Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   wizzard_of_ozz2004
   Games Master

   Today's free game is actually 2 games bundled in one. Neverball is an excellent tilt and roll marble game. The graphics are out of this world for a freeware game, but this also means much heavier system requirements. However, the developer does offer some tips on how to make the game work faster and better for those of us who have slower computers. Imo, this is one of the best freeware games I've come across so far. The gameplay and graphics are stellar. Neverputt is just as good. This is of course a mini-putt game with the same great graphics. Neverputt can be played with 1-4 players so get your children to sit down with you and play a few holes. The download comes in at just 34.5mb and you get two games and a level editor...sounds like a deal to me.

   WARNING:
   Neverball is extremely hard to master. The controls feel a little awkward at first but you'll get used to them. You should be able to breeze through the first 10 levels or so, but after that good luck. You've been warned!

   My computer does not meet the stated minimum system requirements, can I play Neverball anyway?

   The biggest performance killer is reflection. Turn that off in the Options screen. This feature requires a stencil buffer, which is poorly supported on some hardware. So in the event that the game doesn't even run, set reflection 0 in the neverballrc file.
   Next, disable Shadow in the Options screen or set shadow 0 in the neverballrc file.
   If your video board has less than 16MB of VRAM, set Textures to Low in the Options, or textures 2 in the neverballrc. This will eliminate texture thrashing.
   You can also try setting Geometry to Low. It does reduce the onscreen polygon count somewhat, but not a lot. It's more of a placebo option.

   Download (developer's site):
   http://neverball.org/download.php

   Alternate Download:
   http://www.acid-play.com/download/neverball/

   Screens:
   http://neverball.org/screenshots.php

   Video:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhB7Klc2e0o

   Posted 15 years ago #
2. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   Thanks Wizzard.

   We have already got Neverball, but it doesn't matter having the odd repeat. It was posted amongst a load of other marble games so could have easily been missed. Mapsking posted about it back in Nov 2007 in the Roads to Fantasy thread. I just added it to that paicular weeks game for the day. Please don't remove it from today's thread :)

   http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/4834#post-51688

   regards

   Whiterabbit

   Posted 15 years ago #
3. 

   wizzard_of_ozz2004
   Games Master

   oye, you're right that was easily missable. Oh well, maybe those that missed it will catch it this time around.

   Posted 15 years ago #
4. 

   g@rgoyle
   Moderator

   Well, if you both chose to post Neverball then it must be a good one ;-)
   I never noticed that it came combined with Neverputt, so that's in the synopsis too now.
   Thanks for the reminder Wizzard!

   Posted 15 years ago #
5. 

   midori
   Member

   And thanks for that list gargoyle! I'm horrible at these type of games and they make me sick, but I'll try it for the wizzard. :-D The word "never" reminded me of that awesomely silly game "The Neverhood." Does anyone recall that? Windows 95. Wonder if my disk will still work. But back to the marbles.

   Posted 15 years ago #
6. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   I checked to see if it was available to download and it is. A couple of the abandonware sites have it as a free download, but I've also found several sites that are selling the game so don't now whether the free download is legal. I've researched it a little, but haven't come to any conclusions as to whether it's safe to post a link to the site yet, s won't. I remember this game. :)

   Here's the blub if anyone is interested:

   The Neverhood is one of the most original adventure games ever made, and one of the prime examples of how an ultra-slick style is sometimes enough to carry the game, even though we all know that substance is more important than style. Instead of using cartoons or computer animation, they built the entire set of the game with 2 tons of clay! Quite an achievement in any media, and the result is nothing short of amazing.

   The storyline is quite simple. You play the role of Klayman; you wake up in a room, and you have to figure what to do from there. Rooms and puzzles are played from a third person perspective, while moving from one place to another takes form in FMV cut scenes in first person. The game is extremely appealing to all family members, and is a lot of fun to play with.

   Unfortunately for all its graphical originality, puzzles in The Neverhood is nowhere near as creative. The most annoying part of the game is the room with the wall that goes on to infinity, the wall of which has the entire "bible" of the klay world (klay universe?) in it. This damned thing spans 38 (yes, thirty-eight) rooms, and believe it or not, I actually spent a few hours reading it all... and it gave me quite a headache. As in The 7th Guest, the puzzles in The Neverhood bear no real relation to the story at hand -- they have more in common with bar bets or the logic problems you might find in Games magazine, except much more pointless and repetitive. Many puzzles are just rehashes from other Myst clones: to open a door to a new location, you?ll have to solve a tile-sliding puzzle; to open another door, you?ll have to match musical notes by filling a doorbell with water -- if you fail, you?ll have to start over from the beginning until you get it right; to open yet another door, you?ll have to guide a mouse safely through a maze so he can eat a tasty slice of cheese. Fortunately, there are usually hints available if you go to the initial room and down the ladder.

   Perhaps due to lackluster puzzles and a high price tag, The Neverhood neither sold well nor won critical acclaim, despite being original and well executed. Two thumbs up for this underdog, but be warned that all the appeal lies in the style here, not so much substance. If you play adventure games for the interesting puzzles and situations, give The Neverhood a miss. If you prefer story-oriented games with a unique style, though, The Neverhood more than fits the bill.

   I'll post it as part of the free games project if I discover it's safe to do so (that is if the developer has abandoned it, or converted it to freeware. The sites that are selling it could very well be doing so illegally as the ones I checked didn't look very professional, but then again, who knows at this point? :)

   Regards

   Whiterabbit

   Posted 15 years ago #
7. 

   midori
   Member

   Thanks, wrabbit... I just tried my disk and it won't install. Says there's not enough room on my drive. Not used to looking at big numbers, I guess...

   Posted 15 years ago #

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