The Clockwork Man is a beautifully illustrated hidden object game from Total Eclipse that is set in a Steampunk world. In the game, you follow aspiring engineer Miss Miranda Calomy and her clockwork companion Sprocket as they travel by airship from London across the seas to strange and exotic locations, all the while meeting and interacting with various characters,as they attempt to find and aid her grandfather, Cornelius. The game follows the normal hidden object style, requiring the player to locate objects on the screen. There are several types of hidden object scenes. The first type you’ll encounter are zoomable levels where you can get an up-close view of part of the stage. There are also scrollable scenes that feature a parallax effect with objects gliding across the screen. You use the controls at the bottom-center of the screen, the mouse wheel, or arrow keys to zoom in and out or scroll left and right. There are also a handful of unique mini-puzzles, requiring combining objects and using them,all of which fit the game’s steampunk setting very well.

The Clockwork Man is a truly beautiful game graphically. Every item,and scene is drawn in great detail, even the intermediate loading screens have the look and feel of Victorian wallpaper.

A unique feature is the “Hint System”. Sprocket, Miranda’s C3-PO-like sidekick, can offer different hints, depending on what “upgrade module” is installed, but each hint costs energy, and it takes time for Sprocket to “recharge”, thus making the use of hints a strategic part of the game. If there is one downside to The Clockwork Man, it would be that it is rather on the short side, with only three chapters. All in all, though, for any Steampunk who likes the hidden object style of game, this one is a winner. A demo that allows for 60 minutes of playtime may be downloaded from Playfirst.com.