DaVinci’s Secret Machines, a puzzle game where you build complicated contraptions to perform mundane tasks, has been released in the app store. With fairly simple designs and only 30 levels, it shouldn’t take long to complete this game.

Leonardo DaVinci is known for being ahead of his time, as evidenced by his revolutionary designs. This game is based on the same principles. Using a limited supply of everyday objects, such as balls, fans, mirrors, wooden planks, and springs, you are tasked with figuring out how to meet the targeted goal, such as lighting a candle, knocking over dominoes, or putting a ball into a basket. Some objects may need to be turned or rotated, easily accomplished by tapping on the object and using the spinner to turn the item in the necessary direction. Many of the puzzles require very little thought and can be completed in under a minute.

Graphically, the game has an old-time, Renaissance-style look about it, featuring representations of machine schematics on yellowing paper, pictures of Mona Lisa and DaVinci himself, and sepia-infused tones throughout. The gameplay screen utilizes the left portion for building the machines. The right side contains the moveable objects, as well as the play button which sets into motion your completed design and a stop button to retry when your machine fails. Sounds are adequate, with subtle background music and simple sound effects. Controls are touch-based, but not always terribly effective. There were times that a placed object would get stuck and no amount of tapping or dragging would move it. Also, the rotational mechanic sometimes mistakes a movement drag for a rotationak drag. It is understandable how this can happen, but it’s still frustrating.

Overall, the game doesn’t quite meet our expectations, which weren’t terribly high to begin with based on similar games that we’ve played in the past. Gameplay was a bit simpler than expected and the levels went quicker than anticipated. DaVinci’s Secret Machines uses OpenFeint for leaderboards, though leaderboards appear to be inaccessible except when starting the game. There is no way to get back to the main menu from within the game, which was very frustrating. Replayability is not great, as there is virtually no difficulty once you’ve solved the puzzles the first time. The $1.99 price tag is fair, and the devs claim to want to add more levels in the future, as well as a level editor. In its current state, DaVinci’s Secret Machines is a pretty solid 3-Dimple game, with the potential for its stock to rise with the proposed updates. Time will tell.

DaVinci’s Secret Machines gets our AppSmile 3-Dimple rating: