The Incredible Machine
1992
- puzzle
- comedy
- single player
The story
The Incredible Machine is a puzzle game. You have to solve different puzzles by building the incredible machine. You have predefined quantity of given building blocks and you have to build the machine to finish a simple goal. There are many different building blocks like ropes, pulleys, electrical generators, bowling balls, cats, mice and many more. The levels usually have some fixed objects that cannot be moved by the player, so you have to arrange the given building blocks around the fixed items.
What it’s like
Bright, cartoonish pixel art in a flat, cheerful palette of primary colours, with each puzzle laid out like a tidy stage set: a pale room, a tilted floor, a cat dozing on a shelf, a cage waiting for a mouse. Motion is the pleasure here. Bowling balls roll down ramps, ropes snap taut over pulleys, a conveyor belt hums into motion, and a balloon drifts up with a soft wobble, all with plinks, clunks and comic boings rather than any bombast. Between attempts the screen goes quiet and the builder sits still, waiting for you to press go. Vibe: playful, tinkering, gently absurd. It suits a rainy afternoon, a spare half hour, or a stretch of quiet thinking with nothing to rush. Pacing is set by you: long pauses to plan, then a burst of chain reaction when the contraption fires. Stakes are low and frustration is mild; failure just means a wrong ramp angle and another go. Intensity is very low. Mishaps are slapstick, with a cat bonked or a mouse sent scurrying, and no real violence, gore or fear. For people who enjoy logic puzzles, Rube Goldberg chaos, and the satisfaction of making a clever machine work.
More games like The Incredible Machine
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved The Incredible Machineand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
