This is a 14.3Mb download, expanding to 80.5Mb once installed. It was originally given away way back in September 07 and received 87% of 430 votes, then again last November 08 when it received another positive 83% of 646 votes. Installation is a breeze with shortcuts being installed onto the desktop and start menu. The game installs to C:\Program Files\ (by default), but can be changed during the installation process or after if you wish, though moving the games folder later will mean you will have to either change the target locations in the shortcuts already installed (easily done by right clicking on the shortcut and selecting properties). There are usually two lines to change, (Target & Start In); or, the easier option, just create new shortcuts from the games executable once the game has been moved. If you're not sure how to create a start menu shortcut check out the short tutorial in the games discussion forums - it's a sticky now, so can be easily found on the front page of the games forums.
You can read all previous comments from the last two times this was given away via the following links, and also check out Lockett’s incisive comments near the end of this review:
Read the October 2007 comments HERE
Read the November 2008 Comments HERE
Quote from the developers site:
It is filled with magical atmosphere of underwater adventures. Our well-known hero, brave and kind turtle Ozzy starts the journey with an innocent game of catch, as Ozzy accidentally smacks into a slab of ice, cracking it and letting a mysterious creature go free. Intrigued, he follows, unknowingly setting off on the adventure of lifetime, which - as depicted via a lovingly-rendered mission map you’ll traverse one stage at a time - is filled with excitement and wonder.
Reference: http://realore.com/turtleodyssey2/ accessed 7th November 2008
Turtle Odyssey 2 is a ‘pleasant’ sequel to the original Turtle Odyssey which was given away in March 2007 and Nov 2008; (though it only seems like yesterday). Anyway, there’s at least one slight improvement to this version that I noticed right away and that was the levels map with its animated turtle showing you the way. The options menu is basic with a windowed mode, video quality toggle (high and low) as well as a toggle to turn the tutorial on and off. There’s no help menu, but the in game tutorials (provided you have them toggled on) should suffice to play this game. If switched on you get in game help screens popping up at appropriate moments to advise you what is required to continue during game play. There’s a trophy room that looks rather small to be collecting more than a few trophies, but I haven’t progressed more than a few levels so far (despite having had the game for nearly two years). If there is anyone who’s already played the whole or most of the game previously, please do let the community know if there are more than just a few trophies, thank you. :)
There are six magical worlds with their own distinctive environments, with over 50 levels in total; some of which are secret levels. You’ll find them in each world, so be sure to look well; they are usually quite easy to find. If you're impatient, or don't mind using spoilers, you can find them all via the following link. There's more in game tips for example you can get to all talismans on level 6.2 by rapidly pressing the left and right arrow keys, this makes Ozzy spin and fly. Use this while jumping to gain extra height. This ability to spin is not limited; or on level 5-1 if you press the ctrl button you have a weapon that you can shoot. It helps to get the sea urchins so you can get the trophy for destroying all enemies. To find more tips and tricks for Turtle Odyssey 2 click on the forum tab once you've followed the link below:
Find walkthrough spoilers HERE
The basic premise is the same as the original; that is, walk, jump and kick your way through platform after platform, collecting money and crystals and either avoiding or jumping on or kicking baddies as well as searching for those elusive secret levels.
The game is mouse, keyboard, joy pad or joystick controlled, so there should be control options for everyone, unless you like to use a wheel , :lol: You can use both keyboard and any of the others at the same time if you wish. Once you’ve fulfilled the tasks required of the level, a gate opens that allows you through to the next level. You'll find Ozzy will do a back flip or some other trick at this point. Once you’ve completed a level you cannot replay it unless you start a new game with a new profile. I found a few video’s of the game which show the gorgeously rendered levels and excellent game play; none are more than a few minutes long, so for those who are not sure about downloading this you've got an opportunity to see what the game looks like in action. The colorful nature of this platformer is one of the things that endear this game to me, despite not being a great lover of this type of platform game. (e.g. Mario Brothers, Zelda, Jet Pack</strong, etc)
Video footage:
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Watch video of Turtle Odyssey 2 HERE
Watch more video of Turtle Odyssey 2 HERE
Watch even more video of Turtle Odyssey 2 HERE :)
Images:
Requirements:
o Pentium III 800
o Win9x/ME/NT/2000/ XP/Vista
o DirectX 8.0
o 64 MB System RAM
o 32 MB Video RAM
Music:
As with most arcade games you can change the in game music by going into the appropriate folder and replacing the correct music files with ones of your own. The format is .ogg, so you'll require an audio converter to do this. There are several freeware converters to be found in the giveaway freeware library which is accessible from the bottom of the giveaways front page. The following is the default pathway for those who want to change the music:
C:\Program Files\Turtle Odyssey 2\data\Sound
You can also change the sound effects if you are adventurous, all sound effects and music are found in the same folder. Make Turtle sound like a lion or some other animal, or change loads of other sound effects if you wish; the only rule, is use the same audio format and rename the file you're adding, to the same name as the one you are replacing. I'd keep a backup of the files you change, just in case you mess the name changes up or want to revert back to the original sounds. There are sites where you can download sound bites for free, so there are almost endless possibilities. :lol:
Conclusion:
This is worth the download if you are into platform games, especially if they are your favorite genre and certainly adds to the original Turtle Odyssey. I'll be keeping this one for both myself and my children as they love the genre. For family entertainment value this is worth a good 7 out of 10 at the very least. (I originally gave Turtle Odyssey 2 a 6.5 the first time it was given away because I thought there were far better platform games available that gave a lot more game play and fun for it to warrant a higher score; but then, after playing it some more, I decided I was being a little unfair.
There are lots of excellent and unusual commercial platform games available comparable and in some cases better (IMO) than today's giveaway; such as Wik and the Fable of Souls, Gum Boy Crazy Adventures and it’s sequel called Gum Boy Tournament, {Which is now available via Steam for a decent price</e>}, Barrel Mania and a more recent game called Aquaria (which is also available via Steam and even Azangara that was given away over a year ago, and is still available for free from one of my other favorite free commercial games sites called Gametop, though the game was re-named to Dungeon Raider instead of Azangara for licensing reasons.
If you have any problems running Turtle Odyssey 2 please post a comment over in the comments section as well as here. It's more likely to be answered here at a later date, but for the day of the giveaway at least, it will still be a good idea to post your problem i both places.
The good news is that Turtle Odyssey 2 (and the first one) are free standing, so can be transferred from computer to computer, played from memory sticks and external drives or backed up onto CD or DVD, so there's no need to lose either version, (N.B......not all game giveaways are free standing though).
Get a free (and legal) copy of Dungeon Raider aka Azangara HERE
That said Turtle Odyssey 2 is still a good game, though much easier than the ones I mention above. Oh yeah I didn’t include one of my favorite platform games, Gish; however, I think that it is an acquired taste because you really need to like lumps of tar :lol: – it includes several game modes, a levels editor and lots of extra downloadable custom content for free, which is available from the developers home pages (Chronic Logic forums. The original developer, who left Chronic Logic, is developing Gish 2 at the moment. No release date has been mooted yet though. :( You can 'now' get Gish (and all of the arcade games I mention above) for less than $7 from Reflexive; (there are demo versions available for each one as well) :)
Go to Reflexive Arcades home page
Have a great day folks and thank you Realore Studios for giving this second version away and to the game giveaway team for a fantastic project. (I never get sick of saying that :lol: )
Other Reviews of this game:
Download Duke Nukem II from DOSGame Archives
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Other free platform games:
There’s actually hundreds of free platform games available if you search the web, though I don't think you'll find any as beautiful for free. I’ve posted a very small selection of free platform games below, some are commercial but free, some are freeware and some abandonware. The Gametop ones that I mention above and below (Dungeon Raider and Shark Attack respectively) do open up your browser when you close the game down, but otherwise the file is clean of malware. Once you close the browser down there’s no comeback. I have noticed that their are more pop ups occuring over on the Gametop site than there used to be. Even with my pop up filter switched on I get the odd one. Thankfully I have WOT installed, so I get a warning first. The tiny inconveniences are worth if for getting the games free. There’s also loads of freeware platformers to be found in the Free games synosis, for example, Bonesaw , Cadog Adventures, Curse of the Wendingo, Hallowen Harry, House of Usher, Jetpack, The Legend of Princess, Lost in Eldritch , The Manipulator, Mr Stumps Dentures, Polarity, Rescue: The Beagles, TheSkull 1, 2 and 3, Second Law, Sleep Walker, Ten Ton Ninja, To Hell with Johnny, Tom & Jerry, Bruce Lee, Within a Deep forest, Zelda Forever, plus a few I missed:
Go to the free games synopsis for download links
Oh yeah, nearly forgot to mention; some of the Gametop games do try to set Gametop as your home page and install a toolbar, so please make sure you watch each installation to ensure that if they do want to install toolbars and hijack your home page, you can uncheck the small boxes to prevent them. Shark Attack definitely had this feature, but so long as you make sure the appropriate boxes are unchecked there will be no problems. If you do forget and find that when you next open up your browser and it opens at Gametop then just right click on your internet icon and choose the internet properties from the drop down menu, then reset your home page or type in the page you want. (It's a different process if you use Firefox - you have to go to tools then select options from the drop down menu. the rest is the same as Internet Explorer)
Download Super Mario 3: Mario Forever HERE
Download Super Mario World Deluxe HERE
Play loads of online browser games HERE
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