downloaded and installed with Microsoft XP Home edition, service pack 2002. Ran fine, no glitches. Thanks for an entertaining game. :)

I like the Rescue Team games, and Alawar games too.
Thank you for this very good game!

I downloaded, installed and played the game. Loved it until...
I came to level 37. The game gets stuck at the beginning because
the aren't enough resources (either food or trees) to build a
bridge to continue the game. If you select one, the other stays
10 units short with no way to get more of that resource.

Hope you guys will fix this soon. I just so dislike to not finish
a game I like. :(

This is a fun game! I was hoping there would be a sequel to "Rescue Team".

Downloaded and installed with no problems am running Windows 7 Home Premium. This is a cute game not like the regular time management games,It moves along quite fast. I wouldn't rate it a ten myself but I think my kids will like this one alot. They will probably rate it higher than me.

Thank you GAOTD for posting a game today
wish you did game giveaways more often
But I do appreciate them alot when you do have something for us

I already own this game, so I won't be taking advantage of it today. But I just wanted to say that this is a fun introduction to Time Management games for people who don't like the "dash" type, where the characters are running around some restaurant or shop serving customers. The kids in my family enjoy playing this one - it is the 6 year old's favorite.

If this is as much fun as the first Rescue Team I'm sure I'll enjoy it, though I have the same complaints as #5 ...especially about not being able to queue tasks.

Regarding Bejeweled 3, the original Bejeweled and Bejeweled Twist are highly addictive (like eating potato chips, you can't just play for a couple of minutes and leave). But after getting Dead Space and Peggle earlier this year I deleted everything, especially the Origin bloatware installed with the games. It's not just their unnecessary software, it's the fact that you must allow that software to "phone home" EVERY time you start any of their games. Block it in your firewall and all you get is a splash screen with a notice "could not log in". I'll buy a used copy of their games on ebay before I'll allow that.


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

I've never liked Origin, but that's due to many problems I had with EA Games several years ago, so for a long time I tried to avoid buying their games as a protest; but that's like cutting off your nose to spite your face. I eventually had to install Origin because I really wanted to play one of my favorite games Battlefeld 3 and later Battlefield 4 as well as the latest version of Sim City and Syndicate, none of which can be played unless you have Origin installed. I've never had any problems since installing Origin, I don't get unsolicited emails and even though when booting up a game it phones home, that's just EA Games way of stopping thieves from stealing their products, thgey phone home to make sure the game is yours and not one that someone has tried to rip off. I don't like DRM, but I can see why it's been immplemented by many developers. Sadly games that are sold as DRM free end up being copied en mass by thieves who are the ones ultimately responsible for the development of DRM.

That said, we all have different views and if you don't like Origin, that's your choice. I personally love my games, so wouldn't do as you have done. If you ever do change your mind those games will still be tied to your account. :)

I've never ripped off a developer and have always paid for my games (with the exception of game giveaways and the occasional abandonware {most of which I've previously purchased on floppy discs back in the 80's and 90's}. It's a sad fact of life that if you want decent AAA games that developers have spent millions developing, DRM has become a necessary evil as there are many who would rather steal the game than pay for it. I don't see the harm in adding drm to protect their product (even though I do find it an annoyance).

I preordered Silent Hunter 5 about 4 years ago, but due to Ubisoft's drm I've not been able to play it for the last three and a half years because the email I used to set up the account (Ubisofts uPlay) was cancelled (it was a freeserver account - they just shut the servers down with no warning) and I couldn't remember my password. Ubisoft have been particularily awkward when I've tried to recover the account. I've since repurchased the game via another account as it was in a sale for 75% off.

I just downloaded, unzipped and installed this game on Win8. After creating a link to the desktop I started it - no problems.
For those who know games like "My kingdom for the Prinzess" ist seems a bit childish, but nice.
Thank you.

Mentally snarling frustration! I don't like mentally snarling frustration in my games.

To each his own, dude. I get that. But mentally snarling frustration reminds me of that guy Dexter who used to serial kill the serial killers on that TV show.

I'm more of a Doctor Who person myself. That's more unexpected intense success. Yeah, that's what I like in my games! GERONIMO!

I like the Rescue Team franchise, and while I have played through this version, I didn't have it. I am so happy that you and Alawar made it available for free. :-)

Oh, I love this series of games! I actually own them already LOL

First of all, this version installed fine on Windows 7 Home Premium, service pack whotheheckknowsbynow. It runs fine, no glitches.

First of all, it's Alawar. 'Nuff said there when it comes to quality and graphics, though it's not one of their higher quality offerings. This series is one of the really good ones and I like it. It has a good enough play that it's easy and everyone can figure it out without the tutorial, yet it's challenging enough that those of us who play them a lot are going to have a good time with it. I couldn't hit gold the first time through on some of the levels on the first island. That's pretty darned good as I usually can without a problem. It makes you think and plan out as it's not just go pick it up and move on. You come to realize you don't have to do things like break all the rocks to get through the levels. That takes time and replaying to figure out.

However, as good as it is, there are downsides.

First of all, you can't chain up the tasks. That's enough to make you mental. The next problem is related in that you have to wait for the workers to get all the way back to the headquarters to send them out again. We do not like this and it's enough to make you snarl. It's even worse that the playing field is sprawling, so you're doing a lot of nothing but waiting. In games like this, aggravation like that is not something you need.

Second is the workers. There just aren't enough. Unlike most games, you can't upgrade squat to get more workers. If they're available, you have to free them. With the wait time for them to get back to headquarters, this doesn't help the snarling factor. It's also the same for the rescuing people when it comes to the headquarters thing. For it to register you freed them, they have to run from wherever to get to headquarters to register you did. There aren't enough powerups to help you with this either, so you end up sitting there, snarling and going derp waiting. That's not good. If I wanted that kind of frustration, I would go play Megaplex Madness on the upper levels. >.<

Next is the inevitable; the sounds. On this one, the ambient music is great. It's soft enough and in the background that it's not annoying. Plus it isn't the kind that's distracting. The other sounds, however, need to go! First is the workers making noises. It's like someone on helium talking and not in a cute way. Then there is the doinks for so much. The doinks are annoying, folks! It doesn't help that it's the same doink for all kinds of things so you can't always tell what it's doinking about. Just say no to doinks, Alawar. They need to change up the sounds for different things rather than using the same ones. (No doinks, m'kay?)

All in all, this is a good game and is highly replayable for those of us that like them as it's more challenging than others. It just needs some tweaking to make it better.

Great giveaway and thanks again for a great game!

BTW, Rabbit? Origin is giving away Bejeweled 3. Someone, somewhere in the hierarchy of the gaming gods wants me to never do any actual work on the computer in giving out that one! That thing is highly addictive!

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

Hi DAMyst, thanks for the excellent feedback; it really makes up for me not posting a review today. :)

Also thanks for reminding me about the match three game. It's already been posted in the forums a few days ago. I added it to my Origin account as well as my daughters despite already having it on Steam.

There's also more free steam games available; check the forums for details. Bejeweled 3 is definitely worth having. I don't think it's as good as Treasures of mnontezuma, but it comes close. Love the voice over that reminds me of the character that played the false god in Star Treks Undiscovered Coutry; it adds some atmosphere to the game.

I'm not posting my usual review and game synopsis this weekend. I'm too dog tired at the moment.

For anyone that is interested in getting Bejewelled 3 you can get it via the following link:

https://www.origin.com/en-gb/store/free-games/on-the-house

You do need to have an EA/Origin account and install Origin to get the game. some say it installs to much rubbish on your computer,I say it's well worth installing if you like playing games. They have already given away several premium games since earlier this year including Battlefield 3, Dead Space, Plants and Zombies and Peggle and I reckon will be giving more decent games away over the coming months. Once you've installed the game via Origin, it's your to keep. Install to anew computer, the game will still be available to you.

This might have been fun, but the inability to queue up tasks when there are no workers idling in the base completely kills it for me.

Try http://www.kongregate.com/games/ultrarhea/robots-initiate-work-sequence for a game that does this right.

Unable to install this game on windows 8.1 x64

After extracting the archive using Winrar or PeaZip, and while trying to install the game, "archive is damaged" error is thrown. Really frustating :(

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

It works fine on my Win 8.1 x64 installation. Chjeck the FAQ's thread over in the Game Discussion sticky section. There's a possible fix for your problem. (Use a different file archiver like the one given away yesterday over on the applications side of the giveaway project).

Oh, yeah! I'm not a fan of Time-Management games, but I love the Rescue series: Rescue Team. Rescue Frenzy(given away here previously), and this Rescue Team 2; and even Rescue Team 3, which took a turn for the mercenary and is shorter in levels.

You never get timed-out, and more resources are added with time or parachuted in in case you run out of food, fuel, money, or building materials. You can go back and redo any level anytime if you want to get a better time award or more bonus money to repair your own damaged house (pfft!), and the little rescue guys are so cute that this is even fun for younger kids.

Also, the game loads quickly, and levels take less than 10 minutes each, so it's easy to do a couple of levels on a quick break.

Winner, winner! Get this! and thanks Alawar and GGOTD for the game.

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

Thank you for your feedback Mac :)

I may post my usual review later today, in the meantime:


Rescue Team 2 is an average sequel that doesn’t improve on the formula too much

Alawar’s Rescue Team 2 is the the newest addition to an ever-growing number of resource management titles. The goal is to rescue injured or threatened citizens and to rebuild large parts of a variety of islands that have been struck by a series of natural disasters. We definitely had some issues with its predecessor, and for the most part those flaws haven’t been addressed in the sequel.

Rescue Team 2 features 50 levels that are spread over three different islands. It should take the average player about four to five hours to complete. Depending on how quickly a level is finished, the player earns money that can be invested in recreating a part of Greenfield Island, which is similar to the house that had to be rebuilt in the first part of the series. There is also additional bonus money to be earned by certain achievements such as collecting a specific amount of wood or saving 100 citizens, but unfortunately those achievements are listed nowhere.

Compared to its predecessor Rescue Team 2 plays pretty similarly, although some minor elements from Rescue Frenzy have been added to spice things up a little. Fans of this genre will immediately know what to do even without reading the hints (although it has to be said that the game lacks a real tutorial for absolute newcomers). Most of the game mechanics and features are very familiar and the game definitely does not go out on a limb to challenge certain standards of the genre. Fortunately, the game is rather challenging without being over the top difficult – you often have to replay levels but in most cases it is pretty obvious what could be done differently for a better outcome.

Basically you distribute tasks to your workers such as removing obstacles, collecting resources, repairing buildings and constructing new structures. You certainly need resources to do anything and besides wood, food and gold you are also able to produce and collect fuel here. While wood is needed to build diners, houses and sawmills gold enables the player to construct a hospital which makes it possible to cure hurt citizens and workers to support your team. And in the end that’s all you do each and every level – collect some gems, cure a couple of citizens and remove some obstacles, that is all there is to it. Fuel is only needed in levels where a helicopter is required to put out fires or a boat that can rescue drowning citizens or retrieve resources from the sea.

The graphics and the general design of Rescue Team 2 are somewhat disappointing. The landscape is pretty stark and inanimate. Furthermore the three islands differ only very superficially but are far from being as distinguishable and beautiful as areas in games such as My Kingdom for the Princess 3. Moreover the goals of each level strongly resemble each other which, along with the graphic similarity, quickly evokes a feeling of “been there, done that”.

The biggest issue we had with Rescue Team 2 is that it’s still impossible to chain actions or give workers new orders in advance. While this is also more or less frustrating in similar titles, the lack of this feature is even worse with regards to gameplay here. It basically often feels as if you are either waiting for a resource to accumulate or there are too many tasks to be done at once. It also does not help that it is both not possible to train new workers or to upgrade existing buildings, which would have increased the depth of the game without a doubt.

All in all, Rescue Team 2 is a pretty average title that does not differ too strongly from its predecessor. While fans of the genre will without a doubt appreciate the solid challenge and the proven formula, the game definitely lacks in nearly all important areas, although not as much as to make the game really bad. The landscape would gain by more variety, and some new twists as well as goals would also be welcome, but all in all fans should still be entertained by this title.


Reference accessed HERE Sept 21st 2014