Crazy Machines 2 [SOFTWARE DOWNLOAD]

List Price: $19.99 Discount Price: $17.99

Features:

• Hundreds of all new levels to complete
• New Parts, New Pieces, New Contraptions
• Multiple solutions, play these challenging puzzles again and again
• Swap ideas with other members of the online community
• Trick out your own contraptions in free-style mode

Customer Reviews:

Do Not Download This! [Posted on 2008-09-01]
I downloaded this for my son's birthday yesterday and intended to install it on a laptop running Windows XP. When he tried to install the software, it took absolutely forever. Once the installation was done, the game could not be run do to a missing DLL.

After several frustrating reinstalls to no avail, I decided to try it on my own computer running Windows Vista Premium. Initially, I had thought that the problem might have been that my son's laptop was relatively old and just did not have enough memory and disk space to handle the game. However, I experienced the same aggravation when trying to install it on my new computer!

I did some research on the error and apparently, the game will not work due to a problem with a missing file in the OpenAL Library, which is responsible for the game sound. Although I did eventually find a patch for the the OpenAL Library, it was not an easy task. This is a known issue with this game that Amazon failed to mention. I also would have thought that it would have been the responsible thing to do to at least inform the buyer of this issue and provide a link to download the patch necessary to run the game.

Stay away from this one. I wasted $[...]. I work with computers and software on a daily basis which is why I was able to figure out how to work this thing. For someone does not have any computer expertise, this game would be worthless.

Also, read the Amazon disclaimer. They do not offer refunds for software downloads - which is fine by me - as long as they work! For $[...], I would have expected this thing to work without any hitches!

I would have thought that Amazon ensured that the software they offer for download works before they post it for sale online.

Never again. This was an absolute rip-off!

UPDATE:

The OpenAL patch did not work. Though it did get the inital screen to pop-up to a certain point, it still doesn't work. I also tried a patch that requires replacing the cm2.dll and cm2.exe files but that didn't work either. According to some forums, you need the AGEIA PhysX Processor to run this stupid game. There is no way in hell I'm spending $[...] to run an $[...] game. There is another suggested option w/c requires the user to mount an .MDS image in conjunction with Daemon Tools but I don't want to go through any more aggravation and have it not work anyway. I didn't spend $[...] to go through all this crap. If you pay good money for something, you shouldn't have to FORCE it to work!!! This was complete highway robbery!!!

Some install problems but good otherwise [Posted on 2008-09-10]
The previous reviewer is correct in noting that install takes a long time (about 20-25 minutes, even on a new machine). The main issue, however, is the missing .dll file. This was easy to find through a Google search complete with an installer that resolved the problem. Nevertheless, one would expect the software to work effectively once installed without having to seek out missing files. No other issues (e.g., the processor issue noted by the earlier review) were noted. Game play is good.

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