By Dale Farris, Reviews Coordinator
Golden Triangle PC Club
March 2007

Game Overview

Who doesn't remember the classic game, "The incredible Machine," the one that captivated many computer gamers? Well, do-it-yourselfers, logical thinkers, and super brains. Get ready!

Molded along the lines of that classic is yet another gem - "Crazy Machines 1.5 - The Inventor's Workshop" - and this one will test your logic and inventive talent to the limits.

This new Crazy Machines 1.5 updates the original Crazy Machines, and this time the new 1.5 version of the game has even more gizmos, gadgets, & whatchamacallits than were included in the first version of Crazy Machines.

The task sounds easy enough. With the given parts, you construct a machine that matches the objective of the game, but as always, there are hidden pitfalls. How can I grill meat using a light bulb? Or, how can I get a flower to grow using a cannon or gun? These are all questions that you can answer during the game!

Crazy Machines 1.5 continues the great spirit of the original Crazy Machines, and provides a ton of new content. In this new 1.5 version, the game now has 2 laboratories in which to play. This includes the new Inventor's Training Camp, the first lab, where you can get your feet wet learning how to work with the crazy contraptions, while more challenging puzzles are found later in the game.

As always, Crazy Machines 1.5 continues the strong tradition in all Viva-Media games of providing high quality entertainment, while also serving up educational themes that hone problem-solving skills. In this game, players will also be introduced to the basic elements of physics.

"Crazy Machines 1.5" will not test only your brainpower. The game also has features like particle systems, volumetric real-time shadows, and clothing simulation, and you won't be able to get enough of the incredibly detailed machine parts designed by the prize-winning design team "DBKI" - graphics that are both powerful and impressive.

You want to create your own "IQ tests"? No problem! The user-friendly Editor will help you create your own level.

Create your own unique contraptions. Solve more than 200 challenging puzzles. Put your machines to work. Cool physics engine with air-pressure, electricity, gravity, and particle effects. Experiment with gears, robots, explosives and more in your own virtual lab.

Turn the crank, rotate the gears, push the levers, use the catapult, explode it, or fly it. From grilling sausages with a pulley, gears, rubber bands and a candle to firing a cannon with a basketball, these wacky brainteasers will light up your imagination with creative and addictive fun!

Features

Over 100 lovingly-detailed modeled parts, like, for example, catapults, solar cells, steam engines, dynamite, cogwheels, fuses, and now cannons, bombs, and robots

Detail-rich 3D graphics with dynamic real-time shadows and high-resolution textures

Over 200 great gizmo-twisting levels, including tutorial tasks for an easy quick-start in programming

Start off in the Inventor's Training Camp to sharpen your skills

Level Editor to experiment with and create your own machines

Import and Export function for self-created levels

Truly realistic collision of game elements, thanks to integrated physics engine

Elements from various physical areas, e.g. mechanics, optics, electrics, thermodynamics

Minimum Specifications

Pentium 800MHz CPU
Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista
100MB free hard drive space
128MB RAM
DirectX 9 compatible graphics card with 32 MB RAM (TNT2 or similar)
DirectX 9 compatible sound card
2x CD ROM drive

Recommended Specifications

Pentium 1.5GHz CPU
Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP
60MB free hard drive space
256MB RAM
DirectX 8 compatible graphics card with 64MB RAM (GeForce 3 or similar)
DirectX 8 compatible sound card
2x CD ROM drive

Age Group

Crazy Machines 1.5 should be relevant to anyone age 8 and up. However, younger gamers may need a little help from their parents when getting started, as well as with some of the more obtuse puzzle solving scenarios built into the game. The marvelous thing about Crazy Machines 1.5 is its design-your-own experiment setting that will allow you free-form control over tons and tons of the game's many wacky gadgets that can be combined in all sorts of ways to accomplish literally any challenge you can imagine.

The game's pre-designed puzzles will challenge most all players, so very young players will also likely need parental help with the challenges that are a bit more complicated.

Game fans who remember The Incredible Machine and its successors will most certainly be very pleased to see how this new Crazy Machines 1.5 approach to this unique game idea plays out. What made The Incredible Machine so much fun and successful was the tremendous variety of gizmos and gadgets you could combine in weird Rube Goldberg concoctions to get something done. Now, Crazy Machines 1.5 advances this idea still further, and succeeds with its iteration of this idea that was so solidly established by The Incredible Machine.

Kudos to Viva-Media and the game designer studio team for taking on this challenge and providing for gamers a new approach to the whimsy and challenging fun that we loved so much in The Incredible Machine.

Price

$19.99 This is a bargain price for the tremendous value built into this marvelous game that will be fun for players of all ages.

Installation and Setup

The game comes on one CD, and should install and set up with no problems. You do not need the game disc in the CD ROM drive to play the game.

About Viva Media, LLC

Viva Media, LLC is a privately owned New York company dedicated to publishing a wide array of interactive content of the highest standards. The company's collection of more than 40 multimedia titles tout more than 30 awards for excellence in publishing. Viva Media features the award winning line of Tivola Publishing CD-ROM games and the Viva range of titles including:

Viva Chess
Viva Astronomy
Viva Kids
Viva Adventure
Viva Music

Contact Information

Eve Seber, Director
Media Relations
Viva-Media LLC
580 Broadway, Suite 604
New York, NY 10012
212-431-4420
FAX 212-431-4537
mail@viva-media.com
www.viva-media.com

You can also order from other retailers or online vendors.