Thanks to Freeware Fans unstoppable enthusiasm for freeware and even better the fact that he is happy to devote the time to share it with the community, I will be extending my review time, which is primarily devoted to the usual game giveaways, so that I can give a short (ha ha) review of most of the games that Freeware Fan posts links to. (I probably wont have time to do one for each of them, but you never know)
Follow the link below to see FreewareFans thread, where you can find links to all the games he’s posting about. He will be posting link to a freeware game every day for at least the next month (and in my opinion, hopefully beyhond). Today is day 2.
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2326?replies=27
You can download today’s offering called Stopple from:
http://www.boiledsweets.com/Stopple/
Installation:
Todays zip file weighs in at a mere 8.06Mb, and when installed is 8.82Mb, so if you’re worried about filling your HDD, don’t as this is a very small file size (which in no way implies that the game is poor graphically). The installer allows you to deselect the installation of a start menu shortcut if you wish as well as choose to install a quick start short cut. By default, both the start menu shrtcuts and a desktop shortcut are installed. The installation path is the usual C:\program files\Stopple, but you can change this to keep your boot drive free of everything but the essential stuff if you wish.
There’s an uninstaller provided which is accessible from the start menu or from within the games folder. All in all this is a very professional package.
Introduction & Game info:
On starting the game you are presented with a configuration window where you are able to adjust the visual side of the game by selecting the most appropriate screen resolution for your monitor as well as the color depth, dithering (* see notes below for a simple explanation), and a toggle for windowed mode. There is a simple tutorial found on the main menu screen of which there are 10 -11 pages, that explain the mechanics of the game, so I wont bore you with even a précis of that. :) It’s keyboard controlled, which is unfortunate for those who dislike keyboard controls. However, apart from some keys (mainly the function keys, that are used to control the background, which is really bright; you can change the opacity using F3, as well as music and sound effects toggles) the only other keys you need to bother about are the movement keys which are quite naturally (for me being a left hander) the arrow keys.
There are switches and bridges to enable you to move from one platform to the next, but it’s not as easy as you think to switch these on or cross the bridges unless you’re in the correct orientation. In later levels you will find wooden platforms that cannot be crossed by full sized bricks. Thankfully when using the teleport switch, the block you are moving is split into two smaller blocks that are not as heavy. This however can have a down side as to used the heavy switch (denoted as an X), you need a full sized block to operate it. Besides the teleport and heavy switches there’s also soft switches that only require touching to work, which is useful when you find it difficult to maneuver your blocks on some of the harder levels. The aim of this 3D (isometric ) game is to get the blocks to fall into the square holes at the end of each level, within a specific time. There are 32 levels.
Follow the links to see the screen captures I took. They are mainly of the help pages and a series of images I took showing the gradual movement of one block in level 2. You will get a better idea of the background images by going to the developers site.
All on one page:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/FREEWARE/Stopple/?start=all
As a slideshow:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/FREEWARE/Stopple/?albumview=slideshow
This is basically a free downloadable version of the free online game that RunesageMagi posted about following Freeware Fans post, which you can play via the following link, (which was also provided by RunesageMagi):
http://www.ezone.com/games/bloxorz/gamecode.htm
Features:
Here are the features as quoted on the developer’s home page for this particular game:
• Groovy music!
• 32 original psychedelic backgrounds!
• Ability to take screen shots!
• Ability to resume your game!
• Play against the clock!
• Supports full screen and windowed modes
• Supports laptop & widescreen formats (16:9, 16:9.5, 16:10) and regular ratios (4:3, 5:4)
• Install / uninstall support!
• Free updates
Conclusion:
This is an excellent Freeware game (IMO)that has many features of its commercial brothers. I am impressed with the overall presentation of this game, and found the game play challenging and fun enough to want to continue. I would score it 7 out of 10 for game play, though I think it’s replay value is probably low once you’ve completed the game as there are no difficulty levels and no bonuses in game to make the game more interesting. For a freeware game though this is well worth the download. I haven't see many freeware games of this caliber.
I would love to see a level editor for this game as then you could make as many levels as you wished. Maybe I’ll post a commet over on the developers site and suggest this.
Notes:
What is Dithering:
Having Dithering selected via the configuration window reduces the number of available colors to 256, thus reducing the load on low end systems – check out the following for a more detailed (and aimed at the layman) explanation of what dithering means:
http://www.webstyleguide.com/graphics/dither.html
Thanks FreewareFan for taking the time to find and post these games. It is much appreciated. Today’s is a great alternative to fill in te lack of a
Game Giveaway.