Giveaway of the Day - Brickshooter Egypt

I am having continued problems accessing the admin console to moderate you comments today (and early this morning). Please continue to post comments as normal and I will endeavour to moderate when I can throughout the day.

N.B.

To those who posted comments for yesterday’s game late (early morning), please do check my replies as there are a few solutions that you can try if you failed to get the games sorted yesterday that I’ve posted to individual post. Please read all of the comments because you may find a solution within the comments section.

I have been preparing a FAQ’s document which I will post in the forums once I’ve finished it (I’ve been preparing it for months, but it’s low on my list of priorities right now; still it would probably same me an immeasurable amount of time not having to repeat the same advice every week…..

For those having problems connecting or getting messages that say “failed to connect” check out Mr Snoozles comment from a few weeks ago:

Check Mr Snoozles comment from two weeks ago. http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/elementals-the-magic-key/#comments comment #or try one of the following:

1) … Reboot your Computer
2) … Reboot your modem and/or router
3check your security settings
4) … Clear out your internet cache; (you just need to delete the ones associated with the giveaway project)

if all of those fail:

4) … Cry

Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of potential cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you’ve checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain why your reasons for the feedback you post. Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment. Thank you.

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Brickshooter Egypt has been given away twice before back in April 2007 where it received a whopping positive vote of 92% out of 243 votes and with 84 Comments and then again January 2008 where it received a positive 78% out of 446 votes with 85 Comments made.

The downloaded zip file unpacks to a read me document that contains the usual terms and conditions plus a dual activation and set up module that aiutomatically registers the game when it’s been installed. The game installs to the following paths dependent upon whether you are installing to an older operating system such as XP or Win 7 and Vista.:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Playrix Entertainment\Brickshooter Egypt

or

C:\Program Files\Playrix Entertainment\Brickshooter Egypt

Shortcuts are installed to the desktop and the start menu programs list where you’ll also find an uninstaller. The only down side is the addition of shortcuts to Plarix’s home site, but that’s a small price to pay for such a decent game.

Introduction:

Unravel the mysteries of ancient hieroglyphs that will help you restore the glorious pyramids. A totally new brain-teasing puzzle experience across 60+ exciting levels with stunning graphics and amazing sound is what Brickshooter Egypt has to offer. Truly original, innovative and extremely addictive gameplay will keep you moving these bricks for hours on end. Crack the intriguing puzzles of the past and unlock the secrets of the pharaohs!
Reference accessed HERE 13th Nov 2010

The Game:

As with other match three games such as Treasures of Montezuma, Inca Ball and Fishdom, this match three puzzler, brings yet another slant on ways of combining Three or more tiles of the same colour together; these are called Glyphs. The graphics are solid, and the game play is excellent. The game is played by sliding blocks from the side of the playing arena to a group of blocks in the middle, with the aim of clearing the central arena. It starts off very easy with only a couple of different colours of blocks for the first three levels and only a few in the central area, however, as you progress more colours are introduced and the central area becomes bigger. Apart from the first set of ten levels a new color is introduced every ten levels till you reach a maximum of eight colors from level 50 onwards,

Khufu = level 1 to 3 – 2 colors
Khufu = levels 4 to 10 – 3 colors
Djozer = levels 11 to 20 – 4 colors
Sneferu = levels 21 to 30 – 5 colors
Senusret = levels 31 to 40 – 6 colors
Niuserre = levels 41 to 50 – 7 colors
Sphinx = Level 51 to 60 – 8 colors

You are awarded points based on how many blocks you removed from the arena, it’s not based on the time it takes or the number of matches you made

As you progress, as expected the game play becomes a lot more challenging as more coloured blocks are introduced. There are 60 levels, and each time you play through the full set, the game becomes progressively more harder on the second and third times compared to the first time around.

There is simple tutorial accessible via the main menu and when you first start the game, that shows you how to play the game in 5 easy steps; you can disable this from the help menu via a check box located to the bottom right of the tutorial screen. you can toggle off hints via the options menu. you can also adjust sound and music , toggle to windowed mode and toggle a custom cursor from the options menu. The game is fully mouse controlled. You are able to undo previous moves using the undo button which is located to the left of the arena above the score indicator. If only blocks with arrows are left on the arena after glyphs are removed they will return to the sides of the arena and the level will end.

In game music can be changed by exchanging the appropriate ogg files which are found in the installed games sound folder. You will need to convert the music you choose to ogg using one of the many audio converters that are freely available. you can download several via the giveaway freeware library HERE. Rename the replaced file with the same name as the one you’ve replaced. Keep a back up just in case you make a mistake.

Features:

• 5 ancient pyramids and the mysterious Sphinx statue to rebuild

• 60 captivating levels of revolutionary new puzzle experience

• Stunning ancient Egypt-style graphics and music

• Difficulty increases with 2nd and 3rd replay!

• Progress automatically saved

You can play the game online 24/7 for free, though you do get adverts at the end of each level asking you to purchase the downloadable version. You can find the online version HERE

System Requirements:

O.S. – win 95/98/ME/ 2000/ XP/ Vista
cpu – 800MHz and higher
System RAM – 128Mb
Graphics RAM – 64Mb
DX8.0 or higher

Conclusion:

Brickshooter Egypt is not in the same class as some match three games I’ve played previously such as Treasures of Montezuma I & II and Big Kahuna Reef (IMO), but it’s definitely ‘nearly as good’ as other match three gems such as Atlantis Quest or The Rise of Atlantis, both of which have been given away previously. It really depends on what your criteria are for what you consider a good game. I found it playable, but as mentioned above, not the best. Overall I’d give this game 7 out of 10 for playability and family fun. Once you’ve played through the game three times, which the developer suggests you do because the difficulty is ramped up each time you play it over those three times, I think the game would lose its replay value. Each level remains the same each time you play it as opposed to many match threes that are randomly generated each time you play the same level. It’s a pity because I do think the game is well made and can hold my attention for several rounds at a time (which is unusual for me these days. Most arcade games only interest me for a few levels before I get bored unless they are something original.

For more match three games go to MyPlayCity or Gametop . You’ll find 48 different match three games available for free from the former and nearly 40 from the latter, though most are repeats. You can also find a lot of match threes at CAIMANS. Just check out the ‘Line Up’ games; they may be freeware, the graphics in most cases are not as professional, but the game play is as good.

Suggestions for the developer;

I realize that this game is several years old now, but it could be improved a lot by making the levels randomly generated (if that’s possible), this would ensure that the second and third play throughs were different to the first time play through as well as give the game a much higher replay value. I’d also consider adding mini games at the end of each stage and also fractoring in a timer. You could create a few different modes and give awards for various achievements such as completing levels in specific times, have a ‘fastest time completed’, various point landmarks and maybe some different skins for the blocks that you can select from the options menu. I’d also consider adding a hint button for those who are finding it hard to finish the last few levels. Such things add incentives to the game or help those that are frustrated at not being able to progress. You could also add hidden levels that are unlocked only by achieving certain parameters. You could even add a story line and power ups that are upgreadable. all the above added togther would add much more replayability as well as update the game to the present as most games of this type now have at least one or two of the suggestions I’ve made.

Addendum:

I’ve just discovered that the version I used to write the above review was an older version of the game. The game has been updated and some changes made to the stats window that appears at the end of each level. You are now given various ranks depending on your level for example ‘Outcast’.

Thanks to Playrix for continuing to give games away via the game giveaway project and to the giveaway team for securing such games. I do hope that the community can add to the suggestions that I’ve made as well as perhaps some constructive critiscism. Such comments may secure more games for our community.

Thank you.

Not usable in Windows 7 (?), then I am afraid that I must pass.

………………………….Moderator Comment…………………………….

The game works fine in win 7 Ultimate and Win 7 Pro 64 bit versions.

Please Note:

I’m having problems accessing the admin console. It’s been a problem all morning. some times I can access it, then by the time I’ve written a comment, the connection has been lost. So, if it looks like your comment hasn’t been moderated, please be patient. I will sort it ASAP. Thank you.