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Around the World in 80 Days Giveaway
$3.99
EXPIRED

Game Giveaway of the day — Around the World in 80 Days

You only have 80 days to circumnavigate the globe. Think that sounds easy? Travel back in time to the late 19th century and get ready for spectacular adventures on land, sea and air together with the English daredevil Phileas Fogg and his loyal French servant Passepourtout. Use the unique chance to visit four continents and complete the inconceivable journey to win the fantastic 20,000 pounds wager with this outstanding puzzler inspired by the classic adventure novel of the same name written by Jules Verne.
$3.99 EXPIRED
User rating: 360 35 comments

Around the World in 80 Days was available as a giveaway on November 21, 2010!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$5.00
free today
An arcade game combining a courier simulator and a space ship captain.

You only have 80 days to circumnavigate the globe. Think that sounds easy? Travel back in time to the late 19th century and get ready for spectacular adventures on land, sea and air together with the English daredevil Phileas Fogg and his loyal French servant Passepourtout. Use the unique chance to visit four continents and complete the inconceivable journey to win the fantastic 20,000 pounds wager with this outstanding puzzler inspired by the classic adventure novel of the same name written by Jules Verne.

System Requirements:

Windows 98/ ME/ 2000/ XP/ Vista

Publisher:

Xing Interactive

Homepage:

http://www.playrix.com/games/pc/around-the-world.html

File Size:

51.8 MB

Price:

$3.99

GIVEAWAY download basket

Developed by Electronic Arts
Developed by PopCap Games
Developed by Overwolf
Developed by BeamNG

Comments on Around the World in 80 Days

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Please add a comment explaining the reason behind your vote.
#35

This is a really cool game,glad I went to the trouble to download it.

Reply   |   Comment by Marion  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#34

This game did not work for me last week which is a shame as I like it.
What happened was lots of Russian characters came on the screen as well as severe flicker. I am on Vista Home basic. I unfortunately had to uninstall. That said this has been happening a lot with games lately. It doesn't make me happy :_((

.................................Moderator comment..............................

If this is happeneing a lot lately it tells me that there is something wrong with your computer. Not the games. Maybe reinstalling windows may be called for?

Reply   |   Comment by susan  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#33

Nice game but suffers from the same fault that many games of this kind do.
That is, once your lives are all lost you must start all over again.
Why?
I got up to I think 54 or 55 and lost my last life so had to restart at about level 45. Why????? Why not restart a the level you were last on.
Why must a player laboriously re play the stuff he has already passed through.

Reply   |   Comment by Kenny  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#32

I love that game. I found the end really difficult to complete but with ideas, and tricks I got the hang of it. That is a really cool game which involves a bit of reading and is far better than Inca ball! I love that game...

Reply   |   Comment by Sandra  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#31

I'm curious. The 2008 and 2009 postings of this game here were 37.4 MB, but today's is 51.8 MB. Is it possible that this is some kind of updated edition? The 2008 edition is great. Thank you WhiteRabbit for your excellent reviews and info.



...................................Moderator Comment........................

Yes I noticed that too. Not sure about iyt whether there is anything different about the game. though.

Reply   |   Comment by Barry Soetoro  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#30

Cool!! It worked I did what you said. Thank you very much and thank you Playrix. My 70 yr old mom is enjoying this game and she and I are addicted to fishdom.

Reply   |   Comment by Kathy  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#29

I really enjoyed this game last time it was offered. I found the final few stages of the game (in the US) were REALLY difficult, but still had fun finishing. :)

Reply   |   Comment by MercuryPDX  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#28

I experienced similar setbacks as Spike #26; back to the desktop, when trying to launch this game. Fortunately I uninstalled after first setback, so I didn't experience a blue screen. I then tried a re-install. Same thing happened. so I uninstalled it. Sorry but there is something wrong with this program. I have Fishdom from the same developers and it works fine


.........................Moderator comment.......................

Thousands of users have downloaded this file. It's one of the more popular match threes avaialble and apart from yourself and the previous commenter, nothing like this has been reported before. It is more likely to be a problem with the computer as oposed to the game. If it was the game there would be a lot more people reporting this problem; then again I may be wrong. You could contat Playrix and explain what has happened. I'm sure if this was a widespread issue more people would have contacted thrm.

Reply   |   Comment by Jay  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#27

How do you find details/determine what age group this is suitable for?


.........................Moderator comment.........................

It's a match three arcade game with a famous story line. Check the video links that I've provided above in my original post (comment #2)

Reply   |   Comment by aml276  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#26

I tried the game via the link in the review and then downloaded it. It has crashed my pc 3 times during gameplay. Winxp sp3. Twice it took me back to the desktop and 3rd time blue screened me and restarted my pc.
Tried it on my notebook with same problems. Not stable enough for me so uninstalled as i have too much to lose for a match 3 game even though the 30 minutes i got from it were enjoyable.

..........................Moderator comment...........................

No one has reported such problems with this game previously and when it was given away previously there were thousands of downloads. There must be some underlying problem already present within your computer for that to have happened. Did you look at the logs to see what the problem was?

Reply   |   Comment by Spike  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#25

I LOVE this game. I got it several years ago from this site, then got a laptop and wanted to put it on it. Jusy one month ago I bought it. If only I had waited. Plus it gwts harder the more times you play it over again. I am on my 3rd round. You are missing out if you dont get it!!!!

Reply   |   Comment by Sandy  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#24

I downloaded this as a trial and really enjoyed playing it, so I am glad to see it as a full download. The only problem I am having is when I close the game (on trial too), the top third of my screen goes crazy pixelating until I shut my computer off. The other thing it does is not wanting to open up. It will try and flashes and flickers and then minimizes to the toolbar on the bottom of my desktop. It will take several times before it will stay maximized. Could it be because I have windows 7?



............................Moderator comment...........................

It sounds like you need to update your graphics drivers. Find out which grapics chip you have (usually NVidia or ATI then go to the approriate site. You can easily find the drivers downloads from the home page. i'd also update your Direct X as well. Though Win & is probably okay. The game works perfectly well on two of my win 7 platfrorms (Pro and ultimate(.

If new deivers don't cure the problem it could be the onset of chip failure. how old is your computer/ graphics card. If the computer doesn't have adequate ventilation or the indide is plastered with a thick layer of very fine dust it can lead to overheating. What i describe is an extreme though. If you don't get any graphical glitches with anything else it's probaly the game that's causing the problem. No one else has reported such interference with graphics though.

let us know if updating your drivers helped.

you can usually find out what your graphics chip is by trying dxdiag into the run command at the bottom of the Start menu
a window opens up called direct x diagnostics. check the display tab to see what chip your computer has. I don't think it will tell you the model of your card, which you need to know to get the correct driver.

there are freeware programs available that will tell you this info, but i can't remember the names of any at the moment. google it. :)

I hope the problem gets sorted.

:)

You can always get the free version from MyPlaycity if you lose the giveaway version

Try playing the online version to see if it does the same thing. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Kathy  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#23

Thank you for offering one of my favorite match 3 games; it's one of the best. S.

Reply   |   Comment by Stephan  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#22

Love this! Spent a long time playing. Made it to France.:) What graphics. I'm envious and wish I could do this. Good job. Downloaded very good and registered very good as well. This is going to be fun and fun for the children also. Thanks alot for the offerring.

Reply   |   Comment by Sharon  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#21

THANKS Whiterabbit
Without you posting on the Giveaway site I would have missed this gem.
I had played this on my now defunct laptop and loved it. I feel sorry for the people that checked the Giveaway site before you posted the link and missed this.
Thanks again.


.................................Moderator comment..............................


A pleasure. I just hope not too many have missed this game. Judging from the number of comments i fear tht a lot have missed the oppertunity.

Reply   |   Comment by Dobromilka  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#20

Great game good story line. If you like a challenging game try it you have got nothing to lose.

Reply   |   Comment by ros  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#19

I've got a feeling what I have wrong is a setting in my computer and not the game at all, but any help would still be appreciated.

I've downloaded it twice now, from the main site and the mirror, and whenever I try to run the setup I get an error message, "Failed to connect. Please Try Again Later."

I get the same error no matter how many different times I try to run the setup. I looked through the list of fixes, and just so my bases are covered, My screen isn't set to very large, I regularly defrag and use CCCleaner, my graphics card is up to date and the heaviest other program I have running is Trillian basic.

Also, I'm on Windows XP updated to the latest version



.......................................Moderator comment...........................

Try unplugging your router and/or modem from the power, leave for about 30 seconds then plug back in. then try and run setup again. If you're still getting the problem clear out your internet cache. Sometimes the cookies that are used to speed things up get corrupted. You just need to get rid of the old cookie and start again. To get rid of your cookies in XP right click on the internet icon and select internet properties. A small window should open up. From there you can clear the internet cache as well as internet history etc.

Reply   |   Comment by AllinGoodFun  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#18

Played this last time for several fun levels. Was having some eye issues at time so had to give up on trying to keep up with how close in design some tiles were becoming (colors got quite similar). Better now so fun to rip thru to get back to country last in. Somewhere past Egypt. Playrix is solid game maker of this caliber.
Win 7 x32 Ultimate i7 920. Thanks guys.

Reply   |   Comment by beergas  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#17

This is a very good game; I played it some time ago. Thanks, GGOTD for this.
To the game developers, or whomever wrote this description. The name is "Passepartout," not "Passepourtout"--it means, basically, "Go anywhere"... "Passepourtout" would mean "Go for all."
It's too bad most people are, at best, only semiliterate these days. (I blame it on the interweb, that series of tubes!)

Reply   |   Comment by Steve  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#16

Well, foo. :) I bought this game not too long ago and now here it is for free. Double foo. Sigh. This game is completely awesome. If you like match 3, this one will not dissapoint.

Reply   |   Comment by Distraida  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#15

Well I can't get this to run on my Win 7 x64 machine. Shame looks interesting. No compatibility options seem to help either.


.......................Moderator Comment......................

It runs fine on my Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit and a Win 7 Pro 64 bit. Have you tried updating your graphics drivers. also check the end of my review above. I've posted several fixes.

Reply   |   Comment by Gimmie Freebie  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#14

I would have preferred the power ups to be cumulative from level to level, but instead, you have to recharge them each time you start a new level.

Actually, you need to recharge them each time you use one, which I think is one of the best parts of the game. ; ) As the levels get progressivly more difficult.....you must use the power ups wisely so as not to waste them.
I LOVE this game, however I always delete a player once I get to Day 81 because I don't see the benefits of playing "trip 2" with the boulders in the play. Not as fun for me. Not harder....just annoying.

Reply   |   Comment by dron  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#13

I just missed Around the World in 80 Days the last time it was offered and wound up buying it from BFG when it was the Daily Deal. The first time I played it I found it very frustrating and hated it but decided to try it again after reading a few hints and absolutely loved it. It's the best Match 3 game I have ever played because there is a definite logic to clearing the boards. I have played it over 20 times through. I highly recommend it.

My first reaction when I saw it offered here today was "Oh no I could have saved $2.99" but then I realized $2.99 was a small price to pay for all the enjoyment I've gotten from playing it for the past year.

Reply   |   Comment by Terri218  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#12

so typical that age of empires III is only available to united states citizens. and that fact that you are obligated to sign up to a "free" xbox live account. (why is this required for a PC game). Even just filling in the billing details with bogus info still doesn't work as the site looks at your IP and refuses to let you have the game for 10c. May as well go and download the torrent file and get it for free.



............................Moderator Comment.................

That's not true Mick. I've just bought it and I live in the UK. Using torrent files is an affront to the gaming industry. If everyone was honest and purchased their games we would probably be getting them cheaper and wouldn't have to put up with DRM. The game is a premium rts game - to complain about having to sign up for XBox live and then threaten to go get it for free via a torrent ....... for 10p seems rather, well i'll leave that up to you to figure. For 10 pence its well worth the effort of signing up to Xbox live. (I only buy PC games). but then I suppose we all have our own opinions as to whats right and wrong.

scuze the rant folks.

Reply   |   Comment by Mick  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#11

Thank you GGAOTD and Playrix, for re-giving my all-time favorite bubble popping game! Great opportunity to download it onto our newer computers!

Reply   |   Comment by NatalieCz  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#10

If you check out the giveaway forums you'll find an amazing deal at the moment. you can get Age of Empire III for only 10c or 10p.

Thanks to Devildog for the heads up. Go check it out:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/8879?replies=3#post-85537

I know it's not related to todays game giveaway, but it's too good a deal not to inform the community. :lol:


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You can also get Bioshock for $1.99


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And the physics based puzzle Tinker for free (it used to be included with Vista as a free game). Now you can get a free standing version. Check the link above for details.

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Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#9

Excellent! Happy to get it again after a few too many pc turnovers. It's a go-to game for me, always know I like it. Lush colors & graphics, eyecandy for tired eyes. Pretty much all ages, a classic to keep (whenever possible)and to gratefully re-download thanks to GGAOTD! Thanks Playrix, big fan here~ and our gracious, patient and thorough GameHost, Whiterabbit!



..........................Moderator comment.............................


Thanks Cathy

Reply   |   Comment by Cathy Gould  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#8

its se same of time ago... good game but a need some new



............................Moderator Comment.........................

Hi pazax, the game giveaway team are trying their best to get new games. unfortunately the recession has hit most gamehouses very hard. All arcade games (well most) used to cost $19.99 when this project started in December 2006 (the game giveaway side of the project). Now most game houses are selling most games for less than $7 and have weekly specials that cost as little as $2.99 and even free. It has become very hard for the team to find sponsors for this project. It is a testemant to their tenacity that the project still survives.

Even the DVD based games industry is struggling, with premium games being reduced often to half price within a month of being released. for example a friend purchased Fallout New Vegas for half price last night and it was only released four weeks ago.

I just hope the project survives this deep recession and that things can return to normal in the not too distant future.



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A way for that to happen would be for the community to post useful comments be they negative or positive. The developers are looking for our opinions, so please do spend a few moments after playing the game for an hour or so to write down your thoughs and ideas about the game.

If developers see this site as a useful platform to gain useful and substancial feedback about their games i'm sure we will get more game houses wanting to use the game giveaway services.

Reply   |   Comment by pazax  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#7

Still have this game on my pc, it's a great game to play and a download must for everybody.

Reply   |   Comment by Irene  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#6

I love these games like match-3.
Thank you.

Reply   |   Comment by Sergio  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#5

This is one of my all-time favorite games, and I don't even use the screensavers. The graphics are lush, the story follows the book (more or less) that it's based on, and it's just plain fun!

Thanks to Playrix, to the GGOTD team, and to Whiterabbit for his (as usual) great review and related game information.

Reply   |   Comment by Delilah  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#4

Downloaded this game last time it was offered and still have it. Will recommend it to lovers of the match 3 genre.

Reply   |   Comment by cryptq1  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#3

the same as 4 years ago?
but still a nice game.

Reply   |   Comment by Black Hun-tin-ton  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#2

Around the World in 80 Days

Installation:

The download is quite large for an arcade game at just over 51Mb (though it’s miniscule compared to many DVD based games that are available now), a large proportion of the download is made up of the screensaver that is included with the game. In fact there are several screensavers that are unlocked as you travel around the world, each screensaer depicting a scene from that particular area of the world. The first two screensavers are London then Paris and then in no particular order Egypt, India, China, Japan and finally the USA. I've posted screen captures of the London and USA screensavers below. The zipped file unpacks to the usual read me that contains the terms and conditions and a dual activation and setup module. Once installedthe games folder and contents are just over 72Mb in size. The default installation path is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Playrix Entertainment\Around the World in 80 Days (Win 7 & Vista)

C:\Program Files\Playrix Entertainment\Around the World in 80 Days (XP)



A shortcut for the game an uninstaller and to the Playrix web site are installed to the Start Menu/Programs folder together with a game shortcut and website shortcut to the desktop The installed game is 72.1Mb in size.

The game works on Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit, Vista Home Premium 64 bit and XP Pro 32 bit.



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In Game Screen Captures



Introduction:

This was originally given away on the 7th September 2008 where it received a 81% positive vote out of exactly 1000 votes with 167 comments; and then again April 25th 2009 when it received a 70% positive vote out of 981 votes with 87 comments. You can read all the previous comments from both posts, most of which were positive by clicking on the dates above.

You only have 80 days to circumnavigate the globe. Think that sounds easy? Travel back in time to the late 19th century and get ready for spectacular adventures on land, sea and air together with the English daredevil Phileas Fogg and his loyal French servant Passepourtout. Use the unique chance to visit four continents and complete the inconceivable journey to win the fantastic 20,000 pounds wager with this outstanding puzzler inspired by the classic adventure novel of the same name written by Jules Verne.


Reference accessed HERE on the 20th Nov 2010




The Game:

Most community members will be fully aware of what’s involved and how to play a match three or more game, so I’m not going to go into great detail about the mechanics of this game. (some will say hooray here :lol: There is an in game help link in the main menu that tells you the basics of the game pictorially.You basically travel to several locations around the world collecting objects and a stamp from each place you visit. There's a lot of dialogue at the beginning of the game that continues in a slightly attenuated state throughout the game. All dialogue can be skipped if you wish, though personally I like the story line. There's also an abridged version of Jules Vernes 'Around the world in 80 Days' that you can read as you progress through the game. Specific parts of the book become available to read when you reach that part of the world you are visiting.

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Apparently (I’ve read somewhere) this is another upgrade of The Rise of Atlantis, from the developer Playrix which is another game that we have been given previously via the giveaway project. After playing several levels, I do agree that the game is very similar, and that it does have some improvements over its predecessor; though you’ll need to play both to be able to see the differences (apart from the obvious graphical differences). You can get both games (Around the world in 80 Days and The Rise of Atlantis) for free 24/7 from Gametop and MyPlayCity. The difference with today’s game is that you won’t get the annoying browser opening at the end of the game, nor will you be plagued with pop ups (mainly Gametop) or toolbar installations and home page changes. There is now another sequel to the The Rise of Atlantis franchise called Call of Atlantis; which is again very similar, but with some improvements.


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I much prefer the way this games storyline unfolds, to the Atlantis games. It sticks to the original story by Jules Verne apart from the American leg of the journey which isn’t true to the original story. The graphics are gorgeous and the music okay. It’s classical in nature and works well with the overall feel of the game. I think the majority are going to be pleased with this game despite it being a match three. (check out the list of free match three games at the end of the review)

You can access the options menu as well as the help menu and high scores from the games main menu. The options menu enables you to adjust the music as well as toggle between full screen and windowed mode. There’s also a toggle to switch between your default mouse pointer and a custom pointer and another to turn on or off the in game tips.

The game is , with only the keyboard required to input your profile name.

The game play follows closely that ofThe Rise of Atlantis, including having to move broken artefacts to the bottom of the playing field (for most of the game, in the end levels you have to get them to move sideways), which then go to make an artefact, in the case of Around the world in 80 Days to complete the level; though the storyline (as is obvious from the title of the game) is based around Jules Verne’s story as opposed to Atlantis.

You earn power ups by creating matches of four or more. You can see what power ups are available from the help menu, and include (amongst others) bombs, extra lives, extra time and bonus points. Some of the power ups are upgradeable as well. The first one to become available when you’ve created enough matches of four or more is the hammer which you can use to knock out either one tile, unlock a lock or unfreeze a tile. As you create more matches this is upgraded to a super hammer which destroys all tiles of the same color; further upgrades include a bomb and a super bomb. This ability to upgrade power ups reminds me of Treasures of Montezuma and Sky Bubbles Deluxe, both of which are excellent Match three games in their own right, and more recently a game called Alchemist's Apprentice, which I’m playing at the moment (and incidentally am really enjoying. There are also bonus levels at the end of each country, where you have to uncover a stamp by clearing away the Golden tiles (which is supposed to be proof that Fogg has visited that particular country). The golden tiles are removed by creating a match 3 or more over the gold tiles. An additional bonus with this game is the free screensaver, which is the very same screensaver that was given away back in June 08 called Around the World: London. There are another six to unlock, which if you're into screen savers and match three games makes this a very worthwhile purchase ( that is, if you had to purchase it. Thankfully even if you miss today's game giveaway, there's no need to be upset because you can get the game free 24/7 from Gametop or MyPlayCity, or, if you don't want to download the game you can play it for free online HERE or HERE

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London Screensaver - Daytime


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London Screensaver - Raining


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USA Screensaver - Evening


I like the Around the World screensavers that Astro Gemini sell for around $20 each, so this game is a real bargain to those who love screensavers because technically you’d be paying over $100 just for the screensavers if you were to purchase them seperately plus the cost of the game. Though in reality, you can actually purchase Astro Gemini’s whole stock of screensavers for the price of five or six screensavers, and get the game for free from the gamehouses mentioned above.


Features:

• Adventure game with outstanding storyline, beautiful animation and challenging puzzles

• Extremely addictive gameplay with 81+ levels

• High-quality colourful graphics and soundtrack

• Bonus animated screensaver

• Marvellous adaptation of the Jules Verne Victorian travelogue

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Videos & Images:


The first link covers the introductory story and the initial dialogue between Phileas Fogg and his valet Passepourtout as well as the first level of the game, though because I had problems capturing any video using the commercial version, I used the online version which does have a couple of slight differences to the menu buttons compared to the downloadable version. You can even get this game for Nintendos DS. The second link takes you to Big Fish Games (BFG). Both these video’s are worth watching. You’ll need to click on the video button once you’ve been taken to BFG’s web pages. The third video, posted on You Tube is very poor quality, but still conveys a reasonable impression of the game. There’s also 2 slideshows, the first showing 50 screen captures of the early stages of the dialogue and log book, as well as the initial stages of the game and a secnd slideshow showing random images of the game and screensavers.

Watch a video of ‘Around the World in 80 Day’s’ HERE






Watch Big Fish Games video of ‘Around the World in 80 Day’s HERE



Watch more video of ‘Around the World in 80 Day’s’ HERE



Images:


You can see a slide show of screencaptures of Around the world in 80 Days HERE and HERE



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Other reviews worth reading:


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Full review of ‘Around the World in 80 Day’s’ from Gamezebo


Full review of ‘Around the World in 80 Day’s’ from Gamemile


Community reviews from Gamezebo



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Minimum System Specifications:

• O.S. - Win 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista
• Cpu – 500MHz
• RAM – 128MB
• Video RAM – 32Mb
• Graphics - DirectX 8 or higher



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Conclusion:

Despite a plethora of match three puzzles that abound these days, this is definitely one of the better ones (IMO). It’s got all the ingredients to make it a pleasure to play, including the storyline, which doesn’t interfere with game play because you can easily click on a button to pass it by quickly. I’m not really a big fan of match three puzzles, (apart from Treasures of Montezuma, Four Elements, The Rise of Atlantis Sky Bubbles Deluxe and more recently Alchemist's Apprentice), plus a few others, but I do think Around the world in 80 Days, is one of those you’ll find hard to put down once you’ve started to play, plus it’s a great all-round family arcade game. So I think it’s worth a good 8 out of 10 despite it not being an original idea. The latter levels are very hard, especially the last ones where you have to move objects sideways rather than downwards. I would have preferred the power ups to be cumulative from level to level, but instead, you have to recharge them each time you start a new level.


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PicDepict.com



Resources and other stuff:


Free ‘commercial quality’ Games:

Also if you like this genre there’s two or three games similar to Around the world in 80 Days plus a growing number (nearly 50) of other match three types available for free from MyPlayCity, Gametop and FreeGamePick sites.













As always I should remind you that games from these sites do open up your browser when you close the game down, though it isn’t redirected. You just have to click on the x to close it down. I’ve checked all the games these sites at various times originally with with F-Secure and PCGuard back in 2008 and more recently Kaspersky Internet Security and have found no viri or malware attached to any of the files I've linked to.

Gametop have recently introduced more advertising which kicks in whenever you click on a game (while on the website); though you can bypass the advert. It just means a few more mouse clicks and an extra 10 or so seconds wasted before you can download your totally free commercially available game. Also it is advisable to watch the installation process carefully and ensure you un-tick any check boxes that ask if tool bars can be installed or home pages be changed. Gametop has recently been introducing this with some of the newer games, but not all. Thankfully un-checking the boxes prevent these happening. FreeGamePick has become very aggressive of late and some games can no longer be played unless to allow toolbars and/or your home page to be changed; also Gametop always seems to throw up a emicons pop up despite pop up blockers.
.

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PicDepict.com


Changing in-game music:

All the music is in the ogg format, so you will need to convert any music you wish to use into that format before exchanging the files found in the following folder. You can download a free audio converter from the freeware section of the giveaway project HERE. There are several in the audio converters section. You must rename any track you change to the one you’re exchanging. I’d keep a back up of the ones you are removing just in case there are any problems.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Playrix Entertainment\Around the World in 80 Days\Base\Sound\Music
(Win 7 & Vista)

C:\Program Files\Playrix Entertainment\Around the World in 80 Days\Base\Sound\Music
(XP)



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Issues & Fixes:


Fixes:

Previously some community members couldn’t get this game to work. The following 'fixes' or ‘suggestions’ may help to resolve the issue.


• There are animations included that may require newer graphics drivers so I would suggest you update these and also your DX version. If you’re not sure how to do this please post your query in the forums and I will answer it ASAP.

• Try defragmenting your drive (especially if you’ve never done it before (or rarely), because a badly defragmented drive can cause programs to crash.

• Set your screen resolution to a lower value.

• Try turning off unnecessary background programs.

• Download a fresh copy from the mirror link

• Uninstall the game then download a fresh copy from the mirror link then Reinstall

• Uncheck the box that automatically starts the game when you close the installation wizard and start the game once it’s activated by the games shortcut.

• When I was reviewing the game, whenever I started up my video capture suite, the game would freeze about the 20% load mark. I’m wondering whether it crashes when certain programs are running? If you get this problem (some community members did mention a freeze at about 20% loading last time this game was given away), try exiting some of your background programs. Go to the bottom right tool bar (next to the clock) and right click on the icons situated there. Most are usually not necessary so you can exit them. Also try going into your task manager and stopping some of the non essential services. Generally leave any system process running. I’d shut one down at a time and see if it’s that that’s causing the problem. Make a note of what you shut down so that if your system freezes you’ll know not to shut it down when you try again. Unfortunately if your system does freeze, you’ll have to restart your computer.

• If you get an access violation error it’s related to the above issue. Try turning off various programs to see if it fixes the problem. Access Violation problems are generally a result of improper memory usage by the computer through different computer applications. This can actually be compared to the locking of a gate. Files become inaccessible and can not be opened without the fixing up of the access violation error. Access Violation Error is essentially very common with software malfunction which again usually happens due to poorly written software. It can also be a result of damaged registry. Using a decent registry cleaner may fix the problem.

• :idea: Caulbox posted the following fix the last time this was given away and may just solve any problems that some community members may get:



Quote:

for those who are encountering problems with game crashes or freezes during loading:

Although the game runs without problems on my system, if I look at the “log.htm” file, which gets generated afresh in the games “Base” directory every time the game is started (that’s a directory called “Base” not the root)….I do notice that there’s always an error reported when I run the game. The error report reads, “ERROR : Can’t load KeyMap.xml!”. Not surprising really, cos there is no file of that name included with the game installation.

However, there is a file (again in the “Base” directory) which is called “KeysMapping.xml”. If I rename (a copy of) that file so that it’s called “KeyMap.xml” the error reporting disappears from subsequent log files.

Although this isn’t really necessary for me, as the game is running fine as it is…I wonder if the reported error behaviour, might in any way be connected with the freezes that others are encountering during loading of the game? As I say, just a wild stab in the dark…but, if all else is failing, it might be worth renaming ‘KeysMapping.xml’ to ‘KeyMap.xml’ and see if it cures the crashes. (I’d advise renaming a copy of the file, keeping the original safely intact and in place).


Comment #77 by Caulbox

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Issues:

One issue that some may not like with the screensavers that comes packaged with this game…… When it asks if you want to activate your screensaver it will automatically change your present screensaver to the Around the World set. If you choose not to activate them the screensaver is set to None for some reason even though you may have previously had a different screensaver selected.

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While searching for a You Tube video of the game (so as to save me some time preparing one myself I came across an interesting Google Earth video called Around the World in 8 minutes :lol: (though it’s actually 8 minutes 58 sec). It’s nothing to do with the game, but as it’s sort of very loosely related, I thought I’d post it with the review :lol:

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Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#1

Is this the same version offered here in 2009? That is a GREAT game!!!! Thanks to everyone at GAoTD and to the software companies that let us try these.

Reply   |   Comment by Mr. Snoozles  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
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