Hi Suki,
Sorry for the late response; I've been otherwise engaged in map testing (for Crysis mission maps) and testing a new game for Alawar (Farm Frenzy 2)

Yeah, personally, I really like Troll. When I fist came across it a few years ago I wasn't sure, but that's only because it took me the whole of the hour long demo to get to grips with it. I only recently discovered the help file in the games folder which finally told me what the power ups did.

Definitely an unusual and worthwile arkanoid to own.

So far I like the game, only played first level. It took me a second to figure out that you right click for the shield, lol, think ppl were asking that on the front page!
Sure makes a better bounce effect to get the creeps castle!!!!!
I think I'm going to like this one.........

Have fun...... Via Con Dios.....my friends

Suki

Whabbit

I downloaded the zip file when it came up, but there weren't any comments yet!

Do you think I would like this game(you know my love of Arkanoids)?

I went to their site and the dreaded "McAee" put it on red, of course they do this one too, lmao !!!!!

I didn't like that nasty dude on the front game page at all..... what a creep!

Oh, and have a nice trip, I don't fly, lol.....

Suki

Thanks Antinoob, much appreciated; though the quality of the review usually depends upon how much time I've been given before hand before the giveaway. Recently it's been several hours before, which is when I'm usually asleep, so many are very dry lacking affairs, but occasionally I get a little more time to work on a review like I did with today's, which I was told about on Thursday, I was also pleased with it, but I was still changing bits when it was posted, lol.

Unfortunately tomorrows probably won't be as in depth, but there is a video of the game to watch and lots of links to other reviews. I'd spend more time on it, but I have a Crysis mission to finish testing tonight (been meaning to finish it all week)and a new game from Alawar to Beta test (Farm Frenzy 2). If I don't get my report in by the end of the weekend I wont get my free key. ;)

Well written, Whiterabbit.

Yes, I agree that Troll is an excellent game. Jets and Guns was VERY good also, so Rake in the Grass is a excellent provider for games here.

I look forward to more of these reviews!!! (You seem like BladedThoth, if any veteran GAOTD downloaders know.)

Troll was previously given away back in January 2007, and received a positive 74% out of 151 votes. The comments posted were less than complementary initially, but those who actually played and got to grips with the game posted much more positive comments later in the day. Some were offended by the name of the king (King Uterus), that you’ll find if you read the story accessible from the main menu, and others were offended by the isolated occurrences of in game cartoon nudity and mooning by cartoon characters.

Personally I think this is quite an unusual breakout game; unlike most others of the 2D variety; and as with other Rake in Grass games, for example Jets ‘n’ Guns, there’s an element of comedy in some of the art work and animations, which I’ll mention later. You can read all of the previous comments by following the link below:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/troll/#comments

The following are quotes from a description of the game from Rake in Grass’s home page and an edited version of my previous comment about this game.

Quote:

Become a brave troll warrior and save little humans from orcish tyranny in a beautiful fantasy adventure.

The quest will take you through six lands from green plains, across the mysterious swamps and desert, through snowy mountains and dark horror forest to the terrible wasteland, the home of orc’s. You will have to defeat many foes and face hideous and powerful creatures to finally fight the freedom for peaceful people from the Plains.

reference: http://troll.rakeingrass.com accessed 3rd July 08

Quote 2:

Looks like everyone is having a bad day today, lol. Am I going to be the only one commenting positively about this great giveaway today? I’m amazed as I’m an arkanoid fan and although I played the demo last year, I wasn’t sure about buying it, till I finished the time limited demo only the other day and thought it was actually not a bad clone. It has some original features, such as the meld of space invaders barriers, which in this game are the villager’s houses. As well as some interesting game play features and a novel way of hitting the fireballs that rain down on you from a great selection of castles and mansions. Watch out for the moonies.

I thought the storyline was rather funny, and know the kids like this one already. My six year old actually asked what a uterus was when I was playing the game last week; so you could say it’s even educational. There’s a whole range of humorist games out there and it’s a shame that some people have to knock a game because it doesn’t tie in with their particular brand of humor.

I can say with some authority,(that sounds a little pompou, lol) being familiar with ‘most’ arkanoid/breakout clones that have been released since the very first breakout by Taito back in the mid to late 1970's; that this particular arkanoid clone is definitely an unusual one. It’s nothing like the usual ball and bat clones, so if you just spend a few moments to get into the game, you may be pleasantly surprised. The only game I’ve seen that comes remotely close to this arkanoid clone is another freeware game called “Wrecker Ball Dream”. You have a similar action with respect to moving a ball around the playing area (in this case using a cock hen to swing rather than the axe of the troll; the first level is set inside a hen house. you have to break eggs as well as other things. I’d recommend this game to anyone out there who likes arkanoid games. See the last section for a link.

reference: http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/troll/#comments (number 12) accessed 3rd July 08

The Game:
You can read basic information about the game by clicking on the HTML document called Troll that can be found within the doc folder where the game is installed; just open the file and click on the help link to the top left of the page. This opens up a page with detailed information about the game play as well as the key bindings if you prefer to use the keyboard rather than the mouse to control your Troll.

Key Bindings:
LEFT_ARROW, Z : left
RIGHT_ARROW, X : right
DOWN_ARROW, LEFT_CTRL : weapon strike
UP_ARROW, LEFT_SHIFT: block
RIGHT_CTRL, SPACE : cast spell

You’ll also find details of all the power ups and bonuses that you’ll encounter in the game. These include several score multipliers, bonuses in the form of spells such as the swarm spell that summons a swarm of wasps, which causes your troll to run around manically, thus affecting your control over him. I would recommend you avoid this one because it will cause you to lose quite a lot of life through missed fireballs. There’s loads more such as the Stone skin spell, shrink, block gates, double and triple ball (breaks the fireball into two or three balls thus doing more damage), magic arrow, heavy impact, dispel (cancels out any spells still running), plus lots more. Some become available once you have captured one of several castles, though you must be adjacent to one of the huts, or other places such as Baba Yaga’s hut, or the pyramid. There are two kinds of magic spells in the game; duration spells and cast spells. Duration spells are used immediately and their effects last several seconds. Cast spells can be used anytime during the level by RIGHT_CTRL or SPACE. The last taken cast spell is shown in single slot above the "magic" sign to the right of the playing field. Duration spells are in lower three slots.

To access the game you need to create a profile, and then you are taken to the levels map. The only levels you can play are the ones with crossed swords or those you’ve previously won. When selecting levels you are able to select any level that is adjacent to the level you played, which as already mentioned is denoted by crossed swords overlaid onto a castle. You select your level by clicking on a castle turret. Each castle has a name which can be seen at the bottom of the screen when you hover your mouse over the castle, with names like Crystal Palace, Windy Hill, Skull Keep, Fort Despair and poison valley, you can see that the overall theme is dark. Besides the castles you’ll find several other buildings which include a pyramid, tents and a few others which bestow specific magical abilities (see the help page in the Troll HTML document for more details). You need to be adjacent to one of these buildings to activate the ability. For example the ruins called ‘Monk Stones’ you can invoke the gods of sky to help you with their magic.

Watch out for the funny animations such as the cccp sputnik like ship that wanders slowly across the map screen occasionally, dragons and even old nessy (the Loch Ness monster) and the odd mooner and naked streaker, all of course done in the best possible taste. (legs crossed – British humor – Kenny Everett)
You can see which power ups are running by looking to the right hand pane which shows the power ups caught in four boxes labeled ‘magic. Above these are the life indicators for both the enemy (red) and the troll (green) that are in the form of old bulb thermometers though there is a score at the top of each indicator. The enemy is marked out of 100 and the troll out of 10. Above this is the score, then the word Troll which is initially in bold gold lettering. As you collect letters these change to white. Once you’ve completed the word, you’ll see a figure to the left of the playing arena pop in with a billboard saying ‘Bonus!’, this will give you an access to a secret level (different for each of the six scenario’s). If you fail to collect all letters in one level, you can play the level again to get the remaining ones. You can’t miss the little fellow with the billboard though because he waves at you manically. You have to keep your eye on the fire ball breathing monster above and the monsters attacking your village from below. There’s no let up at all. Thankfully, if you lose the level, you can restart the level without losing any progress apart from the score you made in the level prior to losing it.

The theme remains similar throughout, that is you have to prevent the fireballs from destroying your villages and return the fire balls and kill the monsters attacking you, Each level has it’s own monsters and art work. It’s not as easy as you think, with each castle needing a specific amount of damage done to it by the returning fireballs. Your progress can be hindered or helped by the power ups that fall frequently. The most important (IMO) are the life power ups that help to repair damage done by fireballs.

Images - Slideshow:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Troll/?albumview=slideshow

Images – all on one page:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Troll/?start=all&special_track=album_paginate_top_view_all

Music:

I think most community members are going to hate the music. Unfortunately, unless you’re a dab hand at editing script (using a text editor that supports hex) you’ll have to put up with it. I personally think it fits in with the medieval theme and don’t mind the music so long as it’ turned down.

System requirements:
Minimum:
CPU 400 MHz
32 Memory RAM
Good 3D accelerated GFX card (8 MB)
Win 9x
DirectX 8.0

Recommended:

CPU 800 MHz
64 MB RAM
GeForce 2 MX + (32 MB)
Sound card
Win 9x / ME / 2000 / XP
DirectX 8.1+

Conclusion:
Personally the cartoon nudity that some found unacceptable the first time this was given away, in my opinion is nothing to be worried about. Though if you are a parent who wants to shield their children from anything remotely related to nudity, or words that refer to parts of the female reproductive system, then I would keep this I your passworded accounts. For me it’s well worth keeping. It’s got some original features when comparing it with other breakout clones, and it’s also quite hard to bat. There’s only one difficulty level, and you only get one life, but as already mentioned if you lose you can resume where you left off, so no progress is lost. Well worth 7 out of 10.

Thank you Rake in Grass and the game giveaway team for another excellent game.

Further information:
The closest I could compare this game to is the Freeware breakout game Wrecker Ball Dream by Glinkie Games, which you can find a link to in the freeware section of this site i.e.:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/freeware/2005/03/21/wreckerball-dream/

or via:

http://www.glinkiegames.com/main/

There’s even a troll forum where you can read information about the game, though the last post was nearly 18 months ago.

Troll forums:

http://forum.rakeingrass.com/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=660819f210163b26d7df7aa3ee78ae83

For loads of free arkanoids/breakouts check out the thread in the games discussion forums. You’ll find lots of free ‘full version’ shareware games as well as freeware and browser based games:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2607

Yep. Troll & Time waster. Thought as much.

Though I had a laugh at your objections to GOTD having "ripped-off your time". But you will continue to monitor the website to "avoid ANY entity who participates". (I trust you are keeping detailed notes).

I'm sure the fantastic developers who make available their software for giveaway will miss your patronage.

Another alternative that occurred to me - feel free to visit the developers website to install the trial version of the software offered. There is no actual requirement to use the download from GOTD - and the giveaway activation is optional. As a bonus you will be offered the ability to backup to CD and reinstall when you decide. (Perhaps this is a better gift - going by your definition).

The choice is yours. Clearly you have made your mind up on what you feel is fair. I don't agree (nor do I need to). You are wasting your time trying to convince me.

It's one thing to complain - it's another to constructively suggest how things can be improved.

I like GOTD. I appreciate what they are offering and I'm not aware of another site elsewhere on the internet that is doing similar.

But thanks for your. . . . . "feedback".

Quoted from:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

Well, that's a convenient initiative allowing you to get the best COMMERICAL software titles - FOR FREE. Every day we offer LICENSED software you'd have to buy otherwise, FOR FREE! Yes, we are GIVING AWAY software, and you can download it from our site, right now and right here and our goal is to GIVE AWAY every good piece of software, sooner or later. Want to learn more about our project?

Quoted from:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/about/

Basically, every day we nominate one software title that will be a GIVEAWAY title of that day. The software will be available for download for 24 hours (or more, if agreed by software publisher) and that software will be ABSOLUTELY FREE. That means - not a trial, not a limited version - but a REGISTERED and LEGAL version of the software will be FREE for our visitors*.

* Under specific Terms and Conditions, which limit the software usage to non-commercial only, and may also limit software updates and technical support.

[But please don't come here with a dictionary in your hand and try claim you are being ripped off.]

I am sure that you would like the definitions of "giveaway", "gift" and "free" to be different than the are, however those definitions are not.

It is also a little queer that a program is activated: BEFORE it is installed?

GOTD has ripped-off my time. I will be monitoring the website and avoiding ANY entity that participates. I certainly do not want money ripped-off by their/your participants.

If you have any links, to substantiate your statements, please forward them to me, otherwise:
Thanks for the . . . . . "experience".

JohannBacker, This discussion has been had previously.

If I gave you a gift of $100 but the condition you had to spend it the same day. Would you claim that it wasn't a gift because you couldn't continue to spend that $100 every day afterwards?

The gift at GOTD is "the ability to install a registered version" of the software or game. You are complaining that you can't continue to install every day afterwards. Go figure.

You may notice the site is the "Giveaway of the Day". Todays programs are not also the "Giveaway of Tomorrow" or "Next Thursday". Just Today.

GOTD has always been quite clear and up front on the conditions of the giveaway. The conditions are available on the site prior to downloading and included within each downloaded giveaway.

There is nothing misleading here at all.

There are some reasonable and fair restrictions on these giveaways:

1. The software can only be installed on the date of the giveaway. If you have a requirement to install a permanent license after the giveaway expires - you can purchase a full license.

2. The software will normally not be upgradable. Newer versions of the software released in the future will not work with the GOTD giveaway license (unless otherwise stated).

3. The software is provided without any guarantee of support from the developer.

4. The software may not be used for business or commercial purposes. (If you are going to profit by using the software, why shouldn't the developer ?)

Imagine if you will, you are a software developer who makes your living from writing and selling software. It is though sales of software you are able to feed your family, and put a roof over your head.

Would you sacrifice your source of income by giving away your work - permanently? These giveaways still must retain some incentive for users like you and I to support the developers who write these programs. If you want to re-install later, if you want the latest updates and features, if you want support, if you want to be allowed to use the software in a commercial environment - you need to purchase a license.

If you feel GOTD is doing wrong by you by not ALSO providing the above free of charge - perhaps you should look elsewhere.

If you feel the developers are being selfish by offering what is available each day, but wanting some conditions on the offer - to protect their hard work and the opportunity for future income - perhaps you should try writing software for a living.

At the end of the day, if you are not happy with the terms offered, either do not download the giveaway, or purchase a full license from the software developer.

But please don't come here with a dictionary in your hand and claim you are being tricked, ripped off, or misled because there are a few conditions on your acceptance of the giveaway.

My programs are copied to CD for re-install. I have not, do not and never will use "Backup" and I started with Windows for Workgroups 3.1 (16 bit OS)May - 1994.

Again: If it/they canNOT be reinstalled, from the CD that they were copied to, then the "giveaway" (gift: something that is offered free of charge, often as a publicity gimmick or incentive to buy) is NOT a--- giveaway.

Every computer expert will tell you if you care about your stuff to back them up regularly. One backup program even comes free with Windows, among many others out there. And if you don't heed this advice, whose fault is it?

According to the instructions:

Installation

1.( Unzip the package you`ve downloaded and 2.( run the activation program
Activate.exe which is included in the package, then 3.( run Setup.exe to
install the software.

You have to install it before the Giveaway offer for the software is over.

[Snipped]

My reading comprehension tells me that I must:
1. ACTIVATE the program--- BEFORE I install it.
2. Install BEFORE the Giveaway offer is over.

What is not disclosed/addressed is how the (or any "alleged" Giveaway program/s) is/are re-installed if a FORMAT or FDISK has to be done.

If it/they canNOT be reinstalled, then the "giveaway" (gift: something that is offered free of charge, often as a publicity gimmick or incentive to buy) is NOT a--- giveaway.