Rolling Spells:
Installation:
The game downloads to an 87Mb zip file that when unpacked contains a folder with a read me and dual activation and set up module that once installed takes up 91.5Mb of disk space. (For newcomers to the project, activation is automatic once setup has completed) The game installs to C:\Games\RollingSpells by default but can be changed to suit whatever your wishes are. There is no uninstaller, but this game is free standing so to delete just remove the installed folder from your hard drive. No shortcuts are installed so you will have to create your own which as most of you know is easy an easy process (right click on the games executable then select ‘Send to’ then from the drop down menu select ‘Desktop (create shortcut)’). If you want to create a start menu/programs folder you’ll need to find the appropriate folders via your account. I’ve posted details of how to do it in XP over in the forums (not got around to updating the post for Vista or Win 7). You’ll find it in the Game Discussion stickies
The game works on all my systems with no problems. (XP Pro 32 bit, Vista home Premium 64 bit and win 7 Ultimate and Pro 64 bit).
Introduction
Rolling Spells offers you the new and original gameplay, bright graphics and intriguing plot. The action takes place in the Fairyland that has been invaded by a strange creature, the mighty Elephly. And you’re the one, without whom the Good Fairy would never be able to defeat him. It’s only your skill and smartness that can help the Fairy to prepare magic potions and defeat the Elephly and his cunning companions. You’ll have to pass through 35 levels and fight with eight original monsters. A detailed adventure map and useful tips from the Fairy are always there to help you not to get lost. The map allows you not only to see the way you’ve already passed, but also check out how it has been passed. For each victory, you’ll get a prize – gold, silver or bronze. Although true heroes would content only with gold! Therefore, having taken a rest, you can repass the level and get the highest scores. Besides the map and Fairy’s tips, there’s also the indispensable “Book of Knowledge”. This short encyclopaedia will help you to remember how this or that spell works, how you can get a prize, what you should do and what you should fear.
Well, happy trails! Defeat all the monsters, set the Fairyland free and get all the golden prizes!
Good luck – you’ll certainly need it!
Reference : http://www.rollingspells.com/ accessed 15th April 2011
Game Basics
Rolling spells has a vague connection to Pachinko games, so if you like games like Dachinko you’ll probably also like this game. It’s not really a pachinko game but the pins with movable platforms gives it a look of a Pachinko game; however, there the resemblance ends. Basically you have a steady stream of colored balls called spells falling from the top of the playing arena. You have to direct these into various colored containers that match the colour of the spells that are falling from the top of the board. Once you’ve created the Magic spell (which is made from a combination of spell ingredients) the level ends
The Game
There are two modes, Adventure and Survival. In adventure mode you use a map to follow a path through the kingdom, fighting various boss monsters on your way. Survival mode is basically a never-ending level that only ends when you’ve lost your lives. you lose a life when you miss placing a spell ingredient into the correct container. This has to be unlocked by finishing the Adventure mode. You can replay any level in Adventure mode so long as it’s been unlocked first.
There are three levels of difficulty; easy, normal and hard, that can be selected via the buttons (left and right arrows) just below the players name. You can set up multiple profiles which makes this a great family game because you can allocate a profile to each family member and progress will be saved for that particular profile.
The settings menu is very basic with sliders to adjust the volume of music and sound effects plus toggles for changing the game from full screen to windowed mode (the game starts off in full screen by default). You can also toggle the game cursor back to a windows cursor if you wish.
There are 35 levels in the Adventure mode roughly divided up into 8 sections. Each area ends with a boss fight, which differs from the main game in that you have to direct a pink ball onto the monster associated with that level. To make the boss fight more difficult the boss moves along the bottom of the board and you have to work out where the boss will be when the ball gets to the bottom. you can hold balls on the platform by clicking on the platform until you wish it to drop; however, if another ball touches the ball you are holding, both balls are destroyed.
You can earn Bronze, Silver or Gold awards for each level which will show up on the map as a coin placed over the level marker. There are also several awards which can be accessed from the main menu or from the playing arena if required. These awards are separated in to Bronze, Silver and Gold categories, include not losing a life during a level, killing 10 bees or getting a specific number of the same ingredient into the correct container during a level as well as others.
At the start of the game you are given a short tutorial that talks you through all the new steps (which you can see via the slideshow that I’ve posted below).
The playing arena is made up of rows of movable platforms that pivot on a central pin. Clicking on a platform will turn the platform to the right or left enabling you to direct the falling spell ingredients to the correct container, or occasionally to direct a gold coin onto one of the golden pointers which unlocks a useful spell that helps you attain certain objectives. There are six golden pointers, each containing a magic spell. Once accessed a spell is stored at the bottom of the playing arena until needed, at which time you just have to click on it to use it. You can see what each spell does by looking at the book of knowledge which is accessible via the book button above the life indicator (to the top left of the playing arena). You have three lives to start and you can store up to four spells at any one time. If you want to collect different spells you will have to use one of the spells filling the four containers. Some examples of spells include the mallet which can be used to remove ice from the platforms. Ice can be annoying because it freezes up the movement of the platform making it impossible to change the direction of the falling ingredients until the ice has been passed; there are different strengths of mallet, the weakest of which will only free one platform and the strongest which frees all the frozen platforms. . Another spell, called ‘Collect all Red spells’ will move all falling red spell ingredients immediately to the red container. Apart from platforms freezing you will find other obstacles appearing such as bees who steal the ingredients as they fall, and which you get rid of by clicking on them a few times. As already mentioned, whenever something new appears you will be given instructions on how to cope with it.
Images:
http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/ss160/Whiterabbit04/Rolling%20Spells/?albumview=slideshow
Video:
http://vimeo.com/19090401 (there are two videos accessible from this page, one of which is a boss fight)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipPyVSDmlZI
Conclusion:
This is an entertaining game that should keep the whole family happy for short periods. I don't think it's a game you could spend hours playing as there's not a lot of variability in the actual game mechanics and it does seem a little slow; that said if the falling spell ingredients fell any faster i think you'd be hard pressed to complete past the few levels following the 2 level tutorial. I thoroughly enjoyed what game play there was, but i rarely play arcade games for more that 10 to 15 minutes at a time a s I use them to give me a break from bigger titles like Dragonage II, Shogun II: Total War, or Crysis II. The overall look of the game is quite professional and fairy tale cartoon in style and more importantly, it plays well.
Instructions on how to play the game are clear and concise. I reckon there’s also quite a lot of re-playability in this game due to the different difficulty levels and the various awards that can be attained plus the ability to go back and replay unlocked levels so as to improve on your score and perhaps attain a silver instead of bronze or better still a gold award. There are also incentives to carry on if only to win the various awards that are available. It’s quite a simple game with some variability (via the boss levels) and it has some original ideas (as far as I can remember from the many thousands of games I've played over the last 30 plus years.....I've been buying games since 1980), so I think this game is worth 7 for game play, 6 for graphics and 5 for sound (which I found a little bland and annoying after a while), giving an overall score of 6, though IMO game play is more important so it effectively scores a 7 in my books.
At least you can change the music by swapping the music files found via the following path:
C:\Games\Rolling Spells\Music
But you will need to change your own music to ogg files first then rename them to the ones you are replacing. (I suggest backing up the original files).
