@Stephen, for a faster way to create a folder in your start menu in Windows7, I just create a new folder on my desktop and drag it to the Start button. Just hover until it opens... then hover over "All Programs," and the location of your choice in the same way.

No opinion on game. Didn't test it. G'day!

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

Thanks for the info. :)

Thumbs up! This game has a lot of complex action for a sidescroll shooter. The powerups are great, and they often don't come easy. It's hard to reach the end, but I and another both were able to ... finally ... reach the end. :)

Thanks Stars Ashes! Thanks Stephen (whiterabbit) ! Thanks GGotD !


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

:)

Old game for an ole gal on new PC.. Thanks

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

:)

I spent more time to download and install than I did playing it. I was bored 1 level into it. Ended game and removed from my computer. This was a 20th century game released in the 21st century. if you like retro style games like asteroids, space invaders etc then this game is for you. If you prefer a more realistic shooter, I would suggest not wasting your harddrive space. On the plus side it runs fine on a win8.1 X64

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

Hi gameplayer, thank you for your feedback. Yes, there are loads of arcade shooters much better than todays offering, most of which will cos money. there are some free ones that are as good and even a couple that some may consider better; still, for free it's not bad.

p.s. Unless you have an antiquated computer I'd hardly think wasting 73Mb is significant. Most newish computers come with at least a terabyte of disc space. (mine for example has around 11TB). 1TB is equivalent to 1000 GB (actually 1024) or 1000000MB, so using 73MB is like using only 0.0073% of the hard drive space. You could place almost 137 thousand copies on your computer. :)

The game's not really my cup of tea, but I downloaded for my kids who (usually) like shmups and they seem to enjoy it.

Regarding the moderator comment on #13: that's an absolutely *terrible* pun.

... I heartily approve. :D

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

:)

Stephen,
I had NO idea you were this bloodthirsty! so, you're a Shmup man?
jjc


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I've loved the genre before they were even available on home PC's. I spent a fortune in the arcades playing the things. I remember my first PC based side scroller (actually it was on a commadore 64). I couldn't stop playing it for weeks. The first time I played it I must have spent almost 30 hours straight apart from breaks for food and bathroom.

You can find an excellent open source shmup called project Starfighter via the following link:


http://usitility.com/download-project-starfighter

This game doesn't seem to work on Windows 7 running 3 monitors. Anyone have a fix for that problem?

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

Sorry, can't help. Hopefully someone may be able to suggest something. If you don't get an answer by the end of the giveaway, post in the forums.

Good after a format c: I lost this one, good to have it back.

To the moderator: loved your list of Space Games, but not all of us have "Steam" installed; I for one don't trust them. I understand that your time is limited, so it's not a major criticism; just sayin - if you could list the developer and or publisher that could help. Thanks for all you do.

If your anything like me you'd rather be sitting in the cockpit of your spacecraft or aircraft rather than be seeing things from the outside of your craft. I've never cared for these scrolling type games.

I did install and play this game the last time it was offered, but did not enjoy the game enough to keep on playing.

If you enjoy scroll type game then you will probably like this.

Since types of games is a matter of opinion I will not rate this game.


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

Hi Jon, most of the shmups i've linked to are not Steam based.

Check out this open source Shmup called Project SAtarfighter. It's graphics aren't as colorful as todays giveaway, but the game play is a lot more fun. :)

http://usitility.com/download-project-starfighter

The Vista link also works on Win 8.1

What is an "iteration?" Is it a virus? I know it! I've always thought Windows was a virus!

I don't NEED eight copies of the same game on my computer. But I WANT eight copies of the same game on my computer!

I'm sorry that you lost the other seven copies of this game on your computer and had to test it with a DEMO. Demos suck!

Plants with arms? HAHAHAHAHA! No, wait. Really?

This game looks REALLY REALLY old. Mullet old! Neon colors old! Atari old!!!

HAHA! LOL! That was funny, White Rabbit! You "don't want to give anything away" on "Give Away of the Day." Did you do that on purpose? LOL!

This game would be much more fun if we could be the Martians trying to destroy the earth. Who would want to destroy a pretty lil red planet like Mars?

Really enjoyed this game

Got this a few giveaways ago and, while I'm not a shmup junkie, this game is quite good. I have yet to test the trainer, but it promises to make it even more playable and interesting for casual shmup players. Good news: if there is a game on Saturday and it's a rerun, there should be something interesting and new on Sunday, huh?



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

I don't want to give anything away, so won't give any clues except to say it's a familiar game house

For what it is there's your basic standalone shooter. Tried in prior offers and always eventually junked. Main reason being too hard to pass some higher levels so why keep repeating the doable ones? For first timers of freebies certainly worth a shot, lol. Just prepare to shoot.

Still have this from several months back. If you enjoy classic arcade style games give it a shot - good graphics and sound, numerous options for weapons and upgrades; levels start off easy but get very difficult (I've yet to survive to the end).

"It’s not the graphics it’s the game play that counts. "

Backing that up, or reinforcing it if I might, just checked the best selling games over at Best Buy... the game ranked number 13 [out of 58] for the PS4 could hardly be called realistic [Rayman Legends], #14 for PCs [out of 703] is a card game collection, while #7 [out of 59] for the Xbox One is Plants vs. Zombies. And arguably the number of console & PC gamers combined is dwarfed in comparison to the number of people playing much less graphically realistic games on cells & tablets. Just look at Flappy Bird, with graphics reminiscent of the old consoles -- I don't know that it would be possible to overstate its popularity.



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

:)

@Whiterabbit-uk: Thank you for the answer! It´s not the graphic primarily it´s the game itself I don´t like. My friends and I played such games on C64 and Atari and what were we happy as we become a joystick with a permant-fire-button! But that makes it then slowly uninteresting. This game looks the same. I played it 2-3 minutes and the only I had to do was "click as fast as I can". Okay, in the 80´s I enjoyed such games. But now (30 years later and older) this is no entertainment for me. The game isn´t just bad but I don´t need it permanently on my PC.


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

I understand. :)

downloaded this the last time it was offered and enjoyed it a lot. I'll do the same thing again on my new 'puter. Thanks

Whiterabbit - that was the best post I have read in a year! Comprehensive, informative, exhaustive in links, very informative and very much appreciated. I remember many of the old games, like Freespace, etc. I still play Sins of a Solar Empire, and many others you listed. I'm copying your post into Word so that I will have all those great links preserved.
Thank you so much for the effort you p[ut into that post! Extremely helpful and appreciated!!

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

A pleasure :)

Shooters like todays and any space oriented games were (and still are) amangst my favorite games (love RPG's and FPS and any open world games as well)

The game was intermediate some years ago. Nowadays it is somewhat outdated in gameplay and graphics. Despite the fact, that it is marketed on different sources and always the same, it is not a bad game but it could be improved in nearly every way. It is time for Incinerate 2.


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

Thank you for you feedback :)

Downloaded this last time. Vista 32 bit. Good fun to play.

I like the game, its nice to play, plays well on older computer.
Thanks for the trainer :)

You give the game "a good 6 out of 10"? I think I´m dreaming...

Are we in 1980? No! I throw away such old cheese!


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

Check out any game distributor online and you'll fine hundreds of retro like indie games that emulate the games of yesteryear. There's a massive market out there for such 'old cheese'

It's not the graphics it's the game play that counts. Several years ago I stayed at a frends house who only had a old commadore c64 computer that he'd kept since the 1980's. I was initially disappointed as I was used to much more graphically evolved games, but, after a short time playing some of the games I found I was throughly enjoying myself playing old classics like 3D tank, ACE II, some pinball games etc.

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; finally, it was also given away last summer (July 6th 2013) where it received 62% positive votes from 280 votes.


There's plenty of opportunity to see what the community though about this game from the couple of hundred 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), Oct 2012 HERE and finally last year 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 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.

In response to the following problem that some users experienced when this game was given away previously, 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)

Project Starfighter (open source shmup)



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 48 hr Steam deal which today is Racing Manager 2014, there’s the usual two weekend deals this weekend you’ve got a play for free till Sunday game Payday 2 which, if you decide is worth buying is 67% off and 75% off Bioshock infinite. There’s also the weekly deals which include some fantastic bargains ranging from 80% off Train Simulator 2014: Steam Edition (a nice pack containing the main game plus several decent dlc’s- well worth getting IMO), 85% off the Serious Sam complete pack (another fantastic bargain), 75% off Shadow Warrior, 75% off Killing Floor (one of the best zombie shooters around with hundreds of free maps available created by the community), 75% off Men of War: Assault Squad GOTY edition, 75% off spore, 66% off Command & Conquer: Red alert 3 and Tiberium wars and Command & Conquer 4: Tiberium Twilight, , 80% off Saints Row 2, 75% off hotline Miami, 75% off Titan quest Gold, 75% off Restaurant Empire, 75% off Family guy: Back to the multiverse, 50% off Sims Medieval, 66% off Jade Empire, 75% off Stardrive, 75% off duke nukem 3D: Megaton Edition, 75% off Tripwire bundle (all Killing Floor content, Rising Storm, Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, The Ball and Dwarfs!? Only £18.74 the lot), 75% off Men of War, plus loads of other great deals up to 85-90%.


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
War of the Human Tanks a story driven strategy game with a gameplay reminiscent of Battleship and Chess. There's quite a few decent deals over on Desura more on Steam and Greenman gaming as well as Gamersgate. There’s also several indie bundles live.
You'll find details of all the bundles still available over in the ’Up to date list of bundles thread’ As well as the first page of the game discussion forums HERE.
Here's a list of the bundles that are probably still live (I’ve not updated it since last week, so a couple may now be ended (don’t have the time to check at the moment). There is a site you can visit that tracks all of these bundles HERE (I counted over 20 bundles), and another that tracks most game deals around the web HERE.



Just click on the name of the bundle to go to the chosen site. These bundles are amazing value for the money you pay. There's enough games to keep you entertained for several months and more.


1) ... Bundle stars - (also check the Bundle store)

2) ... Indie Royale - (check out the Daily Royale)

3) ... Indie Gala - (also check out the Gala Store and Gala giveaways)

4) ... Humble Bundle - (also check the Humble Weekly, Humble Store and Amnesia Fortnight)

5) ... Humble Bundle Devolver

6) ... Flying Bundle

7) ... Bundle Bandits

8 ) ... lazy Guys Bundle


9) ... Groupees (Shiny Loot 2, Clash of Worlds bundle),

10) ... The FREE Bundle

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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