I just have to say that I just love this game! The first part is fairly easy but as you go along it gets more difficult and it feels like a real accomplishment when you complete the last few levels. I'm on the last few sets and this is a game that challenges you so I haven't gotten bored with it.

I have played this game almost through to the end (5 more levels remaining) since downloading it last weekend.

- The game plays really nicely when windowed. As someone else mentioned, there is no need to go through the steps of the exit menu; just click the X and your game is saved.

- Need a Hint button. Sometimes the wait for an auto-hint takes so long. Too long. I really need a Hint button. This would be my top request.

- I would also like to have the ability to select the difficulty of gameplay. Some days I want the challenge of Evil, and other days I'd prefer Easy. This would really help with the fun vs. frustration factor.

- More levels.

- I second the comment that based on the name, I thought this was a Breakout type game. I almost didn't bother to read the description.

This game is okay. It requires a fair amount of concentration. The game play is innovative, so kudos for that. I prefer easier match 3 games like Snood, Magic Lines, or 4 Elements; however, this game might be good for an occasional challenge. Thank you, Playrix.


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Thank you very much for your feedback. Much appreciated

Great game. I played it last time it came around. I got stuck on the last level last time, this time I beat it and am close to beating it the second play-through. It needs storyline and incentives, IMHO. For example, there is no incentive to do combinations except "horus combo". Which seems rather unrewarding.

I'd suggest that certain levels of combos give you a wild-card color to shoot out next turn. Or perhaps a higher level combo would allow you to remove any tile on the board.

Another place that needs incentives would be auto-combos (when it's set up so that one tile being dropped leads to the tiles moving and making more and more matches. I'd think a reward there is in order.

Some sort of time-related trophy would be nice; a hint button; and an infinite mode, where tiles fill the center 6x6 grid and refresh from the center as they're matched off.

In that infinite mode, you could have to complete certain challenges; for example, match 10 reds in 1 minute; Match a series of colors in a certain order (red, yellow, blue, green, black). Etc. If mixed in with a story line, I think these ideas would really improve an already good game.


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


Thank you for your feedback. Much appreciated.

Oh what good luck. :) I wasn't online Sunday, but I already had this from another giveaway (and I'd like to note that I'm using whichever version was given away here previously, in case there are any differences).

I'd been playing this one off and on and really do love it. Perhaps it's my lack of knowledge of casual games, but I don't think I've ever played anything like Brickshooter Egypt. The gameplay is fun and original. It seems you can either tackle a level by simply clearing things in any order, or you could apply some strategy to rack up points. That kind of flexibility allows the game to cater to casual gamers, as well as those who want a more challenging puzzle experience.

I like how the graphics give off an ancient vibe (but then again, I'm a sucker for Egyptian themes). They are, however, a bit blurry on my monitor. Sound and music are decent.

I've got a bit of a writer's block typing this review, but I still have some suggestions:

-The theme is very well done, but could use a bit more variety. Certainly keep the Egyptian theme, but vary the background a little more.

-Correct me if I'm wrong (and I could easily be since I have to keep the volume low at times), but is there only one music track? If so, adding more would be nice.

-An optional timed mode would be nice. The timed mode could either be a separate mode or could simply be turned on and off at any time (there could be toggle button on the map screen for this).

-I haven't had the chance to replay any stages, but I see others are saying it's the same pattern every time. It would be nice if there was some way to randomize patterns, or perhaps have a second mode where the player chooses the difficulty and the game creates a random pattern. Another interesting idea might be some sort of endless mode. Blocks could drop themselves onto the screen or keep appearing at a faster and faster rate until the player can no longer keep up. The game would end when the screen fills.

-I'm not seeing any sort of in-game story. It's not necessary for me, but a story might draw in more people.

-The intro tutorial is sort of slow moving. It would be nice to be able to click to skip to the next part of the instructions.

-My usual gripe: Widescreen support or an in-game setting to turn on and off black bars along the sides of the screen.

But I do agree with the majority here - this game is excellent already. It's among my favorite casual games currently, and I know I'd recommend it to others. However, $19.95 seems steep.

Thanks GGAOTD and Playrix!



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

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated :)

Very enjoyable. Downloaded and installed with ease as usual with GOTD. Complex gameplay, really makes you use your brainpower and strategize. Found even the early levels could take up to 10 minutes to solve. Will definitely play this one quite a bit.

sure wish I hadn't missed this game yesterday. One of my favorite genres.

I have read everyone's comments and it goes to show you that taste cannot be argued. The majority loves this game and I simply like it. It's a matter of preference, therefore I will NOT come here and "bash"the games, the developers for their generosity, WhiteRabbit for his hard work or any of the community members. I'm saying this only because I have been away for well over a year and I've just recently been back. I sadly noticed that some things haven't changed such as destructive criticism. I was wondering...if GGOTD could manage to give a game away like it used to, would that shut people up? Nah! some people just love being negative. BTW, I am grateful for what GGOTD gives away. Whether I like the games or not shouldn't matter. Not liking a game doesn't make it a bad game so therefore the comments shouldn't be made in regards to my dislikes.

Anyway, that said, the game installed fine on Win7 HP x64 & Vista HP x64. It's challenging enough but it could be even more so with a timer as a choice with more points for finishing within a certain amount of time. I'm well aware that lots of people prefer the relaxed mode but it's just my thought for this game. Rewards and trophies could be given for best time, best combo, ect.

Thanks GGOTD and Playrix for this game. A special thanks to Playrix for being so generous with their games lately. If my memory serves me right, most of the games were given away by them these past few weeks. I meant to comment last week's game Fishdom, given by Playrix. I was pretty happy to download that game and hope there will be another one of that family soon because I was thinking about buying the whole package but would like to try them first. So again thank you.

A grateful community member,


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

Thanks for your feedback

whiterabbit-uk, the instructions for disabling negative response DNS caching in Windows XP (people should seriously upgrade) are at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318803 --note that you should only reduce time-to-live for negative responses, do not disable DNS caching. The registry editor (Windows Start button, Run, regedit.exe) is always "live", any changes you make are immediate, so always be extremely careful when editing the registry).

For XP and higher, you can open a command prompt (Start, Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt) and run
ipconfig /displaydns --to display the DNS cache entries
ipconfig /flushdns --to flush the DNS cache
These operations are safe. On Vista and higher, you'll probably need to run the ipconfig command from an administrator account, or start the Command Prompt by right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator".


...........................Moderator Comment.........................
as always tank you for your input fubar. Your feedback is always to the point and useful.

Downloaded and installed quickly, opened fine and seems like a pretty good game. I like the challenge of trying to match three from the outside, rather than the normal match 3. Thanks for a great game!

this is a great game, starts off easy but gets harder as each level is passed. thanks for a great game

Really fun game... but I get to a point where I am just stuck. I wonder about these "cheats" or hints -- where?

Installed OK w/windows 7.A bit of problems with screen resolution. Game crashed on me a few time but always came back. I played it for over an hour & went through several levels witch get quite a bit harder as the game progresses . Although I found it aggravating,too many games maintain the same level of difficulty and one gets bored too fast with those. I had no music with the game but did not miss it greatly. Most of the time it gets on one's nerve more than anything else.I don't mind playing this type of games once in a while. Overall I give it an 8 for it's progressive difficulty levels. The story is pretty basic for the type of game. As for the price, somebody has a nice dream.......way too much!I believe this game was offered before or one that was quite similar.

In the previous offerings of this game I ignorantly brushed it off without actually reading the description. I just assumed it was a breakout style game because of the 'shooter' part of the name. :(

This time I actually read the description and decided to give it a try since it is a match 3 style game. I am very glad I did because I was pleasantly surprized. :)

At first I had a hard time getting the concept of just being concerned with eliminating the starting glyphs. I was stressing over trying to plan getting rid of ALL the glyphs. Once I got used to that I've been doing much better and the game is much more enjoyable. :lol:

Thanks Playrix and GOTD!

I just figured it out.. disregard my last question about the glitch of starting at the beginning... It was my fault for not assigning a new player name...silly me....
Thank you for a wonderful game... :)

It is a great game... Thank you no glitches on download. Only one thing that I noticed was as I started to play the game..it did not start at the beginning [bottom level... on the map, I am starting the game in the middle of the game...is this a glitch? How can I start from the beginning.. it feels weird...
If there is something I could do, feedback is greatly appreciated...

:)

I somehow missed this game the first time around so I'm glad for the repeat. I don't play match-3 very often but I love puzzles. This is more of a brain teaser than the usual match-3. I'm hooked! Thanks.

Simply yet captivating premise. More difficult than it initially appears. Not over challenging however. The first time I played I got to a frustrating level and quit but found myself wanting to play again in a short time.

Excellent, and right up my street. Simple, but challenging.

I'm actually glad that it doesn't have a timer. Almost all other games that I have do have a timer and it's nice to be able to play without one every once in a while.

I hope that if they do ever add a timer that they will consider it as an 'option' to turn on and off, rather than compulsory like most other games.

This game really make´s you think. It is even fun to play it again from the begining! Thanks. (I ger it last time, 2010)

This is an awesome game. I am still playing it from the last time it came around. Once you get through the whole game, you can play it again, but at each stage, there is one extra color, so it ups the hardness factor.

this is also on gametop.com

Installed with no problems to Windows XP. Great game to play and very addictive.

I have this game from the previous give away. It's a fun time. The lower levels are easier and the higher levels are more challenging. I've been through the game several times and the higher levels still beat me sometimes.

Great game. Thank you.

Excellent Game, very addictive....I just won the last level 2 weeks ago after 2 years solid years of daily trying to beat it. Runs great on my windows 7 64bit. Wish there were more NEW levels even after beating the top level...hint hint

I have had this game a long time now and love it. It does work on Windows 7 and I have enjoyed it since the last time it was on Giveaway. I am still using it and am stuck on the very last level. I come back everyday for the challenge. The last level is deadly you just don't solve it like many of the other puzzles. It's a mystery to me but I love it.

I downloaded this game in November & I really enjoy it. I am currently stuck on level 41, and have found the last few levels to be very challenging. The one thing I would definitely change about the game is to add a hint button. It takes a loooong time for the game to suggest a move. When I get stuck, I either click randomly in frustration or wait much longer than I would like.

Thanks so much, Playrix & GGOTD!

This is a really challenging game. I had this from ggaotd first time round and loved it, sadly lost the computer it was on but thanks to ggaotd I can play it again.

Just had to say thank you for putting this up again I just bought a new computer and lost it love playing this challenging little game in between work and things. Anyways thanks again GGAOTD!

Hi Stephen!

(Hope you get your admin console problems fixed soon - I know what a pain that can be... such things tend to get vexing, eh?)

As far as today's game, I won't bother downloading it - because it's already one of my favorites and it's on all of our computers! I must have "won" six or seven times on each of a half dozen profiles now and had to actually delete some player profiles to start new ones and play from the beginning.

Brickshooter Egypt is what I consider a 9.5 (I don't give 10's!) - as a game it's colorful, interesting, challenging, and fiendishly clever. As a concept it's, well, fiendishly clever. In design it's endlessly fascinating; whether plotting out moves in advance, or simply trying a move and undoing it to try another approach, I haven't tired of it yet. Plus, the auto-save feature is excellent, I can simply start a quick round where I left off, and if I have to, just click the "x" off button and walk away without going thru the shutdown menu, knowing it won't lose my place, ever.

In fact, I've only had a few minor quibbles - I wish there was a keyboard shortcut for "undo"; and it takes too long IMO to decide on suggesting a move when I use that feature. And maybe it might be better with just one more color being added each time you "win" the entire series - it's open-ended, you know - you can literally play it forever because it gets more difficult and then just loops around, over and over. Other than that I can't think of much I would change, and as I said, it earns a 9.5 from me!

Try it; if you like clever puzzles that only get more difficult you're sure to enjoy this game - you can't go wrong with it, IMO!

(Full disclosure: I'm a big fan of Playrix games anyway.)
John


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

thank you for your feedback John. :)

#1, whiterabbit-uk, I suspect that you can get the "failed to connect" message for a number of reasons. It doesn't have anything to do with your browser cookies or cache. I can't say about the IE offline/online suggestion, perhaps if IE components are being used. What I can tell you is that there's something wrong with the way that GOTD has written their code. On my computer, when I get the "failed to connect" message, it's happening prior to requesting Internet access. Most software that goes online will request DNS access and access a proxy bypass registry key before attempting to communicate.

If the GOTD servers are busy/offline, you'll just have to wait. Obviously, if there's a problem with your Internet connection, that will need to be addressed. I usually keep routers for several years before upgrading, my latest router is the most sophisticated but can get into a strange state where it's interfering with but not blocking Internet access. If I reboot my cable modem, my current router needs to be rebooted. Changing router settings via its web interface can force it to reboot, or there may be a direct command to do so, which can save you from having to physically mess with the router or its power. The last time my router got flaky, I re-saved some settings without changing them, and that reset whatever was messed up without rebooting the router.

If all else fails, reboot your computer. If that doesn't work, just keep trying, although you may not want to do that too frequently depending upon which version of Windows that you have. Most older versions of Windows will cache negative DNS responses (you can muck with the registry to change that), in which case you have to wait for the cache entry to time out, or clear the Windows DNS cache, or reboot.


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

Thanks for your feedback fubar. with respect to not having anything to do with cookies. sometimes the giveaway cookie can become corrupted, which stops the page from loading properly. deleting this allows the page to load properly and hence allows a connection. I may have worded it badly, but it does work as I've had that problem and removing the offending giveaway cookies fixed the problem

I've been playing this game since the last time it was posted and I have been thoroughly hooked! Its very challenging and VERY addictive! The best part for me is that I can take a break from it for a while, but since its concept is simple I can just pick up where I left it off without feeling rusty. Thumbs up from me!

have an adventure game between each of the major level group to challenge the user to think differently and reward them

I love this game. It is addictive. I only wish it had more moderate levels. It goes from simple to extremely hard very quickly. I have to admit that I've never been able to complete the very last game in the last level....I just start over.

I also would like more 'undos' though I assume that is part of what makes it challenging.

I installed this game during a previous giveaway and still play it off and on.

Only issue I've encountered (fix was mentioned in the comments of a previous giveaway) was not being able to see the mouse cursor after starting the game (just some flashing where the cursor should be). Fix was to start the game and at the Welcome screen, click "Options", then make sure there is a check mark beside "Custom Cursor". This will change the cursor (while in the game) from a mouse pointer to a hand (custom cursor). It took several tries do this since I couldn't see the cursor but the game worked fine after I changed this setting.

Hmm... I just installed this game a couple of days ago, on both my PC and my Hackbook. I haven't tested out the Mac version, but for me the PC version lags, and where I click is offset a bit from where it actually clicks. Of course, that is to be expected with my ancient computer with its MX440 graphic card. Will try the Mac version, once I clean the dust from the laptop's fan (which requires total disassembly :( ).

Now if only this game was also free for Mac...

#6
Ihave this game since 2010. Where do I find the cheat you can turn on and off. I am stuck and have stopped laying. I love this game and would like to get passed this screen....Thanks

I love this game, from the very first time it appeared on game giveaway. I play it the most out of all the Match 3 games I have. I would like an upgrade on the music, the colors and the glyph patterns, and maybe some surprises to pop out unexpectedly. But even if no other changes occurred, I will be playing this one for a long, long time.

#31: "Using Ubuntu 11.04 Linux with Wine, the download and installation work just fine, but when I start the game, it crashes with an invalid page fault..."

You *might* try VitualBox rather than Wine -- it's free at virtualbox.org. For a guest OS, win7 installed without a key reverts to fully functional trial mode -- Google/Bing for loads of info. An example of *nix VBox D3D info here: http://goo.gl/A63ee -- again Google/Bing as there's plenty of info avail.

I was so happy to see this game again! This is one of my favorite games to play late at night when there's too much on my mind. It takes so much concentration in the later levels, that I am able to free my mind of real-life issues. Anybody who quits after a few levels is missing the best part of this game. It is SOOOOO addictive!

Win7 HP: Question; How did they add Caffeine to this game? From XP to Vista, and now 7, I have installed and played Brickshooter Egypt! There have been few changes or upgrades, but I still find it challenging. Like whiterabbit, I play games for therapeutic reasons (and for fun). Maybe an alternate path could be added, if you do not finish a level with a perfect score. Just a thought. A big thanks for those still making these games available in this forum!

OMG!! Am so glad this has been put back on,, after my desktop crashed,, i went into withdrawals for this game,,is actually mindnumbing the time i have spent playing it!! I always jump on the horn when i see it here and tell friends about it,,never had any problems with it,, increasingly gets more challenging,, lol have spent weeks on the final level, so how hooked am I??

Whiterabbit, it's worth pointing out to potential giveaway companies that their generosity can actually result in future sales. I've purchased several Giveaway games that I'd lost due to reformatting, etc. They were good games and the prices were extremely reasonable, so why wait for another giveaway? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who thinks this way, either.

If you see "Failed to connect. Please try again later..." message, try:
a} Test your Internet connection (try hard refresh (CTRL+ is best) on known good site. If your connection is down, you WILL fail to connect to GOTD/GGOTD. Fix your connection. ...or...
b} See if M$ (mi¢ro$o£t) INTERNET EXPLORER is set to "Work ONline." GOTD states they use "MS Internet Explorer engine" for verification programme. Thus you must dig up M$ IE and fix it there. Any other browser you use (Firefox, Opera, etc., should already be online if {a} above is true. If M$ internet explorer is off line you WILL fail to connect. Period. No matter which browser you run. Absolute fail in this event.
~~These two steps, {a} and/or {b} above, have worked for me every time, and it is QUICK and EASY! However, others have reported the following worked, and try in this order:
c} Reboot all modems and routers your operate through.
d} Check the "security settings" on M$ Internet Explorer and all other browsers you may be using. Be certain they allow cookies and all permissions for ALL GOTD and related sites in general.
e} Clear ALL browser caches. Even if you do not use M$ Internet Explorer, CLEAR IT TOO if {a} and {b} failed.
f} Close all browsers and other applications and REBOOT your system.
g} Be certain you only have ONE version of M$ Internet Explorer installed. Multiple instances / installations may conflict.

If any one of the steps {c} through {g} work for you, please be kind and report it and perhaps this issue can put to rest with a concise FAQ.

I have had this issue both here at GGOTD and at GOTD. Be mindful of this when using the sister site.

Repeats?
I love them. It gives a second chance to try something I probably should have tried. Repeats are great and I discovered the original Star Trek in the 70's thanks to endless repeats of their limited three series.

Thanks ever so much to Whiterabbit-UK, GGOTD and the vendors who let us try and test their wares.

Cheers!
Mr. Snoozles
~~PEACE~~

If it helps, is of interest etc...
Today's GOTD, Brickshooter Egypt, is an older game -- the newest file is text.xml [strings of text displayed in-game] at 10/12/2007, with most dating to 2006 or earlier. It does install & seem to play fine in win7 ult 64 SP1, & while the framing graphics are a bit stretched on a 16:9 monitor the playing area maintains it's square shape. Separate image files etc are installed to the game's program folder rather than packed into one larger file [so it'll take up more room on USB sticks etc.], & monitored registry impact is limited to an uninstall key. The only complaint from the ASA Beta scans [ http://goo.gl/O8KLZ ] is lax ACL [Access Control List - Wikipedia http://goo.gl/mFW7s ] which frankly won't bother most folks.

Have played this great game a lot since November. The biggest problem is that I am tempted to use the undo cheat like #24, I don't need it so much now, but for a long while this seemed the only way out and without a keyboard shortcut for undo it gets very tedious.

The difficulty of the levels is designed to increase uniformly, but only on the first time around. As more colours are added in the difficulty of a level is not so predictable. Perhaps more random layouts, using all available colours should appear on the 2nd and subsequent tours.

Played in prior off. Decent for what it is, gets hard. Then ok Win 7 Ultimate 32x so not sure about z64. Assume ok since so far everything else is ok. Thanks for offer of another winner.

I LOVE this game. I downloaded it previously and at the last level of my second go thru. It is as entertaining and challenging the second time thru as the first. And...as disappointing as it is for folks to see a game (or utility) that they already have installed on their computer, for folks (like me) who are facing migrating to a new OS or new computer, the opportunity to re-acquire software that we really like, but can't afford to pay for, is GREAT! I have had a new hard drive and upgrade to Windows 7 for my laptop on my desk for almost 2 weeks. It has been a stressful 2 weeks, and Brickshooter Egypt is my stress reliever, so I have put off the project. Today I will PUSH myself to get this done right after I finish this comment, so I can download the game on my NEW HD. Repeating software that has not reviewed well would be frustrating for me, but when I see a repeat that I really like, as disappointed as I am, I remember that there are folks with new hardware (or crashed systems) that will appreciate the repeat, as I do today! THANK YOU GAOTD !!

I haven't played this game for a long time it is a good strategy game well worth downloading great game very adictive. Thank you Playrix.

Using Ubuntu 11.04 Linux with Wine, the download and installation work just fine, but when I start the game, it crashes with an invalid page fault.

Even though I'm just an average Linux user, I can often figure out how to get these GGotD games to work on Linux, but this one seems to be a bit harder. I might return to fight with this game some other day, because judging from the screen shots, it seems like a nice game.


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

Please do post your fix in this comment section if and when you do fix it. They are always accessible from the gamegiveaway home page.

Thank you, whiterabbit-uk! (Not only for this review.)