Prayers for your daughter Wr.


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

Thank you Wolfprinter. Its been a hard day. Had to sit with her for most of the day. Hence the time its taken to moderate. Thankfully shes asleep at the moment.

My brother suggested I might like this website. He was totally right.
This post actually made my day. You cann't imagine just how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!

Downloaded and installed well. This is a fun breakout style game although a bit short. I was able to beat it fairly easily. I really liked the wearing down of your armour. I don't play a lot of breakouts so this was the first time I've seen this.

I haven't played a brick-buster in years. I almost didn't download this one because I figured I was 'past' the genre, now. I decided to give it a try anyway, and haha!...boy was *I* wrong; played a couple of rounds (losing both), and thought "sheesh, so much for being past brick busters". One thing I found was I was glad I chose to play the Easy rate; was pretty fast shooting for the play-rate. Any faster and I wouldn't have been able to keep up...lol.

BTW, I d/l and installed on a Windows 7/64 bit, with no trouble. I also saved a shortcut to my desktop, since it didn't offer that option upon installation, as most software does.


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

Thank you for your feedback RosnSC. I think many developers think that breakouts are thing of the past, but I think if they started to release more breakouts especially with innovative features the genre would take off for quite some time

Why this download is 14,5 MB ?
I found thsi game for free on other sites with about 9,3 MB?
i.e.:
http://www.computerbild.de/download/Sawoid-2254847.html


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



Because the giveaway version includes a wrapper and the game. What's more important is the final install size which is 25.2MB.

Хорошая игра, дети играют, нравится, да и сам посидел часок, вот что мне не понравилось, уровень необходимо проходить за раз, возможно так задумано. Спасибо!


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

Translated using Google:

Good game, kids play, enjoy, and he sat for an hour, that's what I did not like the level required to pass at a time, perhaps as intended. Thank you!

Спасибо за ваше мнение Belazer.

Okay, gave it another try and played through to the end. Don't know if the developers look at this, but some suggestions and a bug:

Some of the blocks, whether they be crates, ships or any other thing to be destroyed, would be invisible. Its shadow would show, but the object itself would not. It would still need to be destroyed and still gave power-ups, but it was invisible.

Twice I got stuck, once in a portal loop (teleporting between two portals over and over again), and once between two metal barriers that the saw couldn't destroy. Had to "save and quit" both times to get out of it, and start the level over.

I'd recommend the power-ups have either a time limit or limited use. Too many times I got stuck with the magnet and the slowest speed for the saw, trying to take out two or three blocks. I like that the hand of god would come to smite the last three blocks, but it was taking FOREVER to get to that point with slow speed + magnet.

Finally, at the end: This is mostly just something humorous since I don't think it will ever be changed, but the wording at the end was noteworthy. First, it announced "adventure be completed", like a pirate. The next sentence after that went "this raid in the enemy's rear will go down in history" and then reminded you that the ship's name was Violator...

I laughed, but I'm not exactly a model of maturity. Tee hee.

The physics aren't right, but was able to get used to it eventually. And now I really won't play it again @comment#5. It's really short and the suggestions from others are good.





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


Hi Amanda, thank you for the feedback; it was much appreciated. w.r.t. the invisible blocks, they may have been included as part of the game. I've played other breakouts that had invisible blocks. Haha, maybe the developer had a sick sense of humor. :)

It's fast approaching 4 a.m. here in the UK and I desparately need to get some sleep now, otherwise I won't be in any fit state to moderate tomorrows game, (which incidentally is going to be one of the more popular games we get. I've been under the weather since yesterday; so I won't be moderating again until around the last 15 to 30 minutes of the game giveaway. Please continue to post feedback, be it positive or negative, I will leave any replies that are necessary before the giveaway finishes.

I'll endevour to get back a little earlier just in case there are community members requiring advice. In the mean time, if you do have problems installing, registering or playing the game please check the FAQ's section over in the game discussion forums HERE.

I've also created a thread specifically for Sawoid (it was originally a copy of the review which was posted over a year ago). I'd post any queries, problems or suggestions about the game HERE, especially once the giveaway has ended.








By this time, with only 4 hours to go before the game giveaway changes over to a new game, it's less likely that the majority of the community will see your post. Don't delete the game until you've posted a request for help over in the forums and here and seen some feedback. Hopefully we will be able to help. :)

WOW! WOW! I can't believe this! No false gushes really. I got this the last time it was here, got half way through it and then my hard drive bit it. I finally got up and running again and have been waiting for this to show again. I know a few of the offerings at GOTD are run again. And maybe I'm over reacting in a few of the peoples eyes here but this has really been a suck-a** day for me. And now this. This re-offering has just thrown the rest of the day out the window. Thanks so much for re-running this again. Believe me when I say I really appreciate it more than any of the poster here today!!! Thanks again! J


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

Nice one Jody, glad you're so pleased. :D

I for one am glad the giveaway team do re-post these games,. Partly for the reason you mention above, that is, for whatever reason, you lose the game to a hard drive crash, a Windows re-installation (though for many giveaways you may find the games still work so long as you still have them installed) and for those new to the game giveaway project. I'm sure there are newcomers to the project every week. ;-)

I used to be addicted to breakout games but as game designs progressed and many new genres were added, I haven't played one in years in favor of the newer games.

I enjoyed playing Sawoid today and found that my interest in breakouts has been rekindled. Looks like I'll be going through more titles on MyPlayCity over the next day or two :D

Installed flawlessly on my Win7 machine, though I had to create my own shortcut - no biggie though. The graphics are definitely 'older' but it doesn't hinder the enjoyment of the game - at least it didn't for me. That said, the muted colors could be brightened considerably and would enhance the game visually.

Audio was satisfactory.

The physics are funky, meaning that I had to get a little creative with the saw. Once I worked out how much it was out, I managed to work it 'accurately'.

Like others I would love to see some variation in the game, with Boss levels and perhaps some kind of mini game every now then. A story line is not important to me, since I often skip them anyway. I don't want to read, I want to play the game! ;)

Thank you Wabbit (xx) and the other mods for their continued maintenance of this site by giving up their valuable time. If only the software side could run as smoothly :/

I'd also like to thank Star Ashes for their free offer today and GGotD too.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! :)
~ Swan

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


Thanks Swan, I also to used to love breakouts. in fact apart from space arena shooters they were the only arcade games I played several years ago; building up quite a large collection which I feel like revisiting now. I started to play other genres and consequently sort of lost my enthusiasm for breakouts for a few years. I never really got into Time Management games, finding them a little tedious, though I do like the Farm Frenzy type games. I do wish they would release more breakouts; they seem to have become rather scarce over the last few years, with only a few that I know of being released i.e. Shatter and another one from Alawar called Mega World Smash that was released about 3 moths ago (a Magic Ball clone with strains of Strike Ball)

Says the time limit for the offer is already up...it's 6:43pm EST on 5/19/2012.

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

Check your clock. Make sure it's been synced with the time server. There should still be a little under 6 hours to go

Got this game last time from gotd and Stars Ashes!
Good game! Kind of amused at moderator statement above -
You can also download today’s game every day
for free over at Gametop, while Stars Ashes who donates
this game says - The program is available for $9.95, free today!
Kinda shooting star ashes down??? Good game though! LOL!!!


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

Hi Dido, not really. The free versions do have additional elements that for many would stop them from getting the free version; for example, being forced to install toolbar's (Gametop) or having to un-check boxes every time you want to play the game (MyPlaycity).

The giveaway version is a better option than those from the freeware sites, but if for whatever reason community members miss today's giveaway or cannot get the giveaway version to work, (usually some incompatibility issue or settings issue), they at least still have an option to get the game.

Granted I mentioned the free version at the beginning of the review today. I don't usually mention them till after the conclusion to the review. Was too tired to change the review, which was adapted from the last time this was given away.

Plays well on Win 8 CP. Yes the physics are off. Developer study the old game of pong and use those kind of paddle ball movements. Do like the idea of level editor.


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

Thanks for the feedback re: Win 8. Do you think there's enough changes to Win 8 to warrant purchasing it when it's released in October? I don't seen to have had Win 7 that long (2 years at most as I wasn't keen on changing initially) and Win 7 was certainly a big improvement over XP and Vista.

Same issue as #14, Win 7 64 bit here (all software and drivers are up-to-date), tried windowed and full screen mode and various resolutions. Installed with no errors. Starts up with no errors. Able to access and set the options. Click play, get the Bonuses screen and can't do anything else. Mouse doesn't work (pointer isn't even visible), have tried every key I can think of. does take me to the option screen too. I did not have a prior version of the app installed. I am new to this type of game and wondering if I'm missing something? Unfortunately, the "help" with the game is not very helpful. Would suggest the devs spend some time improving the help section and providing usage instructions.




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


Thanks for the feedback Deb; perhaps you could try the free version I've linked to to see if that does the same. That would show whether it's the giveaway version that is at fault. Please e aware of the possible hassles regarding toolbar's, home page hijacks and browser changes that can occur if you don't un-check the tick boxes when installing games from MyPlayCity & Gametop.

Hopefully another community member may come up with a fix.

Oh yeah, did you try compatibility mode, disabling visual themes and scaling options? Al available by right clicking on the games executable and selecting compatibility. :)

Game worked great on first try.

Nice take on Outbreak. I had a couple of close calls to complete death (0 lives) and there were enough lives given to keep me going so the balance seems great to allow games to keep going.

The graphics are pretty good and the explosions and guns are definitely a nice touch.

I would have liked to be able to define my own controls, however. And perhaps introducing bonus stages or some other mechanic to break up the monotony.

Over all, I'd say the game was decent, but not great.


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


Thank you for your valuable feedback.

Downloaded but I am having problems with the 1600X1200 32bit or 16bit resolution. I get a directx error. I can play it at other resolutions. The game play is like other breakout but I can't tell what the power ups are doing. I know you get a screen that tells you at the start but you would think you could see the difference once you get the power up. I can't. I like the idea of the barriers. It is nice to see something different other than bricks looking a little different. I found that you as the "bouncer" are so big that you lose much of the bottom of the screen. I would like a little "bouncer" so you have more room to play with. This game does have potential. It has a good theme and the developers could have a better game then they have now. I will keep it since because of the different look of the barriers. There are better ones out there but this has one advantage... It is free today.



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


Thanks for the feedback. Try re installing Direct X

This seemed to install OK on XPx32, and the initial screens with options work OK, but after I click Play, I can do nothing more. The mouse works OK until I click Play, and then a screen shows the Bonuses and I can do nothing more. The mouse does not work on that screen, and I cannot get any keyboard key to work either (except Esc. returns me to the options screen where the mouse does work). Maybe I just have not figured out how to begin the game? Any suggestions?? Thanks!

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

Try changing the screen resolution. If that doesn't work, hopefully someone else may be able to suggest a fix. Check out the FAQ's section over in the Game Discussion forums, you may find a fix there? ;-)

Played prior offer Ok Win 7 x64 Ultimate full screen. As mentioned not bad so 7.5/10 for a freebie. Thanks for another shot at it.

A little while ago you gaveaway a breakout game STARS ASHES INCINERATE. that was ok. This one becomes repetitive and the changes are scarce. Do you remember space invaders and asteroids? space invaders was repetitive. Asteroids took a bit more effort. The movement here is very limited. It may be fun for a small child, but for someone over 14 then it's way too boring. I'm 39 and lot of the people playing AOE3 online are roughly 15 years old or the ones I seem to be playing against. This is only my opinion.

…………………….Moderator comment…………………….

Thank you for your feedback Paul. It's appreciated that you took the time to reply to my reply to your previous comment. I disagree about how it could be boring for anyone over 14 though. I know several users who like this game and that includes me. Plus there has already been nearly 20 thousand downloads since this was first given away 2 years ago. I doubt all of those found it boring. The positive/negative vote reflects this.

That said it's definitely not the best breakout by far and could be much improved if only a few of the suggestions I made above (see Dexter Morgan's comment) were implemented. That said I appreciate your feedback; no game would ever get a 100% positive vote. (I play a whole range of games every day from Battlefield 3, Call of Duty 8 (MW3), Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Need for Speed: The Run, Total War: Shogun 2, Alan Wake, Assassins Creed, Mass Effect 3, Dragonage 2, Fallout 3 & New Vegas, Red Orchestra 2, Risen 2, Portal 2, , Crysis 2, well.... virtually every AAA game that's released onto the PC (apart from football and World of Warcraft))

By the way I like Age of Empires III as well but prefer the Cossack's series more; which has similar game play, but is restricted to about 200 years of history. :)

I checked today's files against the last version and the EXE is the same, and the net file sizes identical.


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

Thanks. ;-)

Stars Ashes, again. If you look at their page on GGOTD, you can see that a pattern is starting to form. It looks like Stars Ashes has reached "filler" stage, where even Fly Games (aka Media Research Group), the old "filler" before 2009, only has planned appearances.

@Whiterabbit, 4: The Previous Versions tab is a Windows feature that's a bit like Mac OS's Time Machine. It's not exactly a version tracking system, but it'll work if you install the same program to the same folder all the time.


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

Thanks GMMan I'd thoght as much. I've become a little lazy in my research. Been too distracted with games for the past few years. :)

How many times will be the same games?


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

Probably until we are totally out of the recession and when developers recognize this site as a potential source of quality feedback. In the final analysis it's really up to the community to come back with excellent feedback be it positive or negative as well as good suggestions for what they would like to see in a game

I really do believe this site has that potential as we have at least a 20 thousand plus strong community at present; if only 5 - 10% of those would spend a little time reporting back on what they liked and disliked, and where they though the game could be improved we'd have more developers willing to part with their pet projects. Theres a massively growing Indie community out there, an untapped resource that would bring in some superb and unusual games that would delight and inspire the community. As it is, barely 0.1% usually bother to give any form of feedback depending on what the game is. To those that do take the time (and you know who you are), I send a big appreciative thank you for the time you've taken out of your busy lives to give feedback.

I'm sure there are those that aren't sure what to write, or think they are incapable of writing anything useful. If you aren't up to writing a few paragraphs then a list of ideas that you'd like to see in a particular game would suffice. You could write a list of Pro's and Cons with a list of suggestions to follow. You really don't have to write copious amounts of well constructed English.

for example for today's game you could post the following:

Pro'sl>

1) ... Colourful
2) ... Plenty of Power ups
3) ... Replayable


Con'sl>

1) ... No version number
2) ... Ball Physics need to be more realistic
3) ... Every level looks similar. Different combinations of the same bricks. Have totally different looking levels every so often

Suggestions/Ideasl>

1) ... Improve the ball Physics
2) ... Add more power-ups for example different types of gun such as a rail gun and homing missiles
3) ... Include a selection of different ball shapes that react differently when hit by the bat
4) ... Crete different shaped bats. (maybe these could be influenced by power ups
5) ... Include a levels editor (always a good suggestion) - if a levels editor was included you could suggest the developer creates a page for owners of the game to upload their creations for the community to share.(much like you can with Ricochet Infinity and two earlier versions of the game)
6) ... Include a variety of moving targets that when destroyed give extra bonuses
7) ... Include end of level bosses
8 ) ... Perhaps include a story line that continues throughout the game.
9) ... Include mini games and secret levels as well as levels within levels The latter two could be accessible only under certain conditions. This would extend the re-playability of the game
10) ... Include 2D levels as well as the usual 3D
Include one of those space ships that occasionally runs along the top of the arena; when you manage to hit it you get an extra large bonus
Include the ability to select which power ups you want to come into play. you could select the frequency and the strengt or how long they are likely to last (for examples in the case of rockets increasing the number of rockets you get with each power up.
11) enable power ups to be carried over to the next level
12) include a power up such a a force field that stops you losing your ball. This could also be cumulative, so if you catch two or more force field power ups they would appear as separate fields. Once hit each force filed will dissipate.
13) ... Be able to upgrade power ups
14) ... Awards for not hitting the sides of the arena, that is ball from bat to bricks back to bat to bricks etc.
15) ... Awards for only collecting specific types of power up. when you've attained one award then move on to the next type of power up till you've earned several different awards. this could unlock a totally different type of breakout game that lasts for a couple of levels then reverts to the original game play.
16) ... Create different environments every several levels. Each change of environment could be heralded by a big boss.

There are so many other ideas that could be put forwards

I've played hundreds of breakouts so can come up with literally scores of different ideas that would improve on each breakout I've played..

Like the Wabbit, I too enjoy these types of games although I don't have nearly the quantity that he has. This is a pretty good one, I would probably rate it a 6.5 out of 10. Funny thing is that when I went to install it today I discovered that it had already been installed from the previous giveaway. I'm pretty sure it's the same version as before. When I started the extraction process it asked me if I wanted to replace a file that had the exact same date and time, 1/14/2008 at 5:31 PM. Anyway, at least it was a reminder that I had the game and could play it some. :)

Thanks to the developer and GAOTD.


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

Thank you for your feedback Randy

Got it from the last GGOTD for this game. And I still got it installed.
I can agree with you Stephen, about it being easy to beat, BUT its a great game nevertheless, and it looks good also.
Challenging, yet simple. A good game for those liking these kind of games.


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


Thanks for your feedback.

I got this game before and I heve enjoyed it very much. Thanks GAOTD. However I assume that this is the same game as before.
It is good that some good stuff comes back over some time.
Enjoy you day!

Quick install on Vista 64-bit. Microsoft Essentials wanted info sent about it, who knows what that was about.

The graphics look a lot like a few of their other games, but I guess that's okay. It's clean and simple, but with enough detail to be interesting. I really like the look, but would like to see some variation between their games.

I like the 3D crates and things to be destroyed. The power-ups are pretty standard. The options are simple and useful.

I've played quite a few of these types of block buster (or whatever you'd call them) games and for this one, my main problem is that the physics seem off. I have a good idea of which way the ball/saw should go when I hit it at an angle, and more often than not, the saw didn't go where it should have.

Also, I hate the name. "Sawoid" is awkward to say. Picky, picky!

So, it looks nice, I like the idea, but need to work on the physics. I probably won't play it again.


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

Thank you for your feedback.

Virtually every game I've started over the last couple of weeks has done the same thing with essentials. I think M.E. has been updated.

Sawoid is a great game and extremely addictive. (At least to me!) However, I am confused as to whether this offering is an upgrade, newer version, etc. I originally downloaded Sawoid from GGOTD in September 2010. But the executable file from today's giveaway is actually older (6/4/2010) than the executable file from July 2010's giveaway (7/4/2010). To make things even more confusing, the data folders under today's giveaway are dated as newer than the same ones from the 7/2010 giveaway. It is a very confusing mix of older and newer dates. I just over-wrote the 7/2010 version and I don't see a version number, so I have no idea if this is a newer version or not. Either way, it's still a great game!

I would like to suggest that in the initial games giveaway admin summary, state if the game is a repeat, a newer version, the same, or if you don't know. The creators of games do a great job, but they are also notorious for fixing bugs without issuing new version numbers. But hey, we are getting great games for free!
Thanks to the admin of Games GOTD for the great job keeping us stocked with really great games!


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

Hi Robert,

Right click on the executable, select properties from the drop down menu, then click on the previous versions tab. I'm not sure whether this information pertains to whether you've physically upgraded a program that was previously installed on your computer or whether it does indicate whether the file does have updates. But it may give you a clearer idea; especially as you overwrote the previous version. (You can also sometimes find the version number by clicking on the Details tab).

I don't have previous version son this computer as it wasn't built when Sawnoid was previously given away. I'll check my other computers later as I will still have the original giveaway installed on at least one of them. Feeling under the weather so have only just managed to moderate since posting my review nearly 4 hours ago as i went back to bed. I would have slept longer but one of my children needed help with some maths revision, so they shouted in my ear, lol.

Installs easily and quick, BUT! I played it for 5 min. What a boring game. This is a computer version but Pinball is more fun. Thumbs down FLOP.

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

Hi Paul,

Can you tell us why you think it is boring, or is it that you just don't like breakout games?

Is this the same version that was given away in 2011? A simple mention of the version number would be a huge help to hundreds, maybe thousands of us. Too bad we had to spend time trying to find this information and not finding it.

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

These arcade games are rarely updated, so I would think it's the same version as previously given away. The downloaded file is exactly the same as te previous giveaway last September.

Sawoid was created by Stars Ashes, the developer who also created two other familiar breakouts called Egyptoid and Egyptoid 2, as well as a shooter called Incinerate. All have been given away previously and are now available for free via Gametop, as is today’s game. :). Sawoid was previously given away back in July 2010 where it received a positive 47% out of 213 votes with 35 comments then again Feb 2011 when it received a positive 72% of 350 votes with 45 comments and finally September 2011 where it received a positive 65% from 306 votes with 34 comments; all of which you can read HERE (July 2010), HERE (Feb 2011) and HERE (Sept 2011) . You will need to click on the view all comments link to see all the comments. Don’t let the relatively low number of positives put you off this game. It’s actually a well-made breakout with decent graphics that was released about 3 years ago.

The download size is 14.5Mb which when installed expands to 25.2MB. The game unpacks to a dual setup and activation module and a read me file. There is no activation code required as it is automatically activated via the dual activation/setup module. The default installation path is:

C:\Games\Sawoid



There is no shortcut installed or a start menu shortcut. If you're not sure how to create the latter, there's a short tutorial available in the game discussion forums. You'll find it easily as it's in the stickies on the front page of the gaming forum.

The game works on Win XP Pro 32 bit, Vista Home Premium 64 bit and Home Basic 32 bit and Win 7 Pro and Ultimate 64 bit. (these are just the iterations that I personally have, the game should work on all versions)

I've checked to see if there is a version number but cannot find one. The downloaded file and the installed game were both the same as the previous giveaway, so I can only assume that this is the same version. right clicking on the executable, selecting properties then checking details and previous version tabs gives no information as to whether it is an upgrade.

Storyl>:

You volunteered to be assigned to the VIOLATOR ship. Your objective is to conduct a raid into enemy territory and destroy the troop supplies. For this particular long-term mission away from the supply ship, the scientists have developed Sawoid, a totally new type of armament not requiring resupplying! Nothing can stand the wrecking Sawoid; however, there is one shortcoming, Sawoid is hard to control!

Good luck, private!

reference accessed HERE 1st July 2010


The Gamel>

There’s not a lot you can say about a breakout/arkanoid that most community members won’t already know, so I’ll try and keep this short. I’ll describe the features I found in Sawoid before writing a brief conclusion to the game.

The most striking difference between Sawoid and most other breakouts is that Sawoid doesn’t have a ball; instead it has circular saws. You get three lives to start with, but can easily build these up to several lives as there are a generous number of bonus lives available. Otherwise it’s a typical 3D breakout with average looking graphics. The game has 20 bonuses that include ball and bat changers, additional lives, bombs, a magnet, armor, different types of cannon and four different types of Sawoid power ups as well as a few other bonuses.

You can change the games resolution if needed to one of several choices via the options menu. There’s also the usual sound and music sliders, a windowed toggle and the ability to turn on improved lighting. I’ve posted a couple of screen-shots to illustrate the difference between the advanced lighting and no lighting.

When you complete a level the level scrolls onto the next level as though you are in a ship. There are three difficulty settings. On medium I found the Sawoid was a little too slow for me unless I picked up the speed up bonus a couple of times. You’ll find gun emplacements, and moving ships that fire back at you. When you start a level your ship has 100% armor. If you get hit by the pulse cannons or missiles you’ll lose 5% of your armor by each hit. They fire dual cannons so this can result in a 10% loss depending where you are in relation to the incoming shots; however, there are armor bonuses that are quite common, though most armor bonuses give only 1% armor back.

Thankfully there are three or four different sizes of armor bonus available. There is a damage indicator to the bottom right of the playing area. Some of the gun emplacements and ships are protected from damage when hit from the front. To destroy these you need to use your guns or hit them from behind.

You don’t get unlimited ammo with the guns and lasers, so you need to use these sensibly. I counted about 30 shots, which is ample to do a significant amount of damage to the level in terms of destruction.





When you are left with only a few bricks they are automatically destroyed by powerful lasers. All bonuses apart from new lives are lost when you move on to a new level, though any damage to your ships armor is automatically repaired.

Comparison between no lighting and advanced lighting:

Imagesl>

You can see lots of images of Sawoid as a slide show via the following link:
HERE




System Requirementsl>

Processor - Pentium 1.0 GHz or equivalent
System RAM - 128Mb
Direct3D compatible3D graphics card
32 MB Graphics RAM
Windows 98/ ME/ 2000/ XP/ Vista/ 7



Conclusionl>

I found the default speed of the Sawoid too slow, and therefore too easy to win. (though I have played a lot of breakouts regularly for years so could be considered an expert) However you can pick up speed ups which when set can increase the Sawoid speed to a more challenging level. However if you are a novice to this genre of games I’m sure the speed of the Sawoid is fine. :) I’m a little biased over this issue because arkanoid's/breakouts are one of my favourite arcade genres. Another problem for me was the bat. It was mounted on two arms that took it a significant way into the level. You can see from the images posted that it protrudes about an eighth of the total depth of the playing arena. I rarely lose balls (or in this case saws) when playing breakouts but lost a significant number in this game despite me finding it easy. This occurred more often when the saws came at you in an acute angle as it was hard to judge where the saw was in relation to the bat. I would suggest the developer adds the ability to choose different sizes of bat at the beginning of the game to counter this problem or change the bat style altogether.


Compared to the 200 plus arkanoid's/breakouts that I’ve owned over the many years that the first breakout was created by Taito Corps I’d give this one a 7 out of 10 for decent game play and graphics. It’s not the best, but is playable and better than most free breakouts that are available.



I've also posted this review over in the forums where the images are visible. you can see that review HERE


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Similar Games available for freel>


You'll find loads of Arkanoid/breakouts HERE, HERE (Giveaway forums) and HERE (Caimans - 169 breakout games)


You can also download today’s game every day for free over at Gametop as well as several others such as A-Ball (which is also known as Nuclear Ball), Geometry Ball, Scaraball, Cosmoball plus others, though you will get your browser opening every time you shut the game down. Thankfully this is one of the games they have had for quite some time so there’s no tool bar or home page tick boxes to bother with, but just in case they've changed it since I last checked make sure when you are installing the game that you watch each step of the installation wizard.



You’ll also find 13 breakout titles over at MyPlayCity HERE, that now include several of Alawars breakouts such as all of the Strike Ball games (Strikeball, Strikeball 2 and Strikeball 3), as well as one of my early favorites called Actionball Deluxe and it's sequel Actionball 2; oh yeah and not forgetting the second Hyperballoid game, which in my opinion was a big improvement on the original despite the first one having a massive number of levels (over a thousand) with gorgeous graphics called (not surprisingly) Hyperballoid Complete Edition (or if you purchase it from Big fish Hyperballoid Gold edition) - the down side w.r.t. the original, was that even with the speed up power-ups, the ball used to go too slow for me, (however; GMMan did create a speed-up mod for me); there's also previous giveaways (though not Alawar games) such as Egypt Ball and Egyptian Ball as well as several others that you can download for free. I recommend all of the Alawar titles especially Hyperballoid 2 (Which has an editor for making more levels - there may be custom made levels to download via Alawars site, but I've not checked in some time) and the original Actionball Deluxe (the sequel also has upgradeable power-ups) and Strikeball 3 (The third in the series is similar to the earlier Magic Ball games {Magic Ball 2} but with better graphics and power ups that are also upgradeable, plus the game is slightly more challenging than any of the Magic Ball series (which for some reason Alawar decided to change the name from Magic Ball to Smashball Frenzy)). Unfortunately the best (IMO) arkanoid/breakouts such as Ricochet infinity, Acky's XP Breakout, Reaxxion and Shatter are not available for free via any of the free game sites apart from illegal ones. You can purchase Shatter from Steam for £6.99, though during the big sales over the summer and Christmas period and maybe thanksgiving you can get up to 75% off. Both Ricochet infinity and Acky's XP Breakout have editors and for the former thousands (literally well over 60 000) of downloadable levels for free. There are also free level packs for Acky's XP Breakout, but not to the same extent as Ricochet. you download the levels for ricochet directly from the game and can upload your own creation from the game as well (which probably explains why there are so many - all the levels are graded for game play, graphics etc and get a score of A to D with +'s and -'s (for example B+; though the best of the best are starred as well). Please be aware of the problems associated with downloading games from the free sites such as Gametop and MyPlayCity, i.e. Toolbar installation, home page changes and search engine changes.

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Games, Games, and yet more Games plus Download, Installation & Game play Problemsl>:



If you have any problems installing today's game please go HERE for help.


If you're looking for something other than today's game check the didimatic site via THIS link for some brilliant deals.
There are several other deals available from Steam as well as many more from Gamersgate, Gamestop, Greenman Gaming and GOG; all of which you can find via the Didimatic site, which I've linked to above (apart from Greenman gaming.




You can get Little Cars 2 for free from Realore this weekend and a new game is available from Alawars game box called Discord Times. (You need to install the free gamebox from Alawar to access the free games, which for newcomers change over approximately every month). If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums HERE for details of other games either free or on deals. For example, Epic Inventor, Mecha World, OGS Mahjong, Desolate Hope, Zombie Grinder, Insane Zombie Carnage, Oolite, as well as others i mentioned last week for example a superb 3D space game called Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn which is totally free. There's also updates to games I've posted over the last three years as well as several other new postings that include I shall Remain, Counterstrike 2D, a SAM Missile simulator, Arx Libertatis, SCP- Containment Breach (horror), Speed Dreams (motorsport sim), Battlemass (strategy game), Naev (space arena shmup) and a cartoon like shooter called bullet Train, plus many more (well over 2000 free games). Tx posted a FPs game based on the Crytek engine called Wreckage. Basically a free standalone of Crysis which I highly recommend.

A new Indie Royale bundle became available the other day called the All - Charity Lightning Pack that includes Osmos (given away in a previous bundle), The Shivah, Blueberry Garden and B.U.T.T.O.N. plus some music with Desura, Steam and DRM free copies. You'll find details over in the Game discussion forums HERE
as well. :)

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A Request for helpl>:

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