Crazy Machines is a puzzle game for Nintendo Wii and DS in which players must create “Rube Goldberg” type contraptions to set off a chain of events to help reach a desired goal.

Each level has lots of pieces and moving parts, and players will need to learn how to control them.  The first time you play through, the game slowly walks you through the basics of how things works.  We highly recommend playing through the tutorial for everyone who plays this game, as it is does a good job explaining the placement, function and options available for each puzzle piece.

The game’s puzzles don’t require players to build everything from scratch, but rather asks them to fill in a few pieces in the proper placement and orientation.  For example, in a very early level, a basketball is careening down a series of planks, and players will need to figure out where to insert one wooden plank in order to help the ball roll into the net.

After each puzzle, players can look at the “Professor’s” puzzle solution as well as their own, to see if they solved the problem in the same way.  We really liked this feature, as it showed that sometimes there are different ways to solve the same problem.

There are two different types of Puzzles in Crazy Machines.  In the regular Puzzle mode, players simply need to place objects as described above.  But in the Action mode, players will need to interact with one or more objects after the chain reaction has begun, requiring a higher level of strategy and a greater emphasis on hand eye coordination.

Crazy Machines is an extremely enjoyable “chain reaction” game, with clearly stated and satisfying objectives.  Although the controls and options may seem overwhelming without going through the game’s tutorials, we particularly enjoy how the game presents players with both passive and interactive puzzles.  We recommend this as a neat puzzle game for families with kids and tweens, which will have young minds thinking of new ways that everyday objects can interact with each other.