User Reviews (11 - 14 of 14)

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this is a fantastic game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game! It's highly addictive so watch out. We can't stop playing. It's also infectious since our kids call us in to check out their solutions and then we are suddenly playing it also. THIS IS INTELLIGENT & ENTERTAINING FUN AT IT'S BEST. I highly recommend this game!

wonderful thinking game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a terrific thinking man's game. Great graphics, and ingenious puzzle designs. All of the components react to a real physics environment so you can test and experiment along your way to solving a given puzzle. Also, you can download free content online. If you like to think and experiment, or know someone who does, BUY THIS GAME!

hint. The game needs to have a small sound driver (OpenAL) loaded before it will run. In most cases, the game will probably install this automatically, but in my case, I had to download it from the Internet and install the driver manually. Also, make sure you have a decent 3D video card as the game enviro is fully 3D and requires some extra horsepower.

FIVE STARS

I'm crazy for this game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I'm sorry if your computer isn't up to the task of running this program. If your computer is more than 5 years old, than you need not read on. I bought this for my teenage son to introduce him to elementary physics. He played it for a couple of days before I told him that it had to do with physics (that's sad). OK, there is a lot of good stuff here but also some negatives.

Pros: The game does teach you to think. I find that my solutions rarely (if ever) are the same as the game's. For example, I solved a 15 piece problem with one piece. This game uses all kinds of physics to get to be successful -- gravity beeing the easiest to understand. It uses gears, engines, generators, steam, light to solve increasingly complex problems.

Cons: The Ragtime music is in-your-face and I had to turn it off. The "Einstein" narrator is annoying at best. The limited supply of parts forces you to think in a very narrow way. I find that frustrating because I don't think like the game designers. My solutions are so different thans theirs I wonder who's right.

All things considered, this game represents crude physics without those nasty side-effects. By that I mean there is no loss of energy regardless of how many pieces (say gears for example) are involved. Yes, I took Physics in college and have degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. If you think that this is an accurate representation of the real world, then you will be mistaken.

This game does not take into account any aspect of the chaos theory. In fact, it goes out-of-the-way to eliminate it completely. Could you really blow something up with dynamite exactly the same way 100% of the time?

Nevertheless, I like the game and would recommend it over FPS or role-playing games 10 times over.

A bit too complicated for a 6 year old

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

My son really enjoyed the first Crazy Machines and seemed to figure things out after playing with it for a while. Crazy Machines 2 has more objects to choose from and so things can get pretty complicated in trying to figure out where everything is and how to use it ... at least for a 6-7 year old.
I am sure, though, if I just sit with him for a few hours that he will get going and be able to do things on his own again.
It is teaching him great concepts in electricity and physics. For the price, it is a great learning game and fun to play.

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