Giveaway of the Day - Archibald’s Adventures

Archibald’s Adventures:

Introduction

Today’s game is a 7.99Mb download that expands to 11.4Mb when installed. The installation is straightforward; with the default location for installation going to the root directory’s games folder (usually C:\Games\). There is no desktop or Start menu shortcut installed, but it’s easy enough to create a desktop shortcut by right clicking on the appropriate icon and selecting Send to Desktop (Create Shortcut) using the executable found within the installed games folder. (You can find a simple tutorial on how to create both a desktop and start menu shortcut in the games discussion forums HERE)

I’m posting a quicker review than usual today.

This is a really cool side-scrolling, puzzle platformer developed by ‘Rake in Grass’, the creator of Jets and Guns. The hero of the game is a skateboarding kid called; ‘you’ve guessed it’, Archibald. The following is the brief storyline (with corrected grammar) which I find on most sites that review this recently released game. (Released Sept 08)

Quote;

Archibald and his friends were near a dump behind a mysterious mansion of inventor – professor Klumpfus. Accidently Archie fell down a pipe and ended up in professor’s basement.

At the same time some crazy experiment went wrong and all genetically engineered creatures escaped from their containment in laboratories, while a paranoid central computer locked the whole complex up! Now both Archibald and professor are stuck in the mansion!

Reference accessed 26th Feb 09

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Game:

On first starting the game a configuration screen opens up in a window. You have the option of allowing this to precede the game whenever you boot the game up (which is useful if you want to find the best screen resolution for your monitor by trial and error) or switching it off after it’s appeared for the first time. You can choose to set you screen resolution from a lowly 640 x 480 pixels to 1440 x 900, with 15 further settings in between. You can also toggle full screen to windowed mode from this configuration screen and select from several languages which include English, French, German, Russian and Polish. You can also set the game to play via three performance levels, low, medium and high, which should help those with lower memory modules and slower cpu’s.

The game usually comes with two sections, the original game that contains 114 levels and is called Trapped in the Mansion and a further 49 levels called the The Great Cleanup, making a total of 163 levels. Though I’m not sure whether the version we are getting includes these levels. I wrote the original review using the demo downloaded from Rake in Grass. you were able to access the original game plus the expansion pack, but it seems that were don’t get the expansion in this version (pity), however, you may have to unlock the expansion in this version by completing the Mansion campaign (supposition only). I’ve written this review on the understanding that we do get the expansion, but we probably don’t get it

When you first start the game you are taken through a cartoon storyboard initially of 12 pages then a further 20 pages once you’ve selected the first campaign. You can skip this if you wish by clicking on the skip button to the bottom left. Each section is subdivided into chapters, for example in the original ‘Trapped in the Mansion’ there are eight chapters each containing 16 levels, apart from the last chapter which contains only one level. The expansion pack which is now fully integrated into the game is divided into four chapters, the first three having 16 levels and again the last chapter containing only one level.

You’ll find a variety of environments to stop you from getting bored and Archibald gets around using a skateboard initially, but then progresses on to using a variety of methods to navigate through the various levels. These range from using a robotic vehicle capable of riding on walls and ceilings, using a jet pack or via a remotely controlled floating bubble. You can see some levels in the videos I’ve linked to below. The first few levels introduce you to the various mechanisms such as teleporters, switches and traps that include acid dropping from the ceiling, spikes that shoot up from the floor or ceiling and lasers. There are buttons and switch gear that you must use to open certain doors and in some levels you are required to move objects from A to B, before you can escape to the next level. Each level is relatively short and sweet, with a good variety of puzzles being thrown at you in quick succession. You will also find save points in each level which enable you not to have to start from the beginning if you lose a life trying to get through a particularly hard level. There’s enough variety to keep the majority of ardent puzzle lovers entertained for a good few hours or much longer, depending upon how good you are at this sort of game. The game can be played with either the keyboard or mouse or both and it’s set up for either Windows XP or Vista . This is a definite keeper for me.

One of the things I like about this game is the ability to select any level you want to play from the first three chapters instead of having to follow a linear path from the beginning. If you find yourself stuck on a particular level you can just skip it and return at a later time to see if you can succeed.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Resources

Video:

Watch Video of Archibald’s Adventure’s HERE

Watch more Videos of Archibald’s Adventure’s HERE

Just a few more Video’s of Archibald’s Adventure’s HERE

Watch even more Video’s of Archibald’s Adventure’s HERE

See more Video’s of Archibald’s Adventure’s HERE

There’s actually over 60 videos covering a good number of the available levels, so if you get stuck there’s a good chance you’ll find the level, though that would probably make the game much too easy. You can search amongst the three pages of videos here:

Here’s a list of 60 Video’s of Archibald’s Adventure’s

Images:

Click HERE to see slideshow of Images from Archibald’s Adventures

Click HERE to see all images on one page

Other Reviews:

Reviews worth reading

——————————————————————————————————————————

Conclusion

I would give this a definite thumbs up and a good 8 out of 10 for an excellently made puzzle game that has enough variety and excellent graphics to keep me entertained for quite some time. I do hope the developer releases a levels editor for this game as I’d love to add more levels.

It’s an ideal game for the whole family. The puzzles are initially way too easy, but ideal for the younger child. Later the levels can get quite difficult and should challenge all but the ‘Brainiacs’ amongst us.

====================================================================================

The game looks good but I can’t seem to get it to play properly – it’s very “jumpy” and slow to react. I have duo core, 1gb ram which should be enough (I thought), any ideas?