Machinarium - Amanita Design

This review of Machinarium was completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 15 December 2016.

About the app

This section contains details about the app provided by an ACCM Reviewer.

ACCM review

This review of Machinarium contains the following information:

• The level to which the game was reviewed
• App description
• Reviewers comments
• In App purchasing
• Online information
• Gambling
• Advertising and product placement
• Gender stereotypes and sexual references
• Coarse language
• Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents
• Other

The level to which the game was reviewed

The reviewer played for 3 hours

App description

Machinarium involves navigating a robot named Josef through a series of landscapes and rooms. This is done by solving puzzles in the immediate environment. For example, in one level you must combine and manipulate certain materials around Josef in order to lower a bridge to get into a building.

At times, very fine motor skills are required to play this game, together with good spatial memory and persistence through some difficult puzzles.

The aim of the game is to get through all of the levels in order to rescue Josef’s girlfriend from the bad robots. 

Reviewers comments

Although there are no concerns with the majority of this game, there are a small number of elements that may concern parents. These include very mild violence with the inclusion of guns and one reference to drug use. It is also anticipated that some children may find some of the puzzles quite challenging. Whilst some puzzles can be worked out logically – other puzzles can only be solved through a process of trial and error and hence may take a lot of patience and persistence. Having said this, there is a feature where you can get a hint about what you need to do next. There is also a feature that will give you a story board of the exact steps you need to do to progress to the next  level – however the player must complete a free mini-game (within the same app) in order to unlock that feature.

This game does not involve any social networking and does not require any personal information to play. The complexity of the game however, and the mild violence and drug themes, makes this unsuitable for children under the age of 13.

In App purchasing

None

Online information

Credit card details are required to purchase and download this app.

Gambling

At time of review, the reviewer found no simulated gambling content.  If you discover simulated gambling content in this app, please contact us with the details so we can update our review. 

Advertising and product placement

None

Gender stereotypes and sexual references

None

Coarse language

• This game is narrated though imagery – there is no language spoken or written. 

Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents

• The low level violence with the inclusion of guns
• The reference to drugs , where the player must combine what appears to be green grass with a piece of paper to make a cigarette for another figure confined to a jail cell.

Other

N/A.

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