The hidden object game concept can head in the wrong direction before you even uncover that first item, but The Clockwork Man does more right then most.

Saturday morning cartoons have better stories while decent voice acting does its best to cover for terrible writing. Having said that, I prefer a weak story over simple item hunts and even recognized at least one voice actor from the adventure game Scratches. Story mode took me exactly 3 hours to finish and upon completion allowed me to play each scene on it's own. Every story sequence can be skipped, but I chose to sit through and see how it played out.

Artwork can make or break a hidden object game and Clockwork succeeds here on most accounts. Sure, piles of junk fill many of the rooms, but the objects have not been just randomly strewn about in a nonsensical manner and belong in the context they have been placed. You wont find any two inch ladders flying through the sky on an eagle's talons or eight foot spoons stuck to walls. On my monitor I had to lean in and squint a few times due to a few microscopic items. The game runs at the 4:3 resolution of 1024 X 768 and will stretch if your monitor does not have an option to preserve the aspect ratio.

Clockwork contains three types of searchable scenes: regular ol' static scenes, zoom-able scenes and scrolling scenes. Scrolling scenes make searching the most difficult because of multiple layers obscuring items as you move back and forth. A few simple puzzles and adventure game style item combination sequences fill out the rest of the game, but don't require much thought and can even be skipped should you so choose.

Four types of hints alleviate any problems with finding that last tiny bolt in a sea of metal while a cool down timer keeps your hint use to a minimum. No points, score or random click penalties mean you can plow through the game at your own pace, but the option for points or a score timer would have been nice.

Recommended if you like the hidden object genre.

Pros:
+ Great artwork
+ Logical object placement
+ Varying types of scenes
+ Adventure game elements
+ Puzzles and story sequences can be skipped

Cons:
- Only 3 hours for the main game
- Bad writing
- Throw away story
- A few teeny objects
- No points or score option

The Clockwork Man is a simple "find the item" picture game, with some light puzzle-solving elements mixed in. If you are a fan of these sorts of casual low-key games, you will probably like this one. The characters and world are pretty nicely designed (it takes place in a sort of Victorian Steampunk-ish setting) and the voice acting is decent. Gameplay primarily consists of clicking within scenes to find a list of objects that are hidden throughout. Occasionally, there will also be scenes where you have to find, combine and use objects in specific ways to solve puzzles. It's definitely not rocket science, and not the least bit challenging... but you know what? Sometimes that's OK. That said, there are some things to be aware of before making a purchase. First, as I just mentioned, the game is extremely easy. So if you are an adult, don't buy this looking for a challenge - buy it if you just want something mindless to keep you occupied for a few hours. Second, I feel the price is just a bit too much for what you get. The story mode takes around 2-3 hours (at most) to complete. And while you do get an endless randomized "free play" mode that opens up after beating the game, I am still not sure the whole package is worth $10. You may want to hold out for a sale. Price aside, I recommend this if the premise interests you and you don't mind extremely casual/easy games. Another selling point would be if you have younger children. This game is tailor made for kids, or to play with your kids. So that's something to consider as well. Otherwise, if you don't care for mindless hidden-picture games or puzzles, move along, there's nothing to see here.

As far as HOG games go, this one is alright.
I was pleasantly surprised with the “zoomable and/or scrollable screen” that you can get in some scenes, I thought it was something I don't find very often in this game type, it definitely makes the game a bit more challenging, and the scenes really are cram packed so it takes a good looking around. There are some HOG games you just glance at the list, glance at the scene and find things straight away because it’s been poorly edited into the picture or is just plain obvious, this definitely isn't like that, the scenes look decent. Only fault in that department I would say is when you scroll along, edited items skip and jitter a bit so it’s easier to find objects put into the photo.
The music is alright; it’s not repetitive and mind numbing like some soundtracks i have heard alongside a game like this.
also, all different HOG games have different ways… or “excuses” rather as to why you are searching around in a cluttered room “cleaning up”, and this game really is quite cheesy with that, a popular one as most fans of this genre would know is that you are doing “detective work”, in this, you quite literally are just everyone’s ♥♥♥♥♥, “I'm a lazy ♥♥♥♥ hotel owner, clean up for me will ya” kind of thing, I found that a bit of "utter cheese" to be honest. Alongside that the story is really short, at first it took me a while to get into it, I wasn’t too bothered, then it started picking up, I became interested in what was going on and it just ended. Although it did end on a “to be continued…” it wasn’t all that satisfying in terms of length and storyline.
I would say it’s decent, it may be worth a go if you are bored and missing the genre which was the case for me when I started it. Unless you are planning to play the next one straight after it, (which I haven’t played yet) just be prepared for a short game.

Just finished The Clockwork-man. Just under two hours total gameplay, fairly easy if you are fluent in english, a bit harder if you are not. I would say that this suits children aged 6-12 who are fluent in english.

The gameplay consists of levels where you have to point and click on objects to collect or use in the level. When I say level, it is a scene, either a "picture" or a zoomable picture, and you have a list of objects to find, for instance a vase, 7 gears,3 bracelets, a clay ink pot and so on. There is not really any system to what you need. The coffegrinder you see in one scene does nothing, but two scenes later you have to pick it up. Had some troubles, what is a chamoise, and what does an magnifying glass look like (not a handle with a round glass disk at least), but was able to reason most of these out, and the game also has a help-function in you mechanic friend.

All in all, I'll recommend this to children I think, the difficulty mainly lies in clicking in the right spot. There is no time, the help function is too powerful, as it details more and more as you click for help, and the story is not very deep and is without any big twists.