I played this all day and I must say it's one of the best games ever on Game Giveaway of the Day! Thanks Stars Ashes Games, GGOTD and especially Stephen whiterabbitUK for all of the tips and information.


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Glad you like the game Joe. This game has been a regular on the giveaway for a couple of years now. It reminds me of some of the arcade games I used to play when I was at university back in the mid 80's. I spent a large proportion of my bursary in what we called 'The Cave', which the student union had built inside the student union building. They filled it with around 30 pinball machines, as well as Space Invaders, Star wars plus several of these vertical scrolling shooters and even a patchinko machine for the Japanese studentsd. :). Ahhhh! fond memories. :)

I can only get the demo. Plays through level 5, and that's it. I've installed it twice, followed the instructions in the readme.txt file, but no full game.



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

Hello Tom,

If you are using firefox, make sure Internet explorer isn't set to offline mode. Also try rebooting your modem, and cler out your internet cache. If none of these work, check the FAQ's section for other possible fixes.

Apart from the first suggestion, I can't explain why you're not able to register the game. There's still time before the end of the giveaway


btw, did you ever read the comment I made in answer to your feedback when you posted your comment about your comments being deleted the last time this game was given away? You can see your previous comments under the name Mcbarker (comment # 9) via the following link:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/incinerate-5/

Hey thanks Amanda! Played this twice along the line as offered here. Think was twice, they all kinda blend in. Maybe I found it and retried from a saved file. Played ok Win 8 x64 Pro. Always gave up half way as just got overwhelmed. Didn't figure the trick and didn't want a trainer to spoil fun. This might be enough to get over the hump. Thanks GOTD for another shot at goodie, so to speak.


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Tanks for your feedback beergas

Just wanted to say thank you for this game, and many other offers received. I appreciate the time and effort given by you. This game I've had before and love it. I remember growing up in the 80's and it's great playing this type of game. Life is so busy and I enjoy this break. Thanks again.

Mildly repetitive but very addictive game, my family and I love playing it! Recommend!!!

I'm not home today. Can't download the game. (Wouldn't have anyway. I don't play shooting game. Oh, those poor lil Martians getting all killed and blown up!)

We need iPhone games! Have there ever been games offered for smart phones on this site? Get on that, White Rabbit!

For all stereoscopic fans, this game works with 3D Vision.

@3 Amanda - The trick to beating the game is to hold down the primary weapon and shoot the secondary at anything that doesn’t explode instantly from the primary. Can’t lose (unless you run out of rockets). Good advice! Got this game way back 2010! Was better at it then! As to trainer WR mentioned - it gives option to turn om or off, but what fun is that! Better to fail in blaze of enemy fire! Thanks gotd and Star Ashes! I've seen evidence of wild rabbits at this web page?? Got rabbit traps set out!! Hopefuuly, Rabbit meat and a good game today!!


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

Thanks for your feedback WOT. As for rabbits, we've just adopted yet another animal; this time an unwanted dwarf rabbit. Beautiful little creature with the softest fur I've ever felt. We keep him indoors at night (we have foxes in the area), and once all the cables are tucked away allow him to rove about a little as he is really well toilet trained (not that I think you can train them - but he does trot off to his indoor cage if he needs to go). He loves to jump up onto our bed and sit on my legs. He was very stand offish initially, but we've handled him loads every day since we adopted him, so now he's become very friendly.


Now I'm off to play some Rayman: Raving Rabbids. :)

This 1.0 ? The same game that's been put up 2 or 3 times before ?


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Yes, it's never been updated. Pity the developer hasn't taken on board the many suuggestions community members have made over the past three years since it was first given away. It's got alot of potential.

I have it from the April 2012 giveaway and think it's a good game. The graphics is OK, maybe the land below could be less monotonous. Oh, and the game could definitely recognize and support a joystick. If you're into this type of games then it's worth a look. Just remember it's a shoot'em up, so hold your mouse button down (you don't seem to run out of basic ammo) and don't let enemies get behind you.


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

Thank you for your feedback. :)

I still have this from the last time it was given away. I like it pretty well.

At first, it got difficult for me halfway through. After I figured out the trick to winning*, the whole game got to be pretty easy.

I like the graphics and sound effects. The music is okay. The controls are simple, basic and work well. The points system and upgrades are all right, and number of "power ups" (ammo, armor and stuff) dropped is fine.

The bosses aren't really much of a challenge after playing the regular level. It's much harder keeping track of all the different tanks and turrets and buildings than it is taking down one big enemy.

The parts where you choose directions is a little silly, but it gives you a chance to sit back and catch your breath for a second.

Just a funny thing, but after playing it for an hour and watching the vertical scrolling, when I look away from the computer, everything feels like it's scrolling up. Kinda trippy :P

Overall, pretty fun game, especially if you like blowing things up.

* The trick to beating the game is to hold down the primary weapon and shoot the secondary at anything that doesn't explode instantly from the primary. Can't lose (unless you run out of rockets).


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

Thank you for your feedback Amanda

This is a very addictive game which I have played through several times thanks to previous giveaways. Is this version updated or different in any way than previous giveaway versions?


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

No, it's the same as the previous version. :)

Incinerate




In Brief:

Today's game is a typical level based vertical scrolling planet shmup . Unlike many shooters of this type you are able to move your ship anywhere on the playing arena. There are several power ups such as rockets and repair droids that appear when you've destroyed enemy ships, vehicles and buildings that enhance your game play.

Installation:



The Incinerate zip file once downloaded should be 47.1Mb in size and when installed to the default path mentioned below is 72.1Mb. The zip file is several megabytes larger than the last time it was given away, but this is because of the new security setup.

Installation is a breeze; the unzipped setup file installs Incinerate to the following path:

C:\Games\Incinerate\Incinerate.exe

Once installed you can delete the wrapped setup file (for those that are new to the giveaway project that's the orange colored file with a key symbol on the icon; you can also delete the Setup.gcd security file and the read me document.

There is no desktop icon created during installation so you will have to create your own via the above path or via whichever path you chose for yourself. If you also want a start menu shortcut you will have to go into Documents and Settings which is found in the root directory (C:\).

i.e. C:\Documents and Settings\name\Start Menu\Programs\ (XP) or C:\Users\(User-Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\ (Win 7 and Vista)




where 'name' equals administrator, or whatever name you use for your account. Just create a new folder within the program folder and add a shortcut from the games executable file. (right click and select create shortcut then copy that to the folder you've just created - you can also use the same shortcut and copy it to the desktop or select send to desktop {create shortcut}).

Apart from the increase in size due to the new security setup file, the size of the downloaded file and the installed game are both different to previous year's but the versions seem to be the same.

The game should work on all iterations of Windows. ;-)




Introduction:



Incinerate was originally given away June 2009 and received lots of positive comments and out of 497 votes received a 54% positive vote, then again February 2010 where it received a positive 58% out of 355 votes. In 2011 it was given away twice (Feb 2011) where it received a positive 69% of the votes from a total of 299, and August 2011 where it received a positive 68% of 281 votes. Last year it was also given away twice (April 2012) where it received 69% of the votes out of a total of 320 and Oct 2012 where it received 60% of 321 votes .

There's plenty of opportunity to see what the community though about this game from the 171 comments that you'll find from June 2009 HERE (77 comments), Feb 2010 HERE (48 comments), Feb 2011 HERE (49 comments) and HERE (34 comments) Aug 2011, April 2012 HERE (43 comments) and Oct 2012 HERE

It is 2074. Astronomers from around the world are watching an asteroid crash into the surface of Mars leaving a huge crater. Clouds of dust and vapor hide the surface of the planet for several long months. Communication with all Martian research stations is lost. When the clouds clear away, people send new spaceships to the Red planet. The spaceships send back shocking news. Hundreds of plants producing arms have been set up on the maimed surface of Mars. Thousands of machines stock the mineral deposits that had been brought to the surface by the massive explosion. A huge geothermal unit is running in the centre of the crater. Its energy creates a protection shield that extends beyond the planet's atmosphere. The objective of the unknown aliens is absolutely clear: they're building an army to conquer the Earth! So people are sending a small spaceship to the Red planet with one mission: blow up the shield generator so they can launch missile attacks from the orbit. The spaceship will have to land in an isolated area, and then try to infiltrate into the alien conspiracy. You are the commander of the spaceship, and the fate of the Earth is in your hands!

Reference: accessed HERE 26th June 09

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The Game:


Today's game is a vertical scrolling shmup (space shoot'em up), with a small ship that you control with the mouse. The left and right mouse buttons select primary and secondary weapons. You can move the ship anywhere on the playing arena, avoiding buildings and other objects. You can destroy buildings, objects and enemy ships before they destroy you. Crashing into buildings and ships destroys your shields, but you can do this occasionally. You can pick up extra power ups once buildings have been destroyed. Repair droids will repair any damage caused by enemy fire or by crashing into buildings. On the way you have plenty of opportunity to pick up a variety of power ups that you can also purchase from supply depots that you'll find shortly after starting a new level. You just have to fly your ship over the symbol that denotes the supply station. The supply depots contain several items such as rockets, armour, magazines for your guns as well as various upgrades such as your weapons and shields. You primary weapon requires magazines and the secondary weapon, which is fired using the right mouse button requires rockets. Occasionally in game you will also come across branching routes. This aspect of the game gives some re-playability to the overall game, though choosing either route doesn't look much different. :) . Provided you have completed a checkpoint, you can return to the beginning of a checkpoint by clicking on the continue button. Otherwise you'll start a new game from the beginning.

Video & Images:



You can see a 5min 45sec video of game play HERE

You can also see loads of screen captures HERE as a slideshow or all on one page HERE where you can then select individual images to look at.

The main menu gives you access to an options menu that allows you to change screen resolutions, starting from 640 x 480 x 16 to 1600 x 1200 x 32. You can toggle between full screen and windowed mode plus change the lighting from normal to advanced, though I haven't checked what the difference between the two settings is okay, and finally there's a sound and music slider for adjusting the volumes. The help menu is rather basic, with nothing more than the story line and an image of the various power ups available. There's nothing about how to play the game either.

On starting the game a page opens up that allows you to create a new profile. You can set up more than one profile if you wish. Once this is done, a level map appears. I'm not sure if you can re select previous levels as I only played the one level (left it too late to play an extended game earlier this morning). Once in game you can see several symbols around the periphery of the playing area. These give information telling you how many rockets or magazines you have as well as informing you about the state of your shields.

Conclusion:




I was only able to play the demo which consisted of six levels so cannot describe the later parts of this game I thought the construction of the game was quite well made and the difficulty was good enough to create a reasonably decent game, that I would say is worth a good 6 out of 10; though, that said there are many 'shmup's' out there and overall I think this one is an average shooter. The above images and game play video should give you a good idea of the game.

You can find a trainer for Incinerate play HERE that gives you unlimited health, guns, rockets and money.


I've listed loads of related games below (all with hyperlinks). some are full price, others on excellent deals and even some that are free for example Moonbase Alpha and Moon Breakers. you'll also find a thread in the Game Discussion forums dealing specifically with shmups which you can find HERE

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Problems:

If you have any problems with the game, either installation issues or getting the game to work check out the FAQ's section over in the Game discussion forums. you can find it HERE



In response to the following problem that some users experienced last time this game was given away i.e. w.r.t. Netbooks and problems with resolution, Markus posted a possible fix via registry editing. He said the following:

"If you install the latest Intel GFX driver and
1) Run regedit2) Search and modify all values “Display1_DownScalingSupported” from “0″ to “1″3) Restart the system
New resolution 1024×768 will be available then.#"

If you are posting requests for help late in the day I would suggest posting in the main giveaway forums in the game Game Discussion . If you’ve installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn’t guaranteed). It’s always worth checking out the free games sites as sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them as well.

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Alternative Games some free some on great deals:





You can get today's game giveaway free 24/7 from Gametop HERE. Remember to watch out for toolbar installations and home page hijacks via check boxes during the games installation.

There are hundreds of space themed games available, many of which are free. They are amongst my favourite genres. The following two links will take you to threads that have links to loads of free space shooters and strategy games, then I've included a couple of sites that giveaway commercial games, after that I've listed several games I own that I can honestly say are excellent time wasters which you may consider buying - all are bargain bin games by now, then a link to a brilliant commercial site that has gathered older DVD/CD based games and removed the DRM from them and now you can download the games, ranging from a few hundred Mb, to upwards of 4Gb in size. (So you'll need a broadband connection to download them) :)

The first one is the Space Shoot 'Em ups or Shmup's: A longish list of FREE games, where you'll find a massive list of Freeware, abandonware and even a long list of browser based space orientated games. I highly recommend the following one from that thread: Fraxy, Universal Combat, Realms, and Chalk . Unfortunately I've not kept the list up to date of late, so there are actually loads more free games that are space related which you can find via the Games Synopsis HERE. I'm sure you have lots to check out now. :) I hope you find something of interest. I would certainly consider buying Freespace 2 and/or Darkstar One from Good Old Games (GOG) or DotEMU, both are 3D space simulators, with amazing graphics and a real feel for being in an imaginary space shooter. I've listed several very good space orientated games at the end of the review. The X3 series of games are some of the most realistic space games I've ever played together with the online game Shattered Horizon. You'll find the Free Games synopsis HERE



There's also several free Shmup's (Shmup's = Space Shoot 'Em Ups) available from Gametop, MyPlayCity (Where you'll find Star Defender2, Orbital destruction, Astro Avenger 1 & 2 plus loads more good quality Shmups; so if you missed those that were given away previously you can now get them free 24/7 ) You'll also find a few over at FreeGamePick, but the last time I downloaded anything from freeGamePick they had become more aggressive w.r.t. toolbars and in some cases forcing you to change your home page before you could play their games.

You'll find Arial Fire, Air Shark, Air shark 2, Forbidden Galaxy, Forbidden Galaxy 2, plus many more that are linked to via the Shmup's link I've posted above. all the games from these two sites are commercial quality games that are given away free through sponsorship. When installing these games you do need to watch your installation as some of the games do ask if you want toolbars installed or even to change your home page, however, these can be avoided simply by making sure the boxes that show up during installation are unchecked. All the games from these two sites do open up your browser when you close the game down, but there's nothing untoward about it. you are always taken to the sites home page where you can check to see if there are more games. Once you close the page, that's it.

Finally I'll list a few really good DVD based and/or digital downloads for space shooters/strategy games that aren't free and can cost cost anywhere between $a few dollars to $50. I've got most of the games listed below apart from the most recent releases and IMO think that all of the games are excellent. If you love anything to do with space you'll probably love most of these games. All of them are available via steam, GOG, Gamersgate, Desura as well as others such as Gamefly and GreenMan Gaming (plus others) or as a DVD from places like Gamestop, Amazon, EBay or Game UK.


Genesis Rising (Strategy)

Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect (FPS/RPG)

Spaceforce: Rogue Universe (Strategy/shooter)

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion (Strategy)


Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity (Strategy)

Sword of the Stars (Strategy/shooter)

Light of altair (Strategy)

X3: Terran Conflict (Action Simulation)

X3: Reunion (Expansion to Terran Conflict)
X2: The Threat (earlier version of the above)



Shattered Horizon (Brilliant First Person Shooter set on and around the shattered remains of the moon and the international space station – amazing visuals – now with more maps, extra weapons and a single player mode - requires Vista or Win 7 - XP not supported. I highly recommend this one, especially if you've ever dreamt of being an astronaut) ;-)

Gratuitous Space Battles (Shmup)

Gratuitous Space Battles (Strategy)


Star Trek DAC
(Strategy/shooter)

AI War Fleet Command (Strategy/shooter)

Jamestown (Shmup)

Solar 2 (Strategy)




FTL - Faster than Light (Strategy Simulation)


Galaxy on Fire (3D Third person)



Moon Breakers (Free to play)


Lunar Flight (Simulation)




Starpoint Gemini (RPG Tactical space Simulator)


Sol: Exodus (Space Action Simulation)




Evochron Mercenary (the third of a trilogy of Evochron gamesSpace Action Simulation)



Legends of Pegasus (Space Action Simulation with very low metascore)


Moonbase Alpha freeware simulation)




The following are available from Good Old Games for between


You can find even more Sci-Fi based games from Good Old Games and DotEMU for $5.99 to $9.99 as well.

For example:


Earth 2040 Trilogy

Earth 2050 Trilogy

Earth 2060



Freespace + expansion (Space combat simulation)


Freespace 2 (Space combat simulation)

Darkstar One (3D space adventure)



You'll find more freeware links to space oriented games in the original comments for this game when it was given away back in June 2009; the link is above in the Introduction to the review.

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Yet More Related Bargain Gamesl>





If today's game doesn't take your fancy then check out the game discussion forums and the free games synopsis. We’ve posted a couple of thousand free games over the last four years, many of which are excellent alternatives to their commercial cousins.


Steam has several games on sale at the moment including the 24 hr Steam deal which today is Garry’s Mod (75% off) (this changes to another game at 6pm GMT) and this weekends deals are Sonic all Stars Transformed (75% off) and you can play it for free until Sunday afternoon (1pm PDT), also Left 4 Dead 2 with 75% off as well, plus you can play that one for free until tomorrow. I ended up buying Left 4 Dead when it was on a free weekend.








Also check out the latest game available on IndieGameStand HERE
. You can pay as much as you want but no less than $1. The present bundle is The Real Texas (plus there’s a second game if you pay above the average. There's quite a few decent deals over on Desura more on Steam and Greenman gaming as well as Gamersgate. There’s also a few indioe bundles still live.
You'll find details of all the bundles still available over in the first two pages of the game discussion forums as well as several of the main game distributors that seem to have permanent sales on a thread in the Game discussion forums HERE

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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