"Oh hell, i rather head over to http://www.frozen-bubble.org/ and download and play Frozen Bubble…it’s free"

Screw that, it's only available for Linux..

While I like games like Tumblebugs (boy I hope we see it here soon) and Azteca (Inca Ball), these type of shooters don't interest me.

As for the thumbs up/thumbs down feature, I think many use that to say, "this is my kind of game" or "this isn't my kind of game". I don't think the thumbs really reflect whether it's a good game or not, per say. It could be a great game to some (like this one) and to others (such as myself), just not our type of genre.

Oh hell, i rather head over to http://www.frozen-bubble.org/ and download and play Frozen Bubble...it's free...it's open source...and when there's a new version, you don't even have to spend a single cent to get it...and you can even download to and install it on your mobile phone!

By the way, to be honest, I think that this game is very very very boring.

Thanks for all the kind words folks. Also thanks to Luke for pointing out the difference beween endless and classic. Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees (or is that the trees for the wood, lol)

#5: This game is nothing like "Bubble Bobble". I can only imagine that you're thinking of "Bust A Move" which was also known as "Puzzle Bobble" in Japan.

Hm. At first I thought, "Oh dear, I think I have enough bubble poppers for now...) but after I tried it, I took a fancy to it! Don't know why, but I found it very relaxing. Perhaps it's the combo of the backdrops, snowflakes and the rate they fall, and the music. Thanks, GGAOTD!

I love this site.
Thank you for giving away these games, and software.
It's like a treat everyday.

I was sitting here, reading the comments and thought - these people are getting these games for free - if you don't like it then lump it. I download ones I think I'll like, if I don't like them I just delete them but I would never complain because you all do us a great favour. The thumbs up/thumbs down I don't ever look at because I don't believe that a lot of them are true - sorry.

RosnSC - your spelling of "necessarily" was spot on.

Thanks GOTD for all your shares - too often people just need to whinge when they should be saying thank you.

Is anyone else having trouble installing this? When I try to activate the game, I get an error message telling me that the activation module cannot be reached and to try again later. That's been happening since this morning. I've tried re-downloading the game and the same thing happens. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks!

#10 Steve - If today is not the first time you have read the comments on this web site you would know why everyone puts so much into WR's reviews before downloading or not. If this is your first time, I will tell you it is for varying reasons. One reason is because he gives thorough, well thought out, details as well as his own opinion, which the rest of us have come to trust. Also, some folks have limited time to read the comments before making a final decision on downloading. Bladed Thoth is another whose reviews are valued, for the same reasons.


To the GOTD team, inre: the comments i.e. #26 (bonnie), and others, while theirs is a good idea, I feel that one shouldn't necessarily (sp?) have to download the software first, but (like #12 said) should have to post a comment first, stating that the person has previously tried the software and that they liked/disliked it and why. I normally use the Thumbs Up ratings as a guideline when choosing whether or not to download the software, but after reading all the comments about those ratings not being true and accurate, I am leaning away from that, and just toward the comments which I have always gone by, anyway.

BTW, GOTD team, could you put a Spelling Checker on here for us? It would be handy for us if we're unsure of a word's correct spelling. :)

Glad to see that all things worked out for you Stephen (Whiterabbit)! I always look for your comments and all the additional/detailing info sure helps me decide whether to try the 'GAOTD' or not. Thank you!

As for today's offer, I am passing on this one because I already have a few others that I have been playing on and off: Bubble Odyssey is one that I downloaded from here and I like the little extras = rockets and freezing. Thanks. Be back tomorrow.

This game reminds me of the game made by Neopets called "Faerie Bubbles"

After reading some of the comments I've decided I must be deranged because I really like these silly little bubble shooters. This one's not much different than all the others, it did seem a bit less of a challenge than Yedi Bubble or Aqua Bubble. I had to turn off the music.....too short & repetitive. Another nice one for those times when you're feeling brain-dead. Ha ha
Thanks GGOTD!
Hi WR......glad you stayed.

#26 - having the comments when you activate the game is not going to work. How can you comment on the game if you just installed it and haven't had a chance to play yet?

Just the fact that there are quite a few variations of this game shows it's general popularity. I rather liked the game in the short time I played it. Also, it works fine on my Vista

I tend not to pay attention to the thumbs up/down. The only time I give a game a "thumbs down" is if it just won't work right (buggy) for me. If I like it I give it a thumbs up. If I don't care for it but there's nothing wrong, I normally don't vote.

There has to be some way to control the voting -- Maybe if you made the posters here log in (as you do the forums) and only allow the voting when they post. You can also control if they've voted before to keep any enthusiastic or disgruntled users from skewing the voting.

I really enjoy every game on gaotd. I usually download every one that is offered, sometimes my computer will let me play them, sometimes it doesn't. However, I don't complain because I enjoy this site very much and really the ratings doesn't affect me, because I will at least try it on my own first. Everybody has a different opinion. The game today is wonderful. Thank you so much.

Whiterabbit I read you comments first. I skip everyone else until I come to yours, because they mean the most to me. Thanks for everything

I like this type of game, however I don't think anything will be able to beat Aqua Bubble 2 from the same game developer, which was given away here a few weeks ago. I particularly like the 'RECOLOR' variant in that particular game.

Aqua Bubble 2 has great gameplay and funky music.

In contrast, Bubble Ice Age has bland music and gameplay, and for some reason I found it difficult to determine what colour ball I was shooting. I know it's there at the bottom of the screen, however I had to keep taking my eyes off the main gameplay to see what colour it was.

Dear Game Giveaway of the Day Team:

How about letting only the people who download a game have access to making the comments and thumbs up vs. thumbs down?

The comments could be entered when the activation page pops up on the activation page.

If you can still make the results appear on this page it would work.

(Cross-posting to forums)

I think if there was a way to modify the "thumbs up and down" to only allow it if the game was actually downloaded would be a more accurate "thumbs" rating. But I don't know if that is even possible. I think ppl look at the game and say "naaaaa" and rate it.
IMHO
Thanks GGAOTD

Bubble Odyssey is better. :)

Thanks so much to GGOTD for continuing to provide great games!

Im actually surprised on how low quality this game is because I love these types of games but this one really set the bar for loooooww. The problem I have with this game is that its soo low quality . Like I mean 3 difficulties and four game modes that get repetitive the second time. May be good for maybe 10 minutes but after that its crap. This is just the same game thats been done 100 times with a different look and a different background. I'm also shocked by its retail price of 16$ ....I feel sorry for those people who actually paid for this thing. Wow bad lame....

After playing the game for about 20minutes the game starts acting really weird. The bubbles start to break up in tiny pieces and the whole game freezes. Have to hit escape to exit game.

ok this is getting really old, its just a different form of a game. i thought this was GGOTD not Samegamediffrentnamegiveaway

@ WhiteRabbit:
Endless mode: Instead of dropping the marbles down one row like in classic, endless mode adds a new row of marbles at the top(Like scarab shooter).

Hey Whiterabbit:
It's great to see you back in full vigor! As per usual, thanks for the detailed discription, links and other info!
Lloyd

arguing about the ratings makes a lot more sense in the forums, folks- do drop by, won't you?

As for this game- I'll have to wait for my wife to play it later, but she still plays new bubble shooters just for little differences- if playing a game 'type' got old that fast, she wouldn't still be spending hours a day on pogo.com!

heck, when I want to unkink my brain from concentrating too hard, I usually go for bubble shooters rather than match-3-drop-down, and I like a change of sounds and sights more than she does...

None taken Steve

Hi Diane, yeah I wrote to the Admin’s and said I'd continue if they gave me a heads up as it's easier for me to write a review in the evening, which is pointless for the same days giveaway. Though it won’t happen every day as apparently the admin’s don’t know themselves until about an hour before what the next game is going to be. Though the response from a lot of the community and especially Lloyd who wrote to me, helped to change my mind about my original decision (I’d had a really bad night the night before the giveaway).

Good idea dingens, maybe we should discuss this in the forums ;)

This game was not for me at all (not much time could have went into
the creation of this one.
Bubble Odyssey that was released earlier was a much more entertaining
experience.
To sum up
This game had nothing to give
boring graphic and boring game play.
so minus from me.

@ #13: But there's a certain distinction between games that receive 80% thumbs up and those receiving 80% thumbs down. GGOTD shouldn't offer (type of) games that get like 80% thumbs down...

I enjoyed this even better than Agua Bubble 2. Thanks for adding games that those of us with slower, older computers can download and play.

A change of pace can be a good thing. Keep in mind that no one game is ever going to please everybody. Games should be evaluated against other games that are similar, and not in any global sense. Doing so would be as fair as comparing a dedicated word processing program against a spreadsheet application. Programs are created to attract a targeted population of users. The reason we keep seeing “another match three (3) game” is that they sell. That’s the bottom line. This game plays well, has enough of a difference that breaks up the monotony of match three’s, and has the distinctive look that identifies it as coming out of Realore Studios. I like that look.

@ #2 Whiterabbit (I love your comments on the games!):
> There were seven thumbs down within the first four minutes of this
> giveaway. Considering this game hasn’t been given away before,
> that just seems unrealistic.
> (..)
> Also someone suggested in the forums that you could add an
> unlock code so that the only way you could vote is if you’d
> actually played the game

How about the following idea:
You can only vote for a game if you leave a comment?

It would be nice to know if one votes thumb down because he simply
doesn't like the kind of game (e.g. I don't like chess games, but I'd
never vote against it because I don't play it) or if the game causes
errors/crashes/does not work.

One word: lame!

Well another rubbish game. Cant u developers think of something original rather than making the same game 100 different ways ?? How anyone can pay for this kind of game is just beyond belief.:-( Why does everyone look at whiterabbits review before deciding whether to download or not ?? Just download,play and then if its not good enough just uninstall it, or cant you people think for yourselves ? (Nothing personal Whiterabbit)

thanks

This was the fastest download and easiest install of any ggotd game EVER. Provided a desktop icon - which I like. Opened in window format for a change. Used Options to change backdrop, volume, ball image and amount of snowfall, I played in clssic and easy mode, in window and full screen, No problemo. Exited and closed clean with no difficulty. As noted above, more challenging than other drop down bubble pop games of its genre. Not crazy about the very relaxing lullaby music but that's what the volume control is for, right? Super game, I recommend it. Thanx to GGOTD - I'm a regular visitor, infrequent commenter. Game quality and compatibility can vary but for the price I have no complaints. In spite of the knee-jerk critics who hate on any bubble pop, match three or arkanoid, I think there's a great variety of games available - I loved robbox and sky aces. Still hoping you might reoffer the Domino game you had last year - sorry, I don't recall the company. It was a good one. So is Bubble Ice Age - it's a keeper.

not impressed with the 5 difficulty settings. boring 3 games. i didn't rate the game since i just don't like match-3's, tho I have found many that win me over at least for a bit. THIS game definitely doesn't do that. boring.

This is boring.

It’s about time that this site did a Bubble Bobble type game!

Hi Stephen, glad you could do a review. I already have this game on my computer from GGAOTD under the name "Bubble Xmas". I will be deleting that one as I had to turn off the sound to stop the relentless christmas music! This game is simple, but very addictive. Would definetly recommend this little time-waster!

I had changed the background to a lovely scenic photo and will attempt to change this one also. Although this version has different wallpaper options, they are not too interesting (to me).

Whiterabbit!! It looks like you got the heads up you wished for. I usually look at the games just after the new one comes up for the day, but I have never downloaded it until I had several comments to read. Yours is equivalent to several comments. I already have some good match three from GAOTD, so I will not get this one, but it is nice to know your comment will be waiting for me first thing in the morning. Thank you.

I do think the thumbs up, thumbs down process needs overhauling. There were seven thumbs down within the first four minutes of this giveaway. Considering this game hasn't been given away before, that just seems unrealistic. There's not a chance that any of the community members who gave it a thumbs down would have even tried the game.

Maybe the thumbs indicator should be delayed for an hour or so, as then I think we'd get a truer reflection. Also someone suggested in the forums that you could add an unlock code so that the only way you could vote is if you'd actually played the game (or at least downloaded and installed the game {the code could be added to a document kept in the games folder}).

I realise that there has been six of these given away in as many weeks, but this one is actually harder than any of the others to beat so is probably more challenging and therefore has more playability. :lol:

Maybe were just being spoiled and no longer appreciate whats happening here. :?:

Introduction and Installation

We’ve not seen this version of the Bubble match three genre before in the Game giveaway project. Installation is a breeze with the downloaded zip file weighing in at around 2Mb less than twice the size of an old floppy disc. The unzipped file consists of the usual read me and a combined activation and set up module. Once installed the game is just over 3Mb in size.

The game was originally released in Sept 2003, updated to v1.2 in Nov 2003 and recently given a big overall to upgrade it to v1.28. (Which doubled the number of levels in the puzzle mode from 100 to 200 (40 for each difficulty setting). If you do miss out on today’s giveaway or lose it to a format or upgrade and you really do want this particular version then ensure that you buy it from the developers site, Realore as opposed to some of the more obscure distributors who are still selling v1.2 for $19.95 as opposed to v1.28 for $15.95. In the UK some distributors are even trying to sell this for nearly 12.95 pounds as opposed to the 7.90 it should cost. (Which at present exchange rates is equivalent to over $25) There are alternatives that are just as good such as the recently given away Scarab shooter and Bubble Odyssey (which you can get free from Freegamepick under the guise of Bubblematch - see below) and Aqua Bubble 1 and 2 as well as Phantasia and Phantasia II. There are others such as the one that Brian Zachary suggested called Smiling bubbles (available from http://Absolutist.com ) and Shooter Premium edition and Bubble Golden Pack from the same distributor/developer. There’s a couple of innovative clones such as Bubble Bay that in my opinion gives the genre a much needed lift and another Zuma like one called Bubble Fish Bob, both available from http://reflexive.com



The Game

To be honest there is nothing new being offered with this game apart from the ability to change background wallpapers and change the look of the bubbles from a choice of 11 styles, (though Aqua Bubbles II has virtually the same set) and most of these look remarkably similar to each other. :lol: Also there are five difficulty settings rather than the usual three ranging from Baby, Easy, Medium, Hard and Unreal The difficulty levels differ from each other by the size of the playing field and the number of ice bubbles as well as the speed at which the bubbles approach the out of bounds area. The Baby setting also has a helpful line that points the way to where the bubble will go; though you can get this as a bonus in all the difficulty settings when playing in the advanced mode.


You’ll find four game modes in this version of the Bubbles shooter. All four have two things in common. The temperature gauge to the right of the field that increases every time you shoot an ice bubble and, depending upon the difficulty setting the whole playing area is brought one line closer to the out of bounds area once you reach a specific number of turns for example, when playing in the Baby difficulty setting you get 11 shots before moving, 10 shots for Easy, 9 shots for Medium etc. so the aim of the game is to clear the area in as few shots as possible before you run out of space. The main difference between this and the likes of Bubble Odyssey and Aqua Bubbles is that if you do destroy any matching sets it doesn’t give you ‘extra time’ before the playing field descends nearer the out of bounds area, which basically makes this game much more of a challenge than previous bubble clones. The four modes and their basic differences are described below:


Classic.
The playing field is half full of randomly placed ice bubbles. The aim of the game is to get rid of all of the bubbles by creating matches of three or more colored bubbles before any Ice bubbles reach the out of bounds area, by using the ice bubble gun that’s fixed to the bottom of the playing arena
Puzzle.
In contrast to Classic mode, ice bubbles in this mode aren't placed randomly but form patterns. It has 40 levels for each difficulty setting. To clear the field you have to solve the puzzle.. On some playing fields even one wrongly placed bubble can lead to a game over. If you lose the game this is the only mode where you can return to the beginning of the level you last played by clicking on new then resume.
Advanced
This is similar to the classic mode in construction, though you get several bonuses such as bombs and score multipliers.
Endless.
Personally I couldn’t figure out how this was different to the Classic mode. Maybe because I was testing the demo, it was locked, though I don’t think so.

Other things to note are the ability to change the strength of the gun, though It was hard to see any difference in the free version. You can also adjust the snow effect from the options menu. The game is fully mouse controlled.

Images

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Bubble%20Ice%20Age/


Images: Slideshow

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Bubble%20Ice%20Age/?albumview=slideshow


Game Requirements:

The requirements for this game are very basic and unless you’ve got a computer that was made in the 90’s, your computer should easily cope with the graphic requirements of this game which are only 1Mb. The amount of RAM you need is also minimal and went out with the dinosaurs at least a decade ago. (16Mb. All versions of Windows from 9x to Vista are supported in this version of the game which is v1.28


Conclusion

If you’ve downloaded any of the previous bubble games (Aqua Bubble, Aqua Bubble 2, Bubble Odyssey, Scarab Shooter and SeeSoar in the past six weeks then you wont find much different apart from a better selection of difficulty choices. To be fair though, after comparing this with those I kept (Aqua Bubble 2 and Bubble Odyssey) I found this one was more challenging than either of those though I found Aqua Bubble more entertaining as it had a better selection of modes. So for that reason alone I’ll be keeping this one. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the fact that I couldn’t see any difference between the classic and endless modes. And though the advanced mode did have bonus items (which are always a welcome addition to any game) it also seemed very similar to the other modes. Check out the screenshots and you’ll find it hard to distinguish between any of the modes, I think changing the playing arenas for each mode would have improved the overall look of the game and perhaps helped to give each mode an identity

Its definitely a playable game, but not inspiring enough to give it more than 6 out of 10 and then a very poor six in my opinion..


Notes and other information




ZF found a freeware version of the bobble theme the other day when Bubble Odyssey was given away called Puzzle Bobble which can be downloaded from:

http://djes.free.fr/ or http://www.bgames.org/gamesen.html

You can also get a commercially available bubble smashing match three game from Gametop called Yeti Bubbles:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/yeti-bubbles-download/

Or Bubble Match (aka Bubble Odyssey) from FreeGamePick: (thanks to Josh who pointed that one out the other day)
http://www.freegamepick.com/en/games_bubblematch.html

Both of these sites do have a small price to pay because your internet browser is opened when the game is shut down, You are taken to the distributors home pages, where you can find a growing library of other free (commercial) games from several genres. You can also find a few that are related to the bubble games in the form of zuma/luxor clones such as Aqua Pop:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/aqua-pop-download/

or Azteca aka Inca ball (that was given away recently)

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/azteca-download/

and finally here’s a freeware pocket PC version called absolute bubble shooter for all of you who have palm OS:

http://www.supershareware.com/info/absolute-bubble-shooter-2-for-palm-os.html