Not really my game so I uninstalled it but I can see where it might appeal to others. I'm not a huge fan of timed games and I failed to find a pause button (perhaps I just had to click off screen - didn't try that). Like others - if I could have shut off the timer I might have kept it.

I had no problem selecting a desktop icon during the install process, nor did I have problems with finding uninstall in the directory where I placed the game.

After posting about the game's directions, I forgot to mention that I give the game a thumbs up (it would be an enthusiastic thumbs up if there was a way to shut off the timer). It's a nice little logic game and a refreshing change from all the space shooter games. Thanks GAOTD!

An interesting puzzle game. I have a few gripes about the interface- primarily that you cannot move the "scanning" lines with the mouse. (would have been easy to allow you to drag the them around the screen.)

Also, the instructions on how to control the movement is not adequately described.

Once getting past that, however, it is a very interesting puzzle game. I've only played through 6 levels so far, but it adds an interesting twist to similar puzzles. Definitely worth a try

Lol @ #5 for your comment about Robbox. Man that game was just plain not finished. I VOTE FOR SPACIES!!!
Thx 4 this one
--Dyl--

To #28: if BabaZero's name is in a different color it is a link to his website. You could try that. This site doesn't publish the email addresses.

Awesome. Thanks.

This is a great game of logic and is more like picking a lock than anything else. Bombs are just more exciting than locks. Not really like MineSweeper.

Thanks 23.Brian and 27.Tahlula, add me to the list of people that failed the no directions I.Q. test. Oh, and add Vertigo to the top of the list if this problem was mentioned before! I' ll try again now.

Hi GAOTD lover. Go to the forums and click on Private messages. The link is below your name. If you haven't registered to use the frums you'll have to do that first. PM the admins asking if they would Email BabaZeo. It'll be up to him/her to contact you then.

Totally unenthused with the game. But thankful for the opportunity to try it out.

Hi, Thanks, GAOTD! I would like this one but my internet isn't good enough to download it right now. :( (smaller games maybe?)

And,

P.S. on the game Callsign 'Hunter' comments, BabaZero left a comment and said if I needed help to look him up, where might I contact him? email? or a website maybe? If anyone knows, Thank you in advance. :)

Thanks BrianZachary (Comment #23)!
I was about to uninstall the game out of frustration because the one piece of information the tutorial leaves out is that the arrow keys are what allow you to move the lines/scanning beams on the bomb grid (and even to simply get past the first part of the tutorial). It was obvious that I was missing something basic but even going to the suggested websites didn't get me the simple "how to play/start" information I needed (Sorry Whiterabbit if it was in your nice review, I missed it there too.)

Yes, I did press F2, but I guess I didn't realise that the SDU's they were talking about referred to the crossed line/scanning beam things. The initial graphic that defines SDU show three covered tiles, not a line-- so I thought an SDU was some discrete game element or type of tile we would use somehow in the game. I thought they had just failed to yet name the lines/scanning beams at that point in the tutorial.

I'm guessing Yossi (Comment #15), Toto07(Comment #17), and Misti(Comment #19), all gave up for the same reason.

The shame of it all is, once you know this basic thing and can get to the rest of the tutorial, the instructions are fine thereafter. It seems like a pretty simple fix to have the instructions start by saying "Use your keyboard arrow keys to move the SDU's (i.e., the crossed line/scanning beams) around the grid to reveal the number of pistons detected for the highlighted tiles"

Looking back to the last time this was given away:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/shellblast/#comments

this was a problem then too and simply was not addressed despite pretty clear and simple feedback.

Bonsoir,

Excellent jeu de réflexion, amusant, esthétique, bref, un grand merci ! Il ne faut pas passer à côté, surtout !

Simplement j'ai failli l'effacer au début, car les règles ne sont pas suffisamment expliquées à mon gout et je ne comprenais rien...

Alors pour ceux que ça pourrait aider : il faut, dans chaque mission, découvrir les "mines" en faisant bouger les deux "axes" dorés, l'un vertical l'autre horizontal, avec les flèches.
A chaque mouvement, le compteur en haut à droite donne le nombre de "mines" présentes dans la ligne + la colonne. Par déduction il faut donc les localiser.

Un peu comme un Sudoku ?

Mais je n'en suis qu'au début, et il y a un "shaft" qui apparait comme un téléphone portable, à quoi sert-il ? Cherchons ! Surtout qu'à mon avis il risque d'y avoir d'autres objets nouveaux au cours des missions plus difficiles ! Géniaaaaal !!!

Cordialement.

Installed fine on Vista, but created no shortcut. I don't like the game at all and it's not showing up in add/remove and there is no uninstall in the dir where it all landed.

Hi Brian, maybe if you contacted the developer and asked him which line of code is responsible for the timer you could disable it. You can edit the games executable using an application such as Apt Edit, or any hex editor for that matter. Though looking at it with no idea whatsoever, it all just looks like a load of gobbledygook.

I agree that this is no ordinary puzzle game and once you’ve worked out how to play it, the rewards are much greater than games such as minesweeper (a game I used to play to distraction when it first became available on windows all those years ago).

I also agree that the game is missing a proper help file. I was going to prepare an image based tutorial but after seeing the reception the game received via the thumbs up/down I decided against spending the time doing it. I’ve taken quite a lot of screen captures, but didn’t upload them; I was falling asleep finishing off the main part of the review early this morning and decided not to bother; though I may upload them at a later date just in case this game is given away again.

The F2 key when pressed in game will give you the information you require as to what each key binding does. I didn’t realize however that though it shows the movement keys it doesn’t actually label them as such, so I can see why it has been so confusing to some. I’m sorry that I didn’t explain the mechanics of the game as I sometime do. I was trying to reduce the size of the review after last week’s dissertation, lol.

The game has been configured to use three sets of movement keys. The traditional right handed WASD keys, the Arrow/cursor keys and the number pads arrow/cursor keys.

p.s.

Thanks Studyform

Update from my previous comment #9:

OK, once I read Whiterabbit's review, I found out what I needed to know. The one thing I didn't know you could do in this game, mainly because the tutorial in the game does NOT tell you that you use the freaking arrow keys on the keyboard to move those damn lines. Sorry about the language, but it's so frustrating when someone wants you to play their game but doesn't give all the instructions. How is one supposed to know what the game maker is thinking? We are not mind readers.

Anyway, now that I know what I'm doing, I can enjoy this game. And to those who think this is a Minesweeper clone, no, it's not. It's a similar type, but completely different design in playing. The only thing I don't like is the timer. I'd like to shut that off. I absolutely hate time limits as I don't like to be rushed. Especially in strategy and thinking games that should NOT be rushed through.

I will keep the game for now, but if I get into it again and I lose a round one more time because the timer is too short, I'm uninstalling this game.

I will pass on this one as I did the last time it was offered. It may be a fun game to some but I don't see the point of it. After viewing the Youtube video on the publisher's site it is no clearer to me. Maybe I'm just dumb but 20 some MB seems a lot of space for a minesweeper type game. Oh well there's always tomorrow's game to look forwaed to.

Downloaded, installed and plays with no problems on XP sp2. As mentioned, you will need to create your own desktop icon so make note of where the game installed to; you can change the default setting to a directory of you choice.

The game is very challenging! It makes you think hard and pay close attention. It is so much more than a Minesweeper in color. Good logical thinkers should do well in this game. Graphics and music are good and you have a choice of in game music so you should be able to find something you like. Navigating the menu can be a bit annoying but it is not of major concern for me.

Thanks to Vertigo Games and GGOTD :!: :lol:

all these games are boring cant they give games like call of duty or something

eek Ive given up with this one....thanks anyway gotd

Installed with no probs on XP Pro... will give it a try and let you know !

SUCKS !!

I don't understand anything to this "game"

I got this game before on here, I love it! It's a well put together game and very fun. Download it today!

hmm...

The rule is not understood well.
Will you know the explanation site?

You need to download by mirror link #1.
I was hoping to see some reviews before download.

Anyway, There's no icon. I downloaded it then used search to find Shellblaster (all files and folders) then right clicked on the shellblaster folder and moved it to my desktop.
-There may be quicker or more efficient methods-

The game itself needs some concentration and thought just to know what to do, and its a bit oversurrounded in 'story' for just a puzzle.
I suppose the programmers need their indulgence.

As for a deeper review. I'll leave that to the always excellent whiterabbit.
Thanks mate. :)

Minesweeper with a pretty look

I got this the last time it was given away. It is an absolute blast, to use an awful pun. It takes a bit to understand how it works, but when you do it's an excellent puzzler. Thumbs up, way up!

Downloaded and installed on Vista Business with no problem. Nice tutorial. Seems like fun to me.

This game was last given out on 11/20/07 and had 67% positive and 33% negative comments. http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/shellblast/#comments

I remembered trying this game once before after installing and starting it up. I was as confused about this game then as I am now. I get the concept and it looks like it could be fun, but I don't get how to tell where you are supposed to put which marks in the spaces. It's all a huge guessing game and there are no clues to indicate what to put where.

If anyone gets this game, please post. If someone could please explain how this game is supposed to be played, it would be appreciated.

I got this last time it was around, and it is an awesome puzzle game.

There has been a slight change in the installation process since I wrote the original review. There is no longer a separate activation and set up file when you unpack the downloaded zip file and when self extracting, it will send the game folder to wherever the default location is or wherever you installed your last game to. So make a note of where it's going, or change the path to something more suitable, for example:

C:\program files or C:\games (or if you have two or more hard drives to D:\)

I think this is another game that is free standing which means you could play it from a flash drive or even a CD or DVD.

I’ll confirm the above in the forums later in the following thread:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/3763

Have a great weekend folks and thank you to Vertigo Games for giving this game away today and for the game giveaway team for negotiating the deal.

Well, I am a long time user, first time reviewer. But, I already downloaded this game, read the instructions, and played through a little bit. It is a fun and unique puzzle game, and not another clone. Thanks so much, GGOTD!

Defusal? Pseudo-cross? As Firesign Theater once said, "Spreek engriss, tloops."
Sorry to be one of those people who comments without downloading the game, but a five dollar color Minesweeper? Really? Oh well, they can't all be Robbox.

Main download link doesn't work!

but the mirror link does.

It is only me that can't come to the download page???

Today’s game was originally given away last year (Nov 07and is the sequel to the freeware games Acidbomb and Acidbomb 2, both of which are still freely available from Vertigo’s web site. I’ve included links to both at the end of the review together with quotes from the web site.

This certainly looks like an intriguing game. The aim is to select and defuse bombs before they blow or be destroyed. You have six modes of play to choose from plus you are also able to create levels via the levels editor that comes integrated with this puzzle game.


Quote:

The sequel to one of our most acclaimed puzzle games is back!

The commercial sequel to Acidbomb (voted 1up.com's Best 101 Free Games and Gamespy's "Download This" pick of December) and Acidbomb 2: Rearmed delivers a unique mind-bending action puzzle experience. Described as a cross between Minesweeper and Picross, ShellBlast is a game that offers something most puzzle games out there lack: a unique experience.

The objective of ShellBlast is simple: using a series of tools, defuse the bomb before it blows up. Of course, the further you progress, the more advanced the bombs get...

This version is jam-packed with features never seen on both Acidbomb and Acidbomb 2: Rearmed. The full version includes the following:

Classic Mode- Play the fifty-level campaign as you tour the world defusing bombs. From prank bombs to nuclear superweapons, this mode will give you the grand tour of what ShellBlast is all about.

Simulation Chamber- Choose from eighteen empty bomb shells and fill it to your specifications. Want a massive Biological bomb with a short timer? Or a small Oxidation bomb with plenty of extra helper tools like Chaff Grenades? You got it!

Blast Editor- Simulation Chamber too limiting for you? Build your own bomb from scratch using the editor or play custom levels built by others. Create the ultimate superweapon!

Endurance Mode- Take on this massive bomb one layer at a time. How many quadrants can you unlock?

Shell-Drop- A unique randomly generated bomb mode that puts you to the ultimate test. Can you beat the top ranking bomb solvers? This mode is almost a game in itself!

Puzzled- Take on the bomb from another angle...this time, using preset grids and an unlimited timer. Only true masterminds can solve the harder challenges...

Nuke- Team up with another agent working on the field to tackle one of the hardest bombs in the game!

Along with all these modes, ShellBlast carries a unique blend of gameplay, including always-randomized solutions to bombs in any mode (ensuring unlimited replay value!)

Installation Issues:


The download size of 22.6Mb seems rather steep for such a simple looking game. However on investigating the games folder I found 66% of the size is actually an extensive music folder that contains around 15Mb of music files. I only query this because of the dial up users. It’s a shame that the music folder couldn’t be removed for the dial up users and a separate link created for them to use. :lol:, or te option to add your own music. When unpacked the game comes as a combined activation and set up module. Unfortunately there are no desktop or start up program shortcuts created, and the installation executable does not include the usual installer, so if you just point and click the game will be installed on the desktop or wherever you have downloaded the zip file to. The destination path can be chosen by clicking on the browse button (I use winrar’s self extraction program to unzip and install my games) and selecting a suitable path for the game. If you use windows own extraction utility, I suggest you place the downloaded zip file into the directory you wish it to be installed to because otherwise the windows extraction facility will extract a zip file to the same directory as where the zip file is.

As I’ve mentioned previously, it is always sensible to install programs such as these on a disc other than the boot disc, that is if you have more than one hard disc drive (HDD) or have created one or more logical drives from a single HDD (called partitioning). See my notes in the comments section from the following link for a full explanation.

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/hyperspace-invader/#comments (comment #12)

Once the path has been chosen and you’ve installed the game, you will need to open the installed file and right click on the games executable and scroll down to create a shortcut. Once this has been done you can then either cut or copy, then paste the shortcut within your games shortcut folder, or wherever you normally keep your game shortcuts. You can also create a program start menu by following the path below:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Start Menu\Programs

Then create a new folder by right clicking on an empty space within the window and selecting new, then scroll down to folder. Name this folder Shellblast, or whatever you wish, :lol: then click on an empty space again. Copy your short cut from the game and paste it into the folder. You can even add a shortcut to this folder from the games home site if you want by clicking on the game sites link that you’ll find in the installed games folder:

http://www.vertigogaming.net/shellblast.htm

Then going to your favorites menu on the toolbar (or bookmark if your using fire fox) of the internet browser you use, and create a short cut by clicking on add to favorites (this will be something slightly different in fire fox). Once this is done follow the path:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Favorites

Find the link, and then you can copy and paste the link directly to the start menu folder you’ve just created.



The Game:


All in all I found this to be an entertaining puzzle, although the In Game music did get a little annoying after a while; the intro music is an exception though. It’s almost like one of those relaxation CD’s, which is a total contrast to the in game music. There’s actually quite a few music tracks included with this game, all in the ogg format. It should be possible for example to swap the intro music which IMO is a lot more pleasant with the initial in game music, by just swapping the files around from their respective files and renaming them. You could also convert your own favorite MP3’s to ogg using one of the many audio converters that have been given away (although none recently). If you are new to the game giveaway and giveaway projects you will find freeware versions in the freeware library that’s accessible from the giveaway home page.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/freeware/2008/06/23/free-audio-converter-cs/

or

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/freeware/2007/07/30/free-mp3-wma-wav-converter/



There are seven game modes which I’ve mentioned above, though the classic mode is the main one. It has over 50 levels to explore and the free play contains several mini games as well as a levels editor for making your own levels. There’s a forum where you can share these, though you’ll need your own ftp to upload the files to first. I use filefront for uploading most files. You can create a free account.

http://www.Filefront.com

The graphics are unusual as well as colorful in the same was as ‘The Magic Blackboard’ or bullet Candy is. That is the colors seem to be phosphorescent in some way. Maybe it’s my eyes lol.

The game is controlled by a combination of mouse and keyboard. To move the scanning beams use the arrow keys. Use the F2 key to see all the key bindings that are used in the game and if you want to scroll through the music selection you can hit the 7 and 8 key. There isn’t a help menu, however the game does provide a decent in game tutorial and story line, (though some may argue that point). You can read all the previous comments about this game by following the link below. Apart from my own comment (#11, which I’ve basically repeated and expanded upon here) I’d recommend comments #27 by APR, #29 by Mapsking, #38 by Bovi :


http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/shellblast/

Anyway I do like the look of this game and will be keeping it to explore further. I usually like games that come with level editors because they add so much more playability to a game. My children love them to and can spend most of their computer time designing their own levels. My son is particularly good at it now.


Video:

The following is a YouTube introduction to the game; it should give you a good idea as to what the game looks like when installed. Following that are screen captures and Googled images:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmsT72WBvUw


Googled Images:


http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Shellblast&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

It’s a different sort of puzzle from what I’ve been playing recently. There’s an excellent array of different game modes so for that it’s going to be worth 7 out of 10. I doubt I’d actually buy it, but then again,. It’s quite an intriguing game, so I’ll need to explore it further. I’d certainly say, download the game and see what you think. :lol: For those who miss the giveaway; the two precursors to Shellblast are available for free, though they don’t contain all of the modes you get in shell blast.





Other useful information:

There’s a useful forum where you can post details of any levels you’ve created and request any help regarding the game:

http://www.vertigogaming.net/newboards/

The original version of Shellblast called Acidbonmb and it’s se4quel Acidbomb 2 can be downloaded from the following links. I’ve quoted the information found on the Vertigogaming website for each of the games :

Acidbomb:


http://www.vertigogaming.net/acidbomb.php

Acidbomb is a fifty level puzzle game where you must find the pistons used to trigger a bomb and defuse them before time runs out. There are many bombs scattered around the world, from biological bombs that have hair-sensitive triggers to napalm bombs that are exploding at the seams, to nuclear warheads that have challenged even the highest trained bomb defusal agent.

Along with this game you get the Virtual Bomb Simulator which allows you to make your own bombs, and a minigame called Ac!drop that is completely different from the rest of the game...but you'll see that for yourself.

Given that all the bombs in the game have random pistons, you will never EVER solve a bomb the same way twice. Ever.

Acidbomb 2: Rearmed:


http://www.vertigogaming.net/acidbomb2.htm


Quote:

Acidbomb 2: Rearmed is the sequel to the acclaimed Acidbomb (noted by such sites as Gamespy.com and in the Top 100 Free Games of 2006 on 1up.com) that takes the original and gives it a complete overhaul. If you thought the first game was too easy or unbalanced...you’re in for a treat. This game is for the casual and hardcore puzzle fanatic alike.

The objective: secure the world by defusing bombs from criminals and terrorists alike. As you crack down on this new and dangerous threat, the technology improves with both the Homeland Security team (new weapons) and the terrorists (new bomb types, such as Biological, Oxidation and more). We also have reason to believe that there are several nuclear bombs hidden in major public areas in the United States, Europe and Japan...and the clock is ticking...

With over fifty levels, unlockable content and minigames and more, you’ll be busy fighting the terrorist threat for quite a while. From Jayisgames.com:

The link does not work for download