Customer Reviews

Crazy Machines 1 - The Wacky Contraptions Game [Download]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I downloaded this as a Christmas present for my kids. I've now spent the better part of 6 hours attempting to get it installed properly. The install process informs me that the Serial Number is wrong. Amazon says them's the breaks, and Viva Software appears to be out to lunch, perhaps permanently. This is precisely the sort of problem that makes downloadable apps such a crapshoot. Maybe it works, maybe not. But I doubt that I'll ever find out.

This game is just what I expected -- a series of kinetic puzzles and Rube Goldberg-style contraptions. That means you build, set things in motion and even blow things up. In each puzzle you have a few parts to use, various simple machines and more complex pieces like levers, basketballs, bombs, steam engines, pipes, candles, electric motors, ropes, pulleys, crossbows, magnets, and the list goes on.... It reminds me of the Incredible Machine game I enjoyed at a much younger age. My 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter each enjoy playing, though it seems to hold my attention the longest.

Now the techie side of things: Reading the other reviews, I was a bit concerned about the download and installation. Not to worry, it downloaded and installed just fine on our old XP machine. In the many hours playing through 102 levels, it did crash twice (the game, not the computer), but I could easily start the game again and continue where I left off. It did not work at all on Vista, and completely crashed the computer every time I tried to run it on Vista. So, when it says XP-compatible, it means XP-compatible. It looks like you can re-download from Amazon anytime, so in some ways, that's safer delivery than CD-based games that you could scratch or lose at any time, as anyone with young children knows can be a problem, especially with games that make you keep the CD in the drive for it to run. That's the good news. The bad news is I haven't figured out yet how to make this game run with Limited User Accounts, so until then, I'll just need to let the kids play the game on my account login, which has administrator privileges. The LUA issue was not such a big deal when this game was written, so this one gets a pass. If it was more recent software, I would dock it a star.

I down loaded it thinking that it would work with windows 7. no such luck. I wish i would have bought the cd rom. wasted 14$...:(


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A great game for a great price. Yes it can be difficult at times but it is something for all ages and that the whole family can work on and enjoy together....

To eliminate the "insufficient privileges" error message when running this game in Windows 7, install the 32 or 64 bit drivers (depending on your system) that can be found here: tagesprotection.com. Go to the "drivers" section of this website and download and install the file that applies to your hardware. The file name should be something like "TagesSetup.exe" or "TagesSetup_x64.exe".

As with the other reviewers I as unable to activate the software because the activation server was down. Amazon claims no responsibility as they are "only the middle man". It was Amazon who billed my credit card and Amazon provides no contact information to obtain a refund or working software.

this is a completely worthless game! I installed it and it simply will not open/work/run. A total waste of $12.00. Thanks for nothing, Amazon, literally!

My review is exactly like the one presented previously. Amazon.com sells software they are unable to support and won't provide a refund for if it doesn't work. They referred me to the manufacturer and basically said I was out of luck if they couldn't help me. I will never purchase software from Amazon.com again.
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The Software May be Great, But I'll Never Know, December 24, 2008
By Charles M. Scruby "mattu from Hyde Park"

I downloaded this as a Christmas present for my kids. I've now spent the better part of 6 hours attempting to get it installed properly. The install process informs me that the Serial Number is wrong. Amazon says them's the breaks, and Viva Software appears to be out to lunch, perhaps permanently. This is precisely the sort of problem that makes downloadable apps such a crapshoot. Maybe it works, maybe not. But I doubt that I'll ever find out.

I downloaded the software thru Amazon downloader on my daughter machine -- with parental control on -- and it crashed. It happened to me also with the MP3 downloader. I can't believe Amazon cannot hire decent programming companies.
Well, then I installed it with Admin rights, and then the executable didn't work thwe first time, then I uninstalled it and reinstalled again. Now I click on the desktop icon and it does nothing. What a waste of money and time.

Downloaded four times and still will not work. This product is not worth downloading. I hope amazon fixes it otherwise I feel sorry for people. I was really interested in this game.

Used to like this type of game as a kid, now it just doesn't seem quite challenging enough. Always wanted something more like a chemistry set type of game.