The XBLA era was tumultuous not for the games being released, but for the way in which they had to be. Developers of FEZ, Super Meat Boy, and Monaco have documented their issues with the program, and while it has since been fixed with the Xbox One, some classics were left out. One of these was Machinarium, which has since released on current generation platforms. In other words, here’s the magic you missed.
Gameplay:
Machinarium’s presentation and narrative are it’s true highlights, but its important to identify how much it’s gameplay also serves as building blocks for it’s greatness. One of the reasons for this is the diversity of difficulty the game presents, so you won’t have to do another brain flexing task after you just breathed a sigh of relief. The game also recognizes if you want to play it a bit simpler (using hints) and doesn’t even treat you badly for it. Compared to how some other titles have butchered this, Machinarium is friendly like no other.
Story & Design:
Machinarium has no dialogue, and if it was your typical 8-bit themed indie platformer, this likely wouldn’t go well considering the ways it tries to tell a story. However, the game invests a lot into atmosphere, so you never feel left out. Language is an important part of all of us, but sometimes, it’s nice to abandon it for truer feelings, which Machinarium presents so, so well.
Presentation/ Visuals & Audio:
Machinarium is very interesting in the way it builds it’s themes with presentation. There’s never a loss of focus, so you always know how the main protagonist is really feeling. Even better, there’s a beautiful contrast accomplished in the game’s world. 2016 titles like INSIDE are great and all, but it’s refreshing to see the depression toned down.
Conclusion:
If you haven’t played Machinarium and own a Playstation 4, the ways in which you should spend your gaming budget are now a no-brainer. The ways it expresses emotion are just masterful, and seem a whole lot better than some of the other forced AAA shlock in the industry.
Machinarium gets a 9/10 (Superb)
We’d like to thank Amanita Design for giving us a code!
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