This weeks game giveaways include the following games
Blastminer
Beatball 2
Actionball 2
Arklight
System Mania
The only question I could think of at this time was:
Name another ‘famous’ game made by the developers of the first game in the list
Then tell me why you deserve to win one of the titles I’m giving away.
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Blast Miner
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3si0Z4ytjtI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huIlxr8NYLA
Blast Miner, the explosive puzzle-action game from newcomer Cryptic Sea and winner of the IGF GameTap Indie Award, is a beautiful yet harrowing two-headed beast. Erupting with originality, Blast dances a delicate line between the traditional game-play of Tetris and an atomic rush of its own design. Unfortunately, at times the dance might well be performed by a tutu-wearing elephant: Blast's pervasively awkward control sported by its Action mode is likely to detonate your temper and threaten to send your keyboard rocketing through your monitor.
But that's just one of this beast's heads. The other is far more tame, and endlessly entertaining.
In Blast Miner, you adopt the role of a careless miner amassing riches in the form of succulent golden nuggets. At first glance, the game appears to be a traditional Tetris-like puzzler: Shapes slowly drop from above as you frantically twist and manipulate them into cozy nooks. Then, without warning, Blast erupts with an originality only the indie gaming scene can bring.
Red gas cans spark to create small explosions which, in turn, ignite nearby crates full of TNT, culminating in a thunderous, raging chaos of fire and debris. And when the thick blanket of smoke recedes into the depths of the mine, and the dust settles to a calm on the cave floor, you find your ore processing apparatus happily chugging away at what appears to be... a glorious nugget of gold!
At least, that's how it's supposed to work.
Unfortunately, the game is marred by an awkward and ultimately unsatisfying control scheme. You'll find yourself struggling to manipulate pieces to their strategic locations and juggling the components needed to initiate massive explosions, which often fail as fizzing duds when your timing and technique are just short of perfect. Using an optional gamepad improves the experience incrementally, but the problem is deeper than the input device.
Thankfully, the game sports another – far better played – game mode. In Blast Miner's Puzzle mode, the pace slows to a halt as you patiently orient all the components of an explosive chain in such a manner to rocket a golden nugget through the level's exit. A combination of Mouse Trap and The Incredible Machine, you are presented with all the tools necessary to perform the feat, while watching a virtual budget that strategically limits your designs to only the most creative. If you can manage to carefully arrange each piece just so – from TNT to gasoline and sparks – you are rewarded with a series of chain reactions that ultimately lead to your success, and a wealth of gold.
While simple, Blast Miner's graphics are well produced, the style unearthing memories of old Ren and Stimpy episodes with its dirty, cartoon design. Animations are simple, but effective and entertaining. However, despite these presentational flairs, the game curiously lacks a music soundtrack. To many, this isn't important as they find themselves listening to their own music collection, but this aural void was quite noticeable, nevertheless. I expected a creative and well-produced soundtrack to match the game's visual flair, and its absence was cold.
Despite these presentational missteps, Blast Miner succeeds as a fun and engaging game. If you're looking for a fast-paced, action-puzzle game to whet your appetite, you might be disappointed by this flawed performer. But if you're an armchair blast engineer with a penchant for patient, strategic play, you'll find this game glistens with more than a little bullion. The game is not without its hiccups, but there's a little something for everyone.
Reference http://www.gametunnel.com/blast-miner-game-review.php
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Beatball 2
Beat Ball 2 is the sequel to the popular break-out / arkanoid style game Beat Ball (which is now freeware and can be downloaded via the free games project):
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/3856#post-41779
This time the game is packed with 108 original levels and supports virtually unlimited number of levels that you can download off the Internet or create yourself in the included level editor. The game also has improved graphics, sounds, animated blocks, and creatures roaming around the levels. Pickups will allow modifications to balls, paddles and game play. You can also create or new download MediaPacks adding custom graphics and sound effects to your levels, or why not create a VoicePack with your own voice making announcements during the game.
Beat Ball 2 supports up to 4 players, save/resume functionality, custom music play lists for in-game music, Internet global top 100 monthly and all-time scores. Version 1.1 added Level Sets, Media Packs, Voice Packs, and high quality music.
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Actionball 2
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn8bC6Xq5yY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkQ0i4WgOrw
Action Ball 2 is is the sequel to Actionball (ob) that blends some excellent brick-busting action with the battles of space shooters. As you use one of four selectable paddles to hit one or more balls toward arrays of destructible objects, you'll also have to battle four new robots that are out to foil your efforts. One of the robots repairs destroyed bricks while another fires missiles at your paddle!
Action Ball 2 comes with more than 30 bonuses to capture and use, some are very useful, others will hinder your progress. You can also apply up to four upgrades to your paddle.
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System Mania
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4XPwDEPyD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0KT-CihC0c
If you haven’t yet heard of bizarre machines like the “Penguin Distracter” or “Theoretical Hoover” then you probably haven’t played Pi Eye Games’ System Mania, a wonderfully frantic arcade game that puts your multitasking skills to the test.
Your job is to help the spunky Fiona start her own fix-it shop, responding to calls from local businesses that need help fixing their weird machines. OK, so at first I totally thought this game was one of those Diner Dash-like time management games, where I’d be clicking on different machines while customers waited and such, but boy was I wrong. System Mania offers a completely different experience that what’s currently available in the casual gaming space.
Your goal is to turn off the machine’s warning lights before they break down in a plume of smoke. You will do this in many different ways, ranging from simply clicking on a large button when it turns orange and sliding bars up or down to pulling ripcords and plucking guitar strings. Some of the 90 machines will have you press buttons on a keypad to match a password, while others require levers, gears and switches, egg timers, and even pianos and mini-games to play to turn off that dreaded orange light.
Because each machine has multiple lights to turn off on its console, you must multitask like mad to keep the machine from breaking down. Adding to the challenge are special coins you can click on when you turn off the orange lights, adding to your points and unlocking other bonuses for chains and combos; the colored coins pop into the air and you must click on them before they leave the screen.
The game lets you play the main story mode – where you’ll get to know the six memorable hand-drawn characters, each dishing out humorous dialogue – or you can play the straightforward arcade mode that lets play individual levels, and if you reach a certain score it’ll unlock new ones to play. Finish the game already? Try to fill up your trophy room by playing well (such as successfully completing challenging levels at the local fair or zoo) or press the “Tricky” button on the main page speeds things considerably for the main game.
While this type of fast-paced and frantic game isn’t for everyone, and some levels were harder than others (instead of a steady increase in difficulty), we were pleasantly surprised with System Mania. Not only this download different than other casual games but is very fun once you get the hang of the tasks at hand.
Review copied from Gamezebo:
http://www.gamezebo.com/download-games/system-mania/review
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Arklight
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXFP442XqUc
Take control of the 'X52-ArkLight', a powerful spaceship and your homeworld's last chance of freedom. Battle through 50 cities, blasting a path through the Krainian Empire's blockades, tanks, turrets and attack craft!
ArkLight is easy to pick up and play - power up energy spheres using the left mouse button, control and absorb them using the right mouse button. Featuring 50 unique levels made up of 500+ screens,
ArkLight Features:
• A truly brand new twist on Arkanoid.
• Zoom through 3D levels.
• 50 levels made up of over 500 screens.
• DirectX enabled sound and visual effects.
• Great atmospherics and soundtrack
I’ll be posting the sequel to Arklight next week (called Darkside aka Arklight 2)
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As before state your preferences in the order you wish to receive them. Answers will be accepted from Midnight tonight GMT (that's 7p.m. Eastern time, 5p.m. Mountain time) (Sunday). The competition will be closed on Friday 23rd April at Midnight GMT and I'll announce the winners over the weekend.. Good luck
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