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

I've added another 120 plus games to the list HERE, so, if you've already chosen from the older lists but would like to change any of your choices, you are welcome to. I will assume you are happy with the choices you have made by Wednesday 15th March this coming week and will then send you the Steam keys. if you wish to join me as a friend on Steam you can send me a friends request my Steam name is Whiterabbit-uk, though it would also be a good idea to let me know what your name is as I do have over 50 requests pending. I usually takes quite some time for me to check these, but if I know someone is sending a request specifically I'll look out for it. I've temporarily opened up my profile to everyone, though I usually only allow friends to post on my profile, for now anyone can, so you could message me via my profile HERE, and I'll check to see if you've sent me a request, or I'll send you one..

The following community members have won a key or keys for comments they have made over the last few weeks. Please check the thread HERE and list at least three games that you'd like. I will endevour to email them this week.

Torque - for Turtix 2: Rescue Adventures
Torque - for Sea Legends
Mavadelo - for Exterios plus other comments
JBurt - for Exterios plus other comments
JoeJ - for Exterios
JBurt - for Exterios plus other comments 2 keys as i owe from last year.
neme - for consistently posting comments weekly
tinyearl for Secret of six seas
Thomas Zwilling - for Secret of Six Seas
Lee C. - for consistently posting feedback
delenn13 - for consistently posting feedback
idluckyone - for Whispering willows
Mavadelo - for Old Clockmaker's Riddle
LittleMaggit - Old Clockmaker's Riddle

If you are getting sound Problems thanks to xilolee, we think it's the Open AL drivers that need updating. Read his comment below

Please only post comments about today's game giveaway; other comments either inappropriate, or not about today's game will be deleted at the moderator or administrators discretion; however a little light banter among community members and with the moderator to keep this a friendly place to visit is acceptable and welcomed. All comments not specifically about today's game giveaway will be judged by the moderator and if deemed not appropriate, will be deleted with no explanation. Please see the end of this review for further details about posting comments and links to the teams contact, moderation policy and the FAQ's thread, thank you.

I had to disable my security software to install today's game. Just to note, that this game is no longer available free directly from MyPlayCity and other free game sites. It was removed last week, so don't miss out on this excellent match three game that is well worth downloading today, even if you feel you've had your fill of match three's. The mini game match puzzles are particularly challenging, but for the faint hearted, you can skip them if you wish. :)

Old Clockmaker's Riddle

In Brief

A decent Match Three game

Suggestions:

Whether you like or dislike Old Clockmaker's Riddle please give some feedback about your opinion of today's giveaway, for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, and how it could be improved from your point of view. If you don't like this genre at all, please explain why. Would certain improvements change your opinion? There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers 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 or one word positive comments 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) to a community that complains all the time instead of giving useful feedback? At the very least it need only take 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 or that they don't like Steam games. If something isn't for you then move on to the next giveaway, or check out the extra's section at the end of this review; you never know, you may find something that interests you

MyPlayCity had this free some weeks back, but it appears to have been removed from their library as all reference to it has been removed. I did find a link by searching Google, but it just took me to MPC's home page. I couldn't find it free anywhere else, so if you miss today's giveaway the only way you can ge it is via one of the commercial sites such as Big Fish Games. You can buy it HERE. It costs £2.99. You could get a 10 day free trial over at Shockwave HERE then play the game over that period.

Installation:

Old Clockmaker's Riddle downloads to a 93 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 99.8 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\Old Clockmaker's Riddle

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop, three of which can be safely deleted (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:

Embark on a fascinating adventure in a world of magic through an ancient and beautiful town in Old Clockmaker’s Riddle. The town has fallen to a curse and is running backwards in time. Break the town’s curse by solving exciting puzzles and using bonuses to free the town’s clock tower, returning the town to its former beauty and splendor in this fun Match 3 puzzle game!

Reference accessed HERE. 2017

Main Features:

Over 50 stunning and colorful levels
Use magical items to free gems
Return the town to its former beauty

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Old Clockmaker's Riddle to work please visit the problems section, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find HERE

The Game:

Life in a quaint country village is normal and safe until the town’s massive clock tower suddenly stops working. With the clock tower gone, a magical force takes over the down, destroying buildings and forcing villagers to flee. Through a bit of coincidence, you’ll come across this town and will be encouraged to help restore each individual building before this magical curse can become permanent.

Old Clockmaker’s Riddle outwardly appears to be a standard match-three puzzle game, as you’ll complete levels by creating matches of three or more like-colored gems, but the gameplay itself is highly polished and comes with enough user-friendliness to be appropriate for both beginners and veterans of the genre. For instance, you can continue to make matches even while other cascades are still disappearing, and you can choose to play either with or without a timer, depending on your preference.

Each level is split into multiple rounds, asking you to collect a specific number of clock hands that have been placed on top of gems to move on. There are obstacles and bonus gems aplenty, as you’ll encounter pieces that can be swapped by frozen pieces. Frozen parts will simply fall to the bottom of the screen, and even locked pieces won’t move until a match is made containing them. Just as there are obstacles working against you, so too are there power-ups that help you out, like arrows that wipe out whole rows or columns of gems, lightning bolts, and bombs that remove small sections of gems.

Both these obstacles and power-ups occur in levels automatically (or sometimes when you make a match of four or more like-colored symbols), but there are even more bonuses that can be purchased using the gems you collect in each level. As you’re guided through gameplay by the only remaining villager in the game, he will often have new items for purchase, such as those that allow you to break a single gem that might be causing you trouble, give you the ability to automatically collect all clock hands currently on the screen and so on.

Since time is such an important factor in the game, you’ll need to work quickly to restore the entire town, before repaired homes once again fall into disrepair and require a second visit. Levels become lengthier and more difficult over time, as the amount of clock hands required for each stage becomes larger and puzzle levels are added at the end. These puzzle levels ask you to clear out a set pattern of clock hands using a limited number of gems that don’t respawn, but these puzzles can be skipped without great penalty if you’d rather not take the time to figure out the solution.

Throughout it all, Old Clockmaker’s Riddle comes with some very poor English grammar, which can sometimes make power-up functions confusing until you’ve actually used them. On the other hand, the town’s graphics are charming and downright cute, with plenty of orange trees and strands of lights giving off the feeling of a town in the middle of an autumn festival. Within levels, the graphics work well, with most gems being quite bright. The only problem comes with frozen gems, as it’s sometimes difficult to tell which color of gem is actually frozen underneath.

In Old Clockmaker’s Riddle, there’s a focus on item collection, but it’s not as difficult as in other games: you can collect clock hands regardless of their location on the board, and you’re given enough power-ups and boosts that the gameplay never feels unfair. With so many buildings to repair over the course of the game, we would have appreciated a bit more variety in the gameplay (longer levels can become a bit tedious in lengthy play sessions), but this is still a solid match-three experience through and through.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Original review written by Brandy Shaul on Jul 18, 2012 Edited by Whiterabbit-uk 11th Match 2017

Other Reviews and videos of Old Clockmaker's Riddle:

You can see community reviews of Old Clockmaker's Riddle HERE and more information in the Big Fish forums HERE

You can see some videos of Old Clockmaker's Riddle game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. You'll find a slideshow of almost 100 images HERE.

Conclusion:

I enjoyed playing this match three. The occassional special match puzzles were quite hard to solve, thankfully you can by-pass them if you get too stuck, or you can redo them until you solve them. I give this match three a 7.5 out of 10. good graphics and a back story that adds a little interest.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Old Clockmaker's Riddle and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games, in this case Steam keys.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find HERE.

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

If today's game giveaway 'Old Clockmaker's Riddle' didn't appeal, you may find other games either free or for less than the price of a cup of coffee via the 'Weekly Roundup of Game Deals' thread which I've posted a link to above, or HERE.

The free game over on Origin is now Siberia II. It is a third-person puzzle-solving game. Stylistically identical to the first Syberia, Syberia II improves upon the first game by introducing more realistic character animation. The game includes a recap of the first chapter, so does not require the player to have experienced the first game.. You can get it HERE. Please note that you do require the Origin game platform to be able to download and install the game.

You will also find lots of deals over on Green Man Gaming and Big Fish Games usually have 70% off the first game you buy from them, plus they also have other deals occasionally. Desura was purchased from Bad Ju Ju games last year by One Play. If you already have a Desura account you can read details of what is happening HERE. As yet you can't access games you previously purchased via Desura (I have around 1400), but One Play are working to recover everyone's accounts and hope to do so by the end of March 2017. Indie Royale will also resume on a weekly basis, though at this time I don't know if previous Indie Royale Greenlight bundles will be honoured? Alawar, Gamehouse and Playrix entertainment have free games available (usually online versions) and other game houses such as the AAA distributors Ubisoft and Origin always have some games on sale. I've updated the Weekly roundup of game deals HERE to include a large list of other sites where you can find games on sale ( e.g. Origin, uPlay, GreenManGaming etc, as well as links to free online games and other game houses such as Alawar, Playrix and Gamehouse plus gaming news sites such as Rock Paper Shotgun and Game Seek, and included a list of free to play Massive Multiplayer games such as World of Tanks, World of Warships, Liberators and Allegiance to name a few. For more details please go to the Weekly roundup of game deals over in the game discussion sticky section HERE.

There are 828 games on sale over on Steam at the moment, with up to 91% off. Game prices range from as little as £0.15p (most of these cheap games are actually cheaper in the UK than the US, so if you are a US citizen and have a UK friend, get them to buy the game for you). There are almost 200 games and dlc less than $1 and almost 250 for less than £1. You can find all of the deals HERE.

If you spend more than $3 in the Indie Gala store you'll also get a free copy of the old school anime rpg '200% Mixed Juice' worth $6.99/£4.99There's 60% off the enhanced version of Dying Light The Following, plus there are loads more deals with excellent discounts that you'll find HERE.

The Humble Bundle site has two excellent bundles plus their monthly package that is excellent value for money. A new monthly bundle has just gone live a few days ago. There are two game bundles, the Humble Jumbo 8 bundle plus the ArmA (Armored Assault) bundle that includes all versions of ArmA plus the original Operation Flashpoint which combined with it's expansions (Red Hammer and Resistance) was renamed ArmA: Cold War Assault for the 10th anniversary of the games release back in 2011 (The game was originally released in 2001). The ArmA franchise is my favorite FPS game ever. It's nothing like the run and gun FPS game slike Call of Duty. ArmaA is a tactical FPS game with realistic tactics and the last two in the franchise also look amazing, with large islands to explore as well as eaqsily created content through the level editor, plus literally thousands of extra missions downloadable directly from the Steam workshop or from the dedicated ArmA site Armaholics. ArmA 3 is amazing, but ArmA II is also brilliant despite being almost 8 years old. The Humble store features loads of discounted games (usually Steam codes). If you subscribe to the Humble Monthly, which costs $12 a month (or less if you choose various monthly plans) you not only get a large collection of decent Steam games you will also get for the first month of the subscription The Witness (worth £29.99), which was released last year (Jan 21016). The great thing is, you can cancel at any time, so only need to receive the first bundle of games. I personally haven't bothered, but only because I usually have already purchased most of the games included in the monthly bundle. The usual savings on the games you get are around 90%, not counting the introductory offer. There's also lots of games on sale over on the Bundle Stars and Indie Game Stand (IGS).

For those who missed out on the Alien Shooter 2 - Conscription giveaway from last month or Zombie Shooter from last October or Alien Shooter 2 - Conscription from last June or Zombie Shooter 2 from last May you can get six games from the series including Alien Hallway, Zombie Shooter 2, Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded, Alien Shooter: Revisited, Alien Shooter and Zombie Shooter for $1.49. HERE. Pay an extra $0.50 and get a second bundle to give to your friends. All keys are Steam based. This offer ends mid March. I may also have a surprise for you soon. ;) stores. Or you can join the competition to win a copy of Alien Shooter TD HERE.

Giveaway Team Contact and Moderation policy:

Continued from the first paragraph at the beginning of this review ........... I am posting this in light of the massive increase in negative comments not related to the game being given away, inappropriate comments and spam (Almost 700 spam comments were posted over a 24 hour period last month ) that have occurred over the past several months since the site was updated and in particular since the site started using Facebook, Twitter and Steam. This is a site that gives free games away, so it's quite shocking to see the number of negative and sometimes inappropriate comments being posted here, especially when they are not even related to the actual game that we receive. I always though getting something for free was a privilege/perk/treat/ and deserves at least some thanks or gratitude and cannot understand why we get so many negative comments that possibly turn away potential developers who would otherwise have given the project their games. Of course we have freedom of speech, but as mentioned in my review above, there are rules to posting in this comments section; even a free society requires rules and regulations to run properly, so please bear this in mind when posting a comment.

I believe if we get lots of decent feedback about the games we get here, more developers would be happy to give away their games. Seeing lots of complaints (and spam) instead of feedback about the giveaways will not persuade other developers to give their creations away for free, especially when they may have spent thousands of hours working on the creation. So please bear this in mind when posting your comments. Any comment not about the game for example complaints, or if deemed unfriendly or inappropriate, will be deleted (usually with no explanation) or added to the spam folder, which automatically black lists the IP address you used. Although I have enjoyed responding to many of those comments in the past, I will no longer waste my time answering comments from community members who should have read the moderation policy.

Negative feedback about the games given away will always be welcomed because they can also be very constructive for developers, however, complaining about the way the site is operating or problems about downloading or installing the games or about Steam keys not received should be directed to the giveawayoftheday team via the contact form (with evidence of completed tasks, the name and email you used to enter the competition, or giveaway). I've linked to the contact form HERE; alternatively, if the problem is game related and it is late in the day (I can't moderate 24 hours a day), please also post your issue in the forums where you may get a response from the community. All games given away here have been thoroughly checked using several anti malware suites to ensure a safe download and in the 10 plus years this site has been operating, there has never been a game infected with malware. If your security software flags an issue, it's probably the Themida code that is used to protect the game from hackers or sometimes the non invasive adware that MPC games use. Themida code can also be used to hide malware, so some security software's will automatically block anything with Themida code, even if it's absolutely safe to install. also other computer configurations (i.e. the way you have your computer set up) may have blocked the install. Often, such problems are related to your computers set up. i.e. your security may block the installation (for example quite a few game giveaways I've installed have been blocked by my copy of Zemana Anti-malware suite) Also please read the moderation policy which can be found HERE and if you do have a problem please check the FAQ's thread HERE. Thank you for reading.

FREE game offer from the moderator in exchange for quality feedback:

There were some winners from last weeks game giveaways, which I mentioned in reply to their comments. Given a couple away so far, but still waiting to hear from others.

I've posted a list of over 200 Steam games in the forums HERE and will be adding more as time permits over the coming weeks. It is quite an extensive list of games taken from the 10 000+ Steam keys I've collected over the last several years; all were either purchased by me, with some )only a few) received free for pre-ordering games on Steam, plus a few from entering competitions and other offers). There will be a limited number of other keys available, such as Origin, uPlay and Desura keys (Desura has recently been purchased following the original owners demise and should be up and running by the end of March). I will announce the winner's from the giveaway the following week. If no announcement is made, it means no one posted feedback that qualified for a free game that week. There were no winners from the previous two weeks, though I am still considering a couple of comments from last week. I will inform those community members if I decide they are worth a game by email. If you have won a game, I will also post details in the thread I've created specifically for that purpose HERE. Once I've given a key away, the game and any comments by the winner will be removed from the list the following week. I will assume if you don't reply within a few weeks you aren't bothered about a key. Please post your preferences (list at least 3 games in order of preference over in the forums HERE. Thank you. Happy gaming.)

Depending on the quality of the feedback, I may choose to award games to more community members for each game given away, 'at my discretion'. The feedback must be about the game, and it must include a couple of paragraphs of feedback following the guidelines I've posted in the suggestions section of my review. i.e. your opinion of the game, what you liked and/or disliked plus suggestions for improvement. If you choose a game that is very cheap I may give you a second game; so, when choosing from the list I provide, please list more than one choice. If a game is chosen by more than one community member and only one key is available the key will go to the one I deem the most useful. I do have multiple keys for quite a lot of the games I've listed, so, don't be put off if you see someone else has chosen the game you want. I haven't indicated any of the games I have multiple keys for (though for example I do have several keys for the excellent Western themed AAA game Call of Juarez, which i picked up for free for purchasing several games via the Indie Gala store several months ago. spending a few dollars got me a copy of the game, so I made several separate purchases over a couple of days while the offer was still live.

I do own at least three community members a game from the previous giveaways that I posted several months ago. I'd totally forgotten about those. I do have a document with their names on, so they will get a game from the original list when I find the document (I'm extremely disorganized); or they can peruse the new list and choose something different. Just post a comment over in the forums in the appropriate thread. If you do post feedback with a view to getting one of the games and think you have covered the requirements, you don't have to do anything until I announce the winners the following week.

Please remember, this comments section is mainly for feedback about today's game giveaway. If you're not sure, read the moderation policy, which you can see HERE