I really love this top-game. I'm already halfway the game and didn't have one dull moment. ;-)
Thanks GGAOTD and Alawar Entertainment.



........................Moderator Comment........................

Nice one Mag_ma, glad you're enjoying the game. :D

Great game which installed ok... I love it - except that the bonus levels run so slowly that they are virtually unplayable - everything else runs fine. Weird!



............................Moderator comment.....................

Hmmm, that is strange. Have you tried freeing up some RAM by closing unnecessary programs down while playing. you can still get Game booster for free which enables you to close down all unnecessary programs while playing the game, then turn everything back on just by clicking a button.

Also consider updating your graphics card and defragging your hard drive.

What a Mess; what a Bust. I failed to take one important point into account; Giveaways 24 hour expiration. Dah Me!

And unfortunately I keep a very clean system; what CCleaner doesn't get my forensic cleaner does get. And so after I uninstalled ArcticQuest2 my cleaners took care of the rest.

So, today when I saw the Moderator's comment and "tinyearl's" comment it was a bit too late. I tried to reinstall with Revo, but that's difficult without files to reinstall, then I did something I very, very, very rarely ever do; I used a restore point from yesterday. It restored all the ArcticQuest files except for one vital file which I believe is the Giveaway file. In any case there was a file missing so the program just showed a black screen. So I undid the restore point.

But, all was not lost, maybe on my computer, but I remembered that nothing had been changed on my wife's computer. I don't remember seeing that trapezoid piece yesterday, but sure enough that got the game to advance to the next level.

Guess that just proves I'm not always the smartest turnip on the truck; outsmarted by a game; UHG!

Lesson Learned; I hope!




.................................Moderator comment.................................

;-)

Thanks for the tip on getting past the tutorial. :)

Thanks Tinyearl (comment 41). That solved the problem. I see now that the previous piece that had been placed had changed to a yellow "place a piece here" piece when the new piece was in play. Glad I didn't delete game!

Has nice opening music. Good game - Thanks Alawar and got!
Good reviews from moderator! Thumbs up!!!

Great game.

Nice Game. Like the new features of not having the same pieces, but different pieces every time. Missing an axe feature to cut part of a shape ;) Snail is nice to, but you have to think different. Axe feature could als become a melt feature, but melting triangles would be difficult.

Installed OK on a Laptop with Win7-64 bit. Screenresolution support is often difficult with games like this, but had no problems.

Downloaded fine with Win 7--really enjoy puzzle games. Thank you again for a great game GOTD.

@Moderator; What Map?

After the "Tutorial Level" is finished, those of us who cannot advance beyond the tutorial, have the sun spiraling in the sky, clouds whisking by, three pieces in mid air, two pieces floating in the water, and bubbles coming up from the bed of the waterway. On the right side of the screen everything is grayed out except "Menu" & "Help". Other than that there is nothing else and nothing else happens; just the clouds whisking by and etc. If one returns to the menu and presses play again one is presented with the "Tutorial" again.

I did try installing the game to c:\Games, but that changed nothing. I don't know about anyone else, but the only security software I have installed is WinPatrol and it never squaked at me. After some thought I reinstalled some Microsoft Windows files I keep in a folder named, "File Isolation" I'm sure for obvious reasons.

I did replace some of those isolated files back to their perspective folders, but that changed nothing.

Everything else in the game works; Help, Scores, Trophies, Options - did I forget anything? I did notice that Scores page was tabbed and tried to access that, in return it gave me the following message, "Connection Failed". Hmmm! That's a bit strange and may shed some light on this, maybe.

The only thing I had left to do was uninstall it. I have kept the Zip file in case someone figures out why some of us can't get past the "Tutorial Level". Never had this kind of problem with a game before; very curious.



.................................Moderator comment....................................

Check tinyearl's comment. Maybe that will solve the problem.

To White Rabbit - no map appears after the tutorial. Not even sure the tutorial is complete. After showing you will lose if your river fills up, it drops another piece and then nothing. No where to put that new piece, nothing to click on.


.................................Moderator comment....................................

Check tinyearl's comment.. Hopefully that will solve the problem.

adding onto my previous comment, the shape is a trapezoid in the US but trapezium elsewhere. i never knew math was different in different countries. live and learn! :-)

i was stuck on the tutorial, too, but it turns out there was an additional step that was totally not clear. if you take the second trapezoidal piece that falls, rotate it to match the first one in the sky, and click to superimpose it on there, that completes the tutorial. there was no explanation why that would be necessary.


..............................................Moderator Comment..............................................

Thanks; hopefully those tha had the same problem will now be able to play the game.

Fantastic! My kids and me had much fun already playing this! I think I completed about 20 Levels until now, not too hard but not too easy either, I really like it. The music is a liiiitle annoying after some time, maybe I'll change it or maybe I'll just tune it down.
But I love the graphics!!

Not to be a spoiler,but mpc games optional checkboxes at every game start can be avoided by redirecting shortcut to 'game.exe' rather than the specific game name exe. They still go to mpc homepage on exit but that's only fair for free use of the game.

I'm having the same issue as some of the posters - will not play further than the tutorial. I think it might be a Windows 7 (64bit) problem.

I tried the game for a few minutes - it was fun! I had no issues with installation or running the game. I haven't played enough levels to see if it will keep my interest but I enjoyed the first three.
Thank You!

@31, it works fine on my Aspire One 725 netbook. Its a great game, thanks GAOTD! :)

I get a strange error notice after installing the game and trying to play: "setname security information failed for file C:documents and settings/all users/application data alawar stargaze! String $254 has not been found\saves/profiles.xml with error 123:the filename directory name or volume label syntax is incorrect"
The game comes up on the screen with "String has not been found!" and no words showing on the buttons. I clicked on one but it won't play.
Another game I can't play with the new wrapper from GOATD, but this is a new type error. I have to disable my anti virus to download, but mostly they don't work anymore
How do you delete this game?


.........................Moderator comment.........................

That is strange because this game should be free standing; there shouldn't be any entry i the app data for this game. I checked all three of my installations and found none. Try deleting all traces of the game. i.e. delete the installed folder, delete the downloaded zip file and unpacked files then open up the registry editor (regedit) and search for any registry entries that have the key word Arctic Quest 2. Before you start deleting registry entries do create a restore point just to be on the safe side, then delete any entry with arctic quest, to work through the registry editor quicker use F3 to move to the next entry once you've deleted an entry. Oh yeah, do check the App Data folder. Its a hidden folder so you'll need to go to folder options and make the folder visible (open up control panel and select small icons from the drop down menu at the top right, then look for folder options, click on it then selct the view tab. Look down the list until you find the show hidden files, folders and drives. make sure its selected. then go to your account folder which is usually at the top right when opening the Start Menu (I'm assuming you don't have win 8 yet) ;-) Open your account folder and select App Data which should now be visible. It will look slightly faded compared to the other folders. Open it up and search the three folders that are usually found there (Local, Local low and Roaming). Delete any reference to Arctic quest 2 (let me know if you found any in the app Data folder. Once you've done this make sure you've emptied your recycle bin then do a final search for Arctic Quest 2, then re-download the game and install as normal. Make sure your security software has been configured to allow the set up file to be activated.

To get rid of the game just delete the games installed folder


The final image below shows registry entries for the game in my Alawar folder, but that is because I initially installed a demo of the game yesterday so that I could start a review of the game. There was no reference to where I installed the giveaway version apart from a couple of unimportant entries.

I'm also having the same problem as no. 6 and 15 above. I get the tutorial and then it doesn't advance. The three shapes are filled in, it shows me how to drop into the fire and into the water. I have two pieces floating in the water and it sits there. New piece option is grayed out and can't go any further. I also have Windows 7.



..........................Moderator comment...........................

There's probably a simple explanation and/or fix but i'm stumped. I've installed the game to three computers and it works on all three perfectly. Hopefully someone will come up with a solution.


It just occured to me; are you clicking on the correct part of the map that appears once the tutorial has ended?

Addictive little game. I already own it but appreciate seeing it here too. Do agree about needing a feature to kill the tutorial.

this and the last game are too hard to download even if i want them and try for hours to do. i can't get them to play ,ust to register but tnot to play like games is the past. i like thegames here but seems that now there's an extra step that makes it damned near impossible to get to play. is there a way to just download direct? would be better andeasier for us all, or not good pc users like myself might get turned off. due to wanting a game ,but never being able to actually play the darned thing after it was downloaded and activated, but not able to actually get the game to work. bummer this is 2 games now can't play. difficult in the pa to get and play, but do able. now not really do able. sucks but if un able to actually play the games downloaded then i'll have to stop trying here. by the way it's still pretty easy to get the software stuff. just not the games. please make it like before ore even easier thammn tyhen to download these cool games. now i've missed2 games i really thought were cool but found out that getting them was a venture into breaking the secret code of the freekin universe. something i'm and most people aren't very adapt at.


.........................Moderator comment........................

Thank you for your feedback Y. It could be your security software that's blocking the software. the new security set up file may be the casue. There must be a way tou can configure your security to allow the game to be downloaded and installed. Hopefully a community member may be able to suggest something.

Around 12 thousand users downloaded last weeks game with hardly anyone saying they were having problems. I can't recall any) Its possibly a problem at your end. Check the FAQ's section to see if there are any fixes (Game discussion forums).

It doesn't work on netbooks - I can't have anything but full screen, it's right at the very top, & has about 3" of black screen at the bottom - I can't see the pieces floating in the water because it's 'off screen'


..........................Moderator comment...........................

Thank you for your feedback Melanie. This game was released several years ago before netbook were common. (Did they exist back in 2005-6)?

Strange; I downloaded and installed on a desktop XP system and Windows 7 Laptop. Neither installed to C:\Games, but instead to Program Files in both cases.

Game starts fine, on both machines, but will not advance beyond "Tutorial Level"; the clouds float by, but nothing else happens, on both machines.

Any suggestions on how to advance past "Tutorial Level".

I can't believe that the game is stuck because it did not install to what is considered the default install folder. In both case it treated Program Files the default on both machines.

Gotta say I don't trust installations that will not register themselves and insist on being installed to C:\Games, but there was no manipulation on my part and the program on both computers installed to Program Files by default.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.



..........................Moderator comment...........................

Thank you for your feedback JonE. The demo from Alawar does install to the Program folder, but most of the game giveaways are changed somehow when the wrapper is added. (IDK how)

I'm having the same problem of being stuck in the tutorial mode.

Running Windows 8 x64 Pro Edition with Media Center.

Unfortunately there is a bug in the way Windows 8 handles certain games and they play very slowly or not at all. This is one of the games that will not play smoothly. It is not this game there have been others that have not played well either. Updating the drivers did not help either.

Funny because the Mahjong game given away last week ran really smooth and still does. It probably has to do with lack of support for older games that use older versions of Direct X.


..........................Moderator comment...........................

Thank you for your feedback Little Bear

Very good game. It gets harder in the latest stages as the cloud makes things a bit more tough. It is a nice and simple game where you place pieces into the mosaic. I love the funny dialog where the king wishes you to be part of his team! It was longer and tougher than the 1st Artic Quest. Definitely a keeper.
I agree with Aka Stephen (main review), the dialog would be a bit longer the game would be better. Also perhaps add some mini games, not only the bonus level, but something else could make the game more interesting. Perhaps some hidden object or picking some pieces to add to a statue, or picture, but not a mosaic.


..........................Moderator comment...........................

Thank you for your feedback Sarah.

I've the same problem as Charles and Richard...it won't go passed the tutorial. Curious as to why it does that. (win7 x64)

I cannot get past the tutorial page!! Clicked on everything, followed all instructions for the tutorial and waited for a prompt to play the game...nothing. Exited. Hit "play." Got the tutorial again! I know it's stupid, but how do I get to play the game?? Thanks for your help :)

Installed and runs fine on my Windows 7 machine.

Decent game.. just not my style. To much like tetris for me. I will save it though for when I am in just the right mood. ;)

Thanks to Alawar.. they've been an excellent supporter of this site and I have been able to try many of their games that I may not have otherwise. :)

Psssttt....Stephen: your review begins with the line...
"The downloaded zip file for World’s Greatest Places Mah-jong should be"
Just thought you might want to correct that!
John


........................Moderator comment.......................

:-o

I use the basic frmat from each review, just delete all the content apart from the titles. Saves me having to rewrite the justification etc. Thanks for pointing it out. didn't bother to proof read this morning. Everything else was correct. ;-)

Had a similar game yrs ago so I couldn't resist.

Installed and tested the first 4 pics - everything works fine and I am happy again.

Thank you very much!

Ok Win 8 Pro x64. Tetris variation. Not a fan but good those them. Just ended up waiting for the right piece while lake filled up. Too lazy to use snail time slow or the pearl money bonus so would fail level. Uninstalling to play the new free MS Pinball. Only 1 free first table but it's a winner along w/ free MS Armed game in the Store. Both good w/ kb & mouse. Thx.

..........................Moderator Comment...........................

Thanks for the heads up beergas.

Installed A-OK on Vista Home Prem. X64. I started the game to make sure it works. Played the Tutorial, totally new game to me, but FUN! Thanks WR & GGOTD Team.

G!:)

looks like a fun but challenging game thx :)

Oooooo ! Thanks GGOTD ! Really enjoyed Artic Quest 1 , and now I have Artic Quest 2 ! Coooooool ....

Wont work on my system, did I miss something? (OS Vista 32bit)
Cant even find it in C drive programme files, ghost got in, how do you get it out?


.........................Moderator comment.........................


Hi Mik,

Did you read my review at comment #1? The game isn't installed to Program files its installed to the games folder. See the full path near the top of my review. No shortcut is installed (as with most game giveaways). to delete the program just delete the installed folder. Its a free standing game. You won't find a reg code in the registry.

I cannot get it to download, it says the folder is empty, I have tried twice so far. I have Win7.


..........................Moderator comment.............................

Hi Trisha,

If the game isn't downloading to your computer it sound like a provider problem. try rebooting your modem/router and clearing out your internet cache, and, if you've not rebooted your computer for several hours, reboot, then re-download the game. Make sure when you unpack and click on the setup file (the orange key file) you make a note of where the game is installed to. I've posted details in my review at comment #1.

Help! I've download and install today giveaway game, but it stuck in tutorial mode. Then nothing happens, what gives? I'm using windows 7.



.........................Moderator comment.......................

Another community member has had this problem. I can't figure what could be wrong at this point. I'll do some thinking when i can grab a few minutes. In the meantime, hopefully someone else may be able to solve the problem.

A bit off-topic, but I wanted to say How Great Greatest Place Marjhong has been to play! What a great game; thank you again! I can't stop playing!


...........................Moderator comment........................

Glad your enjoying it promytius :D

I loved the first one of these games. A Tetris like game that gets very challenging. And very addictive. Thank you so much GameGiveAway and Alaware.

Installs and plays with no problem on Windows 8 Pro x64. Runs in a window by default - you can set it to full-screen in the Options menu if desired. (doesn't appear to support HD/widescreen resolutions)

Creating a Start menu ("Metro" or "Modern" or whatever they're calling it this week) icon is a little tricky. Here's how:

1) Right-click on the desktop and choose "New" and then "Shortcut"
2) Click the "Browse" button, browse to and select the "game.exe" file that runs the game.
3) Name the new shortcut "Arctic Quest 2"
4) Right-click on the new desktop shortcut and choose "Pin to Start" from the pop-up menu.


............................Moderator comment.......................

Thank you for your feedback Guiseppe. ;-)

The game is running very slow on my PC. Help please


......................Moderator comment................................


Hi Bonnie,

Try turning off Hardware acceleration via the options menu. If that doesn't do much try turning off some of your background programs via the Task Manager (Ctrl - Alt- Del). If you've installed lots of giveaways, you'll probably find some running in the background. you could also try running an old copy of game booster. Its no longer free, but you may still be able to find free versions online. Basically it turns off all non-essential programs while you are playing a game. Once set up (i.e. configured) its a one button fix. Once you've finished playing your game you click the game booster button again to bring your computer back to before you ran Game booster. It can free up to 40% of your system RAM.

You didn't post your system specs. That would be useful to see if you've got low system RAM.

Make sue your not running multiple programs while playing the game.

Also check the FAQ's I posted in the game discussion forums. you will find some suggestions such as defragging your drive. If you've not defragged your drive for a long time it will be badly fragmented. what that means is any new programs you install, they are installed on all of the little spaces on your hard drive. The whole program may be scattered right across the HDD's disc. this can lead to poor performance and even errors and crashes.


Just checked, you can still get the last free version of Game Booster from cnet via the following link:

http://download.cnet.com/Game-Booster/3000-18512_4-10913645.html

It's a 4.16MB download. it's really easy to use and should solve the slowing down problem if the problem is lack of memory.

This works on Win 8


.............................Moderator comment..........................

Thanks graham

Hello!

If you like Tetris, you will definitely love ArcticQuest2. It is not only a hexagonal form of the old game, because the borders that you should fill are not just a simple box, but always the shape of an animal, which give variety to the game, and it's often a challenge to fill. I like that I can use the pieces not only in the "falling order", as they accumulate in the lake - I don't have to fail a level if the currently falling piece doesn't fit, or I want another one to make a better match. I enjoy the game, because it is easy to learn, but challenging to win.
I also like the atmosphere, it is a nice winter-waiting game. As the winter theme of a game package is nearly always a Christmas-theme, I wouldn't download another one with the same style, but now I am happy to have this refreshing exception.

Downloaded without problems on a Win7 notebook, only the icon must have been sent to the desktop/StartMenu manually.

Thanks for the publisher and GGOTD, thumbs up :)


..............................Moderator comment.............................

Thanks for your feedback. :)

Referencing Moderator comment to #4 -- The "Curse of Montezuma" is NOT the third in the Montezuma series. It's different and very old - prone to intermittent crashing on newer and faster machines.

I didn't get today's game here because I've already got it. However, I need to re-install it on my new machine. It is a keeper!

..........................Moderator Comment........................


Thanks for the info Diane. I was wrong about it being the third, it was in fact the second, released less than two years after the first Treasures of Montezuma. I was confused becasue i didn't get a copy until after I'd purchased the second Treasures game, so in my mind it was the third. Nola from New Zealand gifted me a copy.

It is part of the same series, though the game play has taken a marked change from the first two games with different shaped gems and a spiders web like grid. It was released about 2 years after the first game, then Alawar released Treasures of Montezuma 2 a year later in 2009, which is the third in the series. Treasures of Montezuma 3 is the fourth in the series (released in 2011). You could argue that it's not part of the same series because it's game play is markedly different to the Treasures titles, but the story is linked to the first game via the games character Emily Jones. In the Curse of Montezuma, the character is Cathie Jones, the grand daughter of Emily Jones, and the archaeological theme continues with Cathie searching for the fountain of youth.. All four games were originally released by Alawar.

W.r.t. it crashing, its never crashed on my computer which I built less than a year ago and is kept up to date re: drivers..


p.s. I much prefer the first two Treasures of Montezuma games to the last two in the series.


To the community,

Both of the Montezuma games are considered by many match three aficionados to be amongst the best pure match three games available (what I mean by pure is they don't have mini games such as simple HOG's or other playable add-ons like say for example the Fishdom series that tend to have a type of simulation included).

You can download Treasures of Montezuma free 24/7 from MyPlayCity (MPC) HERE and Treasures of Montezuma II for free from MPC HERE. Remember to watch out for toolbar installations and home page changes. These can be avoided by un-checking the boxes. At the moment MPC include advertising during the initial installation wizard, and you need to uncheck the boxes every time you start the game up. Still, the actual games are unspoiled. As with all games from these free sites your browser is opened when you close the game down, but its totally innocuous.

This is an excellent game and a credit to the programmers, it is highly adictive and that is what a game should be.
Thankyou to GGOTD for making this possible and giving us the privilage and oportunity to owning it.

P.S A game variation or a new game suggestion
I have thought of a variation to this game where there is a section of screen that is moved to under where the piece should land to slot in, in an advanced level you have to turn each piece as well as moving the screen - how about that ?


...........................Moderator comment........................



Thank you for your feedback.

Errrm ok Ive done the tutorial but thats all I get, when I click play it takes me back to the tutorial again and again.

Anybody know why?

Nice, addictive game but too many 'bonus this' and 'buy that' for me and I tend to ignore all that and just play the game. It kept crashing, throwing up a not responding message but that's probably just me.

One of the top 5 games ever given on GGAOTD.
Thanks.
After the demise of our old machine which had Arctic Quest 2 on it, my OH bought this game and I've been patiently waiting for the return so I can play it on my laptop too.

It is well developed, with excellently pitched difficulty levels.
Challenging, fun, easy to pick up and rewarding as well.
You can even give yourself targets -
Beating previous scores, or trying to complete rounds using only certain shapes. I'm not sure the storyline is all that important, or even necessary (Sorry, WR), as it is basically a puzzle game and the aims are; a, to finish it and b, to get high scores.

Now all we need is the return of: Montezuma, and Jets 'n' Guns Gold and Archibalds Adventures and my collection will be virtually complete.

Anyway, if unsure, download this game. It's really very good.


..............................Moderator Comment......................

I agree that all the games you mention were some of the best. Arctic Quest 2 received a whopping 93% the last time it was given away back in 2007.

You can get the third in the Montezuma series for free at the moment. Check my review for details. also you can get the first two for free from MyPlayCity. They do have the usual irritations, but the games play perfectly.