Customer Reviews

The Clockwork Man [Download]

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

 

 

This is a beautiful hidden object game. Some of the scenes are panoramic, while others allow for zooming-- making it more innovative than most games of this nature. The over all look is rather appealing-- sort of this mechanical/victorian fantasy world. I loved the main character's white hair-- and also loved the cute little sprocket assistant. Over the course of game sprocket gets upgrades that help with the hint system and change the game play. The story is standard-- essentially the headstrong heroine off in search of her missing grandfather. However, the distinctness of the characters and fantasy world makes up for this. The ending was also quite good. I can not wait for the sequel.

I wish this game worked correctly for me, since it's beautiful and has an interesting storyline. However, when I finally give up hunting and use the robot to locate an object, I find there's no object in the area the robot indicated! I click all over the area that was in the circle, but there's nothing there... at least nothing according to the click-response of the game, on top of my not seeing any object in that location. But that seems to explain why I couldn't find the object in the first place. Apparently the game thinks the object has a definite location, but the object was not rendered at that location in the scene.

I have tried uninstalling the game, redownloading it and reinstalling it, but it doesn't help. As a result, I find the game unplayable. I hate that, since I know I would've enjoyed playing it, if it had worked properly for me. For the present, I've given up on this game, since, no matter what I do, I always seem to randomly come across objects that are not there, even though the game's object finder indicates they are. Since there is no option to skip an object and continue, the game stops right there for me, I can't play any further without finding that object.

Even though I'm very patient, I have no desire to keep starting at the beginning of the game over and over again just in hopes of not coming across a glitched object.

The side-to-side scrolling is an interesting technique and one I've not seen in a HOG before; it definitely added depth and interest. Unfortunately, I found the dialog and storyline weak and the game was exceedingly short (finished in less than two hours).

The hidden object game concept can head in the wrong direction before you even uncover that first item, but The Clockwork Man does more right then most.

Saturday morning cartoons have better stories while decent voice actors does its best to cover for terrible writing. Having said that, I prefer a weak story over simple item hunts and even recognized at least one voice actor from the adventure game Scratches. Story mode took me exactly 3 hours to finish and upon completion allowed me to play each scene on it's own. Every story sequence can be skipped, but I chose to sit through and see how it played out.

Artwork can make or break a hidden object game and Clockwork succeeds here on most accounts. Sure, piles of junk fill many of the rooms, but the objects have not been just randomly strewn about in a nonsensical manner and belong in the context they have been placed. You wont find any two inch ladders flying through the sky on an eagle's talons or eight foot spoons stuck to walls. On my 17" monitor I had to lean in and squint a few times due to a few microscopic items. The game runs at the 4:3 resolution of 1024 X 768 and will stretch if your monitor does not have an option to preserve the aspect ratio.

Clockwork contains three types of searchable scenes: regular ol' static scenes, zoom-able scenes and scrolling scenes. Scrolling scenes make searching the most difficult because of multiple layers obscuring items as you move back and forth. A few simple puzzles and adventure game style item combination sequences fill out the rest of the game, but don't require much thought and can even be skipped should you so choose.

Four types of hints alleviate any problems with finding that last tiny bolt in a sea of metal while a cool down timer keeps your hint use to a minimum. No points, score or random click penalties mean you can plow through the game at your own pace, but the option for points or a score timer would have been nice.

Pros:
+ Great artwork
+ Logical object placement
+ Varying types of scenes
+ Adventure game elements
+ Puzzles and story sequences can be skipped

Cons:
- Only 3 hours for the main game
- Bad writing
- Throw away story
- A few teeny objects
- No points or score option

Recommended for hidden object fans who want more than a simple hunt.

I was attracted to this game because of the Steampunk theme, which is something I have a mild curiosity about.

But this game is deadly dull. Most of it consists of the main character being asked to help clean up various landscapes, aka, the hidden object scenes. Then it's time to get out a magnifying glass because most of the objects to be found are so tiny and obscure. Some are so small that if you don't precisely click on them, they don't register. I believe that is the trouble another reviewer had when he or she said they used the hint function and still couldn't find the object.

They backload the end of the game with some puzzles that aren't anything worth mentioning.

The panoramic scenes are also stereographic; a 3D effect I haven't seen in any other game. I would like to see a more interesting game employ it.

The little Sprocket character is cute; maybe not as cute as R2D2, though.

I really enjoyed this game. It has a unique zoom feature that makes it even more fun to search for items. Highly recommend and I am anxiously awaiting the release of the sequel #2 any day now.