Let me gives folks a heads up on a potential problem with Larva Mortus. I imagine this is just because I haven't installed OpenGL and the game is using the DirectX/Direct3D driver instead.

The program accidentally glitched into windowed mode and I couldn't get it back out. This was because the program did not reduce into Windowed mode and, instead, just put a 960x600 Windows around the 1024 by 768 full screen program. Therefore, a lot of the program was offscreen and unreachable (no scroll bars). And one of the things that was unreachable was the option to return to full screen.

No bigee. I edited the preferences file. If you get into this situation:

Open the "common" folder in the game's folder. Then open the preferences folder and drag the prefs.cs file into a text editor, like notepad. If you hit open instead of drag - and your new to this - make sure that after you select "select a program from a list of installed programs" that you uncheck the box on the list that says "always use the selected program to open this type of file".

If you don't, you'll end up associating ALL the files of that type in your computer with the text editor and they may not open with the programs that are supposed to open them. In other words, potential big problems. And, in Vista anyway, there's no easy way to fix this without 3rd party software (and not always even then). Another brilliant innovation from Billy Bucks. That checkbox being selected by default has been cited as a problem for 14 years, but what do I know. I'm not a billionaire. All because Microsoft has always been convinced it knows more about what you need than you do.

Anyway, enough of that diabtribe, back to the process. You can scroll down the prefs.cs file to near the bottom, or seach for "full", and you'll find $pref::Video::fullScreen = "0";.
Change the value to 1, and you're fixed.

Of course, you might want to eventually install OpenGL. I suppose I'll get around to it - someday. "Gotta clean out that closet one of these days". (Fibber McGee) LOL

I've updated the above review adding the changes made from the first time this was given away back in March 09 and of course, added imnages. :)

Larva Mortus: A Review

Today’s game was originally given away earlier this year (March 09). It received a positive 48% of 609 vote, which I thought was rather low considering the quality of this game, (then again it’s possibly because the game is a more 'on the edge' sort of arcade game that will probably only appeal to a smaller group of gamers). The download size is 51.2Mb and once installed expands to 53Mb. You can read previous comments about the game HERE

The game installs to C:/Games as default, which can be changed if you wish; do make a mental note of where it goes because the game doesn't install any shortcuts, so you'll need to create them yourself. If you want a shortcut in the Start Menu programs list you can find a tutorial on how to do so in the game discussion forums HERE . You'll find decent games manual in PDF format within the games folder that repeats what I've said below.

Game Story:

At the end of the nineteenth century, dark forces shade the world once again. A brave agent experienced in exorcism and combat comes to face the incoming evil and fight loathsome supernatural monsters and horrific spawns of black magic.

Larva Mortus offers fast and entertaining monster-hunting game play. A cheesy horror atmosphere goes hand in hand with furious action splatter fest; everything accompanied by a creepy first class soundtrack!

The above story line was referenced from HERE and accessed on the 20th March 09 (some grammar was corrected)

The Game:

Before you start the game you’ll need to create a profile via the ‘select player button. You can create as many profiles as you like. The options menu allows you to adjust various graphical aspects of the game, for example there are three styles of mouse pointer to choose from. There’s a toggle to turn the gore off, which is set to on as default. There’s also a toggle to switch between DX9 and OpenGL. It’s recommended that you have OpenGL.

There’s also a 16/32 bit toggle and a full screen toggle. The usual music and sound sliders can be found together with a master slider. Once these have been set up you’re good to go…..

When you start the game, the first screen you encounter is the mission map. Here you can select from three difficulty settings; easy, medium and hard. The default setting is set to medium difficulty, however before you can select the difficulty settings you have to scroll through a few windows that recounts the supporting story to the game; which is about an agency; that is dedicated to the investigation of paranormal events. You start as mentioned above, in the map room. You will see several envelops stuck on the map which contain information about the various missions open to you; that includes the location of the mission, the quests, and difficulty level, which is denoted by the number of skull and crossbones given to the quest. You’ll also see the mission objectives and a short story to set the scene. As you complete missions more are added to the map. (<i>You can see what these look like by following one of the image links</i>). You can read about each mission before you actually opt to complete that mission. Missions are graded on how difficult they are, starting with the lowest grade up to ones with 5 or 6 skull and crossbones. The lower the number of this emblem on the mission info sheet, the easier the mission is. You’ll find red envelopes which cannot be taken (but can be read) until you’ve attained a specific level.

Bonuses, which can be found inside barrels and chests include extra ammo, armour that makes you almost invincible for short periods, a berserker power up that increases the damage you do to opponents as well as increases your résistance to attack, score multipliers (which can help to level you up) and fast walk. The games HUD shows your health staus as a red bar to the top left of the screen. There’s also a link to your profile, which can also be opened using Tab. The top right hand corner shows the bonuses that are active and to the bottom left are the weapons you’re carrying.. There’s a mini map to the bottom left, with a zoom facility, but this is of no real benefit because the dimensions of the mini-map remain the same; only the image within the mini map changes.

Leveling up is dependent upon collecting points. Every time you do level up you’re awarded free skill points which can be added to the attributes you possess, of which there are several. There are 30 level ups in the game which gives you a lot of scope to tweak your characters attributes. You can access you attributes at any time by clicking the Tab key. The profile details the characters statistics such as the level you’re at, score, score needed to make the next level, the length of time you’ve played the mission, the number of kills and the number of times you’ve died as well as the characters attributes which include observation, construction, resistance, luck, walking speed and melee combat. There are also other info tabs that include details of active quests, the difficulty of the quest and the objectives. There’s an information tab that tells you what you are carrying. By placing your mouse pointer over individual items you’ll get information about it. It’s worth checking this out because some weapons are less (or more) effective against certain enemies. For example, when hovering the mouse over the ‘default’ 2 handed sword, it tells you that supernatural enemies are often very resistant against firearms, which is very useful information when you’re beset upon by hoards of evil looking monsters. To toggle between the weapons you’re carrying use the mouse wheel.

There are 30 monsters that include vampires, the undead and Werewolves, plus more species. There are several primary weapons including the default sword and six shooter and include a shotgun and dynamo gun.. Levels are randomly generated, so effectively there’s no limit to the number of levels you can play. There are several different environments ranging from underground catacombs to spooky mansions and dark forests.

Reviews worth reading:

Initial impressions of Larvae Mortus – Rake in Grass forums

Follow to find reviews worth reading

Follow to find reviews worth reading

Follow to find reviews worth reading

Images:

See images all on one page HERE

See images as a slideshow HERE

Minimum requirements:

Operating System…………………………Windows XP/Vista

cpu…………………….…. 1.2GHz,

System RAM………………256MB

Graphics……………………OpenGL support (recommended)

Video:

See video of gameplay HERE

See video of gameplay HERE

See video of gameplay HERE

See previous comments from Jan 08 HERE

Conclusion:

Although this genre has been saturated with a variety of sub standard clones over the last few years, this one stands out above most of the others because of it’s upgrade system and the overall quality of production. It's as good as my favorite top down shooter of the moment Zombie Shooter 2. It’s worth a good 8 out of 10 for playability and fun. The game is well made and looks good. Apart from Jets 'n' Guns this is one of my favorite Rake in Grass games. I even bought it via Valves Steam client despite having the original giveaway. Well it was part of a bundle so I couldn't avoid getting it lol.

Similar games available for free

Get RIP3 HERE

Get Crimson Road (aka Humvee Shootout) HERE

or the same game

Get Humvee Shootout HERE

Get Ariel Fire HERE

Get Absolute Survival HERE

The following game doesn’t have the annoying window opening up when you close the game down:

Get Theseus: Return of the Hero HERE

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