Giveaway of the Day - Fishdom: Frosty Splash

Installation:

Today’s game giveaway downloads to a 40.7Mb zip file that unpacks to a read me and a dual activation/setup file. The game is installed to the following path if you have Vista or Win 7 64 bit by default, but you can change this during the installation wizard.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Playrix Entertainment\Fishdom – Frosty Splash

Or if you have Win XP or 32 bit versions of Win 7 or Vista:

C:\Program Files\Playrix Entertainment\Fishdom – Frosty Splash

A desktop shortcut is installed as is a start menu/programs shortcut (which can be found in the Playrix folder (Playrix Entertainment\Fishdom – Frosty Splash); you’ll also find an uninstaller in the Start menu/programs list. The game will automatically start once the installation wizard is complete unless you uncheck the check box at the end of the wizard. The installed game is 57.7Mb in size.

Introduction:

Enjoy winter with Fishdom™ – Frosty Splash! Cheer up and spread the merriment of crispy clear days around! Use your imagination to recreate the nippy and fun atmosphere of winter in your tank. Earn money as you complete challenging match-3 levels and use it to buy festive fishies and winter-themed decorations. Get splashed with frosty joy in this sparkling and snowy sequel to Fishdom™!

Reference http://www.playrix.com/games/pc/fishdom-frosty-splash.html accessed 18th Dec 2010

The Game:

Today’s game giveaway is basically the same as our previous giveaway Fishdom except that it has a festive snowy theme. The same match three game with different tiles and another fish tank to build. If you liked Fishdom you will almost certainly love this one as well.

The options menu enables you to change from full screen (default) to windowed mode. You can also toggle tips and hints , a custom cursor and a relaxed game mode as well as the usual music and sound effects sliders. You can choose the relaxed game mode when you first start the game up either via the options menu or when the game starts up. (See images I’ve posted below via the images link)

The Shop

Choose timed or Relaxed mode of Gameplay

It’s a pleasant match three game with an upgradable screensaver that you transform from an empty fish tank to a fully stocked aquarium while playing the game. Gameplay is as you’d expect for a match three; basically you have to create matches of three or more to destroy tiles. The aim is to clear the gold coloured tiles which are placed under the symbols. When you create matches on these gold coloured tiles they are removed. Creating matches of five or six add explosives, rockets and bombs to the playing field. To activate these either create a match three that moves one of these power ups or double click on them to make them explode. You score points for every tile you remove. As you progress through the levels they get progressively harder, with different layouts and tiles that required unlocking or double matching to remove the gold tiles. I was only able to progress to about level 8 while checking this game as all I had was an hour demo. Taking screen captures (nearly 100) of the tutorial and various items that you can buy in the shop took up a large part of my hour. So I can’t say if there are any more surprises. At the end of a level once all the gold coloured tiles are removed you are awarded money based on how many points you scored, the time it took to complete the level and the number of gold tiles you removed. This can then be spent on fish and other objects for your fish tank screensaver.

The screen saver tank starts as an empty tank. You can purchase fish for it via the shop , where you’ll find three tabs labelled Fish, Beauty and Comfort. For example clicking on the beauty tab you’ll find various plants, animals and other objects to make your tank look like a well stocked aquarium. All of the comfort items which include filters, feeders and air supplies can be upgraded; though each successive upgrade costs a lot more to purchase. There are several tropical fish you can choose from, each with its own characteristics, for example the Emperor Angel fish needs a varied diet in order to preserve their distinctive coloration, whereas Royal Gramma fish though shy will aggressively defend their territory in the tank. To create a good looking tank there are loads of items you can buy from various plant species such as Acetabularia Calyculus, Microsorium, and Myriophyllum Aquaticum amongst several others species, some sea organisms such as the Rapa Whelk and Starfish, to sunken ships, lamps, lighthouses, several christmas themed objects (such as a Christmas fish that has a santa hat on) and the traditional treasure chest amongst other items. All items purchased for the tank can be sold back to the shop so that you can choose other items. This makes for an excellent fish screensaver that is very much configurable to your tastes. You can also take photographs of your tank at any time and use these as wallpapers for your desktop; (great for a childs computer). To unlock new tanks you have to satisfy all of the criteria which can be found at the top right of the screensaver, that is you have to fill your tank with enough fish and create a beautiful and comfortable environment. Purchasing fish or other items from the shop will help to achieve these criteria. you can see what effect purchasing an item or fish makes to the indicator before you purchase it as the indicator bar moves to a new position when you hover your mouse over a particular object. when all three bars are at 100% you will be awarded a bronze cup. You can either unlock a new tank or go for a silver cup in the same tank. Opting for the silver cup reduces the bars to almost zero. to attain a gold cup you must carry out the process three times.

The screensaver is activated by ticking the checkbox via the main menu which also gives you access to the options menu and the start button. There are three different tank settings called Pirate Treasure, Coral Reef and Lost Atlantis, though the second and third tanks are locked at the beginning of the game. The options menu enables you to adjust the music and sound effects as well as toggle on or off full screen mode, a custom cursor, in game tips and hints.

Clicking on a fish will cause a reaction

Features:

• Almost 100 winter-themed decorations

• Unlimited number of festive tanks to create and design

• Endless replay value

• “Relaxed” and “Against the Clock” game modes

• Set up your aquarium as a screensaver

Images:

You can see nearly 200 images of Fishdom: Frosty Splash, that includes many of the hints and tips that pop up during the game (assuming you have them activated via the options menu – they are activated by default). Just click HERE to see them. You can look at all the images as thumbnails by clicking on the grid button to the bottom right above the filmstrip. There’s a slider to increase or decrease the size of the thumbnails. I reduced the quality of the posted images a little too much, but you can also see them much better via the slideshow.

Video:

You’ll find a video of game play HERE, HERE, and HERE.

You can take a photo of the aquarium to use as a wallpaper

System Requirements:

OS – Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista
CPU – 1GHz
System RAM – 512Mb
Video RAM – 128Mb
DirectX – 8.0 or higher

Conclusion:

This match three game play is really just standard fare compared to other match threes IMO; I’ve played many of this genre that have found much better game play; however what I really enjoyed about this game was earning money to upgrade the screensaver. I love fish screensavers and although it’s not the best fish screensaver I’ve seen (for example you can get something similar from other match three games such as Big Kahuna Reef and one of the Atlantis games), it does have loads of items that you can add to one of three tanks, though you need to earn cash by completing levels, and only one of the tanks is available at the start of the game.

I’d give this game 7 out of 10 for family fun and the addition of a configurable fish screensaver.

Thank you to Playrix and the game giveaway team for providing this game for free.

Suggestions:

The addition of the screensaver adds to the average game play, however I’d try and improve the game play by adding some mini games and more power ups to the game. You could also make the power ups upgradeable so that they become more powerful. These upgrades could be paid from some of the money earned to purchase items for the screensaver. I’d also add more species of plant life and enable those to be upgraded as well. Each upgrade could increase the size of the plant or animal that you purchase for the tank.

Don’t forget you can get a whole raft of match three games fromHERE (MyPlayCity) and HERE (Gametop). (That’s around 50 different games including online versions, some of which are really good examples of the match three genre; {including previous giveaways such as Inca Ball, Around the world in 80 Days, Flower Story, Halloween Night: Pumpkin Match, Story of Fairy Place, The Rise of Atlantis, The Treasures of Montezuma, Trio: The Great Settlement, and Atlantis Quest})

…excellent…lovely game…thank you very much!!!!