Oops...I suppose I should mention that I do meet the minimum requirements listed. WinXP SP3, 3 GB RAM, 2.4 GHz CPU x 4, 381 GB free on my hard drive, and of course an Internet connection.

ron goodin,
Sorry posted by mistake. Here's my re-post.

I posted this awhile back. If you don't see your cursor, go to options and play around with your touchpad until you can uncheck either full screen or stylized cursor. Once you uncheck stylized cursor, you've got your pointer.

Hi apelsinno. :-)

Maybe are you using a bigger scaling?
Did you try to "disable display scaling on high dpi settings" (in the properties - compatibility tab of the game shortcut)?

Hi Semo. :-)

In fact I forgot to write I substituted the game cursor with the windows cursor: it was better.
Maybe you could try the same.

Hi Jerry. :-)

WinDefender, Gridinsoft antimalware, SAS free, MBAM free don't complain about the software.

Installed without problems on my machine: Win10Homex64 (with all updates), WinFirewall, DEP AlwaysOn, custom scaling level 150%, res 1920x1080 (color depth 32bit, refresh rate 60p Hz, if these mean something...).

The game seems to work/start well after I disabled the "display scaling" (in the properties - compatibility tab of the game shortcut).

I don't usually try the game soon after I installed it (I just check if it works)...

Thanks for the game to GGAOTD, MyPlayCity, BigFishGames and the wonderful moderator Whiterabbit-uk!

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Thanks xilolee, hope my rant as a fanboy of Steam wasn't too boring, lol

Hi whiterabbit-uk. :-)

I think I'm going to have to try it some time in the future. :)

Jerry, I had the same problem of no curser in my Win 10 64. I tried xilolee's idea of disabling the display scaling. It didn't make a difference. I still have no curser. It's impossible to play that way. You have to move the cursor all over the place trying to get it to find the button even to start. I can't play it.

Hi Dave. :-)

YOU want, not WE. ;-)

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I used to avoid any game that made it necessary to install a client until I purchased two games from Direct to Drive almost 8 years ago that at the time I didn't realize required Steam to be installed. I complained to Direct to Drive but was told they were Steamwork games. I'd not realized steam work games were Steam only. I wanted to play both games so badly as at the time I was really into both genres i.e. bowling games and tower defense and it turned out the particular tower defense game that I purchased is still one of the best TD games around (Defense Grid: The Awakening) and the bowling game was the half decent Galactic Bowling. I vowed not to purchase any more games via Steam, but within a week I'd noticed that the Steam store, which at the time opened by default whenever I booted up Steam, showed a particular sale where six indie games had been bundled together and were selling for less than the price of just one of the games and it happened that of those six, four were games I really wanted to play, so I purchased the bundle. I soon realized they had weekly and later daily sales, with games selling at upwards of 75% or more off the usual price. At the time, no other client based system were selling games so cheaply and so regularly reduced, so my Steam library grew at an almost exponential rate (my Steam library now has almost 9000 games listed not including free and free to play games). I realize having so, many games, makes it almost impossible to play many of them to the end, but I do usually play upwards of 8 hours every day (pain management reasons) and am never at a loss when it comes to playing something I'm really into as well as discovering new games. Over the intervening years, I've made several very good friends via Steam, three of which I was chatting to last night via my Team Speak channel and Steam messenger and will be playing coop games with this evening with a couple of them. Also, sales continue to be an ever present feature, as well as fantastic community features , plus a workshop where mods and extra content for thousands of games are now available to add to your games with just a few clicks of your mouse and, all can be removed with just a couple more clicks if you find those mods conflict. Steam has become much more than a game client and now I couldn't live without it despite hating drm. There are now over 125 million active Steam users and over 6 million users are playing games via Steam at any one time, so I doubt we will see the demise of the Steam client any time soon. Even if Steam did die, there would be ways found to be able to play all or most of the games tied up in Steam. I don't know how many games you can play without using the client, but I have on occasion gone into the Steam folder and have been able to boot up games directly from the installed games executable without Steam being logged in and they have worked perfectly, though you definitely can't do it with every game. Unfortunately DRM is here to stay. Even GOG are now trying to get you to install a client based system and are also trying to emulate Steam in so many ways. Of course they still offer DRM free games, but I reckon that will decline as time goes by because of the number of games that people share with their friends instead of individuals paying for the games has risen sharply since the advent of GOG. Ultimately it's the gaming community that has forced such devices on us by cheating the system.

xilolee, quite agree!

xilolee,

Yes or No to Steam - *Maybe* this will help.

Once someone decides to create & sell a game, they have 2 immediate issues beyond making the game itself -- how & where to sell it & what to do about DRM. Steam is the leading provider of both, plus as WR mentions, there are Steam's community features that may or may not matter to individual gamers. To help manage things Steam uses minimally intrusive client software that has a minimal impact on Windows -- in that respect it's not much [if at all] different than Apple, Amazon, Microsoft's store, Big Fish, Google Play etc.

Most companies that have consumer products of any sort choose not to sell them themselves, e.g. I can't buy Campbell's soup from Campbell, but I can buy it from most any retailer that sells groceries. Making a product is very different from distribution &/or sales. For a company to be successful creating games they have to sell those games, & currently most feel that their best, if not only option is via Steam. That could change -- Microsoft would love it if their store in Windows 10 became dominant -- but for now, almost in the same category as death & taxes, Steam is a fact of life for most gamers.

So if you're hesitant, or don't like Steam, that's perfectly fine -- you almost certainly don't like death & taxes either. Most of us do pay our taxes however, everyone dies, & most gamers use Steam. There's nothing at all wrong about complaining about it, though do remember that complaining in general is more likely to get a negative rather than positive response. And if you don't use a service, you of course don't get whatever benefits that service has to offer -- with Steam that means you won't get access to any games exclusive to Steam.

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Thank you for your response Mike, There will always be lovers and haters of anything man has to offer, or for that matter nature. As far as I'm concerned, if someone absolutely hates Steam, then that's their business, but as you imply, not using it will discount that person from benefits. In my opinion more benefits than the negatives that Steam comes with. Personally I've been using steam since January 2009 and although initially hating it, have come to love the client for several reasons. As I have a poor memory due to serious head injury one of the extra's that steam provides is a library that I can arrange into categories. this make sit much easier for me to find a particular game; especially as many of the games I've purchased I can't remember the name of, but I still know the genre etc. I have almost 400 categories in my library now, for example indie, which is divided into about 40 other categories indie platformer, indie shmup, etc, or HOG, First person shooter, breakout etc you get the idea. It's actually one of my favorite aspects of steam apart from the sales and the community aspects. If someone doesn't like Steam and has no intention of installing it that is their business and I have no problems with it; that said, I do think they are going to miss out on many great games in the near future, also, the potential to make friends with others that have similar tastes will be denied. Each to their own. :)

Hi mike. :-)

I didn't say I hate it.
Probably the opposite: if I install it, it could become a drug.
I think the same about twitter, facebook, WhatsApp, and so forth.

I have resisted till now! ;-)

mike, I am opposed to all DRM services that require a 3rd party DRM provider to remain in existance as an operating company to provide authorisation so we can use the software we have licensed. If steam ever go out of business or simply shut its doors to you or any geograpical region you will not get refunds or an alternative solution to play your licensed games or use your software..
Internet based service providers can and do close their doors to certain customers, change windows operating system requirements to use their service or simply go bust.

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Hi TK, with respect to developers who don't use clients, but still use DRM, they are also prone to going out of business. I've lost well over a hundred games because certain developers who I've purchased games from have gone bankrupt, or have been sold off the bigger developers and their DRM systems haven't been transferred, For example Reflexive Arcade, who had a DRM system that necessitated having to re-apply for a new activation code whenever you upgraded your computer, or wanted to install your game onto another computer. When Amazon purchased Reflexive Arcade, they gave those who had purchased games from Reflexive approximately 6 months to reinstall their games before the activation servers were closed permanently, not taking into account that when they upgraded, they would lose those games permanently.. The same thing happened with games purchased from Sandlot Games. I purchased a lot of games from both of those developers as well as others who went out of business, who also incorporated DRM, and can no longer activate any of those games without using illegal code generators. At least with Steam, I can actually play some of the game without having to use the Steam client or by being online (by going into the games folder and accessing the games executable directly). Steam is such a massive industry, with over 125 million active users, it's highly unlikely they will go out of business anytime soon. Even if they did, there will be ways found to reactivate many (though I do realize not all, simply becasue some are not worth the effort) of the games, especially the more expensive AAA games. When the Microsoft's Live program was cancelled, there were a lot of big name games linked to the Live program that were left unplayable; for example Red Faction Guerilla, where you could no longer save game progress, or the Microsoft Flight game that was supposed to supersede Microsoft's Flight Simulator X. Steam fixed both games so that they are now fully playable again. There will always be ways to fix games if a client is cancelled. There are always pro's and cons for each way a game is delivered, whether it is via a client, a hard disk, separate downloads, with no client etc. Personally I still prefer buying my games on disk, but it has become impracticable as I have no where else to place then on shelves, my shelves in the study are literally double stacked with well over a thousand Blu-ray and DVD movie disks. Most of my disk based games are now boxed up and stored in the attic. Even some of the disks I buy, once installed are no longer needed because the games are tied to Steam, for example the Total War franchise; (all games from Total War Empire onward). Unfortunately, because of literally millions of unscrupulous people/gamer's, who stole most releases pre DRM, it was developed to protect the ownership rights of those developers becasue they were losing millions of dollars per game. Unfortunately we now have to live with DRM. I know sites like GOG do have DRM free games, but the majority of those were originally abandonware titles that were freely available until GOG and others decided it was a good idea to search out the original owners and come to arrangements. The majority of recent games, especially AAA games will never be DRM free. I do like the efforts GOG have made to get some developers for example the developer of the The Witcher franchise, to allow DRM free downloads of their premium games, but those are few and far between.

Finally, we all make our own decisions as to whether or not we are going to support a particular game. If a person is totally against installing clients such as Steam, great, that is their prerogative and I respect those people for making a stand. If you don't mind missing out on some amazing games, then again it's not a problem. Each to their own, personally I couldn't do it because I want to play those games too much as it is one of my primary focuses during the day when I'm at home alone because I use gaming as distraction therapy to help with my pain management. It's actually really effective as a temporary fix and much better than having to take higher dose of opiate medication.

xilolee,
Hi, back from month long summer break here, only to find the same, frankly boring now, debate about Steam.. and benefits/disadvantages (if any, so it seems:) of going 'Steam way', what's more - steady Commentators and Experts telling us here on GGOTD: Steam is a 'FACT of LIFE' for any serious Gamer, and since GGOTD started using it's Services for providing Games here - to win Keys, or get Games for fraction of Price - that in itself became a 'FACT of LIFE' on this GGOTD Site (another being Games provided by MPC, not mentioning other Vendors, mostly unknown to Community here)

What I'm about to say might look 'contrary' to logic:), but to me seems 'older' regular GGOTD-ers still find it hard, or unfair(?) to be limited to these choices ONLY after years of having Fun on this Site with 'none restricting' Game Providers and feeling GGOTD Site belonged to that large, light-weight (regular again, if you like) Family of Game Enthusiasts not necessarily interested in lists, and lists, and lists of Games available (naturally!:) elsewhere. Most Folk would be more than happy to obtain 1-2 decent Games each weekend and if that was not enough - further search for similar Games (genre) would follow on other than GGOTD Sites. What else - that simple psychology of 'LESS is MORE' each weekend - here on GGOTD resulted in happy, grateful Comments coming in splendid numbers before!!?...

That is (I think) what Xilolee and TK were trying to accent above. Am I right?? Finally - as to HOGs (galore:) - I remain grateful to one Mod on Forum here pointing me last autumn to game-owl.com Having said that I'll always pop in to see 'what's what' on GGOTD. Good Sunday to All from Suffolk, UK.

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Thank you for your comment Fran. Unfortunately there will never be a situation where everyone is happy. Ever since the game giveaway started back in December 2006 we have had complaints about the games given away here; despite them being free. Each to their own I say. Personally I have no problem with anyone who dislikes Steam, but I do try and point out the positive aspects of such a system when I see negative comments about the platform, especially as I am now a happy Steam user and enjoy using the client (though I didn't initially), I also feel it my duty to try and support the use of Steam games here on this site, especially now that games from Alawar, Playrix and other developers are no longer on the menu, at least for now. I know there will always be those who are dead set against Steam, downloading from MyPlayCity, or getting too many HOG's or Match Three's etc, but in the end, there are usually enough games given away over a period to satisfy the majority of community members coming here, so I really can't understand the constant negativity over what's on offer. I've always taken the view that if a particular free game on offer isn't for me, I move on and wait in hope that the next giveaway will be one i like. if it isn't then again i wait for the next one without complaint. Still, it's everyone right to complain if they wish, but I still find it hard to comprehend such behavior considering its being given away. It would be a different matter if this was a commercial site and I'd paid a subscription that gave me a certain number of games every month that I found were generally not to my liking, then I'd feel a complaint was justified, either that or stop using the service. Much like the scheme over on the Humble Bundle site, where you pay a specific amount every month and are guaranteed a certain number of games, one of which is usually a prime AAA game, but you don't know what they are before you have paid for them.

TK, sorry for the delay replying to your comment edit, because of the way you choose to edit posters comment to reply I got no notification.

Where DRM is built into the game, ie a key with an internal hashing algorithim to authenticate it there is no requirements for the developer to maintain servers for continued use of the game.

Even with server authenticated DRM such that Microsoft use with windows, as long as your windows was already activated you can continue to still use it even if Microsoft goes out of business. Of course Microsoft could stealthaly install a patch that invalidates WPA prior to shutting down the activation service but that would be considered a crime under UK law.

I really do wish you would reply to comments normally that way we can tell if the votes cast are for my 6 line statement or your 47 line embolden addition to the OP as well as sending proper notification that someone replied rather than moderated the comment.

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Hi TK, please excuse the late reply. As I've mentioned previously, there is no facility in the admin panel for me to reply in the normal way. When I'm moderating the only buttons I see are the ones in the image below.

To do as you ask, would mean swapping between two pages and having to do a lot of scrolling and searching for comments. I'm only a volunteer, with a demanding family. I don't have the time to do what you ask. I already spend an inordinate amount of time on this site, moderating, administrating the forums, compiling information for reviews and playing the games (even those I abhor). I appreciate that you are not receiving notifications because I'm not using the reply button. If they added it to the admin panel I'd happy comply with your request, but as it isn't available, I'm not happy adding the extra time it would take to do as you ask.

Weekends have become somewhat of a nightmare for me these days. I end up going to bed extremely late on Friday evenings/Saturday mornings and quite often on the Saturday and Sunday evenings (which inevitably sees me sleeping on the lounge sofa as I don't want to disturb my wife's sleep, who is a very light sleeper, so it is extremely difficult to creep into bed once she's asleep without waking her. I get notified of what game we are getting for Saturday usually quite late in the week and sometimes only hours before the giveaway goes live. It's rare that I know days in advance what we are getting, otherwise I could casually write up the reviews well before the games go live, which would make it less stressful over the release period. Then, throughout the giveaway days, when games are live I'm logging in to check out the communities comments. This volunteer work has taken up so much of my valuable time over the weekend period and quite often well into Monday when I'm catching up on moderating comments that I didn't have time to do on the Sunday it's seriously impacted on my own personal time. (for example at this very moment it's almost lunch time on Monday and i still have comments to moderate. I've been sitting at my computer since before my kids went to school three hours ago, without a break from moderating.

Maybe if I remembered I could make an exception in your case, (though that could cascade if others felt the same way as you) i.e. whenever I see a comment from you, I could make just a little more effort, but my main problem is memory. As I may have already mentioned previously, I was involved in a very serious road traffic accident almost 11 years ago (19th Sept 2005). I was hit by a car traveling around 60 miles per hour while cycling to work on a bicycle. I was left with serious back injuries due to four broken vertebrae (I lost nearly four inches in height, which wasn't noticed for almost a year because i couldn't stand up). Neither the fractures or head injury were treated at the time of the accident and I've only received treatment for the head injuries several years later once they believed me. On the day of the accident I was sent home with a suspected sprain and some bruising and given some co-codamol for the pain (later I ended up on high doses of fentanyl and oxycodein which I'm still taking almost 11 years later) . They did x-ray my lower back (but failed to x-ray the thoracic vertebrae); two of the breaks were visible at the top of the x ray (this only came to light a year later when I purchased my medical notes from the hospital and sent them to an independent consultant, who confirmed the breaks and sent me for an MRI, which then showed two more serious breaks in the thoracic vertebrae as well as damage to virtually every bone in the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spine (thus explaining the significant loss of height), but for some inexplicable reason, the doctor didn't see them on the day of the accident. Three days later as a matter of course, a consultant radiologist checked the x-ray, and reported the breaks as chance fractures (which are considered serious) then he promptly filed my x-ray and notes away without passing on the information to my GP. It took literally hundreds of visits to my GP and specialists, who thought I was trying to scam an insurance claim, to finally get them to check me out properly. I was sent to a spinal specialist almost a year after the accident who confirmed I'd broken my back and it took a further six years for them to scan my brain, at which time it was confirmed organic brain damage had occurred. It's actually thanks to a giveaway member who I used to talk to regularly, who was a pharmacist who advised me that I should ask for some specific blood tests. (he sadly passed away 3 years ago). They showed I was deficient in some important hormones, which then was picked up by my pain management specialist who then referred me to an appropriate consultant endocrinologist. That was 7 years after the accident that I finally got them to give me a brain scan, which showed the damage. I'd been complaining ever since the accident that something wasn't right with my head, but was ignored). Please excuse the long explanation. I tend to waffle a lot since the accident as I find it really hard to organize my thoughts properly. I've since seen organic brain specialists who have put me through a battery of tests, which together with the CT and MRI scans confirmed area's of my brain were damaged. I now have to inject hormones, swallow hormones and spread hormones over my skin every day for the rest of my life, due one of the area's damaged (the pituitary gland was almost ripped in half and no longer functions properly). Still I'm alive and just about still enjoy moderating these comments. :)