Viva Media Crazy Machines 1.5 allows you to build Rube Goldberg-like contraptions to solve puzzles and perform specific tasks. A cartoon professor, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Albert Einstein, serves as your personal instructor; children will enjoy the professor, but adults will quickly tire of his repetitive dialog and limited animation.

Crazy Machines is actually two games in one. The Inventors Training Camp is a collection of over 100 puzzles that you solve by adding parts to partially built machines. You will learn how ramps, robots and rodents can be used to make a machine do its job; for example, you can use a mouse to push an object forward by having something (such as a falling tennis ball) land on the mouse's tail. Each machine you complete performs a simple task, such as turning on a light or placing a ball in a basket. The puzzles increase in difficulty as you progress, and each one introduces a concept or device that you can use to build your machines.

In the Inventors Lab, you can test and build almost any type of contraption you can dream up. Once you get your machine working, you can remove a few parts and turn it into a puzzle for others to solve.

Building a machine involves dragging available devices from the components area to your workspace. You can rotate devices and drop them in place, move them around and select preset conditions, such as the direction that a robot moves. Unfortunately, a device will often fail to rotate if an object is in the way, even if the rotating device would be clear of the obstructing object once it rotates. We also had some problems with devices that are placed on the edge of the workspace.

Viva Media Crazy Machines 1.5 has a few rough edges and a slightly tiresome professor, but overall we find the puzzles to be as fun as they are challenging.


Pros: Includes more than 100 pre-built machine puzzles, provides hours of challenging fun for individuals who like to tinker
Cons: The professor's comments are too repetitive, difficult to manipulate some devices