Contraptions 2 lured me in with its physics-based puzzle gameplay. From the initial screenshots I saw before writing this review, It looked a bit dated but I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and hopefully discover a hidden gem. Spoiler alert… I did not discover a hidden gem…
Not the incredible machine
First up… a small history lesson into Rube Goldberg. Goldberg was a cartoonist famous for creating elaborate chain-reaction contraptions to perform simple tasks. Although intended to be funny, these contraptions looked believable. As a man with a physics degree, I could certainly appreciate the effort to make up these crazy contraptions. All the “cogs” in the machine were logical but totally not efficient to complete the task. These contraptions eventually started to be called Rube Goldberg devices. These devices must’ve been the inspiration for a game I have fond memories of called “the incredible machine”. In this game, you got a limited supply of pulleys, hairdryers, conveyor belts, and many more to link up in order to – for example – “put a ball in a basket” or “turn on a light”. Later they made a less basic version with some added cartoon elements called “Sid and Al’s incredible toons”. I remember spending hours figuring out the correct sequence to complete the levels. Thinking logically and experimenting with different possibilities appealed to me even from a young age. I can honestly say these types of games influenced me to pursue a career in STEM. Contraptions 2 looked like it could maybe do the same for some of this generation’s kids.
The concept of Contraptions 2 is similar but the aim of the game is to get rid of the aliens on screen through a Rube Goldberg device. With conveyor belts, lighters, balloons, motors and even camels the game offered a fun-looking array of possibilities to tinker with. Sadly the game did not deliver. Even during the tutorial I encountered trouble. The game handles rough and I think a bad PC port is to blame. Handling the different elements with the precision it needed was almost impossible. Some elements had special functions that could be accessed when selecting an object. The options would appear around the object. However, when an object was close to the border of the screen, the options would disappear “out of bounds”. With objects you could manipulate freely, this could be overcome by placing the object more towards the centre and adjusting the setting there. With fixed objects, you had a serious problem resulting in a malfunction. Combining objects, linking devices with bands, and placing the object in the exact right place were all hopelessly tedious actions that sucked the joy out of the game for me.
Looks and sounds cheap
The levels looked like it was made for toddlers which is odd because no kid would have the patience to deal with this game. After a few levels, the background changes to make it look less dull but at this point, these things are almost laughable. The soundtrack can’t save the game either. Plain and boring are the main words to describe the way Contraptions 2 is presented.
An editor couldn’t save the game
Kudos for putting in the ability to edit each of the 200 available levels. Maybe they knew the game was not finished so they decided to give the ability to fix some aspects of the game. Kidding aside, this option had potential but the same problems that bug the game are carried over to the editor. I tried to make something but the controls to do so were made so bad I ended up frustrated again. I reviewed Contraptions 2 on the Nintendo Switch console and understand the conversion to joysticks and buttons is often harder than it seems. Nevertheless, I do think this game can’t be much more playable on PC either.
Conclusion
Contraptions 2 is best avoided.
