|
The Incredible Machine 3
 As it's the third in the series, this version of Sierra's Incredible Machine won't be too much of a surprise for many of you. In spite of this it's still packed with puzzles and has a range of new gadgets to manipulate. Also it deserves attention because very likely there are more than one or two of you who haven't yet sampled the delights and frustration of watching the bouncing balls and cats and rats (well, mice really) zapping around the screen as your carefully thought-out strategy falls into tatters. Oh dear, there's an immovable obstacle in the way of the laser beam and it missed its target switch by an nth of a millimetre. Back to the drawing board.
This game was released sometime last year and is marketed for players from the age of six up though most often you will find it in the children's section of your local computer game retailer. There is some merit to this categorisation as the limited commentary is certainly speaking more to children than adults and, although it's suitable for everyone, it is an excellent series for a wide range of children.
Like its predecessors the Incredible Machine 3 consists of a collection of mechanical type puzzles that become progressively more difficult as you move through the list. Each puzzle is presented with a commentary stating the unique objective of that particular game and, by manipulating the game window size, it is possible to display this objective in text just in case you lose track of what you're doing during the course of play.
As for the puzzles, the main playing area is dotted with numerous objects or gadgets such as walls of various shapes, buckets, cogs, pulleys, cannons, anti-gravity mats and electric motors; and, depending on the respective aim of the puzzle, your job will be to get young Mel safely home or to put the ball in the basket, trap the cat or give the poor mouse a feed of cheese. In order to achieve your objective you firstly need to locate the 'target' object (the one you must manipulate and get to a particular spot) then select the action button and start the ball rolling, so to speak, and observe what happens. Then you must operate the objects on screen and to give you a helping hand you are provided with some additional objects that are displayed in a bar down the right hand side of the screen. Some of these gadgets are useful, some are just red herrings, and many of the puzzles have more than one solution.
The puzzles are divided into five groups beginning with a tutorial group. This is the perfect place for younger children to start. Here you can learn how the various gadgets work and the puzzles are very simple. Pure imitation will solve a fair slice of them as many screens consist of parallel puzzles, one complete and one that you must construct yourself. After this initial group the following levels become gradually more complicated until there are numerous gadgets crowding the screen and just as many 'spares' for you to choose from to complete the puzzle.
This is a particularly good title with which kids can both learn and have fun judging angles, connecting up motors and cogs and pipes and raising and lowering buckets. Younger children will certainly need help with the latter groups which will give parents a good excuse to try their hand. Not that you need to be a parent or even need an excuse to enjoy these addictive puzzles. The game saves automatically each time you quit and there are a number of game slots so that several players can play at different times whilst having their progress recorded separately. There is also a two player mode as well as an option for interested players to construct their own puzzles and test them out on unsuspecting friends and family.
The Incredible Machine 3 runs in Windows and is also available in a Mac version.
Copyright © Rosemary Young 1996.
All rights reserved.
|
