A cross between Picross and Minesweeper? Deal me in, baby!
I loved Picross DS, and Minesweeper is my favorite go to game when I don't feel like firing up my Steam games or just stuck in a bare computer with no games other than the standard Microsoft pack.
ShellBlast installed and runs fine on my Windows 7 laptop. The game is great, although it can use some improvement cosmetically, perhaps a better color scheme or maybe even let user choose/customize different themes. A fun and easy tutorial level wouldn't hurt either, and will probably help broadens the user base.
Bottom line, though, it's a nice game to help past time. Would love to see an Android version of this game.


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I hope you enjoy the game. :)

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Thanks for everyone's feedback, much appreciated. Didn't get much opportunity to moderate today, so sorry for the lack of help to anyone who was having problems.

I did get this to work on Win 7, but as someone else mentioned, it crashed on Win 8, though I did manage to play at least one level before it crashed. I've not tried playing it in compatibility mode yet. That may fix the problem. :)

I'm quite surprised at the low download numbers. This has to be one of the least downloaded games I've ever seen on the game giveaway project, with only two and a half thousand downloads with just under 4 hours to go before a new game is posted.


Its unfortunate that many are being put off by what seems to be an overly difficult tutorial. If you spent some time reading the instructions and playing the game, once the game play comes to you, this is an excellent puzzle game. I was originally confused when i first tried to play this six years ago, but I persevered and found it to be a very good game.

Installed and works fine on Wondows 7 64. It's kind of an odd duck, this game, but I rather like it. It challenges the brain, that's for sure. Thumbs up from me.

It's a nice puzzle game of minesweeper variety. Your goal is to mark all the bombs by the means of deduction. The gameplay is very simple in the core but there are many different bombs and tools to keep your interest going.

The version 1.31 only has the installer compared to the 1.3 that was GGAOTD the last time. If you miss this today, give its freeware little brother AcidBomb a try. The negative score here only tells about the attention spam most people lack nowdays.

Installs and runs without problems on XP SP3. The game seems to be self standing - the "installation" process simply extracts the files to the folder of our choice and "uninstallation" deletes that folder. No changes to the registry are being made. I copied the folder after installing to a different location and after uninstalling the game works from the new location, so it's ours to keep. Great!

Now onto the tutorial - not very clear, only after trying to defuse the first bomb in it did I realize that the SDUs seem to briefly highlight the fields with the "pistons". I was too tired to notice everything correctly (it's after 10pm here in Poland and I'm about to go to sleep having spent most of the day cleaning, getting the cars ready for winter, etc.) and the bomb exploded. Using the "view bomb" option I saw that I had marked 3 out of 4 pistons correctly, 1 incorrectly as a dud (that's why the bomb exploded, huh?) and 1 of the 3 duds was labelled as mismarked dud, so I probably marked it as a piston. I still have no clue how I can control the SDUs (contrary to the tutorial's claims) and why they're called SDUs, not ABCs, XYZs or WT - oh, never mind, some kids or tweens might happen to read this. Anyway, just because of the intrigue and complication this game deserves a thumbs up and keeping, but the tutorial does need improvements - not that I expect the developers to do anything after so many years since the release (or anyone to pay anything for this game, just for the record).

I couldn't find the Alternative Games section or the links to the earlier versions of this game mentioned by Stephen in his review, but I did find the Acidbomb game on the developer's website and the simplistic, EGA-like graphics ticked me off enough not to download it.

Is there a HOG in the pipeline, coming up tomorrow ? :-)


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No, but it is an old favorite, that has usually scored well over 70% each time its been given away.

Had this before and lost it. Glad to see it back. I have a few of the Vertigo Gaming games. I even ended up paying for Sandbox of God. They make good puzzle/sim games.

It's worth it to figure out how to play this game. It's fun and challenging once you figure it out. The colours are cool(yea, Wabbit, I woyld say..phosphorescent or something like that). The music can be changed so it's no big deal. I would suggestion they try to make the game not so hard to figure out and do something about the music and they have a really good game here.

Thanks to GGOTD and Vertigo Gaming for a cool fun game to play. And Wabbit, as always, thanks for your review and info about the game and what is happening in the world of games.

Hope you are happy in your new wabbit hutch, Wabbit. Take care.


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Definitely. Still extremely excited, and don't miss my old house despite having lived there for 20 years. Still waiting for my study to be completed. All the marble tiles were left outside when they were delivered a few weeks ago. Most of the containers were full of rain water, so many of the tiles were saturated. Before they can be laid, I have to coat them with something called lithofilm (cost me over £100 just for a one gallon can), but can't until they have dried out. all of those that were saturated look yellowish, whereas the ones that didn't get wet are a very light beige :) I'm having to lay the tiles against the radiators to help them dry out. There's at least 20 packs each with 8 tiles all saturated. i can only dry abut 8 at a time because most of the new part of the house, the radiators haven't been connected yet. Anticipate early December before the tiling is finished now. We won;'t be completely ready by Christmas, but should be by the end of January.

Thanks for your feedback. :)

Sorry,but this game don't work at all on win 8.1,becauce there is a
strange onsolved fault(bug?) in the program after puching the (3th) enter button in the tutorial/classic mode,that you must close the game?!

The name led me to believe this was a shooting game, which I had no interest in. Reading the description of blowing up bombs lead me to believe this was a blow-things-up game. Which I also had no interest in. Luckily, I read the whole first comment and discovered that this is a logic game. I like logic puzzles and enjoyed putting on my thinking cap. The name and description of this game is very misleading. It has nothing to do with shooting or blowing things up, it's an intellectual puzzle.

Played twice and both times it says Shellblast has stopped working. First on the 1st level so I had to start over and do the tutorial again because it couldn't load my game. The second time on the 2nd level. I had to use task manager to close it because it locked my computer up. Too bad i enjoy puzzle games. This one is going straight in the trash. I am running windows 8 64 bit. Anyone get this to work on windows 8? I think this game is rather old and maybe that is the problem.

Game says 2007 created. Awful for me. Win 8.1 x64 Pro. Install ok but asked to install Direct Play (optional it said). Figured what's to lose I can always use a Reflect image. Game started right up w/o option to launch or not. Played a bit in tutorial. After Enter for 10 sec countdown, game threw some error & quit. Might need to use compat mode or something but too busy to deal w/ that & learning game play. And yes in-game music is horrid tho pre music is tranquil. Thanks.

The game downloaded and installed fine on Wondows 7 64.
I started the game, but I've got no clue what to do!
The manual says certain numbers change, but those numbers change where ever I put the green exclamation mark.
So I never found the first bomb, defenitely not a game for me!

HOORAY! A game that absolutely NOBODY knows how to play!

I READ everything that has been said about this game and I STILL don't understand what you are supposed to DO in it. Everybody is saying that it is hard to figure out. Who wants that? Give me clear instructions that are easy to understand and let me play!

I'm going to play "Alice's Magical Mahjong" this morning. (HA! You thought I was going to say Fishdom, didn't you? Well, we will save that one until this evening.) At least I understand that one.

I downloaded this the first time it was given away July 17, 2011 and have since lost the game. Glad its back. as whiterabbit said its a hard game to figure out at first but once you do it can be fun.
It installs fine on Win 7 and 8.1 64 and even run in Vista, with the correct admin rights.

Thanks GOTD

Finally the game with unique gameplay. It needs small polishing here and there, but it's quite playable now.
RED "Mission complete" caption is not what you want to see when defusing bombs.

Actually, this seems to be just a repeat from last time. Quote from your posting last time (July 17, 2011):

The first few times it was given away we got version 1.30 which was then updated to version 1.31. The game now comes with an installer, so you can install the game with just a few mouse clicks and get a shortcut on the desktop with one installed to the start menu. You’ll also find an uninstaller in the atart menu.

The downloaded zip file is 22Mb which unpacks to a dual set up and activation module and a read me. The installed game is 22.2Mb in size. The game installs to

C:\Program Files\ShellBlast 1.31 (unless your O.S. is installed to a different drive)

The game works in Win XP, Vista and Win 7.

Downloaded fine on Vista 64-bit. I got an error pop-up when I ran it (didn't actually read it :P), but the game ran fine.

All I can really say is that it needs a much better tutorial. I don't want to sound like an idiot and say "something with less reading", but seriously, that's a lot of reading. And the format of it all isn't very nice. The two-page instructions that didn't quite indicate what it was going on about was bad enough. The loooong scrolling instructions at the top of the first level was what killed it for me.

I guess I'd recommend a more interactive tutorial level, something with flashing lights. There, now I've done it -- I sound stupid. Still not playing the game!

I got the impression is was kind of Minesweeper-ish, but I didn't care to take the time to figure it out.

The music was cool.

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Thank you for your feedback Amanda.

Shellblast in Brief:

A cross between Picross and Minesweeper with a level editor for creating your own levels. This is an updated version from the one we previously got two years ago (from v1.3 to v1.31)

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Shellblast:


Installation:

Shellblast downloads as a 30.3 MB zip file that unpacks to a read me and a wrapped setup file (the orange colored file with the key symbol), plus there's a setup file with security (setup.gcd) that's protected from being hacked (because the previous giveaway system was easily cracked). This file may case some security software to alert the user to a possible malware attack, but it will be a false positive.

The game giveaway team check all game giveaways for malware using several well known anti -malware suites. There has never been a game giveaway infected with malware since the project started back in Dec 2006. (The owners know that allowing such things would compromise their business, so they make sure all software given away via the giveaway and gamegiveaway sites are thoroughly checked for all types of malware before allowing community members to download any files.

Some community members have been having problems installing games since the security software was added. It's been found that turning off your security temporarily or configuring it to accept the setup.cgd file usually sorts the problem out.

To register and install the game click on the orange colored icon. The installed game requires 22.6 MB of disk space and installs to the following path by default:



C:\Program files (x86)\Shellblast 1.31\ShellBlast v1.3.exe (If the install path shows the last game giveaway installed you need to clear your internet cache) you'll also find a shortcut in the Start Menu for an uninstaller.#


Shellblast works on my Win 7 (64 bit) & Win 8 (64 bit) computers. I've not reinstalled Vista or XP yet.

Introduction:

ShellBlast 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 (In the Alternative Games section, together with several other freeware games from the same author.



ShellBlast 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. The following is a quote from Vertigo’s site:

The commercial sequel to Acidbomb (voted 1up.com's Best 101 Free Games and GameSpy's "Download This" pick of December 2007) 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 modes:

Classic Mode - Play the fifty-level campaign as you tour the world defusing bombs. From prank bombs to nuclear super weapons, 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 game play, including always-randomized solutions to bombs in any mode (ensuring unlimited replay value!)

Reference accessed HERE 16th Nov 2013

The Game:

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 you can buy from your local store, and 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 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 (or other format’s) to the .ogg format using one of the many audio converters that have been given away. I’ve discussed changing the music files in more detail at the end of the review.

There are seven game modes which I’ve mentioned above via the quote from Vertigo’s web site; though the classic mode is the main gaming mode. 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, which is extremely easy to use. Once you've made the level it's saved to a custom levels folder which you can access from within the games menu (via freeplay then select the level editor which then gives you access to your created levels). There's loads of combinations you can create with bombs from 3 to 40 pistons as well as select the type of bomb from several choices. you can also select different backgrounds and foregrounds and change the number of chaff grenades. There’s a forum (I’ve provided a link in the’ other useful information’ section below), 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 HERE







The graphics are unusual as well as colourful in the same was as ‘The Magic Blackboard’, ‘Bullet Candy’ or the freeware game Plasma Pong are. 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 links I’ve provided above. 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 from the November 07 comments section.

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 & Images:

You can see a You Tube introduction to the game HERE ; it should give you a good idea as to what the game looks like when installed. Then you can see more images via the link below, which should give you amn even better idea as to what the game looks like:

You can see loads more images via the google search I made HERE


Music:


You can change the music by replacing the appropriate files. There are three folders with music files. Don't touch the first one (musicogg), the other two musicogg2 and New music should be okay to . You can find them via the following path:

C:\Program files (x86)\Shellblast 1.31\musicogg or new music\x.ogg\where x represents the file name


If you decide you don't like the music and want to change it for some of your own favorite music you can do, but you must convert the music you choose to the ogg format. (free audio converters are readily available online). Be sure to select the correct files otherwise you may cause problems with the game. BE SUREto back up any music files you decide to change just in case. Once you've played the game and confirmed that it works with the new music, then it may be safe to delete the files. Don't forget to rename any files you use to the ones you are replacing.


Minimum System Specifications:


Windows 2k/ XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8

Conclusion:


It’s a different sort of puzzle from what I’ve been playing recently. There’s an excellent array of different game modes, that give it a lot of re-playability. Don't let the basic graphics (though I think the opening screens are excellent), and the lack of a proper help file put you off this game. You may have to work at the game initially, but once you've mastered the controls and the concept, the game is very rewarding. There are some excellent puzzles to be found, and the ability to make your own levels as well as the number of game modes are an added bonus. You can share the levels you create with the community if you can upload them to an ftp (file transfer protocol - a place where you can store files online) then post the download link over on the ShellBlast forums (address mentioned in the other useful information below).

I wasn’t keen on this game the first time I played it, partly because it took me some time to work out how to actually play it; but thankfully I persevered. I was also intrigued by the levels editor, and have come to like the game quite a lot, though I've not played it in a while because there has been a glut of excellent games released this year and I'm struggling to keep on top :lol: If you like puzzles you’ll love this game. I’d give it a 7.4 out of 10 at the very least.



Score:


Game play = 8
Graphics = 7
Audio = 6
Re-playability = 8 (due to the levels editor)
originality = 8


Totals 37 out of 50 which is equivalent to 7.4 out of 10



Problems with the game?:

If you have any problems installing or playing today's game please go to the game discussion forums where you'll find a FAQ's section HERE.

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Games, Games, and yet more Games plus Download, Installation & Game play Problems:


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There are plenty of deals over on the Green Man Gaming site plus 25% off selected titles. You'll find the deals HERE.


You'll find many more game deals from Gamersgate, Gamefly, Gamestop, and GOG; some of which you can find via the Didimatic site, which I've linked to above.

To be honest there are too many game deals around to list them all. Just visit the sites I recommend above and I'm sure you'll find something that suits you for a very decent price.


Check out the Game Discussion forums for details of other games, either free or on deals such as the Indie Game bundles, (there's at least 5 or 6 bundles live at the moment plus regular bundles such as the Humble Weekly Sales and the Bundle Stars bundles (at least four of those are still live) including Groupees. You'll find links to all of these bundles in the Game discussion forums HERE All of the indie bundles are amazing value.


The latest IndieGameStand game is Tower of Guns - Early Access is a fast paced first-person-shooter for the twitch gamer... with a few roguelike-ish-y elements to keep it fresh with each playthrough. Think of it like FTL or Binding of Isaac mixed with Doom 2. You can find it Here. There's a DRM free download, it's on Steams Greenlight project, so you coule get aSteam key later plus if you pay more than the average, which stands at $1.35 at the time of writing you'll also get the music, an e book and wallpapers for the game. This deal ends on Wed 13th Nov around 5am GMT.

There are small indie bundles available over at Indiebundle.org. Each bundle has three games and costs $5 each for the basic bundle plus a few dollars more for extra games. Check the Indie bundles HERE

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A Request for help:

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 even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you've checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain what your reasons were for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

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