Giveaway of the Day - TriO: The Great Settlement

Trio: The Great Settlement

Todays game downloads to a 29.6Mb zip file that unpacks to two files a read me and a dual set up and activation module. Installation is easy. Jusy click on the wrapped set up file. Te default location for installation is C:\Program folder\Trio, but you can change that to suit your own file setup. (I put mine on a different hard disc to the root disc and place it in a games folder. The game intalls a shortcut to the desktop by ensuring the checkbox is ticked. A shortcut to the start menu is installed by default; you’ll find an uninstaller in the start menu folder or the actual uninstaller within the games main folder. The installed game is 33.8Mb in size.

Introduction:

TriO: The Great Settlement is a casual game with unique physics that bring a new twist on the usual match-3 game play. The storyline will take you on an adventure of magic, light, and the hope of freedom.

The entire Orbics race has been imprisoned and you must free them using the “miraculous power of the three” by combining three Orbics of the same color together. Beware, however, because there is a dark and ancient power that looms in the shadows and wishes ill on you and the Orbics.

Every level is different with a combination of challenges. For example, some levels are flooded with water, meaning you will have to compensate for buoyancy in order to place your Orbics where you want them to go. In some levels you must use your Orbics to dig deep and retrieve valuable treasure chests full of ancient gold.
After you have saved a number of Orbics from their dark prisons you can use the gold you acquired to build them new homes in your own thriving settlement on the floating islands. The little Orbics respond and change mood when you build necessary structures for them, like markets, schools, etc.

Unexpected turns of the story, ancient treasures, magic artifacts, hordes of intricate enemies, powerful bosses will not let you feel bored!

Features:

• 70 challenging levels (each level in two stages)

• Defeat Bosses

• Discover and build up floating islands

• Solve the secrets of ancient race of orbics

• Use bonuses to defeat Dark Orbics

• Trophies and magic artefacts

The Game:

The game comprises of 70 levels, each level having two stages, (effectively giving you 140 levels), and there are three game modes called Normal, Relaxed and Open, though the open mode isn’t available until at least one of the first two has been completed. You can then choose any level you wish or click on the random button which chooses levels at random. The difference between Normal and Relaxed is that the former mode (Normal) is timed.

There is an introductory story board comprising of several screens, then a little animated sequence showing you one of the islands that you can develop as the game progresses.. Both can be skipped by clicking on the X.

A stage is completed when the flask to the right of the playing area has been filled by red fluid, or in the case of the timed mode you run out of time or the boxes (orbis’s) reach the red laser marker.

Options menu

Options include the usual slider for music, which I found very repetitive and nondescript, plus the sound volume for in game effects. Thankfully this is easily remidied by changing the music files, details of which I’ve included below. There is also a slider for mouse sensitivity and two toggles; one for fullscreen/ windowed modes and the other one for setting a custom cursor, as well as a button that takes you to the credits.

There is a simple tutorial that appears whenever a new element to the game appears. It can be turned off at any time

Game modes

The game is fully controlled by the mouse. You move the blocks to be dropped to the left or right and when lined up click the left mouse button to release the block from the crane that holds the block in place. You can change this block by using the right mouse button. Blocks automatically link together when a match of three or more is made.

You earn gold by completing levels and this can then be spent on improving the islands. When the island screen opens you click on the build button which brings up a selection panel. Initially only one house is available (for a price of 500 gold pieces), but as the game progresses another six buildings are unlocked. From the island screen you can also gain access to the trophy room, which displays the various awards that you earn during the game.

As well as the main menu or how to play section that shows you pictorially and in words how to play the game. The concept is simple, make a match of three or more to destroy the bricks. The bigger the combo the more points you score.

As you progress through the game the levels become progressively harder as new game elements such as multi hit boxes and new level designs are introduced. If you fail to complete a level in time you can either restart the level or skip to the next level; however you are only allowed three skips during the game so use them wisely.

Images:

You can see a slideshow of about 35 images of the game by following the link below. You can also view them all on one page and enlarge then using the zoom provided by clicking on the Grid button to the bottom right of the slideshow:

http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/ss160/Whiterabbit04/Trio%20-%20The%20Great%20Settlement/?albumview=slideshow

Reviews by other players:

Andrew Williams from Bytten.com says:

“I had a fun time playing TriO, which to my mind really should have been called “Orbics: The Great Settlement”, and my efforts to research minor points for this review tended to take up much more time than intended – always a good sign of an addictive game! Hold on, the telephone’s ringing… hello? Redrice? Yes, they’re just reading this now… oh, the prophecy? I’ll tell them. Bye! … As I was saying, TriO is a fun and addictive game, and according to an ancient Orbic legend, you’re the one supposed to go and save them all. What are you waiting here for? Get cracking!”

Mike Gnade from The Indie Game Magazine says:

“Let me just say right now, Orbics are really freaky looking creatures. They are living, breathing emoticons full of magical energy. They aren’t the cutest of creatures, but somehow I was compelled to save them and play through each increasingly difficult level. While the game takes few risks, the gameplay is rewarding and is, at most, deserving of a free, one hour download.”

System Requirements:

Windows XP/Vista
Processor 1 Ghz or better
256 Mb RAM
40 Mb of hard drive space
32 Mb of video memory
DirectX 7.0

Conclusion:

Overall ‘Trio: The Great Settlement’ is an excellent and fun family game that has loads of replayability (Each time you play a level the blocks will be in a different configuration). The kids will love The comic style graphics. The addition of a sim like mini game where you have to develope a series of islands as the game progresses adds a little extra to the usual match three game play. The game play is different to the usual fare that you’d expect from this branch of the match three genre, with interesting puzzles incorporated into the game in a subtle way. Don’t let the cheerful graphic and the well worn match three concept put you off thinking that this isn’t a serious puzzle game because it’s not. The levels get progressively harder and harder, and I challenge even the hardiest of puzzle lovers not to say that they had a hard time reaching the end of this interesting game. Mini games have become the norm over the last few years and have helped to regenerate a tired genre. This sim like add-on is no exception. it’s simple in design will give added pleasure to playing this excellent game.

If you don’t like the in game music you can change it by exchanging the ogg files. see below in the additional information section for more information.

In my opinion this is worth a good 7.5 out of 10. I’d give it more, but there are hundreds of match three style games around these days, so can’t say it’s exceptional; I’ll certainly be keeping this one for a rainy day.

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Other Information:

If you miss today’s giveaway you can download it for free 24/7 from MyPlayCity via the following link:

http://www.myplaycity.com/trio/

The free games project has seen several free games posted over the last few weeks that include an excellent RPG called Battle for Wesnoth (which I’ve posted previously outside of the project, but the game has had a big update so decided to include it), there is also a space shooter with great retro graphics called Hydorah, and a point and click adventure on the lines of Myst called Amertis. Plus a few others such as Bubblestorm, a remake of Donkey Kong and a WWII scrolling shooter called Blue Dragon, and I nearly forgot, a great game available via Steam called Moonbase Alpha (actually there are two new free games via Steam, because Alien Swarm was released last week). The last two games do require you to install the Steam client which is free. you’ll then be able to download several other free games that I’ve detailed elsewhere in the games discussion forums. If you go back further there are some excellent physics based games such as Truck Dismount and a great snow boarding game called Virtual Resort (plus ORF Skiing)

Last week was the 100th week since starting the free games project. As a celebration TNIP and myself posted several more games which include some excellent platform games such as Coldgearz, Blackthorne, and Dizzy, then there’s an excellent shooter with an original theme called Dan Da! Dan!; a point and click adventure called Biwa Of Blood; A great driving game with superb graphics (for a freebie at least) called Driving Speed 2, and another very professionally made game called Handball Challenge Training Camp, plus a few others that you’ll find under week 100. The following link will take you to the game discussion forums where you can find all of the above games posted within the last few weeks. just look for weeks 96 to 100 (there are several other not mentioned as well).

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/forum/17

If you have problems with the game following todays giveaway then please post your comments over in the forums via the following link:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/7854?replies=1#post-81116

Music:

If you find the music irritating you can exchange the music for anything you fancy. The only prerequisites are to convert your music to the ogg format and rename the files to the same as the ones found in the games folder (game01, game02, island01 and island02). You can find the music files by following the path below (assuming you’ve allowed the game to be installed to the default location:

C:\Program files\Trio The Great Settlement\data\music

If you don’t have an audio converter you can find several via the freeware section of the giveaway project:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/freeware/cat/Audio_Video/

I love Trio! I’m looking forward to playing it, to see if it has more levels than the version that I have now. Thanks for the good game.