Clockwork Man

I love Steampunk! The whole idea that science doesn’t have to be beige and boring is one that has delighted me for years, ever since I got to see Galileo’s actual instruments.  Functional and amazingly beautiful. Why have we lost that?

Clockwork Man is a hidden object game, my personal favorite kind of game. There’s something about finding lost objects that is approachable. I’m not likely to solve mysteries or fight demons in my real life, but I’m really good at finding things. So much of real life is about the forest, the bigger picture, sometimes its fun to be able to focus on the tree.

No movie intros or cut scenes on this one, we are briefly introduced to our Steampunked Victorian era heroine Miranda and her fateful sidekick robot (that she built herself) and then straight into finding things.  Actually, Miranda is missing something and discovers that to find it she must clean up. I have long suspected my Mother is a consult on these games, cleaning was always a lot higher on her lists than mine. Like Miranda, I’m a slob. I only clean when I absolutely have to. After a brief cleaning of Miranda’s room, she learns she has to complete her college essay to be admitted to the university of her choice.

Okay, right now I’m looking over my shoulder for my Mom again. College is also very high on her list. Also Volvo station wagons. Well, she has a point about the Volvo station wagons, I had one for awhile and never had a more maneuverable car. I could do a 180 in the middle of a San Clemente street, no small feat.  It might have had something to do with speed also, I have had one or two issues with going a tiny bit over the speed limit. Mostly on the freeways though, fewer pedestrians there!

Miranda ends up having to go to South America in a dirigible to rescue her Grandfather and does some repair work and a lot of cleaning up. Is it a woman’s game if there is stuff to clean up? I do like that the stuff she interacts with is mostly of the time period. What she finds usually allows her to build something, my engineer Mother would be very pleased. 

 I also really like that although she cleans up a lot, she bargains for the service and gets pissy when someone tries to screw her over. She’s a lot more polite about it than I would be, but it’s a causal game, not Bioshock. Sadly Miranda doesn’t get to shoot anything or anyone, but she does get to build some cool Steampunk stuff. Almost as good.  The artwork is pretty amazing, sometimes I get distracted while searching because of the gorgeous graphics. Beautiful and functional, the epitome of Steampunk!