Installation:
Today’s game downloads as a combined activation and set up module so installation is a breeze. As usual you are able to select other destinations for the installation by changing the default install details from C:\Program Files\Inca Ball which is a boot drive destination, to other places on the boot drive a new hard drive or a paretitioned drive. The download size is 16.7Mb and when installed takes up a mere 52.5Mb.
Introduction & Game info:
The game start up seemed a little sluggish, but once the game started there were no problems; apart from one installation on one of my dual core machines, where it plays appallingly slow, and the same game Azteca (see notes below) is also the same though slightly better.
The game opens up to some excellent South American sounding music, with flutes, and drums, together with the sounds of the rain forest; though it's a loop as opposed to a full piece of music. Giving the game some excellent ambience. When booting up the game for the very first time the opening screen is a player profile set up. Once this is done you no longer see that screen again because new profiles can be set up by clicking on the Click Here link at the top of the main menu.
The options menu is very basic, with only music and sound sliders as well as a mute and window toggle. The How too Play menu is a single page with animations showing you what to do, as well as other information you need to know before starting to play (see the screen captures via the link below for more details of the help page). This How Too also appears at the beginning of a new game and is always accessible via the in game menu button found to the top right of the playing screen. Following this another screen appears that allows you to buy artifacts to help you in your quest to win the Prize, which is revealed at the end of the full game. There is a button in the main menu specifically for the prize, but until you have completed all the levels you’ll have to just wonder as to what it could be. There are six artifacts available during the game, but at the start there are only three available for purchase. The other three are missing. You start the game with 60 000 credits and can buy a bombball (10 000), a chainbomb (20 000) or an extra life (40 000), of which you start with three.
The game starts once you click on the start button within the artefacts menu. The gun that fires the balls allows you to see the two balls preceeding the one to be fired. You can exchange one of these by right clicking the mouse, and is basically the same system most games of this ilk such as Luxor and Zuma use. The artefacts that you have or will buy are found at the bottom of the screen. To activate one of these just left click on it, which activates it. The next time you fire you gun the artefact will discharge and do one of several things including explode small groups of balls or destroy a whole chain. These artefacts are of differing costs as mentioned above. Apart from the artifacts that you can buy at the end of each level, which are dependent upon how much credit you can earn during the game (the more combinations {combo’s} you make, the higher the credit you will earn at the end of each level); there are also several bonus items that can be caught that are released throughout the game when you destroy the balls travelling towards the tunnel, such as stop and reverse bonuses. There are several of these, which I’ll let you discover for yourselves.
The game is automatically saved when you exit, which can be done via the menu button found to the top right hand side of the playing arena or by clicking on the Esc key, both of which bring up the pause menu, which gives you access to the options menu and the How to play page. The game is fully mouse controlled apart from at the beginning of a new game where you input your profile name.
You can see some of the effects of the bonus’s and artifacts by following the Googled link below:
Slideshow:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Inca%20Ball/?albumview=slideshow
All on one page:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Inca%20Ball
Googled:
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Inca+Ball&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
System Requirements:
Operating System------------------Windows ME/2000/XP/Vista
CPU-----------------------------------600MHz
Computer Memory------------------128Mb
3D Emulation------------------------DirectX 8.0 or higher
Video Memory-----------------------32Mb
Most computers built over the past 5 years will almost certainly cover all of the minimum requirements above.
Conclusion:
This is an excellent ‘Luxor and Zuma’ Style game, which is better than Zuma, but not quite up to the standard of the latest Luxor version. There is a big incentive to play this to the end just to discover what the prize is. There’s a specific button in the main menu that is dedicated to the Prize :lol:
I bought this before Luxor III was released, and though I don't think it's as good, I don't regret buying it, so in my opinion this game is worth 8 out of 10. There's plenty of re-playability in this game and it's a great family orientateg game as well.
Notes:
If you missed the game giveaway version of this game you can get a full commercial version totally free anytime from the following link. The name has been changed to Azteca, but the game is exactly the same. Though, as with all GameTop games you do get a browser opening to the GameTop home page when you shut down the game. But there is no malware or pop ups generated by visiting the gametop site.
