It's this kind of depth and variety that make such scenarios a lot of fun to play through, but there are other types of gameplay, including a few arcade-style minigames. You'll need dexterity for some of these, but they are not too difficult, and allow you to re-try as many times as you need. There are also a lot of re-purposed traditional "mechanism" puzzles: sliders, tower-of-hanoi-esque challenges, water flowing through pipes, and so forth. These are generally the weakest part of the gameplay, as they aren't as original as other puzzles, but even so, most have little quirks to set them apart from past variants. Look at mechanisms closely, because a lot of hints are found written as glyphs on the puzzle itself.

If you can't reach the solutions yourself, don't panic. Machinarium comes with one of the best in-game help systems ever to grace an adventure. If you need a nudge in the right direction, clicking on a thought-bubble icon makes the character "think" a hint for each screen. If that's not enough, there's a beautifully illustrated (in a comic-book style) walkthrough tome for you to open, which only shows the solutions relevant on each screen. You have to complete a quick side-scrolling shooter game to unlock the book, though, which might alleviate some of the guilt of cheating!

You won't be hopelessly stuck often, though. The difficulty curve in the game is pretty much perfect, starting with single-screen puzzles, then moving up to two, three, five screens and finally a modestly-sized city to explore and discover freely. You'll find maneuvering and interaction simple and intuitive. Movement is somewhat limited to pre-set nodes on the floor where the robot can walk to, but this doesn't feel strange or make any functional difference to how the game is played. Unlike in Samorost, the player doesn't have omnipotent fingers, as the robot interacts directly with the world. Machinarium uses a single-button interface, but the mouse cursor changes to show possible interactions over hotspots, which is very helpful. Inventory items are retrieved from a hidden bar that appears by rolling over the top of the screen, and save functions are handled by a similar bar appearing at the bottom, which is all done easily and efficiently.

Unfortunately, the game was made in Flash, and I know this because an accidental right-click (and this will come naturally to adventure fans trying to de-select the current inventory item) brings up an intrusive and jarring Windows settings menu. I imagine the game’s developers can't change this, but I do wish Adobe would allow it to be disabled. The upside of using Flash, presumably, is the ease of development and the silky-smooth support for vector animation, re-scaling and the like, and the engine is rock solid. Well, mostly solid. I experienced one problem where the character got stuck and couldn't move, but thankfully the game autosaves as well, and this hiccup was amended by quitting and entering the game again. There was also a very minor graphical glitch involving a white line flickering for a frame or two at the side of moving graphical elements; I encountered this twice.

There isn't a lot else to criticise about Machinarium. This is nearly a perfect game, succeeding on almost every level, and the sheer amount of detail and polish applied at every stage of the presentation make it truly exceptional. Even the title screen is interactive. If you're wondering why I haven't mentioned the sound yet, it's not because it's undeserving, just overshadowed by the lush graphics and imaginative gameplay. In fact, the soundtrack is yet another highlight, with each area introducing new and fitting music. For the most part it's ambient, serene and calming, but there are some quirky up-beat numbers thrown in, like the joyous racket made by a group of robot buskers, or the chip tune-style pieces during the minigames (at one point you visit an arcade, and play a pretty shameless Space Invaders clone).

There are a few reasons why this game might not appeal to everyone, strictly as a matter of preference. The lack of dialogue, in particular, may be a turn-off for some, and the game does require a healthy chunk of "cartoon logic" during some of the later, more difficult puzzles. However, I suspect most players will find these small concessions, if that, and still well worth the affordable purchase price of the download. In fact, I’d go so far as to strongly recommend that anyone who’s feeling reluctant should step outside their comfort zone with this game, as its charms will almost certainly win you over despite your reservations.

If I was forced to pick one downside to the game, it's length. Whilst Machinarium isn't scandalously short, clocking in at six to eight hours depending on luck and hint use, it ends astonishingly abruptly. It doesn't feel like it's cut off, just shockingly sudden, and leaves without much resolution or even a lengthy final cutscene. It's a testament to any game's quality when one is left wanting more, but nonetheless, I'd have preferred a stronger climax to what was such a thoroughly impressive adventure to that point. That aside, this is the best time I've had with an adventure game – 2D or 3D, big or small budget – this year. With an original charm all its own, Machinarium is a real winner and an instant classic.