The orange and red "gems" are too similar in color.

I have bought this game before It was on that site :) it worth the money that I paid in it :) as it is very awesome.

Cool effects and Amazing gameplay and wonderful music that makes the game achieve harmony and affect in me very deeply

its a very nice amazing game that u should all buy it :)

Spirits of Metropolis is a good time waster. Would be useful if the 'rules' were available without having to log on again as another user and having to work through the tutorial.

This is an excellent puzzler, up there with ShellBlast. I love it.

Hi CathL,

If you haven't already, join the forums then PM me. I have a spare NVidia graphics card you can have. It's a couple of years old now, but still a decent one with 128Mb of RAM. It's an NVidia 7500 GS card with an AGP socket (it may be a 7600 as I have two spare actually). If your computer is over 2 to 3 years old it's a good bet the graphics card sockets are AGP. I've upgraded all my motherboards and they have the newer PCI-E sockets so the graphics card is useless to me. you can have it for free if you contact me.

regards Whiterabbit

Thank you Whiterabbit. My pc Win XP3 is version 2002 and has no
Nvidia or ATI, therefore I think I would have to change my
graphic card before I can play newer games. I'm not really a
heavy user, only downloading when the game looks interesting.
I will keep this game on my pc to play when I upgrade.
Thanks again.

I'd just like to thank the game giveaway for a great game and to say thanks for weathering the recent financial depression. It can't be easy trying to get developers to part with their games. Keep up the great work. i'm looking forwards to seeing what you have for us in the months to come.

For me it's all part of the fun of visiting this site. Most of the games I don't keep; some I end up buying and the few I do keep have been well worth the wait.

Regards

one of your fans

Whiterabbit

One of the best games that ever been here

Hi yufanyi,

Try cleaning out your internet cache and cookies. If you use Internet Explorer you just have to right click on your internet ic and select internet properties. Then click on the delete button (the format may vary depending upon what service pack you have installed and whether you run XP or vista. Just google it if my instructions don't make sence.

also try rebooting your modem and router. Then try reinstalling the game. i hope this helps. :)

To realitycheck,

As some have already mentioned, some of the parts are greyed out because you have to unlock them. That means you have to play specific parts of the game to play the rest. (check out comments # 51 and 53) It's meant to be an incentive to play the whole game. I hope you enjoy playing the game. It's certainly better than the usual match threes that you can buy; or get for gree from places like gametop. (Check my main review above for a link)

I think the slow down may be related to the anount of RAM your computer has. Turning off any unecessary programs may help to solve the problem. If you go to the toolbar next to the clock and switch off some of the programs situated there you may find the game becomes less sluggish. If you have 2Gb or more there shouldb't be a problem. You can download a program called Game booster for free that turns off all unecessary bac fround programs and thus frees up more RAM.

You can get Game Booster from the following address:

http://game-booster.en.softonic.com/

hello team,

I downloaded the game "Spirits of Metropolis", and tried to install within the required time frame but key could not be activated due to a non - link to your site, what to do(i still have 1 hour 50 mins at the time of posting this comment).

if this is full game, why are parts of it greyed out and unclickable?

#49 - Psyched is the word. Downloading it now based on everyone's apparent enjoyment of the game.

This game is very well done. The fading and panning graphics are a pleasure.

My only negative comment is what others have mentioned - the tutorial is painfully slow. I thought the 'continue' button was never coming...

I tried installing on XP , install went fine but when trying to run the game it gets hung at loading. I tried uninstalling and cleaning up my pc but it still does the same thing. I do not have time to redownload as I have dial up connection. Any suggestions?

#50 - The puzzles are released after you learn certain tools. I have puzzle 01 and 10 open and 01 may open 02 - 09. Similar for the constellations. You have to solve 1 before you can go on.

You can also download several more puzzle packs from the site. There is a link in the game itself. I haven't installed the extra puzzles yet, but I have downloaded them.

I also emailed them about the incredibly slow response that I and many others are experiencing. I hope they have an explanation for me.

XP3 - had no problems downloading, once went through the tutorial the first time, if you use the log in and log out button it saves your progress and you don't have to do the tutorial again! only problem I have had is on 2nd level, noticed game hung up a few times but then it resolved itself and then hung up again so I cleared out my browser cache and went back in and it has played fine since then. Very enjoyable game although, it took awhile to figure out how to get the puzzle level solved! Thanks GGOTD!

To 12:
The higher levels remain locked until the previous ones are completed. Keep playing to get to them.

To whoever got stuck in the tutorial - there is an icon at the top left that will get you back to the main menu.

Is it just #12 and myself who are having this problem or is this the way it's suppose to be? Installed fine, but when running, only the first Constellation is playable, the others are locked out. Also, ALL "Puzzle Challenges" are locked out. There are a few other things locked out too. It appears to be no better than a demo version, so I must have something messed up, but what?

Thanks!

WOW! This is cool! Thanks GOTD! This is something new and different. Great game for a giveaway! I'm siked...or is it syked? Oh well....whatever!

No problems with Vista 32 bit in loading, installing, playing, or ending. Works great!

We always enjoy your wonderful games but this one about killed our computer.. locked it up and we had to turn off the power to shut it down. So had to uninstall the game. Too bad.. looks like it would have been fun.

comment deleted due to inappropriate language

OK this is interesting, I downloaded the game through Mozilla, when I tried to open it, it said it couldn't connect. I deleted and downloaded again, I closed my brozer and opened again still nothing, tried shuting off computer and downloading several times again. Went in and deleted cookies and history ect as someone suggested, still couldn't open it. I had an idea, I use Juno for e-mail so I went through their website and downloaded and it opened right up. So it must be a problem with Mozilla. Anyway I am happy now and plan to go try the game out now. Thanks

Huh, what happened to White Rabbit's large comment that was there this morning?

ANYway, I'm not usually one for GGOTD games because they tend to be be either same old same old or genres I don't like, but this one looked intreging, so I tried it...

And it IS a neat game, I really like it. Except for one problem -- the time limit is WAY too short. I shouldn't be having trouble 4 (4a actually, 5b is 5 I guess) when there's 120 claimed levels. They even call it 'easy', yet easy it is not. I know some people like challenge, but the curve here is WAY too high. There's no difficulty levels, and no endless mode (unless that's what you need to unlock)...so basically it's already run its gambit outside of puzzle mode (which isn't all that, considering how many other games have similar ones).

There's also the fact you can't seem to turn off sound effects, or resize the screen (though being able to window it in the first place is good, at least).

Unfortunately while going to edit my main review (to correct a spelling mistake) I accidentally deleted it instead. Here's a rough draft of the original. There are several typo errors that I'd previously corrected, but I'm not awake enought to re do them, lol:



Spirits of Metropolis


There will be no review from me today apart from posting the authors description of the game, a recommended review by the author, some videos, images and a couple of links to user reviews, one positive and one negative. I was having too much fun playing online in our giveawayoftheday Steam group, plus I wasn’t really in the mood to write a full review last night; (feeling a bit jaded) .

The game I comes with a full installer and installs desktop and start menu shortcuts. The game is free standing which means you can play it from a flash drive etc. The default installation path is:

C:\Program Files\Spirits of Metropolis v1.10

There are several extra and free puzzle packs available for download from vertigo games that include an Abstract puzzle pack, Spring Meridian puzzle pack, Patriot puzzle pack and Cubed puzzle pack. The author intends to have made available ten packs as DLC’s (downloadable content) before the end of the year, so if you really enjoy this game it will pay to make a bookmark of the link I’ve posted below so that you can check back. It seems there’s one every month being released. July’s puzzle pack is called Sandbox of God. Though that is not the soon to be released re-mastered game of the same name, just a theme based off of the game:



Authors introduction

When I first started to design this game, I had one goal: create a title unique in a genre that was flooded with unoriginal, me-too casual games. That genre was the match-3 gem genre, one that has been dominated by such casual titles as Bejeweled and Puzzle Quest.
Over a year later, I think we've succeeded in bringing a totally new type of game that's unlike any puzzle game out there. Being that this was our first major commercial game (we have made over a dozen titles previously for PC over the last seven years) we wanted to make sure to start out with a bang. Not only does this game have over 120 levels, but it has ten unique gameplay modes that completely changes the nature of the way the game is played, with three difficulty settings each. Spirits of Metropolis also has a puzzle level editor to make and play custom puzzles, and not only does this game have an assortment of options, it has a colorblind editor that allows you to change the color of each gem to your preference, including an option to use shapes. The colorblind editor was actually designed with help from colorblind gamers, making sure that it would have maximum effectiveness.

Puzzlelicious Review posted by the author:

When I first saw a screenshot for Spirits of Metropolis I have to admit that I thought Oh god, not another Bejeweled clone.

You can't blame me if you've seen the game. It features multi-colored gems arranged into patterns, and the purpose is to eliminate them in lines. Sound familiar? The only difference seemed to be a late-night aesthetic, the kind you find in techno clubs and jazz joints.

Luckily, I was wrong. So very wrong. Spirits of Metropolis is a unique experience, and an excellent one at that.
Spirits is a puzzle game, predictably enough. You need to eliminate lines of gems. The difference between this game and all the others, however, is that this requires just as much strategic thinking as it does speed. True, you need to move quickly, but you also need to plan out your line eliminations carefully the more points you get, the more time you get. And time, in this game, isn't nearly plentiful enough.

All play revolves around a white crystal. It constantly puts out pulses of light through the strings of surrounding gems. Those pulses only persist, however, if you line the gems up according to color: like a string of Christmas lights, if one bulb/gem doesn't work/isn't the right color, the rest down the line won't light up. Fortunately, this problem is offset by the fact that every third gem will explode when the time comes to set the lines off, transferring its power to all the surrounding gems. Build more strings off each exploder and you'll score major points. Somewhat like Tetris, strings are built by laying down gems, and the game's kind enough to display upcoming gems.

Matters would get boring with just that over and over, naturally, so Spirits throws in roadblocks to keep itself interesting. The time limit is usually the biggest obstacle, and can prove a quick killer in some levels. It's so limiting, in fact, that you might throw the game down before giving Spirits the chance it deserves. Beyond the timer there's also set limits on moves, black gems on the board that need to be filled, unchangeable gems and boards that get smaller and smaller.

I thought for sure the pleasing look of Spirits would wear off or, at best, mask a mediocre game. I'm happy to say now that Spirits is an excellent experience with a lovely face on it. The menus, the game board, even the background is nice to look at, with an early morning city passing slowly by in the distance. You'll quickly realize that the exploding gems resemble streetlights, and suddenly the whole thing makes a lot more sense.
Supporting this is the real star of this game, the soundtrack. With one or two exceptions I LOVE the music in Spirits of Metropolis. Ranging from techno thumping to some beautiful guitar work, Spirits has a diverse selection of tracks that you'll never want to turn off. This goes to show that having a smaller budget than the big leaguers doesn't stop a game from pleasing the ear.

Slick, beautiful, charming. The only fault I find in Spirits is an unforgiving difficulty level in the first few stages. Other than that, this is a fantastic game, and I highly recommend trying it. I'd buy it. 4.5/5

Reference: http://www.vertigogaming.net/game/spirits Accessed 22nd July 09


Reviews worth reading:

Positive Review:

http://www.helium.com/items/1289378-downloadable-game-review-spirit-of-metropolis


Negative Review:

http://www.helium.com/items/1289217-rating-of-spirit-of-metropolis

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Video:

http://www.vertigogaming.net/blog/2009/07/15/spirits-of-metropolis-dlc-update/#more-298

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut-trailer-spirits-of/44298

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbXW25mFZAA&fmt=18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--bgAjmqTAQ





Googled Images:


http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Spirits+of+Metropolis&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=

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Conclusion:


From playing the demo for a short time I was impressed by the interactive tutorial and the number of modes you have available. The graphics remind me a little of ShellBlast, but the game play is totally different. I’m not overly enamored by match three games. They usually have to have something special about them to hold my interest, for example Treasures of Montezuma or Puzzle Quest. This one definitely intrigues me, but I’ve not played it long enough to justify giving it a score out of 10. That would be unfair. That said I am impressed enough to continue playing it, so will keep it in my library at least on a temporary basis until I’ve had the time to explore the game further.

Addendum to my original conclusion(added 22 hours later)

After spending a few hours playing this game I do think it's well worth keeping. It's much better IMO, than most match three's I've played and would put in on a par with Treasures of Montezuma. You do need to persevere throught the few few levels. Once you've got the hang of the game play, which is different from the usual 'run of the mill' match three, I'm sure you'll love this game; so much so that I now feel qualified in giving the game a score out of ten. I think it's worth 8 out of 10 for it's replayability, unusual and pleasing graphics and game play - a refreshing take on the match three genre

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Alternative Games:


If you like match three games there’s loads of commercially available games that are being given away over at Gametop and Freegamespick. I’ve posted a thread over in the forums that specifically deal with Match three games though I’ve not updated it in several months. You’ll find Gametop have extended their catalogue of match three games to include such titles as Around the world in 80 days and Atlantis Quest, Lost Treasures of Eldorado and a few new additions called Voyage Puzzle and Aboo. You can find a list of several via the first link below, plus all the match three from Gametop which number more than 26 if you count the online variety, via the second link. Gametop have started to include toolbars and in some gases browser hijacks, so do watch for the tick boxes to ensure they aren’t installed. As always I must remind you that all Gametop and Freegamespick games will open up your browser when closing the game down, but that is innocuous. There’s no malware installed. I’ve tested all the games I’ve downloaded from Gametop and all come up clean using the latest Kaspersky antivirus program:

Link to Match Three post in the giveaway forums:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/3846#post-41420

Link to Gametop:


http://www.gametop.com/category/match3.html


=================================================================

Activating and installing went fine on XPSP3 (normal allows and unblocks via security software)

Yes, the game is slow - the tutorial could use a 'next' button - took so long on the 1st part I thought it was over - no 'next, continue or done' button showed up, so after a while I just exited out and started the game.

Once I started the game, I came to realize something's different - when you match them up nothing seems to happen as with other 'Match 3' games - so I just kept making chains until it told me the level was over and I won the round. Had no idea how that happened so I went back to the tutorial. Now that I understand it more, I like it.

It is not your 'normal' match 3 type of play

For those saying it's stuck or slow - seems it wants you to go through completely on each tutorial page and it appears to be 'timed' as to give you time to read the instructions and try it out - a lot of us are quicker on the 'uptake' than the timing is set for.33

running in Windowed mode - stays between 87-100 for the CPU until it's loaded. At first it appeared it didn't remember I had selected windowed - came up full screen until I logged into it then it went to windowed.

After that cpu stayed between 43-57

i like it

Gets a thumbs up from me

downloaded it was unaware of the slow load thought it was compatability problem maybe, did see the file may be corrupted message uninstalled it and am re- downloading it now, had my internet go offline during the download maybe that corrupted it? will let you know how it comes out i do love these kinds of games :)

@11
ook bij mij verliep de installatie niet erg soepel; XPsp2
stopte halverwege: corrupt file "oggfiles\13oldparklane.ogg(error21F)"
verholpen door wat eigen muziek als dit file neer te zetten, waarna de installatie welwerd afgerond.

Laden bij opstarten van het game inderdaad vreselijk langzaam

Even gespeeld tot level 3; weer eens wat anders - lijkt me leuk.
Voorlopig aardig bezig met Shellblast!

@13
Naarmate je verder speelt worden er meer levels unlocked.

Upon investigating & exploring Vertigo game site, I found that Spirits of Metropolis also has its OWN website.
http://www.spiritsofmetropolis.com/

A suggestion to the developer...create a tutorial or an application for custom designing additional puzzles and games. Then add a topic in the forum where people can post their own puzzle creations.

This is sure to be beneficial for the game, the users, and the developer too!

Interesting and amusing match game. I think will be a sleeper of sorts so I advise people to hang on to this as it seems like it is a game you will play in small bits bit until you get into the rhythm of the game.

I did however have to resort to Anvir to close out the program. Dunno if that was tutorial related or not.

For all of you who report that the game hangs on load or tutorial or wherever. Maybe it's not hung, just incredibly slow. The game play is fine but it seems to take forever to do anything else. Just be patient. It will eventually give you a "continue" message.

The game play itself is ok.

Do as I did just now - I started it up and then came here to post while I waited. It just loaded.

Well, thanks to White Rabbit's non-review *lol* I am going to risk downloading a match three game for the second time in my life, it does sound worth a shot and with the developer offering packs it will be a winner if I enjoy the gameplay :) ... and with such positive comments already it is possible ;)

I have been visiting here since it was a daily free game and have yet to join the forum *slaps wrist with wet noodle* but perhaps this competition will draw me out. I have tried to see the links of example icons but my browser falls over :s Will try again after a reboot later.

Finally, I wanted to add that those of you that are active in the comments threads and the forum on games make my week regularly - you mean a lot to the silent majority who follow your chats and the links to free games :)

Oh and to add on my comment, I'm going to put this one on the laptop!!!!! So must be real good *winks*

Installed and ran beautifully on my XP system. This game is very very cool. As you progress through the game , it gets very difficult! Lots of fun.. to much for small children as you must really think to play in the upper levels. This is one of the best games iv'e seen come through in a long time. Don't let the match 3 fool any of you, because this is like nothing we've seen before. Thanks guys, I needed something to occupy me today and this has def. done it!

Installed no problem on XP, but on running the program it was painfully slow and used 100% CPU, in both windowed and full screen, and after tweaking all the options. Managed to play the first level, but because the clock was ticking so slowly it was no challenge. Uninstalled.

great game ...but .... and yes I read the directions ... I totally do not understand "The Patterns" and how that works. Can someone explain it?

Seemed to install okay, but when I tried to start it on my XPSP3 machine, it got stuck on the "Loading" screen and wouldn't go any further. Got a few other things running at the same time so that may be the issue, so I'll try a reboot later on and see if that helps.

Lol, wizz... you beat them to it! I thought the name sounded familiar, but admit yours is still stuffed in your folder. ;)

Woot, another Vertigo game!

I've been a fan of Mr. Chubigans's games ever since he released "Explodin Crapola: Helicopter Cacophony 2" on the Game Maker forums. This isn't "just" another casual game; his titles generally have a fair bit of real challenge in them and enough interesting gameplay mechanics to distinguish them from all the "me too!" titles which frequently pop up on Game Giveaway of the Day.

I've spent an hour with the game so far. I'm really, really enjoying it.

It's polished and feels like a mix between Bejeweled (match 3), Pipe Dream (random pieces with a time limit), and Big Bang Mini (constellations, mood).

I'd love to see this game get ported to Nintendo DS (or DSiWare) one day. It just feels like it should be played with a touch screen and stylus.

I am having a problem installing. Help me

downloaded fine xp sp3 - just will not load - all i get is splash screen that says loading then get the inveriable program is not responding.

Installed easy enough on Vista 32 home, but froze up during the tutorial. Used task manager to shut it down, then task manager froze up. Rebooted with the same result. Reinstalled, but the same thing happened. Task manager did not freeze up when tested on other things. Too bad. I think I would have liked this game.
Oh well. Thanks anyway.

Since yesterday, i cant install games from gaotd on WinXP SP3.
The Setup checks for the key, than it says the software is activated but nothing is installed, no installer comes up.
Software on the mainpage installs flawlessy and with no glitch.
What the hell is this ?

I install the game and everything looks fine but as soon as I go to launch the game get a window that says the game has stopped working... I would really like to have this game as it looks like it is right up my alley

It works on my Vista32 Ultimate SP2 machine. It seems to take forever to load. The game itself is fine but the other parts (such as figuring the score and displaying the windows) is incredibly slow.

I'm going to play with the options and see if that helps. I'm in Windowed mode at 768X1024 resolution.

I turned OFF the music. I always do that.

It's different. It took a while to figure out what I was doing and I'm still not positive I know what I'm doing but that's part of the fun of a new game!

hey # 5, I wouldn't worry, a lot of virus scanners/antispyware progs tend to say these files are unsafe, but I haven't had any problems with any files from this site ever being malicious. If this site made it a habit to trick people into dlling viruses and such, i'm sure it wouldn't have lasted so long, or have such a good reputation.
My family loves these kinds of games, so i look forward to picking this up. We're still hooked on puzzle hero and the 2 hidden object games mysterious cairo and prague.
Have a great day!

Dear GGOTD-

Can't you give us any hidden object games? I just don't find the matching games require much logic-

Thanks

Oh great thank you so much...just what Ive been waiting for since reformatting the PC...
Hope you are feeling less under the weather soon Whiterabbit.

Seems to run on Vista 64. Unusual match game. I don't know if I would seriously play it, but for fans of this genre I can recommend it. One small quibble--exiting from the game is too cumbersome a process and, the first time, not so easy to see how. I wish the game developers luck.