The graphics for this game are great. It's a blast playing it.

Well, I like it. So far I think it's the best game after Rocketball came out a few weeks ago. Alawar makes great games, and I really wouldn't mind paying for one or two later on when I actually have some cash. Thanks, GAOTD and Alawar, for another awesome game, sure to provide hours of enjoyment.

My review of Crystalix:

The first thing that I noticed about Crystalix was that it wasn't a Magnussoft game, which is good. Would that be enough to make it a good game?

Well, not quite.

This game has an intro, but unlike Magnussoft intros, it's fairly decent - even though it has a ludicrous premise. There's this fairy-tale kingdom, and it's prospering under a benevolent wizard-king. But a comet fell from the sky and burned all of the crops with its shards. The court wizards all got together and figured out that the shards could be destroyed with blocks of the same color. They made a bunch of little blocks of different shapes and gave them to the king, who now has to go and destroy all of the shards. I found myself wondering who came up with such an original, stupid idea for a story.

The gameplay itself is rather original. Instead of moving blocks to clear them, you have to arrange shapes on them to cover them up, which then clears both the shape and the blocks. The shapes crawl toward you on a little conveyor belt, and you pick them up and arrange them on the blocks before too many rafts appear and clog the conveyor belt. All in all, it's pretty original, even if the shapes look like they were copied from Tetris.

However, despite the interesting gameplay, it was simply too easy to win. The belt moved too slowly to make the game anything resembling a challenge, and the generous amount of "special item" uses(e.g. use the magic hammer to destroy extra shapes) didn't help. It wasn't any different on "Hard" mode, for some reason. I never lost, until out of curiosity, I just let the shapes fill the canal. I was rewarded with a clanking noise, and, as I had expected, a "Game Over" screen. What I didn't expect was having to use [alt+F4] to exit, as neither the exit button nor the restart button responded. Ouch.

The graphics are shiny and well-made, with nice environments and menus. Nothing special here, for a game published by Alawar.

The sound is mediocre, with forgettable music(I can't remember if there was music or not, so that shows how forgettable it was) and generic match-clearing tinkles. The only memorable sound effect was the clanking conveyor belt, which I had to intentionally lose the game to hear. Yes, mediocre is the word.

As with Snowy: Lunch Rush and Snake Time, I debated with myself about whether I should give the theme points for originality or detract points for stupidity. I decided on the latter, but the atmosphere created by Gulny Games' top-notch graphics swayed my score a few points higher.

Overall, I give Crystalix a six out of ten(five for gameplay, eight for graphics, five for sound, and six for theme). It could have been pretty neat, but the fun was just missing. I'm sure that match-3 fans would like it, though.

>Ernie LaVallee

"Why is it that some people rate a game based on how many similar types of games there are available?"

That's not the main thing that I rated it on, seeing that it was rather original, but it shows an incredible lack of creativity on the part of the developers.

"The only reason to complain about “another Tetris” or “another Zuma” is to brag to everyone how much of your life is spent sitting on your butt playing games. It’s like knowing every episode of Star Trek by heart. (Which I’ll bet some of you do.) It’s bad enough when kids do it, but when it’s adults it’s just creepy and sad."

You're missing the point. We're not complaining that it's like other games, it's just annoying when all that we get are match-3s. How would you like it if your local grocery store only carried steak, canned corn, and Cheerios? You'd want to eat something else after a while, wouldn't you?

"Does this game download and play without trouble? Yes. Are there bugs or glitches? None that I’ve found. Yeah, there are similar games out there, but when will it sink into your heads that GOTD gives away what they can get, not what people like Phil and vilulf cry their eyes out for. (”Spoiled” is the perfect word, Phil.)"
I understand that this site gives to us what's given to them, but you have to wonder if the only companies donating are Magnussoft and Alawar. And if there's something that someone doesn't like about a game, they are certainly free to say it.

"In all seriousness, you people whose serenity actually hinges on what is offered here need to grow up and join the real world. Brush the cobwebs off and get a life, period. I would truly hate the idea of having to spend Christmas with some of you miserable, depressing losers."

Ouch. Someone doesn't like a game, so it makes them a "miserable, depressing loser"? Maybe the real loser is the person who has nothing better to say in their comment than "You don't share my tastes in games, so I don't like you." Oh, and I'm sure that they have better things for their "serenity to hinge on" than a giveaway site's offerings. Don't you agree?

Glad to see another Alawar game. They're generally very enjoyable. I'm dnloading immediately! Grnadson loves to come over here and see what new games are on my PC. He's got a faster hand than I do!

Nice game.

Yes a variant rather than truly original but competent and pleasing.

Just pondering the linking of "Adult" to "First Person Shooter".

I have to say that I very much appreciate whiterabbit aka Stephen, and look for his reviews first and everyone else's second. Thank you Stephen for taking the time to do this. I did miss you when you were gone. Great game, Love the puzzle types! I can't get enough of those! Thanks GGAOTD!!!

Runs fine on my old Win 98-OS. Thank you Alawar. I have accuired 17 games from you now. Thanks to GGOTD for everyday. Much appriciated.
Tamarra26

Very amusing game. Thank you for bringing back Alawar... Magnussoft was beginning to force me to question my faith in the basic inner good of all mankind.

Yeaaa Ernie LaVallee! (#19) You stated what most of us feel as we read the comments.
THANKS GOTD and ALAWAR for some nice enjoyable games the past few weeks that I have been coming to this site.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY 2008 to everyone!
(Oh, I love this game, and I am far from a kid :) )

I just downloaded this game and I like it very much. I had no problems installing or playing it, this one's a keeper. I like the fact that you do not have to play it full screen, I look for that option in the games. I give it a thumbs up for any of you that appreciate the free games we get here. Thanks again GGOTD!

muito facil, discurso limpo muito leve parabéns !

well for those that are wondering - Yes it does work on Vista as i have The Home Premium 64bit edition and it works just fine for me! Great little game i have to say as i've been playing it for almost an hour and i have not had any problems with it at all. It has decent graphics nice music and definitely one of the better games that we've had for a while well done GGAOTD and Alawar!

I was generally daydreaming earlier following a cat nap and a thought came to me about a really cool game I used to play about 15 years ago. It came on one of those demo discs (floppy) and was a limited trial (limited in that some of the bonuses etc were permanently disabled. I never got around to buying the full version for whatever reason, but once I'd settled down I remembered the game, but had forgotten its name. Well today it came to me so I Googled it and guess what I found the original developers site who had made it Freeware. I thought maybe I'd have trouble running it on my system, but no, it worked like a charm. It's called squarez and is really a brilliant game, that can be either played solo or against a friend.

You can download the game from the following link:

http://www.adeptsoftware.com/squarez/


The graphics are okay considering it's so old. None of your bright shiny graphics but IMO the game play is riveting. I used to play it for hours on end. I think I'll be donating to the guys site as I think I'll be spending even more time playing it again now that I've found it. You can get an idea as to what the game looks like by following the link below. Don't be put off by its simple looking graphics as it's got a lot of excellent bonuses, both positive and negative, that make this a beautiful but simple game to play.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&q=squarez+deluxe&btnG=Search+Images

It's late in the day so I may post details of this tomorrow as well as I'm so pleased I've found the full version as it's going to be even better now. :lol:

These games aren't for everyone, but personally I can't get enough of them..... just finished Montezuma and I was seeing it in my sleep LOL. I feel about donkey kong type games the way a lot of ppl feel about these match games.............. sigh.............. it's free for crying out loud lol. (wonder if someone is going to ask what donkey kong is) If you don't like the FREE game today, come back tomorrow.
Thanks so much your timing is impeccable

Played this game awhile back and loved it. Starts out seemingly mundane, but becomes surprisingly addictive! Thank you, GAOTD!

#10 - I would MUCH rather have logic an puzzle games than violent games as you list. I would rather exercise my mind than my hands!

I rather liked this game. It is not a simple match-3 but is a combination of a slow tetris, Arctic Quest (1&2) and a puzzle game.

The mouse is a bit slow in the menu and tutorial pages but works fine in the game itself.

Another very professional, enjoyable game from our greatest benefactor here---ALAWAR. Thank you Alawar & GGOTD for your gifts, and happy holidays! (Take Christmas off this year. You deserve a well-earned break.)

Love the games from Alawar for my kids. Would love to see some RPG or first person shooters for adults.....

I really like this game! Thanks GGAOTD and Alawar! This site is much appreciated, especially to those of us with limited incomes who can't afford to go out and buy games. It's nice to be able to sit back, relax, leave the problems behind, even for a short time and play a game.

Also....this may be "matching colored things to disappear" #6 but I guess not everyone is a "astute" as you seem to be. How many games have you made lately and how "Superb" are they?

Have a Wonderful Christmas Everyone and a Spectacular New Year!!

Why is it that some people rate a game based on how many similar types of games there are available? The only reason to complain about "another Tetris" or "another Zuma" is to brag to everyone how much of your life is spent sitting on your butt playing games. It's like knowing every episode of Star Trek by heart. (Which I'll bet some of you do.) It's bad enough when kids do it, but when it's adults it's just creepy and sad.
Does this game download and play without trouble? Yes. Are there bugs or glitches? None that I've found. Yeah, there are similar games out there, but when will it sink into your heads that GOTD gives away what they can get, not what people like Phil and vilulf cry their eyes out for. ("Spoiled" is the perfect word, Phil.)
In all seriousness, you people whose serenity actually hinges on what is offered here need to grow up and join the real world. Brush the cobwebs off and get a life, period. I would truly hate the idea of having to spend Christmas with some of you miserable, depressing losers.
Thanks and Happy Holidays to GOTD, Alawar, and everyone here who just likes to relax with a game every now and then.

You're right this game is a cross between tetris and the gem game. It has three settings, from easy to hard. It makes you think and strategize. These are great games EVERYONE can play (young or older) and don't concentrate on just one skill type!!!

Puzzles are up my type of game. Thank you Alawar and GGATOD!!! Because of this site and my getting to know the quality games offered by Alawar, I've got a few hidden object games for christmas coming, I hope!

Those of you with complaints about free downloads are the ones being ludicrous. You must belong to the Me Generation, the one that thinks they have rights to all manner of things not earned.

The rest of us know enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

You probably need that saying explained as well.

gee, they're free. Thanks for the games!

pretty good actually, bit like a cross between puzzle inlay and tetris

Very simple tetris game. I don´t like it.

Great game. My favorite puzzle game yet. Also, the first game I will actually buy when I purchase a new laptop. Alawar, I hope your generousity pays off. It will for me since your the only game publisher I will buy from right now (when the time comes).

Gameplay, music, speed, options, ease of game save, entertainment value, replay value, sound effects, storyline, graphics...This game has it all. If you don't download, you'll regret it.

If you like tetris, this is a nice variation on the idea. I am not sure why game makers need a background story, always poorly written (though at least these people can spell). Not my cup of tea.

alawar games suck, wish you would stop wasteing everyones time with there crap

Until I came into GGAOTD I never truly realized just how many of these games existed, and even worse how much I find them boring. I guess when you're used to "Tomb Raider", "First person shooters" and "WW2 combat" games you get a bit spoiled. Anyway, thanks GGAOTD for making someones day brighter (Even if it isn't mine).

It's a fair game. It's enjoyable enough, but I find that Arctic Quest 1+2 (that I've got from this site earlier, and also from Alawar unless my memory fails me) are better, and those two are still the only ones of the genre that I really want to return to. Still, there's nothing really wrong with this one, but I do not think it's worth the asking price given the better alternatives available for the same price. Withholding my vote today as I can't decide which way to point.

Fun game, different, it's a bit like several types of games(like tetris) but I like it better. I'll bet it gets pretty challenging the higher you get. It has two different modes of gameplay, tried them both and I don't know which I like best, they both are good. The music is so good I didn't even notice it:))) Very nice puzzle game!

I am so happy! I love this game and lost it due to a reformat. When I tried to put it back on my pc it had reverted to the trial version. Thanks for offering this one again.

wow.... what an original concept
a game where you match colored things to make them disappear

how innovative


( someone wake me up when this site leaves the 1980's please?)

This is accually a pretty fun game kind of a cross between tetris and bejewled with a twist. very pretty backgrounds and dont forget to find your extra points on the side and as it moves to next puzzle. it has a relaxed game play of course you can move it faster I just tried the easy but am very pleased. Thanks GGAOTD will say one of the better offers!

11.6 MB for this ?!
-Ludicrous.

19.95 USD for this ?!
-Clueless about the worth of money and what it can buy


Claiming that Crystalix is one of the most popular logic games is not only untrue, it's sad. The only thing that that Crystalix can rightly claim is that it is all over the place. Every publisher of games has Crystalix on offer which only means that the one creating it is really trying to push up sales. It is even so popular at Alawar that it has got a grand total of 4 comments in 2 and a half year. Popular? I think NOT.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention the animations :oops: thanks Mapsking :)

Installation:

This is an 11.6Mb download which installs to 40Mb. The unzipped package consists of the familiar three files a read me that I suggest all new comers to read and separate modules for activation and installing the game. IYou should activate the game first, which installs the registration key into the registry then install the game. :)


Introduction:

Another game from alawar to brighten up our pre Christmas surprises. Thank you Alawar for being so gnerous with your games. :lol: The following is the program description given by Alawar in their read me document:

”In a fairyland, settled by good wizards, a calamity occurred. A comet came from the depth of the universe and scattered into thousands of fragments above forests, fields and rivers, turning them into the lifeless desert.
In Crystalix, the new game of the action-puzzle genre, you will have to destroy the fragments of the comet with the help of magic artifacts and your own ingenuity. You will really have to do your best, because the comet fragments are almost impregnable and are destroyed only by touching them with magic colored figures. Move them along the game field to destroy the dreadful pieces of the universe evil!”

The following are the minimum specifications that you require to be able to run the game properly; unfortunately I’ve uninstalled my copy of Vista home premium due to too many problems so cannot at this time comment upon whether this will run using Vista. The basic requirements shouldn’t be a problem with any computer bought post millennium. But if you still use a computer that was assembled before the millennium, you may have problems running the game as you do require some basic 3D emulation. All motherboard built over the last seven years should have at least 16Mb of graphics memory. If you don’t you can still pick up a low end graphics card from most decent computer hardware retailers for less than $10. I buy most of my stuff from a particular distributor (Microdirect) that are selling off cards of this type for only a couple of pounds (less than $5):
- Windows95/98/ME/2000/XP
- Pentium II 300 or higher processor
- SVGA card with 16Mb and Direct3D support;
- 64 MB RAM or above.
- DirectX 8.0 or higher





The Game:

The game opens with a short story that is accompanied by tinkling music. Following this you are presented with the profile set up screen where you have to input your name before you can proceed. Once the first profile has been set up you have the opportunity to set up multiple profiles whenever you return to the game by clicking on the If this is not you, click here link. The options menu is very basic, with only music and sound sliders and a windowed and 32 bit color toggle. Any changes made to these must be saved before leaving the options menu otherwise they will revert to whatever they were set to before the changes.

The help pages are animated and give a good representation of what you are required to do to proceed in the game. I did take a couple of screen captures of these, but because of the animations, they cannot show the full story. If you find that the help menu isn’t sufficient to explain what you have to do, then check out the demo, which is probably better with respect to the actual game play. The help menu does help with showing you the differences between the two games.

There are two game modes Classic and Jewel Games, both accompanied by a more muted music, that seems appropriate for the game. Not too boring and yet not too intrusive; In the classic game you have to remove all the crystals and tokens from the arena using the shapes that appear at the bottom of the arena. These shapes can be rotated using the right mouse button. The level ends when you have cleared all the crystals. Though if the shapes that appear at the bottom fill the whole of the bottom area, you lose a life. There are tools to enable you to destroy shapes in the form of a hammer or a wand that removes single crystals from the playing arena. You have ten of each at the start of a game. These are selected by clicking on the appropriate tool to the right of the playing area. During the level you will get several sets of crystals to destroy. Some of the shapes that are constantly appearing at the bottom of the playing area contain bonuses in the form of extra points, another wand or a hammer. There are also certain crystals that appear to sparkle more than the rest. When these are removed they explode (no visuals, just an audible explosion) and remove a few other crystals besides the ones being removed due to the shape. On each page of a level there are bonus tokens either in the form of single coins, piles of coins or shaped crystals, that when clicked on will add to your score. When the page scrolls to the next page within a level, you will have the opportunity to pick up even more booty :lol: Once you’ve completed a level, a window pops up showing you your level statistics such as the number of crystal destroyed, the number of shapes (figures) used, the time it took and your score; it will then scroll on to the next level. Any shapes you haven’t used remain in the pool at the bottom and if this fills up the game ends. You will be given the opportunity to restart the level that you had managed to get to and thankfully not from the beginning (unless you’re after getting a higher score). You do get some warning just before this happens that sounds like the cogs of a machine grating. If you have any hammers left use them quickly to destroy some of the shapes. Always try to use the bigger shapes at the beginning of a new set so that the smaller pieces can be used as the whole pile becomes smaller. This will help keep the shapes at the bottom of the playing area clear. You can pause the game by pressing the escape button that brings up a window that will either allow you to resume or restart the level as well as return to the main menu the help menu or the options menu;



In the jewel game, you have to destroy all the bad crystals and fill the game field with your tokens. Once the arena is full of gold that’s the end of the level. The game play is similar, but instead of an irregular pile of crystals you get a grid of crystals and there is only one grid per level. Also you don’t get bonus bricks or shapes with bonus items, which make this game slightly harder.

Selecting either of the game modes will bring up a further screen where you can choose the difficulty you wish to play at. Once this is done the appropriate animated help screen will pop up. This can be stopped by checking the box in the bottom left of the playing area. The difference between the difficulty levels is the speed at which the shapes appear at the bottom of the screen.


Conclusion:

I found this game entertaining and different enough from the usual color/shape matching games that it’s a definite keeper on my computers. I think it’s worth a good 6.5 out of 10 I could even be worth a7 out of 10 but I think there are far too many of these types of games. The game is presented well, the help menu’s and in game bonuses as well as the two modes of play make this a worthwhile solitaire and family game. Your progress is saved throughout the game in both modes so there’s no worries about having to manually save your game, or store codes to return to the same point. If you want to start from the beginning there is as already mentioned on option to do so when you pause the game. Thank you Alawar and the Game Giveaway team for yet another excellent game.


For in game screen captures and menu screens follow the links below:

All on one page:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Crystalix/?start=all


As a slideshow:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Crystalix/?albumview=slideshow

Googled:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&q=Crystalix+game&btnG=Search+Images



Jetta comment #44 from Thursday, thanks for your concern. The computer problems have been mainly of my own making. I’d stripped three down for upgrading and cleaning all together, and mixed up some of the components as well as inadvertently connecting some connectors wrongly. It’s taken me since early September to finally have all my computers running. Also thank you to Tamarra #26 from yesterday for your kind comment. I did miss my daily giveaways for the short period I was absent, though it looks like there was a lot of discontentment with what was given away 8O

This is a fun game, I already own it, and I like it. Don't forget to click on the background items for fun animations, like lampposts, flowers, and gold/gems between levels, when transporting!

Great game, thanks Alawar and GGAOTD! Thumbs up from me