Crazy Machines 2
Rube Goldberg redux
Tags: Crazy Machines 2 Categories: PC Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Jake McNeill on Jul 8th, 2008
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Crazy Machines 2 (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Puzzle | Yes | ||
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For those who don’t know what a Rube Goldberg machine is, take a minute and type the term into YouTube and watch a few videos. Go on, I’ll wait. Essentially, we’re talking about a “machine” consisting of various everyday objects linked together to form chain reactions resulting in an outcome that’s generally ridiculously simple compared to the complexity of the machine used to do it.
Much like its predecessor and the Incredible Machines series, Crazy Machines 2 features a host of puzzles built around such devices, as well as the ability for players to build their own and share them online. However, despite the fact that we’ve been seeing games of this sort for over 15 years now, the list of advancements between then and now isn’t as impressive as one might think.
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While Crazy Machines 2 tries to advertise itself as a brand-new 3D spin on the formula, it’s really the same 2D gameplay with some shiny new graphics. They’re not even all that shiny, either. Oh, there are decent fire and smoke effects here, and of course the entire game is built around a somewhat-realistic physics system, but there’s nothing here to write home about. To be fair, the game does have 20 levels specifically designed for video cards with Nvidia’s PhysX system (you can’t play them without one), but in my opinion, this counts against the game instead of for it, as it’s presented as a low-end game that shouldn’t have such specific requirements anyway.
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The nifty 3D graphics have another drawback, as well – they make the game’s levels look unnecessarily complex and busy, an issue made worse by the fact that the game’s levels are excessively cluttered. One of the beautiful things about a well-designed Rube Goldberg machine is that, as convoluted as it may be, every part is put to use in some way or another, and this efficiency of design seems to have been completely lost on the game’s creators.
Case in point – instructions given to players before puzzles are extremely long-winded and unnecessarily confusing, including lots of pointless story tidbits while often making the goals themselves unclear. Given that the goals can get ludicrously complex (get ball A to box 1, ball B to box 2 and ball C to box 3, but ball B has to be first, ball C second, and ball A third, and while you’re at it, pop balloon X but not balloon Y. Get all that?).
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Perhaps to compensate for this, many of the game’s puzzles provide the player with pieces that seem oddly custom-designed for the task they’ve been set out to accomplish – a platform curved exactly the way you need to get a ball from point A to B, a gear belt that could only be attached in one location, or some other random item whose placement will be so obvious to a player that it’s less a matter of solving a puzzle and more like filling in the blanks.
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The sad thing is that most of these issues weren’t present in the game’s predecessors (Crazy Machines and Crazy Machines 1.5) which, while not blessed with 3D graphics, at least had the whole efficient-design thing down pat. Because of this, any recommendation of Crazy Machines 2 has to be a half-hearted one, as the series has essentially taken one step forward and two steps back. And while that may be an interesting way to start a Rube Goldberg machine, it’s no way to progress a series.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Rube Goldberg machines are fun! + Woo! New 3D graphics! |
6.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- The gameplay is still 2D - The 3D graphics aren’t that good - Some levels require a very specific type of video card - The game’s design is ridiculously cluttered in a way that works against the gameplay - Puzzle instructions and goals are often far too complex and long-winded - Often, objects players are given to place to solve puzzles are far too convenient |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Crazy Machines 2 adds 3D graphics but also brings with it a clunky design that ultimately makes it less fun. | |
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Tags: Crazy Machines 2
Posted by Jake McNeill on Jul 8th, 2008 and is filed under PC Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
