The Gene Machine

The Gene Machine is a quirky point-and-click adventure with a colorful comic-book style, a bizarre cast, and a story that happily wanders into territory where ordinary logic should probably request a taxi home. The player explores unusual locations, talks to eccentric characters, collects objects, and solves puzzles while uncovering the larger mystery. Its visual presentation gives the game plenty of personality, with bright environments and expressive characters helping the strange humor land properly. The puzzles are traditional adventure-game fare, sometimes requiring combinations of objects that make perfect sense only after you have discovered them. That is practically a genre tradition. What makes the game memorable is its willingness to be silly without becoming completely disposable. It feels like an eccentric animated adventure that somehow escaped from television and landed on a DOS hard drive. For fans of obscure comic adventures, it is an entertaining curiosity.