After what has felt like a horribly long and drawn out 2016, it’s finally December, which brings with it a whole host of yearly traditions. Forget the holidays, advent calendars, snowmen and the like – for iOS gaming, it’s the inevitable ‘Best of 2016’ lists which will begin to emerge amongst both critics and consumers, and while there will be some heated arguments along the way, it’s a great time to evaluate the past twelve months and revisit some of the classics that have released on our favorite touchscreen platform. For me personally, one of the first games that comes to mind is Human Resource Machine ($4.99) – its programming-based puzzles were extremely compelling and suited to mobile, which coupled with some subtle yet supremely clever presentation resulted in an essential App Store release when it launched back in June. Today, Android gamers can join in the fun, as Human Resource Machine has finally launched on Google Play for $4.99, which is a bargain for the amount of frustration and fun you will get out of Tommorow Corporation’s latest release.
Human Resource Machine works brilliantly on numerous levels – while it’s an engrossing puzzle game on the surface, it simultaneously teaches you numerous ideas and concepts related to coding along the way, such as the methodology of how a computer works, and some more complex mechanics like zero terminated strings. I went into Human Resource Machine with no knowledge whatsoever about programming, and while the game has not suddenly turned me into Mr. Robot, the reasonable difficulty curve coupled with some frustrating yet fair conundrums to solve meant I legitimately believed that I was learning something from the game, which accentuated the immense feeling of satisfaction that completing one of the title’s tasks brought with it. Hopefully the Android release helps the game reach even more people, and I’d implore any gamers on either platform who missed it first time around to give Human Resource Machine a download. Human Resource Machine is available on both the App Store and the Google Play store, and also to and be sure to head down to our forum thread for more tips and discussion regarding this excellent puzzle title.
