When comparing Guns of Icarus Online vs Machinarium, the Slant community recommends Machinarium for most people. In the question“What are the best Steampunk games on Steam?” Machinarium is ranked 2nd while Guns of Icarus Online is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Machinarium is:
The player is forced to move their character across the map in order to find objects of interest. This, coupled with the great sound design and soundtrack which also do their part in giving cues as to where the objects are and if the player is close, really help you immerse into the atmosphere and art style of Machinarium.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Visually stunning battlefields
Battles are fought in massive open-air arenas which currently consist of a handful of different environments including post-apocalyptic debris-filled deserts, snowy mountaintops, foggy islands and ocean side views. All of these environments have one thing in common, they are absolutely stunning as far as visuals go.
Pro Six different types of airships
There are six different types of airship that can be chosen, each with their own distinct visual design and maneuverability.
Pro Customizable gun loadouts
Ship captains can customize the loadout of their airship and choose different gun types which range from harpoons to flamethrowers, machine guns, cannons, and rocket launchers.
Pro Everyone has a role to fill
In this game the player is stuck with a crew of strangers in an airship and the goal is to keep it from blowing out of the sky.
To avoid this, everyone has a role to fill. Someone steers the ship, someone mans the guns, and someone has to repair the ship if anything happens to it. If a player fails to do their duty, everything fails.
Pro The gameplay is perfectly interwoven with the overall aesthetic and atmosphere of the game
The player is forced to move their character across the map in order to find objects of interest. This, coupled with the great sound design and soundtrack which also do their part in giving cues as to where the objects are and if the player is close, really help you immerse into the atmosphere and art style of Machinarium.
Pro Beautiful art style
Machimariums hand drawn graphics exude a very steam punk style that definitely has a very unique look by being all hand drawn.
Pro Challenging puzzles
The puzzles are quite challenging to the point of frustration but in the end give a sense of immense reward when figured out.
Pro Interesting protagonist
The main character and the one controlled by the player is just a normal, average, everyday robot. He doesn't have any special powers or abilities other than being able to slightly extend his midriff in order to reach high ledges or making his body shorter. He's pretty much an ordinary robot thrust into an extraordinary situation.
Pro Built-in hint system
For those that do find some of the puzzles too challenging there is an inbuilt hint system shown through "thought bubbles" on top of the playable character.
Every level has its own hint when pressed and it's usually a hint on where to go or what kind of object you need. Although it's advised not to rely on the hint system too much since it takes away from the experience of actually enjoying the game.
Pro The well-designed gameplay mechanics avoid making the game boring to the player
Unlike most point-and-click games, objects of interest in Machinarium light up only when the main character is close to them; this completely changes the way the game is played. In point-and-click games where this is not the case, the gameplay is usually reduced to aimlessly flailing the cursor around waiting for something to light up.
Machinarium on the other hand completely avoids this, keeping levels interesting and the player interested to the game.
Cons
Con Narrow scope of content
The small number of maps and game modes makes the scope of this game seem pretty narrow. And even though there are varying types of objectives and game modes, they are pretty similar to one another.
Con Each class can get boring quickly
Tasks are divided into three categories (Engineering, Gunning and Navigating), they are done by engineers, gunners and the captain whose task is to fly the airship and give commands.
While all of these classes are fun in their own right, the fact that they are so focused in their duty makes them a bit stale in the long-term and it's easy to go through and get bored of each of them.
Con Items may be difficult to find due to similar colors
At points in the game there are needed items that blend in too well with their surrounding making it quite difficult to actually see them.