not actually a tarnish of the games brilliance.
Admittedly I'm no expert on the game, I play things like the Total War series, Europa Universalis 3 and many other strategy games. I have however recently spent quite a bit of time trying to learn the ins and outs of this game. As a clan you must appease your god through sacrifice and god-quests representing a significant drain on not only your resources but the risk of losing your clans backbone (the characters). Every time you change something the season is moved forward and a random event happens... not too bad so far aye? Well the problem is as a peaceful clan (you know the one that are all farmers and potters) you never seem able to get enough food or defence to protect your holdings going. As a balanced tribe you gain no real advantage because you need the extremes to even make minor headway and as such the biggest reliance factor is on the totally random objects you discover. As a war clan you will be beaten now and then by armies that should not of been able to recover the manpower, slowing down the raiding you need to accomplish to feed your clan and when your 300 strong force steals a whopping whole 27 cows while an enemy sneaks past your built tower, crosses your no mans land ditch over your stone wall then sharpened palisade stealing 30 cows apparently straight out the only way (the front door) of course 'without being noticed' you quickly find this game for all it supposedly offers is a waste of time. The game has a lot of promise in it, it can in fact be fun. However do not look at this game to be any sort of enjoyment if you would like to feel like you've got any control building, maintaining and expanding a tribe and it's abilities because simply put you have slim to none in control. The easiest setting alleviates none of this titles problems and to be completely honest the options don't really seem to change (there are set events like duck-men taking over some of your land), the quests are a little different but you can send 2 completely similar questers through the trials and one will die with the exact same choices seeming not to take into account attributes or in fact whether there is a right or wrong choice. You can and I have had over 60 'knights' protecting the land and still have people breaking in to steal your cattle without getting caught, begging the question why have defenders or defence at all? You would naturally think okay switch to diplomacy but the random events like tusk raiders etc. mean that you will still be bent over a proverbial barrel as you get raipded time and again. At the end of the day after playing all 3 clan types I don't actually see much use to any of them, they change your magic allocation at the start of the sacred year but don't seem to really do much for you. In summary this game has too many flaws to make it a game you will continue to waste time learning how to be good at and if you are someone who will, you will find yourself sorely punished by it's inherent randomizations that in essence robs you of any control over how the game plays out.
I will be up front with my bias I did not particularly enjoy Myst, though i have played my fair share of adventure games. Adventure games such as Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Discworld 2. Machinariums only longevity is in that it's puzzles are maddeningly illogical, there is no hand holding or in a better sense 'context' to how you are meant to get through them. For me I found that to be extremely annoying because for as much beauty as there is in it's hand drawn style it's inner workings are about as engaging as drawing cards from a deck and constantly saying ace of spades till you finally get one. Perhaps I could forgive that, but out of the entire game I can only remember off the top of my head 5 different scenes and that it took me less than 1-2 hours to get through once I got fed up with the stupid style of puzzles and resorted to guides to track down the elusive attachment I happened not to grab. It invites one to wonder what it's suppose to be? is it focused on being a single player puzzle game, is it focused on a deep artful and emotional story. It certainly feels like it fell short on both accounts quite literally. Don't get me wrong it has some nice characters, but the puzzles detract rather than enhance the story (though it's certainly no l.a. noire crime story); and the story does nothing to put you in the right frame of thinking to make sense of the puzzles (A.K.A. Discworld 2 with the 1 ton wrecking ball, though perhaps my familiarity with the written series may of helped in that regard). In my not so humble (admittedly) opinion a better click puzzle adventure is already present for free on GOG.com. I of course am talking about Beneath a Steel Sky. I don't need to go into a review of that product on this page. However It is suffice to say that 'Beneath a Steel Sky', by large makes sense, is difficult though not in the sense the maker was just being a jerk to annoy you, has an engaging storyline, great characters and lastly has an equally artful if not better style to it. When looking at the past adds for Machinarium you get the feel that it's going to be a fun, open, lightly puzzle orientated, story of a scale akin to 'I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream', but sadly like quite a lot of new titles these days it just did not live up to the image it was marketed to. In summary the game is bad because of a failure by it's use of illogical puzzles & pitifully short playtime
The peak of the series, deadly shadows while graphically superior feel massively dumbed down almost consolized in comparison. As a series the game play is stunning and unique using stealth as a key factor & rewarding you for being what you really are 'a thief' and not just any thief. In the metal age you are Garrett, master thief and temporary ally of one of the three main factions (the keepers). What makes this series truly great though is that the top notch game play is mixed with the best storyline revealed in cut scenes that reveal the dark and gritty fantasy world Garrett exists in. This series is for the completionist because though extremely challenging it is immensely rewarding leaving no stone unturned as part of the challenge to strip the metaphorical 'gold from their teeth'.
For it's day dark reign was top of it's class and in fact i still nostalgicly like to play it even now. Coming from someone who has access to this game (getting it to install it's expansion pack even on vista 64bit) from the original discs (those who've tried over the years know what i mean) the titles graphics have simply not aged well and while on a netbook screen the game retains some enjoyeability (albiet because todays technology can run it decently on a portable platform), unfortunately a gamer like me simply can't bare to play it on a large fullhd screen. Don't get me wrong the gameplay is solid, in fact compared to supreme commanders game mechanics and apparently it's sequels mechanics it kicks some serious arse in terms of providing an enjoyeable experience. One that is culminated by the utility of it's ai pathing/engagement system (also available to the player), largely balanced tech tree based primarily on price instead of supcoms/earth 21<insert 40/50/60 here> research tree, some changeable on the fly unit roles (supcom doesn't have this and it ends up feeling like youre using pawns knights rooks and of course super queens in a abstract artists conception of chess), depleteable but ever present funding meening you can't have all youre efforts to win a mission or complete an epic struggle against a friend dashed simply because you ran out of crystal (once again earth series), and i suppose lastly is the ability to basically mod everything (you can make you're own maps and unit modding is as simple as writing in new text if not easier). For me it's just a shame i already own the game and know i no longer play it. In fact going so far as to play supcom more often due simply to the fact the graphics are that painful in todays era for what it is. All in all that shouldn't proscribe you from buying it if you haven't played it before and have only played recent RTS's as it is in fact well worth the price.
It's hard to put a finger on why i don't like this one as much, but here i go. It seems to take itself a little too seriously for what it is. New shader effects and increased graphics are loved by many, but in this simplistic game seems only fit to clutter the scene and detract from what you're ultimate goal is (mindless slaughter). I meen is this a resident evil horror game? Is it an RPG? Who cares what my character looks like and why do marines carry around friction powered torches that only last for 30 seconds? It seems to carry this casual franchise too far away from what made it good; just how casual the game was. Now with depleting reserves and upgraded weapons that may as well be represented as pistol +1 or rifles +2 you end up with the idea of taking weapons based solely on their damage spec or taking a gun like a desert eagle and doing pretty much no damage. Don't get me wrong it's worth the price being DRM free, it's just that everything alien shooter is doesn't seem to exactly be helped with the changes the developer has made in the series. What they should have focused on is different modes like perhaps a pinball & tower defense modes or even a leaderboard time attack mode.
