To get a feel for today's game giveaway - Monument Builders - Notre Dame before you decide to download it, do check out several game play videos HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

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Monument Builders: Notre Dame

In Brief

Monument Builders: Notre Dame is the fourth instalment of the Monument Builders Time Management franchise.

Installation:

Monument Builders: Notre Dame downloads to a 125 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper, the set up file and a read me). Those with multiple hard drives are able to save games on any drive they wish. The newly installed game is 267 MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed by the user if you prefer:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\Monument Builders - Notre Dame de Paris

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop; of which three can be deleted i.e. Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game which vary each week. Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure you uncheck the box when the additional tasks window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window)

Introduction:

With almost 200 years in the making, the grand cathedral in Paris inspires as one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. While many stand in awe of its magnificence, very few know of the dedication and passion it took to construct such a brilliant structure. Here's your chance to experience this great feat first-hand! Journey back to the Middle Ages and lead the construction of the iconic cathedral in this fantastic challenge. Break ground on the building site, construct quarries and improve the neighborhoods as you witness the structure rise from the ground. Build the gargoyles and bells, feed your workers, and meet key objectives. With great new graphics, unlockable videos, and even more exciting challenges than previous games in the series, Monument Builders - Notre Dame de Paris is the best Monument Builders game yet!

Reference accessed HERE. 14th October 2017

The Game:

Monument Builders: Notre Dame marks the franchise’s fourth installment, as time management fans have previously followed along with the construction of items like the Eiffel Tower and the Titanic. Now, we’ve traveled to Paris to help construct the Notre Dame, a grand cathedral that takes quite a few hours to build across the game’s rather slow levels. Notre Dame feels like a step backwards for the series, but it’s not altogether awful.

Monument Builders: Notre Dame features a few dozen levels, each asking you to balance the use of resources including stone, food, gold, and wood. Items are created in specific buildings/locations like quarries, farms, banks, and forests, and can then be manipulated into other items in the Workshop (wood can be turned into planks, as an example).

Each time management level will last the average player around five minutes, depending on the level’s tasks. Even though level layouts and goals do technically differ from one level to the next, it’s all still a very repetitive setup. Workers must be assigned to clear debris from the road, or to repair broken sections of path, while resources are spawned on the backs of donkeys, which must be clicked separately to lead them back to base where they’ll actually be collected.

It’s through this over-abundance of clicks that we hear the same few repetitive sound effects from the game’s workers, (that rapidly become extremely annoying), as they let you know they’ve completed a task and are ready to move onto the next. Donkeys walk slowly, and some buildings are so far from the base that it’s possible to have multiple bundles of items in limbo when you desperately need that last stack of stone or wood to finish one of the level’s required tasks.

Like previous installments in the franchise, Monument Builders: Notre Dame doesn’t actually let you explore the item you’re building. Rather, you’ll stick to the outskirts of Paris, creating items like wood planks and cut stone that will be sent into the city and actually used. The game’s map shows you a slowly progressing model of the Notre Dame, but very little detail is actually shown as you play.

Instead, the game relies more on text to offer educational details about the Notre Dame’s history before each level. The game’s mascot is also on-hand during actual levels, occasionally offering a pop quiz about the Notre Dame that will see you rewarded with materials in bulk if answered correctly. Unfortunately, these questions are rather obscure, and the bonuses are therefore hard to earn.

In addition, the game’s graphics haven’t been improved over previous installments, as donkeys and workers are more like colorful little blobs of pixels than defined entities. The music is slow, and mixed with the slow pace of gameplay, makes this one experience that I’m not afraid to admit sparks a bout of drowsiness.

It’s not that Monument Builders: Notre Dame is a bad time management game, as all of the elements we expect from the genre are there. However, the game isn’t very technically polished, and it’s so slow that it’s hard to really dive into the game for long sessions without becoming bored or tired. If you appreciated the gameplay in the previous installments, this might be worth your time, but those looking for a more refined time management experience should look elsewhere.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Brandy Shaul on Jul 12, 2013. Edited and briefly added to by Whiterabbit-uk 14th October 2017.

Other Reviews and Videos of Monument builders: Notre Dame:

You can see Big Fish community reviews of Monument Builders: Notre Dame HERE and more information in the Big Fish forums HERE. There are several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

Conclusion:

This monument franchise game is a typical Time Management building game which I found a little tedious and which lacked sparkle with respect to the graphics, for example the workers and animals featured in the game are rather blurry and there is no variation in the environments as you progress through the game; however, there is some educational details about Notre Dame that may be of interest to some, and for those new to this type of game, new features are introduced gradually so as not to overly confuse newcomers. If you enjoy the Time Management genre, you'll probably like this game. I won't score the game because I am a little negatively biased towards Time Management games. Apart from aspects such as the graphics it's well constructed and should give hours of gameplay to those dedicated enough to play the game the whole way through. :)

Suggestions:

After you've had an opportunity to play today's giveaway please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? If you don't have time to post a comment today, please do so at your convenience, thank you. If you wish to post a review or comment about the game at a later date, you can access the comments section by going to the game giveaways home page, then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Archives and select the date the giveaway was live (giveaway days are in bold type). This will open up the appropriate page for you to post your comment or review. Alternatively, you can google the name of the game and include Gamegiveawayoftheday in the search. This should give you a list of links to whenever this game was given away.

There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers new or fresh ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as better or more original mini-games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you. Maybe you think the graphics are a little dated and are in need of re-skinning, or maybe you've just had enough of the genre and want to see something different or something with more originality? Giving such feedback instead of saying nothing or just saying this game is rubbish or good may bring more developers to the site, which could mean more and better games. Would 'you' give away thousands of copies of a game (or extra content for a game) away to a community that complains all the time instead of giving useful feedback? It only needs a few moments of your time.

This site could be transformed if only the community would be more forthcoming in their opinions of the games they are getting for free instead of complaining about the way this site has changed, for example, they don't like MPC games, they hate HOG's, have had enough of Match Three and Time Management games, or they want to see the latest version of Call of Duty or some other big name AAA game given away or that they don't like Steam games. If something isn't for you then please move on to the next giveaway, or check out the forums HERE, HERE and HERE, where a few members of the community post details of various free games and free game sites as well as links to various indie bundle sites etc; you never know, you may find something that really interests you.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE; or If you prefer to purchase the game you can get it HERE via Big Fish Games.

If you like the Monument builders franchise you can also other games in the franchise either for free or paid for commercial versions HERE (Mount Rushmore), HERE (The Colosseum in Rome), HERE (The Eiffel Tower) and HERE (The Titanic), the first two from MyPlay City, the last two from Gametop. These are also available from other free game sites such as FreeGamePick and MyRealGames, though do make sure you uncheck the checkboxes when you start the installations. You can also get others in the franchise, though not free via other commercial game sites such as Steam and Big Fish; for example, from Steam, Alcatraz Builder HERE or a five pack featuring Alcatraz Island, The Statue of Libery, Mount Rushmore, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and New Yorks Empire State building. HERE and from Big Fish games, The Great Wall of China HERE, Big Ben London HERE and Cologne Cathedral, Germany HERE. You can see a list of all the Monument builders games with descriptions via a game review site HERE.

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting Monument Builders: Notre Dame to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted, for example, a common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced three years ago is that some community members installation of the game are blocked by their security because Themida code has been known to hide malware, (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not); so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though the files (i.e the setup, read me and setup.gcd files are actually totally free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. You could also try whitelisting the setup.gcd file. In the almost 11 years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Monument Builders: Notre Dame and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Monument Builders: Notre Dame doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and eslewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums).