This is a review for both "Clockwork Man" and "Clockwork Man: The Hidden World" since I played them back to back and they share the same lead character. Actually, I've played both these games many times on a different PC before I got into Steam. So my playtimes you see for each will probably be less than a normal playthrough since I can whiz through the games by now. We'll start with game #1:

Pros:
- Nice graphics and good character designs. The main girl, Miranda (YAY, she has my name!), is quite lovely.
- The voice acting is also good, for the most part. I really like who they chose for Miranda. Some of the others can be a bit cheesy but it is amusing rather than irritating.
- Interesting story.
- Both games have a very neat hidden object feature. Scrolling and zooming. Not every scene but many allow you to move around the area. Some items are sneakily hidden behind others but just one click to the left or right will reveal them.
- Both games also have an interesting hint system. You travel around with a little robot man and he'll help you locate those tough to find objects. He starts out with the ability to just tell you where a random something is. Then a little into the story, he learns how to give you an item's silhouette (which is the hint I prefer if I'm stuck). Further in the story, he gets other abilities. Like briefly highlighting each metal object on your HO list.
- In both games, the music isn't spectacular but it's pleasant to listen to. Actually, in #2 there are a couple places with very lovely melodies.
- When you beat each game, Freeplay opens up. This gives you random hidden object areas. Good for if you're in that "I have a craving to find stuff" mood.

Cons:
- Neither game is connected to Steam while you're playing. So you won't be able to chat with friends or take steam screenshots.
- Unfortunately, both games have issues when it comes to clicking on items. You'll find you need to be very precise and occasionally you'll need to click more than once or try clicking on a different part of the object. It doesn't happen TOO often or else I wouldn't be able to recommend these games.
- Both games are short. Boo.


Now I'll list the differences in Clockwork Man: The Hidden World:

- The length is longer. Because of the higher difficulty, possibly much longer.
- This game has a journal where Miranda records her adventures and anything of note. You WILL need to use this journal to solve quite a few puzzles.
- There are many more puzzles in #2 and some of them are downright devious. There are no skip options either. Also, it's easy to miss things that you need in some scenes so you might get stuck for awhile. I love this game but it IS a bit aggravating sometimes. Those who enjoy a challenge will have fun. :D
- The story has no tie-ins with the first game. The Hidden World's plot is much more involved than #1 and, in my opinion, fascinating.
- The voice acting, again in my opinion, is better than the first game. (Miranda is still the same, which is good!)
- Maybe it's my imagination but it seems the graphics are better in #2, though I'm pretty sure they used the same game engine.
- When you finish the game, you can rewatch any of the cutscenes.


So in closing, I really enjoy both these games so I'm definitely recommending them to hidden object and puzzle fans. But, because of their short length, you should wait and grab them when they're on sale.


Important Note! The games might not load up for you, which is an issue I had. Right click on the Clockwork Man title, click on Properties, click on Local Files, click on Browse Local Files (which will bring up your program files for the games), right click on the Clockwork Man title again, click on Troubleshoot Compatibility, and finally click on Try recommended settings. I did that for each game and then they worked just fine.

This was an interesting hidden object game. As opposed to the usual one-screen puzzles in other HOGs, this has huge side-scrolling, vertical scrolling, and zoom-able puzzles that contain hundreds of potential objects, of which you need to find 15-20, many of them tiny or partially-obscured. It is especially difficult considering there is no delineation between the foreground and the background, so clickable items can potentially be on any pixel of the screen.

Being a Victorian-set, European-produced game, I also found the items weren't always labelled with word choices I recognized. I ended up having to use the in-game hints for a handful of French, Italian, and archaic historical terms. However, there is no penalty for using the hint system, and the game features several levels of hints, with the "I need a slight nudge" level recharging faster than the "just find this thing for me because I give up" level.

The plot feels almost like a maguffin to get you to solve puzzles, and I don't know if it quite resolves itself satisfactorily. Also, even though the protagonist is supposed to be a "strong female character," it doesn't really feel like she's a hero because she spends the majority of the game being bossed around, patronized, and tricked by other characters, and having to clean up after their messes. On a related note, there is a recurring plot-point of "hidden object puzzles only exist because all of our characters are either slobs or victims of disaster." All of the hidden object scenes look like they just dumped a random assortment of junk all over the landscape, with no real rhyme or reason to the layout, and no location-specific theme (except for one gimmick level that was hilarious).

All that being said, the art was beautiful, the few mini-games and point-and-click sections were intuitive enough, the voice acting was hilariously over-the-top, and the music was cinematic-quality. It also does a pretty good job of maintaining a steampunk atmosphere throughout the game. Additionally, unlike other HOGs, this has almost no backtracking. You simply either automatically advance to the next area, or you click on the map to jump to a puzzle of your choice from the available options.

For a casual time-waster game with no achievements to worry about, it is worth a chance if you pick it up on sale. While the hidden object scenes are definitely challenging compared to other HOGs I've played, I appreciate the scope of what they tried to accomplish with the scrolling views.

Overall, I would give this game a 5.5/10

One of the more interesting hidden objects games out there. With nice graphics that don't make your eyes bleed from all the staring ;)

The difficulty level of the Hidden Object parts are LEGENDARY only for the bravest of brave to attempt. The images on the store page for this game look widescreen, but clicking the video shows the game is 4:3. This is normally not a big deal in puzzle games, but in this game its a HUGE deal due to how tiny the objects that need to be found. Playing on a widescreen you may literally need a magnifying glass to find objects, doesnt help that some areas have multiple areas with no indicator as to which scenes contain what objects. Even worse is that some objects are literally a few pixels in size due to its older ratio where that might not have been a problem for widescreen users combined with many objects being very low resolution this game will pose obstacle of herculean proportions. Items also spawn randomly, so go ahead and stare all day for a missing item, it may not even be on the screen, or it may have spawned behind another object since its random. This leads to reloading the game alot to reset objects to random positions hoping the objects spawn in an area that is visibly clickable. Even completely visible objects are hard to click due to them having such a teeny tiny clickable area that may have you clicking all over even though you feel your clicking right on the object itself.

The puzzles are at just the right difficulty not to impossible but challenging enough that finishing them feels rewarding. Oddly though many of these cant be skipped, there is no guide in the game like other games to help you so players may end up stuck unable to ever continue the game. Worse is that with some puzzles the pieces may be missing. Meaning the pieces spawned off screen, so you may need to reload the game many times to finish a puzzle to reset the locations of pieces.

The story is awesome with very good voice acting, this saves the game from being a total disaster, but the gameplay elements are so buggy their almost broken making it a very tedious and exhausting gameplay experience. Pretty sure the game like the title screen hasnt been updated since 2012 so guessing what bugs are there will be there forever sadly.

Rating: 2/10 Value: $0.99

The gameplay is ok, and the art has some nice late-90s CD-ROM puzzle game aesthetics. Unfortunately, there's very little game to play. I'd swear the cut scenes are a full half of the game, and they're horrible. The template is: "bwahaha, foolish girl, I tricked you into cleaning my [space]!" "Oh how dare you, you churl!" "Relent, miss! Out of guilt I will actually do what was requested of me."

But seriously, almost every scene is your character being tricked into cleaning up after people. And you're the only female character. You play a girl who goes around cleaning up after men. It's actually the whole story.

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.

Very nice graphics, easy to play and a decent distraction.

Primarily a hidden object game that includes a few other minor puzzles, such as placing items into your inventory, combining them and then using them on the environment.

The art is nice but set at a smaller box resolution, the Steam overlay doesn't work and the story and voice acting are rather dull. That leaves you with the meat of the game, finding objects! The environments are nicely drawn and you have a list of 10-20 objects or so to find in each scene. A robot ally can spot items for you at the expense of some of his slowly replenishing energy--the game's form of hints.

Objects you need to find are repeated quite often considering the game is only about two hours long. There's a free mode after finishing the game where you can spot to your heart's delight, and playing the game again is supposed to shift the scenes. I don't know why anyone would want to because it's a bore.

While Clockwork Man has an interesting premise and pretty visuals, it's far too short to recommend it. My play time is inflated from accidentally leaving the game running and spending some time on the unlimited HOG mode. Maybe if you really love hidden object games and get it on sale with the other Clockwork Man game, I could say "go for it", but don't expect much out of it. The scrolling/zooming function isn't really as big of a deal as one would hope, and the story is not particularly good (although it's hilarious how everywhere Miranda goes, people ask her to clean up a big mess) and it ends on a cliffhanger that isn't resolved in the sequel!

And why are all the men in this game so fat???

The things to be found are tiny. Very frustrating and makes you wonder throughout the game exactly what you're doing with your life.
Very simple and short story. Very casual casual game.

A good idea, but far too buggy and far too short. The writing was not the best, either. I'd give this a solid C.

It's a fun hidden object game, with a rather unique steampunk setting. The scenes can be quite beautiful to look at, but unfortunately most of the time they are cluttered. Ruining the experience. It would have been better if the scenes were clear of stuff, until the search parts activated.

The hidden object scenes can be a bit difficult, because of the rather low resolution of some of the objects. And although some of the puzzles require a bit of thinking, it never becomes truly difficult. Biggest drawback is the length: It took me only 2 hours to complete, which is rather low for the price.

This is a nice, short hidden object type game with a bit of a story. I found the gameplay fun and relaxing.

This was a fun game with good graphics. I really enjoy the Steampunk genre, but this game barely fit into that category. The story was pretty miserable and irrelevant. If you enjoy I-spy search and finds then this game is worth a try. The game is only a total of about 3 hours long but you can replay with different I-spy puzzles. It was $6 when I bought it, but that was too high a price for what you get. If it is between $2-$3 then consider checking it out!

It's a nice game, but there's hardly any game time... I mean, I accidentally left it running for a day, so it recorded as 9 hours, but I think it's closer to 1,5-2 hours of gameplay. Bit disappointing, especially for the price. Looks good though and it's a good game, so get it on sale!

Not a horrible game, but disappointing at how little game time there actually is.

The Clockwork Man is a pretty decent game for the price, but it took me around 2 hours to complete it.

The video game equivalent of highlights for kids.