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

If you missed two recent giveaways i.e. Forge of Gods: Team of Justice Pack and the Mighty Party: Battle and Toads Pack they are available via the Daily indie Games site HERE

There are 50 000 keys available for free for Forge of Gods: Team of Justice Pack (DLC) available HERE and which usually costs £8.99/$11.99 though there's 50% off until tomorrow evening i.e. £4.49/$5.99

There are also 8.000 STEAM keys available for the free to play clicker game Mighty Party: Battle and Toads Pack (DLC) HERE. Usually costing £6.99/$9.99

For both deals you have to complete

Please only post comments about today's game giveaway; other comments either inappropriate, or comments with only one or a few words; for example good, thank you, TY, bad, rubbish, this game is ~%!£*? etc , or if the comment has nothing to do with today's game they may 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 inappropriate, will be deleted and usually with no explanation. Please see the moderation policy HERE for details about posting comments. If you are having problems installing the game check the FAQ's thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted; and 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

Rolling Spells

In Brief

Rolling spells has a vague connection to Pachinko games, so if you liked last weeks game Ghost Cleaner as well as the Peggle Games or Dachinko you’ll probably also like this game. It’s not really a pachinko game but the pins with movable platforms gives it a look of a Pachinko game; however, there the resemblance ends. Basically you have a steady stream of colored balls called spells falling from the top of the playing arena. You have to direct these into various colored containers that match the colour of the spells that are falling from the top of the board. Once you’ve created the Magic spell (which is made from a combination of spell ingredients) the level ends. Using the magic spells collected from the side areas of the gaming arena can significantly help your progress.

Suggestions:

Please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback about Rolling Spells; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved from your point of view. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? 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 takes 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, they don't like MPC games, they hate HOG, have had enough of Match Three and Time Management games, 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 via Big Fish games HERE. It usually costs £7.70; but, if you are a new subscriber to BFG you can get it at a discounted price of £2.99/$2.99. You can also get the game from Gametop.

Installation:

Rolling spells downloads to a 94.1 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 97.6 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\Rolling Spells

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:

Rolling Spells was given away previously almost 2 years ago on the 16th April 2011. It received a positive 68% out of 270 votes with 44 comments which can be seen HERE then again on the 24th Feb 2013 HERE where it received a positive 68% out of 272 with 20 comments, then finally on the 1st Sept 2013 where it received a positive 51% out of 319 votes and 8 comments HERE

Rolling Spells offers you the new and original game play, bright graphics and intriguing plot. The action takes place in the Fairyland that has been invaded by a strange creature, the mighty Elephly. And you’re the one, without whom the Good Fairy would never be able to defeat him. It’s only your skill and smartness that can help the Fairy to prepare magic potions and defeat the Elephly and his cunning companions. You’ll have to pass through 35 levels and fight with eight original monsters. A detailed adventure map and useful tips from the Fairy are always there to help you not to get lost. The map allows you not only to see the way you’ve already passed, but also check out how it has been passed. For each victory, you’ll get a prize – gold, silver or bronze. Although true heroes would content only with gold! Therefore, having taken a rest, you can re-pass the level and get the highest scores. Besides the map and Fairy’s tips, there’s also the indispensable “Book of Knowledge”. This short encyclopaedia will help you to remember how this or that spell works, how you can get a prize, what you should do and what you should fear. Well, happy trails! Defeat all the monsters, set the Fairyland free and get all the golden prizes!

Reference accessed HERE 11th April 2011

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

Some community members did have issues running this game back in 2001. Mike comment no 6, GMMan comment 21, Jibaro comment no 24, nanex comment 30 (if you have problems with audiere.dll). Also if you're using XP, then make sure your Direct X is up to date. (You can't use DX10 or 11, only DX9.0c which you can get from Microsoft if needed)

The Game:

There are two modes, Adventure and Survival. In adventure mode you use a map to follow a path through the kingdom, fighting various boss monsters on your way. Survival mode is basically a never-ending level that only ends when you’ve lost your lives. You lose a life when you miss placing a spell ingredient into the correct container. This has to be unlocked by finishing the first 10 levels from Adventure mode. You can replay any level in Adventure mode so long as it’s been unlocked first.

There are three levels of difficulty; easy, normal and hard, that can be selected via the buttons (left and right arrows) just below the players name. You can set up multiple profiles which makes this a great family game because you can allocate a profile to each family member and progress will be saved for that particular profile.

The settings menu is very basic with sliders to adjust the volume of music and sound effects plus toggles for changing the game from full screen to windowed mode (the game starts off in full screen by default). You can also toggle the game cursor back to a windows cursor if you wish.

There are 35 levels in the Adventure mode roughly divided up into 8 sections. Each area ends with a boss fight, which differs from the main game in that you have to direct a pink ball onto the monster associated with that level. To make the boss fight more difficult the boss moves along the bottom of the board and you have to work out where the boss will be when the ball gets to the bottom. you can hold balls on the platform by clicking on the platform until you wish it to drop; however, if another ball touches the ball you are holding, both balls are destroyed.

You can earn Bronze, Silver or Gold awards for each level which will show up on the map as a coin placed over the level marker. There are also several awards which can be accessed from the main menu or from the playing arena if required. These awards are separated in to Bronze, Silver and Gold categories, include not losing a life during a level, killing 10 bees or getting a specific number of the same ingredient into the correct container during a level as well as others.

At the start of the game you are given a short tutorial that talks you through all the new steps (which you can see via the slideshow that I’ve posted below).

The playing arena is made up of rows of movable platforms that pivot on a central pin. Clicking on a platform will turn the platform to the right or left enabling you to direct the falling spell ingredients to the correct container, or occasionally to direct a gold coin onto one of the golden pointers which unlocks a useful spell that helps you attain certain objectives. There are six golden pointers, each containing a magic spell. Once accessed a spell is stored at the bottom of the playing arena until needed, at which time you just have to click on it to use it.

You can see what each spell does by looking at the book of knowledge which is accessible via the book button above the life indicator (to the top left of the playing arena). You have three lives to start and you can store up to four spells at any one time. If you want to collect different spells you will have to use one of the spells filling the four containers. Some examples of spells include the mallet which can be used to remove ice from the platforms. Ice can be annoying because it freezes up the movement of the platform making it impossible to change the direction of the falling ingredients until the ice has been passed; there are different strengths of mallet, the weakest of which will only free one platform and the strongest which frees all the frozen platforms. . Another spell, called ‘Collect all Red spells’ will move all falling red spell ingredients immediately to the red container. apart from platforms freezing you will find other obstacles appearing such as bees who steal the ingredients as they fall, and which you get rid of by clicking on them a few times. As already mentioned, whenever something new appears you will be given instructions on how to cope with it.

Other Reviews & Videos of Rolling spells:

You can see community reviews of Rolling Spells HERE (Bottom of the page). You can see a slide show of around 50 images, that include all the initial instructions on how to play the game HERE and you’ll find videos of game play HERE, HERE (survival mode), and HERE, (there are two videos accessible from this page, one of which is a boss fight).

Conclusion:

This is an entertaining game that should keep the whole family happy for short periods. I don't think it's a game you could spend hours playing as there's not a lot of variability in the actual game mechanics and it does seem a little slow; that said if the falling spell ingredients fell any faster I reckon you'd be hard pressed to complete past the few levels following the 2 level tutorial. I thoroughly enjoyed what game play there was (I love Pachinko based games), but I rarely play arcade games for more that 10 to 15 minutes at a time as I use them to give me a break from bigger titles like ArmA 3, Battlefield, Call of duty, The Elder Scrolls Online and my favorite rts franchise Total War (especially Shogun II). The overall look of the game is quite professional and fairy-tale cartoon in style and more importantly, it plays well. You can change the music 'if you wish' by swapping the music files via the following path.

C:\Program files\MyPlayCity.com\Rolling Spells\Music

You will need to rename each file and convert them to the .ogg format. (I suggest backing up the original files).

Instructions on how to play the game are clear and concise. I reckon there’s also quite a lot of re-playability in this game due to the different difficulty levels and the various awards that can be attained plus the ability to go back and replay unlocked levels so as to improve on your score and perhaps attain a silver instead of bronze or better still a gold award. There are also incentives to carry on if only to win the various awards that are available. It’s quite a simple game with some variability (via the boss levels) and it has some original ideas (as far as I can remember from the many thousands of games I've played over the last 30 plus years.....I've been buying games since 1980), so I think this game is worth a reasonable 6.6 out of 10. (The audio lets it down somewhat, but if you are really bothered by the music, you can change it). :)

Scoring:

⦁ Game play – 7
⦁ Graphics – 6
⦁ Audio – 5
⦁ Re-playability – 7
⦁ Originality – 8

Total = 6.6

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Rolling Spells 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:

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.

The rest of the information that used to be posted here can be found in the forums HERE. Don't forget, if you have an account with DOT.emu, you need to download any games you have before June, when the site closes permanently. Finally, check out Delenns thread over in the forums HERE. There are games available for free, some of which are limited to the number of free keys available.

For those who like Pachinko like games, there are quite a few related games available, mostly android, which probably means you can get them for a few dollars or less each. There are some PC based ones as well (I've linked to PC based ones). Here's a list of similar games: I highly recommend Dachinko (Playway), Moleculous (Game Circus LLC) and the free version of Peggle, Peggle Extreme (PopCap), as well as the other two Peggle games (Peggle and Peggle Nights, both of which can now be purchased as the Deluxe version. The android based games are: Kachooly (inteligang), Frozen Free Fall: Icy Shot (Disney), Super Peg World (Spaceware), A Riveting Universe (Jelly Smeared Games Inc), Peggy 2 (?), Pearl Pop: Arcade Shooter (Tapps Games), K3Y (Legacy Games), Wonderball Heroes (Moon Active), Viber Wonderball (Viber Media S.a.r.l.), Peg Popper (Paul Klemstine), Pegland (?),PegGoo Pop (Gentleman Rat Studios), Papa Pear Saga (King). Most are android releases apart from the first three, and you can play all three free either ass a free download via Steam, or as flash versions, or you can google to purchase them.