Yeah, I said a similar thing in another review. “The modern art game feels like the products of a flawed critical standard in an industry that laud ideas, any ideas, more than well-developed artistic talent. An industry that perpetuates the philosophy that on a long enough bell curve even unintelligible ideas look impressive when you’re comparing them to WET.”

Similarly, I think with Machinarium you’re seeing an interesting change of pace in p+c’s largely (possibly only) because of the style. But it’s still the most potent stylistic innovation I’ve seen in the genre for years. I think Machinarium works better as a game when you’re looking at the historical progress of point and clicks, more than it does a game on its own.

Samarost grabbed one’s attention with it’s style, but it didn’t hold it worth a lick. It featured the worst of P&C adventures (pixel hunting, “clever” puzzles) and left out the best part, the text.

I appreciate the comment though, and you make a good point. What I was looking at in the review was a very basic relationship between 2D and 3D graphics in the ’90s, and how graphics serve as one of the most widely acknowledged reasons for the fall of Adventure Games from the mainstream. Yes with McKracken you saw an enhanced interface, hell, you could say the same with the interactive-movie boom, the introduction of live-action footage and the likes of bloody Phantasmagoria. But neither are brilliant examples of innovation leading to longevity of the genre.

If you feel like there are major flaws in the argument or holes in the historical context then that’s completely fine and thank you for the input, but please don’t insult my intelligence because I will fucking break you.

Em

In 1984 half of the top ten bestselling games were text adventures. TEXT adventures. Ever heard of Infocom? And in 1987 Lucasfilm Games stormed the charts with Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken and took the point and click interface to way beyond what Sierra had ever done.

Do you actually know what you are talking about?

I completed it this weekend and although it’s short (a similar length to a Monkey Island episode) it’s well-rounded and enjoyable. The story is simple yet charming and I’d love to see this world revisited.

Point & click games often heavily rely on humour to mask the often trial and error nature of the genre – but Machinarium’s game design stands up so well I never felt I was wasting my time, even though the game can be a challenge.

The visuals are simply amazing – possibly the best 2D work I’ve seen in a game. The audio is great too and I really appreciated the overall attention to detail.