Hi!

I thought I wasn't going to like it. It seemed to simple with
the narrator pointing everything out. But I still found it a nice, relaxing game and addictively kept playing levels. It is a little
too simplified, and a pain as you get up in levels to have to
wait for replenishing your inventory. Otherise, its a nice game. Easy
to play with good graphics and no lag!

Thanks again for another game!!

Aww...missed it. The timer says I have 1 hour 9 minutes to download but when I try to use setup.exe, it says the giveaway period is over.

Thank you GGOTD and Alawar. Wonderful game! I love it!

This game is great. Thank for offering.
In the last time, i have tried some giveaways from you.
In the future, ich think, i will buy games by alwar.

Alawar, WR and GOTD team.

Again thanks for a wonderfull game offering. Not mine to play but my wife and kids are very happy. Nice to have the option Relaxed, this way my youngest daughter (6 years) also arrives to finish the (first) levels.

The graphics are awesome and the sounds are not getting annoying, nice gameplay, and good controlable (not to fast in the first levels). Indeed the queing is to short, what my wife irritates cause she is used to that, now she's clicking some actions multiple times before it will be handled, but she still likes it overall

Installed without a glitch on our Windows 7 64bits Laptop and a Windows Vista 32bits Desktop

Absolutely recommended, also for the younger ones.

Till next weeks gamegiveaways


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

Thanks for your feedback Willy.

Oh by the way - rabbit - thanks for leads on other games - you must spend alot on games, me I've bought a game since got the internet! Oh and 19 more songs for dial up users who miss deadline by 1 sec (public domain songs) https://ia700803.us.archive.org/35/items/TheBobbettes-01-19/ Got to look out for dial up users..


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

I daren't admit to the number of games i've purchased since I started to buy games online. (about 8 years ago). I only every purchased hard copies from game shops until my accident. On average over 1 game a day, stupid really, but I'm hooked.

Excellent review - my downloader says 7 hours to get - hopefully I will! Thanks gotd and Alawar! For gotd dial up dudes who can't get the game - a song - He Cried by Shangri Las http://archive.org/download/TheShangriLasCollection/TheShangri-las-HeCried.mp3 And 30 songs for dial up user who miss dead line by 10 secs - https://ia601807.us.archive.org/10/items/TheShangriLasCollection/
Gotd is cool...

………………..Moderator comment…………………..

Brings back memories. :) Hope you manage to get the giveaway.

If you don't manage it, you can always download MyPlayCity's version:

http://www.myplaycity.com/hidden_world/

or better still Jenkat Games:

http://www.myplaycity.com/hidden_world/

"Failed to connect, please try again later" -- first time I've gotten this error. I read your FAQ and tried the fixes (restarted computer; went to IE 10 [which I never use] to see if 'work offline' was checked but found no such option even after searching IE help. No big deal, I can live without this game, but thought you should know. Thanks GOTD, love you still.


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

Click on file (in I.E., then look near the bottom of the drop down menu just below properties you should see 'work offline' Make sure that's left unchecked, then try again.

Also try rebooting your modem and clearing out your internet cache (you will lose your cookies)

This is an odd game review for me because I already own the game. That's not because I got it as a 'freebie' somewhere, but because I bought it when it came out! :D To do this review, I opened it again for the first time in a long time which means I'll probably be stuck here for the day playing it again. LOL

Alawar puts out some darned good games in this category and this is a good one. Not one of their best, but a good one if you like this kind.

The upside of it is the graphics are good, the pace is good for the reasons mentioned above, it plays fine on my older system (WinXP SP3 32 bit- and I installed the version here to make sure it did and it went fine as well, so it this version works fine as well, Rabbit) without being 'clunky' or having similar problems I get with some of the games that you come across that don't like older systems. The fact that you can schedule a task without them going back is a huge plus for me.

The downsides are as Rabbit said; you can't cue them up in long strings, something that would be most helpful and usually is available in such games, especially in the upper levels, and that it does get very repetitive as you go along. It would also be helpful to do the whole 'skip tutorial' thing with one click instead of having to keep doing it through out the game for various things. Like shutting it off in the main panel or something.

All in all, it's well worth the download and fun, especially if you like these kinds of games.


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

Thank you for your feedback DAMyst

#8 Ronda - creating a desktop shortcut is a piece of cake. Just browse to the file you run to start the game and RIGHT-click on it. You'll get a little pop-up menu - scroll down to the "Send to" item. Hold your mouse pointer over it and another menu will open out to the side - click on "Desktop (create shortcut)" and you're done. Yes, it's a bit of effort, but you only have to do it once.

fullscreen work not on win8 !!!!!

The game works fine on my windows xp system . I would suggest that when full screen option is listed it is wide screen as I use a flat screen monitor and not an old crt type thanks............Mike.

Works fine on win8 64bit. The relaxed mode isn´t so relaxed, but I haven´t played enough to say much about it yet.

I bought this game from BigFishGames and have been very happy with the purchase. The later chapters could have used some extra bonuses or surprises but it's paced fast enough that you don't tire of them.

Games from Alawar are almost always great games and this one does not disappoint. Good Graphics, good sound, good game play, nice storyline.
Thank you GameGiveAway and Alawar.

Dear Alawar Team,

I am still trapped in your last giveaway Enchanted Cavern 2.

Already getting grey hairs, successfully played the game routine, but still stuck in the puzzles.

I love your games, but PLEASE include a help / tip / hint opportunity in your games.

Suppose that some games would never be resolved ... ;-)

Great game as usual. Wished there was an automatic shortcut icon placed on desktop. Other than that thanks for the freebie.

Almost every time I decide to try one of your games I get this message that I cant ot connect to activate the game. It is very frustrating. I realize today I have 3 or 4 games back that are not activated because of that delay.



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

Hi Lucy, check the FAQ's section over in the giveaway forums:

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

Does it not run on Windows 8? It isn't listed as though it does


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

Hi Mary,

It probably does. I had no problems with any game giveaways on Win 8. Still waiting for my study to be finished before I set up my win 8 computer again, so can't confirm for sure.

I like such games. This looks great - but can´t play it - my english not good enough...

As always with an Alawar game, good game play, and because you can use more than one villager at a time, when you've created the housing for them, the game moves along at a fair pace.

Enjoyed the first few levels and more I added a shortcut, it's easy to start and I'm enjoying the game play, and the cute graphics!



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

:)

(I couldn't get this to add to the suggestion box above--the codes would not register even though they were correct--so I'll put it here.)

This is a great resource/time management game. There are only two things I can think of that would improve it. 1) If workers' actions could be queued and 2) if the magic lantern screen were accessible from the map level, and the game simply proceeded to the next level instead of needing to load that screen. Otherwise, great game!



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

Thanks for your feedback Gypsi

Relaxed mode! Whee! I'll give it a try!

Glad you're in your new home now, Rabbit.



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

:D

Hidden World:

Installation:

Hidden World downloads as a 149 MB zip file that unpacks to a read me and a wrapped setup file (the orange colored file with the key symbol), plus there's a setup file with security (setup.gcd) that's protected from being hacked (because the previous giveaway system was easily cracked). This file may case some security software to alert the user to a possible malware attack, but it will be a false positive.

The game giveaway team check all game giveaways for malware using several well known anti -malware suites. There has never been a game giveaway infected with malware since the project started back in Dec 2006. (The owners know that allowing such things would compromise their business, so they make sure all software given away via the giveaway and gamegiveaway sites are thoroughly checked for all types of malware before allowing community members to download any files.

Some community members have been having problems installing games since the security software was added. It's been found that turning off your security temporarily or configuring it to accept the setup.cgd file usually sorts the problem out.

To register and install the game click on the orange colored icon. The installed game is 151 MB in size and installs to the following path by default:



C:\Games\HiddenWorld_game (If the install path shows the last game giveaway installed you need to clear your internet cache) you'll also find a shortcut in the Start Menu for an uninstaller.






Hidden World works on my Win 7 (64 bit) computer. My Win 8 machine hasn't been unpacked yet and I've not reinstalled Vista or XP yet.

Introduction:

An evil wizard has attacked a kingdom of beauty and enchantment, leaving a path of destruction in his wake! Your mission: Gather the forces of good and repair the broken land one village at a time!

Reference accessed HERE 12th Oct 2013








The Game:



Hidden World features 48 regular levels spread over four different worlds. You are also able to unlock a bonus level in each world, which makes for 52 levels altogether and provides roughly five hours playing time. Furthermore players are able to choose between timed and untimed mode. The storyline itself is rather overused, an evil wizard destroys and threatens a peaceful fairy tale-like country, and of course the player has to clean it up. However, the graphics are pretty charming and the narrative sequences in between specific levels are rather interesting and at least without grave mistakes.

Basically Hidden World feels pretty similar to My Kingdom for the Princess and the like in the beginning. Obstacles such as logs and rocks have to be removed from the road to advance, sawmills, farms and mines can be built to supply you with wood, food and gold, while new houses will increase the number of workers. You are certainly also able to upgrade any building to increase its productivity, given that you have enough resources and workers.

Apart from these core aspects, however, Hidden World feels pretty different from its genre colleagues in that its pace can be compared to frantic games such as Jack of all Tribes. This is pretty much due to two small but highly significant changes: you do not have to wait until workers return to the headquarter to assign them new tasks and you are able to accelerate their task by clicking the related object or building. As a consequence you will always be busy, which resolves an issue that most other titles of this genre suffer from.


Most of the levels are structured in a similar way - you have one or two main tasks and bonus tasks. The first you have to fulfill to advance, the latter ones will reward you with magic lamps which will melt different parts of the castle, a feature that is nice to look at and a good motivation to finish all tasks within the given time. Controls are pretty intuitive and the graphics are bright and colorful, furthermore very fitting to the setting.

Most of the times there will be portals in each level that enable clones of the evil wizard to appear. Those clones will then try to freeze your buildings, which can be avoided by clicking the wizard repeatedly. From time to time a small dragon will fly through the scenery and will, you guess it, drop bonuses or helpful items when clicked successfully. Those items can be used to complete collections which will in turn enable your buildings to produce quicker and more resources, speed up your workers or weaken the wizard. All in all Hidden World is filled with a lot of those unexpected and rewarding features, which makes for a fulfilling playing experience.

The major downside of Hidden World is the fact that levels begin to feel slightly repetitive later on. While there are new buildings, bonus tasks and small surprises in the first two worlds, levels in the last two worlds are very similar, just because you nearly always have to destroy one or two wizard’s portals and construct exactly the same buildings. The quick pace and the desire to upgrade and collect everything possible indeed prevent the game from getting boring and stale, but more goals, buildings and challenges would have been welcome nonetheless.

Altogether Hidden World definitely is a strong entry into this genre and will especially entertain players who expect a quicker pace and dislike the inevitable breaks while playing other games of the resource management genre. Whether you like the fantasy setting or not, if you are a fan of this genre you are in for a treat with this game.



Reference accessed HERE 19th Oct 2013.

Controls:

Mouse controlled



Video:


You can see a couple of videos of game play HERE, HERE and HERE.











Music:

There's no way to replace the music, but you can turn it off via the options menu.

Minimum System Specifications:


OS - Windows XP SP2, Vista, 7
cpu - 1.2 GHz processor
System RAM - 512 MB for Win XP
System RAM - 1 GB RAM for Windows Vista or 7
Minimum screen resolution of 1024x768
Video RAM - 64 MB for Windows XP
Video RAM - 128 MB VRAM for Windows Vista or 7
DirectX 9.0



Conclusion:
I edon't particularily enjoy this genre apart from Farm Frenzy, but did enjoy playing this one. It was faster paced than other games in this genre, but that was countered by the fact that you can play this either timed or untimed, so, basically the best of both. :)
Pros:
• Fast-paced. Long playing time. A fair timer. Gorgeous visuals. Motivating reward system for fulfilling bonus tasks. Unique and interesting mechanics.
Cons:
• Levels feel a bit repetitive towards the end. More buildings would have been welcome.

Score:


Gameplay - 8
Graphics - 8
Replayability - 7
Originality - 7
Instructions/help - 7
Music - 7


Totals 44 out of 60 which is equivalent to 7.3 out of 10


Problems with the game?:

If you have any problems installing or playing today's game please go to the game discussion forums where you'll find a FAQ's section HERE.

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


If you're looking for something other than today's game check the didimatic site via THIS link for some brilliant deals.

Steam weekend deals include 50 to 75% off Stardock titles (eg Demigod, Galactic civilizations I & II, sins of a solar Empire, The Political Machine 2012, Fallen enchantress), plus 75% off the Batman franchise and there's a free weekend with Chivalry: Medieval warfare; if you decide to purchase, it's 75% off (only £4.74). There's over 70 titles on sale at the moment via Steam including the 24hr sale, which is 50% off DeadPool

You can find details of all these deals by following THIS link; then click on the specials tab.

There are plenty of deals over on the Green Man Gaming site plus 25% off selected titles. You'll find the deals HERE.


You'll find many more game deals from Gamersgate, Gamestop, and GOG; all of which you can find via the Didimatic site, which I've linked to above.

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.


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 a brilliant one over on the Groupees site with around 30 games for only $12 as well as the Indie Gala and Humble Bundle Weekly sales or check out the four day sales at IndieGameStand.

The latest IndieGameStand game is Sky Nations, a multiplayer sandbox game set in a world of floating islands and air ships If you pay more than the average (which stood at $1.63 at the time of writing this) you'll also get extra skins. The game comes with a game key. You can also vote for the game to be Greenlit on Steam. If it does get Greenlit you'll get a Steam key. (Anyone who purchased the first IGS games 'Escape Goat' you'll find you now have a Steam key to add to your Steam library). You'll find the deal HERE. This deal ends on Wed 23rd Oct around 5am GMT.

There are small indie bundles available over at Indiebundle.org. Each bundle has three games and costs $5 each for the basic bundle plus a few dollars more for extra games. Check the Indie bundles HERE

There's also more Indie bundles available such as the Humble Bundle weekly sale, Indie Gala and Groupees bundles. You can find them all via the Game Discussion forums. All bundles are excellent value for money :). For most of these bundles you need not pay more than $5 for several games that would usually cost you a lot more. You'll find links to all of these bundles in the Game discussion forums HERE

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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

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