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Review of
The Incredible Machine
(No Longer Available)
Publisher: Knowledge Adventure
Year: 1995
Age Range: Not given
Platform Information: Mac or PC
Reviewer: Alana Parkes
Is the Game Mathematical?
Puzzles in the Incredible Machine are created from an assortment of balls, walls, inclines, pipes, electric appliances, motors, incendiaries, lasers, gears, pulleys, and other miscellaneous objects. In one puzzle you may be asked to construct a system of levers to flip a ball into a basket. In another you may need to build a ramp for a ball to roll down so it will knock two pieces of flint together to ignite the fuse of a rocket. The overall premise of the game is that given a collection of objects and a goal you need to construct a working machine. To do this, you need to identify what things are missing and arrange them in the right places. While you work, gravity is suspended. When you have finished arranging objects on the screen, you turn gravity on to see what happens: A ball falls on the handle of a pair of scissors which cuts a rope tethering a hot air balloon and sets it free.
Both math and science concepts are addressed in this game. Mathematics topics include logic, reasoning, modeling, and sequencing. Puzzles need to be examined closely to understand the logical connections involved. A ball falls and hits the 'on' switch of a flashlight, the light from the flashlight is collected by a solar panel that provides electricity to an outlet so that the toaster plugged into the outlet can make toast. Each one of these connections is crucial to the outcome; none can be missing. Puzzles often include an example of the solution. By studying the example, players can identify missing pieces of a sequence.
A lot of the science in the game is correct. An electric motor must be plugged in to operate. Gears work as expected, e.g., adding another gear to a gear train reverses the direction of motion. Balls generally bounce slowly to a stop and roll down smooth surfaces faster than rough surfaces. This realism helps make the game fun to play as an adult. However some items are fanciful: the super ball bounces higher and higher on each bounce. Some balls don't move as predicted; for instance, I find the pool balls confusing. Gravity usually pulls things towards the bottom of the screen, but for pool balls, down is into the screen (as if you were looking top down at a pool table) which is very confusing when you have both types of balls on the same screen. Other less-than-scientific items include an anti-gravity device and a lava lamp that you can use to produce solar power. This mixture of correct and incorrect science may be confusing to kids as they try to figure out which is which. While it's possible to learn how gears interact, it's also possible to "learn" that some balls will bounce forever.
Is the Game Equitable?
The only character in the game is Professor Tim who is a stereotypical scientist: a white man in a shirt and tie with big black glasses and rumpled hair. A high percentage of the puzzles involve launching rockets or otherwise blowing things up which may appeal more to boys. The tools themselves are also ones that may be more familiar to boys. In a study where we gave children an opportunity to select from any of eight games, few girls chose to play the Incredible Machine at all and one boy chose to play it exclusively. The Head-to-Head area has an added element of time pressure. Here players take turns that you can set to be from 45 to 90 seconds long.
In addition to gender differences, I think this game just appeals to a certain kind of person; either you think it's pretty cool or you don't. I think it's pretty cool. But the game can be very frustrating, especially trying to negotiate the interface (see more about this in "Is the Game a Good Game").
Is the Game a Good Game?
This game is more accessible and realistic than some similar games (such as Wacky Widget and Bumpz Science Carnival). But the interface is difficult to negotiate and the content may appeal to boys more than girls. The mix of scientific and non-scientific properties may be too confusing. A factor of whether you liking the game or not may be how persistent you are in the face of frustration. It can be difficult to get started on the game. You often need to bring a tool out onto the playing field and click on the magnifying glass to find out what it is and how to use it. Once you get to it, this information is very clear and helpful, but it's not easy to find.
The puzzles in the Puzzle Play area are pretty interesting and makes a good place to start playing they game. The puzzles are quite structured which some players may prefer, however, the puzzles often follow a similar formula and after you figure out, they may not be as challenging as they look initially. The tools available in the toolbox considerably limit the possible solutions. The exception to all this is the very first puzzle. It is one of the most difficult puzzles as the solution is technically simple but conceptually very complex. It is a very difficult one to have to solve first.
The puzzles in the Head-to-Head area are more complex because they are more open-ended. There are more things missing from the playing field and a wider selection of items to choose from in the toolbox, so you can be much more creative in how you solve them. Head-to-Head is designed for two people who take turns putting a tool on the playing field as they try to solve the puzzle. This is a strange combination of competition and cooperation. You need to work together to complete the puzzle, but you are also working against each other. The game also keeps track of who "won" by putting in the piece that finally solves the puzzle, but clearly the solution must be a cooperative effort. During a turn, each player can remove only one item from the toolbox and move only one tool on the playing field. That one piece can be adjusted as much as time allows, but you can't move anything else. Given that each turn allows such limited progress towards the goal, players who opted to sabotage their 'opponents' constructions would never make any progress themselves.
Because I like the puzzles in Head-to-Head better, I tried to play them on my own. Under these circumstances, the interface is particularly irritating. However, it is possible to play the Head-to-Head puzzles in the Puzzle Play area as a single player game. This may make the game more appealing to older children playing alone.
At first I didn't like the Workshop area: a blank playing field and all the tools in the game was too unstructured for me. I thought it was a place to try out the tools so I would know how to use them in the puzzles. It wasn't until I finally did the Walkthrough that I understood the power of the Workshop. The object is to make up your own puzzles. This seems like a compelling activity as players try to figure out how to make a challenging puzzle to present to other players. However, it was difficult to figure out how this activity worked.
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