The graphics in the game are very nice and it is addictive as I wanted to keep playing and did for 3 or 4 hours. Then it did start to become repetitive returning to areas to pick up the next load of salvage. The gold pick up bonus game is fun and breaks up the repetition. I was playing on the easy mode and had no problem playing this game (62 yrs). There are some games that actually give me motion sickness. This did not cause that to happen and it was fun! No funny things happened to the computer when starting the game or ending. There was a bit of a problem when I tried to find a way to quit the game. It did not want to let me go, sorry but it was getting a bit late. My take on this, overall, it is a fun game, didn't run into glitches, and found it entertaining. When trying to end the game there was not a clear exit point. There doesn't appear to be nagware, thank you. Next time I will play on a harder level. Free game!!

I love Playrix games and this is one I really like. However I've tried installing it and uninstalling it 3x now and every time I start the game all I get is a black screen and the music for it in the background. I have to go through task manager to close it as the screen is black.

I have win 7 64 bit, please help me figure out what is wrong. I've never had problems with any of the games here. I've cleaned my computer and updated all drivers and nothing :(

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

Hi Gina, did you check out the FAQ's thread that I link to in my review. There are a couple of fixes for Black screen.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/11647

Black Screen:

Problem:

If you are getting the black screen problem (possibly with an error message in a blue box that says “frequency out of Range”)it usually points to a screen resolution problem. Thst is the resolution you have your screen set to may not be supported by the game; or it could be the refesh rate that is the problem.

Solution:

Try setting your screen resolution temporarily to a different setting and see if that cures the problem. If that doesn't work right click on the games executable and select 'properties', then click on the compatibility mode and select the disable visual themes. This should fix the problem, if not try disabling the display scaling on higher dpi settings and disabling the desktop composition. You can also try compatibility modes for XP, epecially if the game is quite old.

Other fixes include installing the latest direct X (remember that XP uses DX 9 or earlier only, Vista uses DX 10 or before and Win 7 DX11 or before). Also try updating your graphics drivers. The main two chip manufacturers are NVIDIA and ATI (now AMD) both of which offer driver downloads for free. Just go to the respective manufactures home pages and you'll find a link to the driver download page. To find out which graphic card or graphics chip your computer uses type in Dxdiag in the search field (Vista or Win 7) or the run command (XP); this opens up the DirectX diagnostics panel. click on the display tab and look to the left panel. You should easily see what graphics card or chip you are using. (This is required information when selecting the correct download from the developers site).

let me know if it fixed the problem

Hi,
Downloaded quickly with no problems! Play is easy and graphics are great! I had downloaded it on an old computer once before and moved slow, but great on newer one! Looking forward to finishing it this time.
Thanks for another great game!

This is just a remake of Fishdom, except with HO instead of Match-3. Not a fan of HO as it is. Originality seems to be lacking these days, even in the larger, commercial games.

I like Playrix games and I enjoy the Fishdom games for an easy "mind break" when I've been working long and/or hard. I like the HOG game variation in this giveaway... but then, I like HOGs.

I also like the "beat the clock" to gather gold and the [new to me] "find 1 of these 3" games. My only wish would have been for them to include a Match3 game in the mix.

I VERY much like the way they saved my HD space by judicious use of animation and NO 3-D!

This is a keeper for me.

Well, I got this game from gotd a long time ago - good game - also get to download something else instead! I'm going to overload my computer and cause it to blown up!!1
The rabbit mentioned o many games, but not sure he mentioned this??
We're giving away a million Steam keys for Dino D-Day, with Bundle Stars - PC Gamer = http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/07/02/free-steam-key/


...............................ModeratorComment.......................................................

Thanks WOT, no I didn't mention it, though it has been posted over in the Game Discussion forums. :) I forgot to add it to the games section. They will be giving away a couple more games over the coming weeks. also Origin should be changing their free game soon. It has been Peggle for almost a month now.

Hi y'all,

I've played this a whole lot since last download, and I enjoy it for a number of reasons. Of course, being able to build aquariums with adorable fish and ornaments is great, but I agree that having a greater selection would be better. One of the things that can be annoying with some of the Fishdom games is that, in order to acquire trophies, you have to buy so many ornaments that the tank is really crowded. After playing under three identities, I've stopped decorating tanks and have been just banking the money (wish it could be spent in the real world!). Having played so much, yes, it can be repetative because I've seen all those items in the scenes many times, but the list of what to find varies, and some items are always hard to see, but I rarely use hints now. (Actually, finding a seahorse for a hint is a different HOG challenge.) One of the things I REALLY like about H2O is that there are four variations of HOG: basic, find 10 feathers/guitars/etc, goldrush, and quick eye where I must find one of three items. My challenge with goldrush is how much can I get, and probably would be easier if I used a mouse with my laptop instead of the touchpad. Quick eye is probably my most challenging, depending on the list of three items, so I don't always get all ten levels.

All in all, this is not a game that I likely would choose to discard, although if I lost it I don't know that I would choose to buy it, but would wait til it was available for free again. In-game music is not critical in my choosing a game since there are options like turning it down or off, but of course it's always nice when the developers include great music. Of the suggestions I could make to improve this game, probably changing and/or moving the items in the scenes would be the most useful for improving the replayability challenge. Other than that, the usual requests relating to tank decoration would be my other focus. Since I have not yet figured out how to work the feedback box at the top, I hope my comments get conveyed to the developers so that maybe someday we may see another Fishdom with improvements (would that be H2O2?!?). I have always been, and will continue to be, a Fishdom fan!

Best wishes to all, and thank you to Stephen, GGOTD and Playrix,

Cara in NC

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

Thank you for your feedback Cara :)

Premium? I was very skeptical about this being Premium. And after downloading, installing, and executing this game I see nothing that makes it Premium, neither is the name Premium used in any part of the installer or game. So Premium? I don't think so.

Don't get me wrong. I own Fishdom 2 Premium when what I really wanted was Fishdom 2 Collector's which is supposed to contain hidden object mini games, but when everything is said and done what one gets is Premium. I enjoy Fishdom when I need a break from other games.

I'm just worn out with not only Playrix's, but also just about every other game distrubtor's deceptive marketing techniques.

But, if you've never played this game I think you'll enjoy it.


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

The whole industry is in danger at the moment. If you consider all arcade games cost $19.99 several years ago, (before the recession hit), now the average price is around $6 with sales often reducing that to a couple of dollars. Many game houses and large developers e.g. Refelxive arcade, THQ, Take 2 have all gone out of business of been sold off. AAA games in real terms have become dirt cheap compared to 10 - 15 years ago, so they have had to find ways of making extra money. The advent of Indie Bundles that often contain games only just released costing between a $1 to $6 for games sometimes worth up to $400 is destroying the industry....... I could go on but don't want to bore you. Suffice it to say, I can see why they release these versions. It may be a cheap trick, but it's a way to secure their survival.

Thanks so much to GGotD and Playrix! I have never been disappointed with a Playrix game and the Fishdom series is a guaranteed good game. I don't often play hidden object games, but found this one to be fun. Thanks again!

Great game to relax with while I'm listening to an audiobook. I can't seem to do just one thing at a time and this or a 3 in a row keeps one part of the brain occupied while I'm listening to books.

Playrix games are always welcome, they're well made, I've never had one crash on me and except for the Barn Yarn one, I've loved them all. I give this one an 8/10, don't like the music but then I turn it off and listen to the book anyway.

Thanks WR for all you do.

Happy Summer Daze to all.

Downloaded this previously and it is an enjoyable game, particularly since it offers a casual mode. I like that all the objects are always in the image but the ones you must find are randomly selected each time you play; on occasion a description is rather turgid and I had to resort to a hint.

Runs fine in Vista 32 and looks good in 1680x1050.

Is there something additional to this "premium" version?

Same here about played out concept. But Fishdom2, match 3, is still a fun game that seems to 'play fair'. Timer but somehow seems to always throw a bone (bomb or lightening blast) just when need it.
That one and Temples Mahjong are my gotos for mental challenges.
Temples can get hard at higher levels but Fishdom2 hasn't yet caused multiple tries. Thanks GOTD, enjoy weekend.

Good game Like it

Lost all my ggaotd's when I up dated to Win8 on anew drive, couldn't figure out how to move them over from the old drive, so have been running them off the old drive as an external one. Gets to be a pain after awhile so have been slowly building up my new drive with games. So I say thanks for an oldie but goodie!

Perhaps my favorite hidden object game, but alas I am also one who played the previous version to death. After I completed it I gave myself a new challenge-how many of each fish and objects could my aquarium hold? I have a very weak video card but I was up to over 100 of each item with barely any slowdown before I gave up.

AWESOME! GRAND! BREATHTAKING! ORGASMIC! SPLENDID! BLISSFUL! TREMENDOUS! REMARKABLE! AMAZING! INCREDIBLE! ASTOUNDING! WONDERFUL! DELIGHTFUL! BRILLIANT! IDEAL! MAGNIFICENT! SUPERB! MARVELOUS! FANTASTIC! TERRIFIC! EXHILARATING! ENTHRALLING!

I LOVE IT!!!!! I wait so long and now its here! Thanks!

this is as good as the rest. i have all of them. they are good to go back to and play if you just want to relax.

I'm just curious to know what the premium version has that the regular one doesn't and whether that makes it worth having or not?

Purchased in the past and it's a highly recommended title. Not too difficult and a cheerful alternative to all the horror themed hidden object games. Thanks again, Playrix!

Fishdom H2O - Hidden Odyssey :

Main Menu

Installation:

Today’s game giveaway is Fishdom H2O: Hidden Odyssey a hidden objects game based on the Fishdom franchise.

The giveaway downloads to a 90.3 MB zip file that unpacks to a read me and dual activation and set up module. To new game giveaway visitors that means just install the game and it should automatically register because the activation module is wrapped in with the set up file. The game installs to

C:\Program Files (x86)\Playrix Entertainment\Fishdom H2O - Hidden Odyssey (64bit)

Or

C:\Program Files\Playrix Entertainment\Fishdom H2O - Hidden Odyssey (32bit)


The installed game is 120Mb in size. The game works on win XP, Vista, Win 7 and Win 8 platforms. A shortcut is installed to the desktop (together with a link to Playrix's home page) as well as a shortcut in the Start/Programs list. You'll also find a shortcut to uninstall the game via the program list if you wish to delete the game. According to the properties there are no previous versions so this is the same version as the one we received last year (June 2013) where it received a positive 82% out of 310 votes with 41 comments which you can read HERE. The game was also given away April 2012 where it received a positive 82% of votes out of 452. You can read the 63 comments HERE, finally itwas also given away September 2011 where it received an excellent 85% positive votes out of 420. There were over 14 000 downloads. You can read the 87 comments HERE .

If you get any problems once the giveaway is over, or late in the day (there's no moderation usually for the last five or six hours until the last half hour or so of the giveaway) please post them over in the forums. I started a thread the last time it was given away HERE . you may find suggestions/fixes have already been posted, either in the comments sections I've linked to or the forum post. If not follow the link I've posted below to the FAQ's section of the Game Discussion forums.

Introduction:

This is one of those genres that in my opinion has been done to death over the last several years. The weekly releases of games from this genre was the main reason why I cancelled my Big Fish game membership two years ago, because nearly every new release, which at one point was one a day, seemed to be hidden object games. I don’t dislike them per se, but I did find there wasn’t much in the way of originality apart from a few such as the Dream Chronicles franchise or games like Mishap: An Accidental Haunting and its sequel. The following paragraph was copied from Playrix's Fishdom H2O: Hidden Odyssey page and introduces the game:

Help Jennifer, a young marine biologist, win the Best Aquarium Award. Dive to the bottom of the sea and find various hidden items in numerous eye-teasing locations. Get cash for them to buy cute sea creatures and beautiful ornaments to create three unique aquariums. Choose from tons of accessories and supplies to make the life of your exotic swimming pets fun and comfortable. Become a genuine aquarist, polish your design skills and win trophies in this dazzling hidden object spin-off of the original Fishdom™ - a game by Playrix where dream aquariums come true!

Reference accessed HERE 16th Sept 2011

The Game:

Unlike most Fishdom games this is not a match three but a hidden object game. It’s a typical hidden object game with a relaxed and timed mode. There’s not much else to say about the game play as we all know what a hidden object game is. In my opinion (after playing through an hour long demo) there is little variation between the hidden object levels; there is some but not much. That said there are a lot of objects to find, so the repetitive nature of the background scenes isn’t too much of a put off. You do have to be careful not to click randomly otherwise a school of fish appears and obscures the game field at which point the fish release clouds of bubbles to further block out the hidden objects. Also there are no set levels; the main objective of the game seems to be earning cash to build one of several aquariums that have to be unlocked (you can see an image of the four aquariums available with this game below).

Apart from the usual find a list of named items you’ll sometimes get definitions of words like ‘lens to improve eye sight’ which of course would be glasses, or you may be asked to find a certain number of a specific item, then there are ‘Gold Rush’ events that give you 30 seconds to gather up as many gold items as you can and quick rounds where you only get 15 seconds to find at least one object out of three.










As with other Fishdom games 'Fishdom H2O' includes an aquarium, which you build up by earning cash which can then be spent on items and fish for your aquarium. The addition of the aquarium of which there are three to complete in my opinion gives the game a little extra something and is an ideal family game (the children will love the aquaria).

For me the aquarium was the clincher for this game despite its simplicity. It’s not the best, but each of the aquariums are fun to build, with around 30 beauty objects to decorate the aquariums with. That said there was only nine fish to add to your tank. I would have liked to see more fish inluded. There are two cup awards to earn for each aquarium which adds some replayability to the game. There is also a screensaver that is linked to your aquarium progress. You can turn the screensaver on or off via the game or via the control panel. The game starts with a profile screen that allows you to create a profile; you can create more profiles if you wish (ideal for a family orientated game). You are then asked whether you wish to play a relaxed or timed mode, which can later be changed via the options menu (you'll find a toggle in the form of a tick box), a custom cursor toggle, a windowed toggle as well as a hints toggle which is turned on by default, so unless you uncheck it via the options menu you will be given tips throughout the game. You'll also find a music and sound effects adjustment slider for changing the volume. When in game you start off with five hints which you can access via the hints button to the bottom right of the playing area. Once these are used up you have to find more via each level that you play, you can only have a maximum of five hints at any one time. They are in the form of seahorses. not every level has one, so be sparing in your use of the hints for when you are really stuck. The game has a save feature that automatically saves the game when you shut down. You can also turn off the hints or change the mode via the options menu, which is accessible from the in game screen.

Features:

• Underwater hidden object fun

• Over 1000 cool items to find

• Themed aquariums to design

• Fully interactive and customizable environment

• Tons of accessories and decorations

• 20+ amusing sea creatures



System Specifications:

Operating system: Windows NT/ 2000/ XP/ Vista
CPU: 1 GHz
System RAM: 512 MB
DirectX: 8 or higher
Video RAM :128 MB

Video:

You can see Fishdom H2O - Hidden Odyssey via the following videos HERE and HERE

Conclusion:

I found the hidden object part of the game too repetitive, but the aquarium redeems the game somewhat. That said, if I just wanted a fish tank sim I’d be better buying a dedicated game like Fish Tycoon or FishCo. Overall Playrix have put together a decent game that for free is a big bonus. There are new HOG games being released almost on a daily basic, many of which have sumptious graphics and mini games interdispered amongst the main game; that said, today's game giveaway holds it's own, so despite having lost interest in this type of game I'd give the game play 8 out of 10, though my overall score is 7 out of 10 due to less impressive elements such as the music. The developer should give the user the option to select music from their own Music folder instead of being forced to listen to music that is rather bland. You can change the various music files by going into the installed games folder and opening up the music folder which can be located via the following path:


C:\Program Files (x86)\Playrix Entertainment\Fishdom H2O - Hidden Odyssey\Base\Sound\Music (remove the (x86) for 32 bit computers)

You'll find several ogg files (for exampe Collector.ogg, deep_diving.ogg, pirates_theme.ogg etc). The replacement music will need to be converted to the .ogg format if you wish to use your own music. you'll also need to rename the music to replace the files that you wish to be changed. (I'd back up the originals just in case you do something wrong, though if all else fails you could download the demo to a different path and copy over the music from that game as they should be the same)



Scoring:

Game play - 8
Graphics - 8
Audio - 6
Re-playability - 7
Originality – 6

Total = 35 out of 50 or 7 out of 10

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Games, Games, and yet more Games plus Download, Installation & Game play Problems:






If you have any problems installing or getting to work today's game please go HERE for help. I've posted all of the common problems and solutions in a FAQ thread, which you can find in the sticky section of the forums by following the above link.






This weekends Steam deals are 33% off Broforce, 75% off the Crysis franchise (tohugh Crysis 3 ikisn't included becasue Steam don't sell the third in the series. There's also 75% off Tower Wars (Fridays 48hr deal), there's 75% off Killing Floor, 75% off the horror game dead Space (1 & 2), 75% off Arcania/gothic pack, 75% off the Tripwire bundle (Dwarfs!?, The Ball, Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, Rising Storm GOTY, Killing Foor plus 18 dlc's), 80% off Gorky 17, 81% off A New Beginning: final cut, 66% (i.e. £2.37) off The Apogee Throwback Pack includes 4 games, Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, Blake Stone: Planet Strike, Rise of the Triad, Extreme Rise of the Triad, 50% off Bridge Constructor Playground, 86% off Dream Pinball 3D, 75% off Gothic 3, 50% off Street Racing Syndicate, 80% off Hacker Evolution, 60% off Saturday Morning RPG, 55% off Frozen Hearth, 50% off Space farmenrs, 90% off Glacier 3: The Meltdown, 80% off Twin Sector, 85% off Super Killer hornet: Resurrection, 75% off Grimind, 50% off Pixel Puzzles: Japan, 50% off Chip, 75% off Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising, 50% off realms of the Haunting, 75% off Tribloos 2 and 80% off //N.P.P.D. RUSH//- The Milk of Ultraviolet. Some of these games also include Steam cards, which you get by playing the games. These can be sold on the steam market saving you more money on the game. I sold off loads of cards from my games and earned over £180. I'v still got over 1000 cards, mos of which are only worth between 5 to 12p. Still selling them all would net me about £70 once Valve have taken their cut. Depending on the game, cards can be worth a lot more. for example I sold a foil card for over £3.

You'll also find some excellent deals over on the following Game sites, some of which have summer sales on. I've been selling my Steam trading cards and have already amassed nearly £200 just from selling these cards. i sold one for over £4 last week. all proceeds are going towards games. :)

GreenManGaming
Gamersgate Summer Sale
GOG
Desura
Gamestop
GameFly

To be honest there are too many game deals around too list them all. Just visit the sites I recommend above and I'm sure you'll find something that suits you for a very decent price. If like me you prefer Steamworks games, many of the above sites also sell steamwork games.

If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums HERE for details of other games either free or on deals such as the Indie Game bundles (there's over 20 of them - If you purchased all of them you'd be paying around $80 for around a thousand dollars worth of games); or check out the four day sales at IndieGameStand. I've updated the Indie Game bundle thread to include all the latest bundles. you'll find that thread HERE.

The latest IndieGameStand game is Rats - Time is running out! A time based strategy game.
The latest Daily Indie game is Onager a physical catapult puzzle game about destroying blocks. You can get two keys if you pay more than $1.12; (one for a friend or family member perhaps?). You'll find that deal HERE. They also have a bundle of several games that'll cost you less than $1.50 HERE

Most of the bundles retail for around $5 give or take a few dollars, but you can pay as little as a dollar for some.


A Request for help:

Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of 'potential' cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you've checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain what your reasons were for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

========================================================

Unfortunately to me personally, Fishdom is getting a bit old. I've played it a lot. It's a great game to have, but for me... I'm past it.

Thanks anyway ;-)

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

Thanks for your comment Freebird; got to agree with you on this. The Hidden Object genre has been done to death over the last few years, with literally thousands of titles being released. :)