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.