Machinarium

The Good
Machinarium, developed with a minimum budget of 1000$, is a classic point'n'click game from Czech team Amanita Design. It's written in flash and features a classic 3rd person view, like Monkey Island and many other classics.

After a fast and minimal installation, you'll find yourself instantly thrown in a sort of decadent and dystopic future, where machines and robots are the only things around, and seem to have feelings too. Everything is rusty and in a bad shape, and the hand-drawn environment gives you the creeps: details attention is maniacal, and the overall look is astounding. Characters are wonderful as well, with funny animations and terrific style.

Such atmosphere pairs with a classic, yet fresh, game system. You just click anywhere in the screen to move your little metal friend, and eventually click on him to stretch his body in order to reach certain spots. Interaction is limited to the object in sight, so there's a little bit of walking around involved (nothing to worry about). To pick up an object you simply click on it, and the robot eats (!) it: his stomach seems to have room for almost anything.

Speaking of inventory, the approach is really similar to Monkey Island, although more simplistic: you can solve puzzles and find object in a non-specific order, albeit you'll get stuck if you don't follow the exact sequence. Each puzzle has only a solution anyway, so this sort of freedom is somewhat fake, but gives you the right feeling.

A special mention must be done for the music: simply fantastic, with futuristic and classical tunes melt together to create a fantastic experience (Amanita released the soundtrack in mp3 with the game, but you can buy an extra CD with more tunes and even a limited edition vinyl!).

The Bad
The game overall works perfectly, even if you'll get a little annoyed by some puzzles (but is subjective, anyway) and every now and then interface seems to be less precise than other similar games, but it happens rarely and you'll get used to very quickly. Another downside is the overall length: an expert can go through in a breeze, while others will take a little while due to some difficult spots.

The Bottom Line
Aside those little issues,Machinarium stands still as one of the best point and click adventures of the last decade, and surely one you'll want in your library, considering the astonishing graphics, great soundtrack, charming characters and an overall atmosphere that let's you forget the real world for a couple of hours and sucks you in with undeniable class. All for less than 20 bucks :)