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

It's that time of the evening when I need to retire for the night. Please continue to post feedback. If you have problems installing the game, firstly please read my review below then the comments that I've answered. If you don't find any advise that helps, post over in the giveaway forums where the community will see your comment . Because of trolls, we've had to revert back to the old system where comments could not be seen by the community until moderated. However, if you post in the forums you may get a response from some community members. There are several very helpful members that are happy to take their time answering such queries. I will endevour to post replies before the giveaway is over in the morning. I usually get up before the giveaway ends in readiness for the next days giveaway, so will hopefully have time. Be sure to check back before the giveaway ends if you are able. The most common issue we have is with the Themida wrapper, which causes some security software to block the installation of the game. This is becasue Themida is also used to wrap malware, so as a precaution, your security may block the installation, but you may still get an automatic message saying the game has been activated. There are three ways around this, or four if you decided to install the MPC version, which you can get HERE. The first one is to white-list the wrapper by opening up your security and configuring it to allow the giveaway wrapper to be opened, or you can temporarily turn off your security while installing the game, or finally reboot your computer in safe mode with networking then install the game.

I've created a thread specifically for the community to post any issues HERE. you will require a forum account, which if you don't have one already, is easy and quick to create. you cannot post anything if you don't sign in.

There is another game related to Scepter of Ra, called Treasures of Ra, which you can download via MPC HERE. If you decide to download the game, do remember to uncheck the check boxes before allowing it to be installed otherwise you will find a toolbar for MPC in your browser and may even find your home page and browser provider have been changed to MPC's own brand. These can be reverted quite easily, but are a minor annoyance if you do end up with them

Good night all

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.

Scepter of Ra

In Brief

Arrange stones on the field so that at least three of the same colored stones form a group. However, you don’t just place the stones on the board unlike the match three games that we are all familiar with, instead you fire them onto the playing arena via the edge of the playing field. Similar to Stones of Rome given away on New Years Eve, but more challenging.

Suggestions:

Whether you like or dislike Scepter of Ra please give some feedback about your opinion of todays game 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. What improvements would 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 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 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. p.s. there's also another similar game to Scepter of Ra called Treasures of Ra, which can be downloaded from MPC HERE

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE, the difference between the two is that most of the adertising has been disabled in the giveaway version. You will still be directed to the MPC home page when you close the game down, but everything else for example the checkboxes that appear when you first install the game, have been disabled. The home page visit is necessary to keep the MPC site running, becasue part of the money they earn goes to the developers of the games that they give away free.. You can also buy the game from Big fish for £2.99?$2.99 HERE.

Installation:

Scepter of Ra downloads to a 24.1 MB zip file that unzips to four 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 49.6 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\Scepter of Ra

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:

Puzzle your way through 150 perplexing levels in Ancient Egypt! In Scepter of Ra the aim is simple: fill the board by pushing the stones onto the playing field. As soon as a group of three or more stones of the same color are linked together you score points. Take on the challenge of the pharaohs and connect the hieroglyphic stones to reveal the amazing Golden Pyramid!

Edited reference accessed HERE. 24th February 2017

Main Features:

3 unique game modes
150 game levels
Bonuses

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting 'Scepter of Ra' 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:

Scepter of Ra is another Egyptian themed casual arcade game that may not be as accessible as other casual games because it has a steeper learning curve than some puzzle games of this type for example Stones of Rome; however, if you persevere, I promise you'll be rewarded with a decent puzzle game well worth keeping. The game offers three unique modes and varying difficulty levels. The core game-play works as follows.

You’re presented with a board that houses colored stones (with hieroglyphics on them), all laid out in a specific pattern. On the edges of the board are arrows, which indicate the direction you can fire additional stones at, with the goal of aligning at least three of the same-colored stones vertically or horizontally. By successfully matching these stones, it removes them from the board, you collect some points, and it clears the colored spot on the board itself; when all colors are removed, you advance to the next level.

Unless you’re playing the Relaxed mode, a timer also counts down as you play Scepter of Ra, so you must work fairly quickly to complete the puzzle.

Adding some strategy to the game, plays must discover how the stones act when fired, since they push existing stones over to the next spot on the grid upon contact, while others may bounce back to the edge of the screen if nothing is in its path. Plus, stones get “caught” on the ones already placed on the board, so you must think your shot through before firing. Similar to games like Zuma, if you don’t like the colored stone you’re about to fire, you can right mouse-click and toggle the next colored stone in the queue.

As you puzzle your way through lost Pyramid of the Pharaoh – totaling 150 increasingly challenging levels – power-ups and obstacles begin to appear such as blazing fireballs that help remove stones for you or glass-like blockers that need to be smashed before they can reach same-colored stones. Oh, and you can skip a level you might be having a hard time with, but it will cost you a life!

Aside from the game taking a while to figure out – and hey, it might just be me – there isn’t much to complain about with Scepter of Ra. That said, I don’t think it’s as accessible to novice or younger players as many other pick-up-and-play casual games, but a few minutes of play should add some clarity to your goal – and it does grow addictive. The Egyptian theme is also overdone in casual games, but the attractive background art and good music are an asset here.

If you’re a puzzle freak looking for a new challenge, you will enjoy clicking through Scepter of Ra, so be sure to download the free trial to give it a spin.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Original review written by Joel Brodie on 26th 2007; Edited by Whiterabbit-uk 24th February 2017

Other Reviews and Videos of Scepter of Ra

You can see community reviews of Scepter of Ra HERE and more information in the Big Fish forums HERE.

if you want to see some game play you can see some videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Conclusion:

Scepter of Ra is a challenging and stimulating arcade game with unique features, loads of levels and power ups to help you along the way. There is a steep learning curve that may put some off, but I highly recommend you persevere and play through as many levels as you can until the ralization you've clicked. There game will no longer be perplexing and frustrating then. :)

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Scepter of Ra 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.

If today's game giveaway 'Scepter of Ra' 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 still the excellent atmospheric Sci Fi RPG third person Shooter Mass Effect 2, but it will probably be ending soon. If you've still not got a copy, get it now, it's well worth. It usually costs £19.99/$19.99 (though I paid the pre-order price of over £30 prior to it's release back in January 2010) . 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 .894 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. The game bundle is the Humble Civilization bundle that includes Civilization III, iV, V and 20% off Civilization VI, or 25% off the deluxe version. They even have a software bundle at the moment with apps such as System Mechanic, Air Parrot, EaseUS Partition Master, all three worth over $100 for a dollar, or for just over $6/less than £5 you can get Daemon tools Pro 8 lifetime, Blackblase Online backup, 3D Mark Advanced Edition, worth £110 or for $12 /under £10 PC Mark 8 advanced, VR Mark Advanced and Dashlane Premium (1 year) worth around £110, plus you get 10% off the humble monthly bundle for $12 worth over $100. If you subscribe now (ends in just over a week) you'll get as a bonus Total War: Warhammer. 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 Total War: Warhammer, which was released last Spring and costs $59.99/£39.99. 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 becasue 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