Picture a world where people don't exist. Okay, they do exist, but they're not people, they're robots (so not really people, then, but you know what I mean.). In this world, the peop- er, robots go about their daily lives, doing…robot-y things like, um…okay, you know what, forget the highfaluting introduction. Stop reading this inane drivel and go buy this game.

I think I may have said this before about some other game, but that's irrelevant. Did you enjoy that game? Of course you did. So trust me.

What's that? You don't want to trust me? I swore at your gran? Fine then – if my appeal to your trust won't work, let me appeal to your senses. Just look at this:

Look at it. LOOK.

Tell me that this game is not absolutely beautiful…and thankfully it's as awesome as it looks.

Machinarium is the latest thing to arrive from the guys over at Amanita Design (You know, those awesome people behind the awesome Samorost games) and no matter which way you look at it (and really, just look at it), they have outdone themselves. You start off your adventure in a scrap yard with no real explanation as to why you're there; it's (obviously) up to you to piece things together – starting with yourself. As you make your way back into the massive robot city, you slowly unravel the reasons to why you've been scrapped, who is to blame, and what it is you're going to have to do to make things right again.

The first thing you'll need to get used to is living without any text and voices to show you what to do – everything is represented visually. Because of this, actions such as "look at", "talk to" or "give" which we've gotten used to in most adventure titles are non-existent; in fact there is only one real action – use. In order to use anything on screen, you have to be next to it, but sometimes even that is not enough…cue epically awesome feature!

By clicking on your character and dragging either up or down, you're able to stretch him up – allowing him to reach objects higher up – or squat him down – allowing him to reach objects low on the ground. It may not sound like much, but I literally squealed with glee when I saw this happen. Some objects you get to take along with you (which you carry around inside you after swallowing it up, of course) while other objects need to be used in the direct vicinity – but no matter what you're doing or picking up, interactions are animated beautifully.

Like humans, robots carry anything of worth in their stomachs

It's this multi-layered puzzle-solving that makes Machinarium so fun to play. The bigger quest puzzles in the game are never mind-fryingly difficult, but they're so well thought out and just so gosh-darn clever that you can't help but tip your hat to the developers. And if you don't have a hat to tip, I suggest you go get one.