>xxx

"As other users have asked you already: What is your problem, Lockett? You just can’t seem to let a day go by without making a post addressing multiple other posters’ comments in a critical, rude, matter-of-factly fashion. The reality is that you are not some programming genius, nor are you an expert authority on video games in general, yet you comment as if what you say and believe is God’s word. Why don’t you just stick to your “reviews” and leave people alone with the constant criticisms that only end up being you getting the last word. I wrote this message because I have found your comments getting increasingly more offensive and needless as the days go by."

I never try to pass myself off as a "programming genius", or an "expert authority on video games in general". I did post a link to a forum with people who really are "programming geniuses", and I did my best to help someone with a problem that they had with Vista. I have never said anything "offensive", and my reviews really are reviews, despite your use of quote marks. If those are problems, then please tell me what aren't.

As other users have asked you already: What is your problem, Lockett? You just can't seem to let a day go by without making a post addressing multiple other posters' comments in a critical, rude, matter-of-factly fashion. The reality is that you are not some programming genius, nor are you an expert authority on video games in general, yet you comment as if what you say and believe is God's word. Why don't you just stick to your "reviews" and leave people alone with the constant criticisms that only end up being you getting the last word. I wrote this message because I have found your comments getting increasingly more offensive and needless as the days go by.

Definitely a pass on this one today. Not recommended.

*****# 35 (bonnie) here in answer to the reply to my VISTA post*****

Yes. I know it best to talk about VISTA problems in forums. But there were so many comments about not working in Vista I thought I'd lend a quick hand.

And yes, for heaven's sake, anyone with Vista is gonna have minimum requirements. I copied the whole thing so folks would recognize it from the top of this page :)

I am getting a Trojan alert from BOClean for yesterday's game giveaway SeaSoar.

Here is the alert:
ANET MALWARE STOPPED by BOCLEAN!
Location of startup:FILE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\SEESOAR\SEESOAR.EXE
This trojan horse program was found on your machine. It has been shut down, but the FILE from which it started still remains and can be started up again.

Do you want the file removed also?

Jotti's malware scan 2.99 also reports file as infected. See that report below.

File: SeeSoar.exe
Status: INFECTED/MALWARE
MD5: cebbd4807c0964d947a0e6f03b9bbf36
Packers detected: PE_PATCH
Bit9 reports: File not found

Scan taken on 17 Jan 2008 09:21:27 (GMT)
A-Squared Found nothing
AntiVir Found nothing
ArcaVir Found nothing
Avast Found nothing
AVG Antivirus Found nothing
BitDefender Found nothing
ClamAV Found nothing
CPsecure Found Const.W32.IDL.A
Dr.Web Found nothing
F-Prot Antivirus Found nothing
F-Secure Anti-Virus Found nothing
Fortinet Found nothing
Ikarus Found Suspect code-parts (probable variant)
Kaspersky Anti-Virus Found nothing
NOD32 Found nothing
Norman Virus Control Found nothing
Panda Antivirus Found nothing
Rising Antivirus Found nothing
Sophos Antivirus Found nothing
VirusBuster Found nothing
VBA32 Found nothing

The detections do not occur from BOClean nor Jotti when scanning the games setup.exe. It is only after the game is unpacked and installed that ANET MALWARE is detected.

This was detected within the download from both the regular and the alternate download links.

I've posted the above in the forums here.
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/719/page/3?replies=77

Anyone concerned can follow the results of the report in the forum.

This is the first game from GAOTD that I truly hated. It registered and loaded OK, but that horrible, slow start screen! The game itself was too slow even for me and I'm not a speed freak when it comes to games. The game itself seemed very outdated, although the concept was mildly interesting. All this was bad, but the deal breaker came when I tried to quit after two boring levels.

There's no way to escape the game, even if you follow instructions and hit the escape key. I had to restart my computer and delete the game. I feel like I wasted a huge amount of time for nothing.

Beat Atlantis, beat Arabica, still working on Age of Japan II.

After downloading this game, it keeps coming up with "Unexpected error", & closes down. I cannot access the game at all

Enjoyed the game.

I like these types of games for the grandkids.But I seem to be having a problem with this program working with Vista. It will not open. I recieve no error. It says it is running in the process but after 5 minutes of waiting it still has not opened. So it must be a Vista problem. Anyone know if it is a Vista Problem and if so what did you all do? This is my very 1st post so maybe I should be taking this to the forum? Any suggestions please would be very kindly helpful. Thanks for the game GOATD. Everyone have a great day! Bless you
Grandma Jones

Not mindless shooting, I like that.

Wont run in Vista :(

Reminds me of old dos games with music. Keyboard only controls, simple graphics and music sounds like a electronic organ. I thought maybe it was like Snood and Bloobs but this one doesn't even come close and has very little excitement. Not worth the $20 price for sure.

I could not get this game to progress past the Game Maker loading screen - even after using the Game Maker Update patch and running it in XP Compatibility Mode. No review today.

>Josh

"It almost seems like a college student programming project for a class."

That's an insult to the college and high school programmers on this forum: http://shmup-dev.com/forum/

>inkblob

"this looks like snoods. went to the game dev site and based on that would not play this. webkinz has a similar snoodz like game as well"

It's "like" Bust-A-Move, not Snood. Snood is an inferior clone of Bust-A-Move.

>Diane

You have to turn off UAC(Unwanted, Asinine Comments) in your Account Options menu.

This comment is really late, but I've been busy all day.

#35, usually those are minimum requirements. Many times when they don't list Vista it still works well. Other times it only works on certain editions (or perhaps breaks on those needing to patch their version.)

This game was alright, playable and fun.
I guess the graphics was only ok, and music wasn't that great, but I liked the concept and gameplay.
I prefer to focus on the gameplay, some of the worst games I've seen had much better graphics than this game, but was not as playable as this game.
so graphics isn't everything. Thanks gaotd.
Also had time to check out their other game Rollerdex, wow, innovative concept, never seen it before. Been hooked on it since playing,
gaotd - will you guys also be giving away Rollerdex too ?

I like the concept, it is different from the other matching games. Worked fine for XP, will try on Vista home machine later.

Installed OK, copied reg number, started game, game started locked up, no keyboard or mouse input worked. Task manager, end program not working.
Only way to get back my computer is with the reset button...

i hate this game immortal defence was better

______________________________________________________________________
click on my name for an awesome RPG game thats sorta like lord of the rings a bit.

Thanks for the opportunity to try this game, but today I am passing. This game may be a 'different' match-three but not one that I am interested in downloading - thanks for all the great comments.

For all the comments to us Vista users saying the specs above should tell us what it runs on, yes, of course we have seen and noted that but it is often worth a try and when we comment on here that it doesn't work that is to help out other Vista users that haven't yet downloaded! Unfortunately, without giving Microsoft another pile of money most of us can't go back to XP because we didn't have it in the first place! Microsoft are a pile of ****!

And to the mods I know this should be in the forum but in view of the posts above it to be said here. Thanks.

I can't believe they used the words ''unique'' and ''match three'' together in the description. This game is horrible.

Dumbest game I have ever wasted 10 minutes on. Lame music, childish voices, not fun at all. Maybe with "power-ups" that turn those dumb little smiley faces upside down into sad, miserable faces, the game would start to look like it feels to play.

Even if you have Vista don't bother. Lame, lame, lame. Wish I hadn't missed yesterday's GAOTD :(

Nice little puzzle game.
We don't always need fancy graphics.
Like the two player option.
Like the extensive list of options.


The XP vs Vista debate is entertaining. The Vista reposts notably didn't reference ME.
I think Microsoft have more of a challenge this time round simply because XP is actually quite stable and usable (as compared to all earlier Windows versions).
I wonder if the person who says that Vista is the best ever OS doesn't mean best ever Windows OS.
Best doesn't guarantee success anyway.
Ultimately even the best market manipulation can and will fall to the power of the customer.
Microsoft may well get away with Vista but the clock is ticking.

#22 Of course Microsoft will eventually drop support for XP. That is not the point. The question is do you go to Vista or to Vista's replacement. Probably depends on when you change computers.

What a pain in the rear! It is bad enough that yesterdayss program took having to reinstall and find and download and istall a .dll for the program to work, but this is rediculous.
I APPRECIATE FREE
but to have to repeatedly reinstall a game or program, PUT IN THE NAME AND REGISTRATION NUMBER OVER AND OVER and I AM DOING IT RIGHT, and to still have the program show up as not registered and a NAG SCREEN no matter what we have tried to GO BUY THE FULL GAME. Even in trying it, and I LIKE SIMPLE FUN GAMES, it would not even keep the preferences to use my mouse rather than 4 keyboard keys.
BAD

Slow gameplay that doesn't tickle any funny bone in me. The music is repetitive and the speech is annoying. They could possibly have defended an asking price of 5$, but there are tons of games that does the match 3 concept better for 20$. Thumbs down.

Bonnie (#35) - That list of system requirements is MINIMUM! Are you trying to say that if you have 1 GB memory and it says 500 MB then it won't work? That is ridiculous!

By the same token, if my operating system is higher than that listed, it should work, even if I need to run under compatibility.

And Dave (#14 & #33) - some things work differently but I have not seen a blue screen since I went to Vista. I have a friend (using XP) who often sees them as much as 3 to 4 times a day!

Beekersguy (#37) - Thanks for the support! However, I'll wait until my Windows Update tells me it's ready. It gives me updates (at least for Defender) twice a week. No auto-updates - it just tells me it's ready and I let it have them.

Did not work on my Windows Vista computer...

Download is 3.78 MB. Installation went fine. Creating desktop and quick start shortcuts is optional.

Be sure to find the registration menu option to enter the registration key and name. You're not asked for that info automatically when the game starts.

By default, the controller is set to the keyboard, but you can select joystick or mouse from menu.

The game is okay, though it didn't feel fluid enough to really capture me, though that might get better after playing for a while.

Does anybody besides me remember when XP came out? There was nothing but complaints, "I like 98 or 95 better than this piece of garbage", and compatibility issues. And, so, history has repeated itself with the release of Vista. Vista is the best OS I've ever seen. If you haven't already, look around (Google) for the Vista build 6001. There are some manual updates that need to be installed, but it's well worth it.

And try to remember your feelings about XP until it's 2nd year out...

Gee I kinda like this one. It's not quite the typical "mindless" match 3 in that you have to use a bit of strategy. When you release one ball you pick up another, like a trade, so you have to do some choosing. I didn't really mind the music and sound effects but I guess that's just a matter of style preference. Maybe after I play a bit longer I'll change my mind. Thanks GGOTD!

**** VISTA USERS ****

Just under the thumbs up/thumbs down is a list of System Requirements. Today's says:

System Requirements: Windows 98SE/ME/200/XP; Pentium III - 500Mhz; 64MB RAM; 16MB Graphics Card (1024x768 Resolution); DirectX 8.0

Note the Windows portion does not include Vista. Other factors there may affect performance as well.

Game Giveaway of the Day always lists the games this way. :)

Very, very very bad graphs. The game don´t is fun. Bad game.

For # 22, that was the first and only comment I've ever made about Vista. Don't listen to # 22, go get XP! Then All your program will run. EOM.

WinXP here; downloaded, started, simply wouldn't work. Maybe I just "didn't get it", but, having said that, it wasn't worth the aggravation to investigate further. Uninstalled...

Linda (#28), I tried your idea. No dice! The UAC told me something it didn't recognize was trying to run. I said OK, let it run. The circle chased it's tail for a minute and then NOTHING!

Any other ideas?

Josh, I'm on my 4th go round on Atlantis.. if I can do it you can do it!

Lol #12 i agree with ya, rather get kinzcash myself

Since the reviews generally sound bad AND more importantly there are no screenshots, im not gonna try this one.

Thanks everyone and GGAOTD, i will try tomorrow.

I have not downloaded this game yet but seeing the issues with Vista.I had bought a game and when I called tech support I was told to go to the game Icon and and right click and run as administrator the screen will still pop up two times but when you select run program again it works for me thought this might help .

Let this be a lesson to burdgeoning game developers to be different and not waste time re-creating the same game as everyone else. When there are hundreds of match 3 games out there, what are the odds yours will sell well?

Dare to be different and set urself apart! :)

THANKYOU for yet another terrific game! The sounds, graphics and playability are great and the gameplay is different than anything I've ever seen before. It's FUN! :-) Thankyou!

I didn't activate the sproink link properly in my post above, so here it is again :oops:

http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/1209/sproink/index.html?afcode=af61da2b2a90


Have a great day folks :lol:

I kind of like it. I was playing on hard and was just getting to where the music was going to drive me crazy when the game kindly switched to the Hungarian Rhapsody (maybe ). I liked how you needed to have a strategy because he was going to be picking up a ball 2 away from where you wanted to drop the ball you had - it makes for more thinking.
But I, too, liked Treasures of Montezuma and Atlantis better. And Chroma Crash, too. I want to squash that frog, but I keep going back for more and keep hoping that each time I play, some new levels will magically appear. The day we got them, I was immediately addicted. With this one, I was easily able to leave it to go and get on with my day.

Conclusion:

You can see my full review of the game by following the link below:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2361?replies=1


I’m not absolutely sure about this game as I do have one’s similar in approach (sproink is the one that comes to mind at the moment:http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/1209/sproink/index.html?afcode=af61da2b2a90 If you follow the preceding link you will see the similarity, but sproink is miles ahead of this game for game play in my opinion. That said, this is an ideal game for some family entertainment simply because of it’s two player function.

I really thought the music was excruciatingly bad and had to toggle it off from the options menu, and I was tempted to turn the speaker volume down for the sound effects as well, but playing it on low does make it tolerable. Overall I give this game 6 out of 10 for the family fun factor; though I wasn’t enamored with the game play overall as even n hard I didn’t find it much of a challenge, though I’m sure as you progress through the levels, things will get harder. I tink it’s main ‘selling’ point is the two play function as there’s nothing like competing against anoter human, :lol: Please do not let my low key conclusion stop you from trying this game as what I write is only my opinion. I’m sure we all have different tastes in games, so what is one persons rubbish is anothers gold. I would recommend trying t just to see as the download isn’t very large, weighing in at 3.78Mb when downloaded and only 4.22Mb when installed.


Screen captures:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/SeeSoar/?start=all


Thank you Firstborn Interactive and the Game Giveaway team for todays okay game. :lol:



Notes:

For those who have not yet discovered the usefulness of the forums, now’s a great time to head on over there for a double dose of games because Freeware Fan, who is already becoming very well known for his great freeware posts has started a thread in which he is posting a link to one freeware game a day. The first one seems to have had problems for several community members including myself, but after reading about the game it looks really cool so I would still check it out just in case you are one of the lucky ones who can get the game to work. Then the second game he posted two days ago which is called Stopple, and is an excellent 3D (isometric) puzzle game and then yesterday, the relatively well known racing game that comes with a track editor called TrackMania Nations. I will be posting this link most days together with the previous days review if I do one as the thread promises to grow into a very large one as Freeware Fan has indicated that presently he as enough decent freeware games to post into mid February. :lol:

We also have the excellent Freeware library, which I’m hoping many of FreewareFans and other community members freeware links will be added to. I will be endeavoring to write a review of most of these Freeware games that are being posted

Because of all the Vista complaints, I had to try it. I can't get to first base! It installed without a complaint but when I try to run it, I just spins the wheel (same as hourglass) and then stops. It's totally ignored on my Vista Ultimate.

I'll leave it for now in case someone finds a fix for this behavior.

However, even with this failure, I have to respond to Dave (#14). Quit bashing Vista! Eventually, Microsoft is going to drop support of XP just as they did for 95, 98 and ME. From what I understand, the upgrade to Vista IS terrible but if you get it pre-installed (as I did), it's no big deal. Just about all of my non-game software either works under Vista or has a Vista compatible version. More than 95% of my games work under Vista although a few have needed a few tricks. Considering some of them are quite old, this is much better than complainers like you would lead me to believe. Don't waste a day going back to something old that you KNOW will you will have to reverse yourself. Instead, learn something new and use it to be better prepared the next time!

You can go in options and change to make game harder and also to work with your mouse instead of keyboard & turn music off if you don't like it. An older game but a good game. Thamks GOTD.

Pretty much the same comment as #13. I like match-3's that are executed very well (Treasures of Montezuma is a seminal example of how to do a really good match-3, and the Atlantis games weren't too bad as well), but this one seems to have a bit of a primitive feel. Thanks, but I'll pass today and see what comes up tomorrow. Cheers!

I have Vista and this game wouldn´t even start running - and I can see other Vista-users experienced the same problem :-/

oO(I want XP back!!!!!)

Huh?: unexpected error has occur...

:-(

XP pro

Tried it for a bit, found the sound tingy and very annoying. I like Snood every once in awhile and this is not like Snood. Some people may enjoy this game for an hour or so, their 4, 5, and 6 year olds will love the baby like talking. Reminds me of Teletubbies, or a Sesame Street kind of game but with worse gafx....
It Does seem like a college student programming project for a class, like #1 mentioned.
3/10

Awful. Uninstalled before I even registered it. No mouse control option. Boring swap one ball for another. Too easy to get screwed without being challenged. Booooooo!

Cool... Game has simple mechanism and easy to play, perfect for me !
Graphics a bit retro style but acceptable. Music is so-so.
Quite challenging when progressed further on with those "Bricks".
Powerups are fun but should have some special effects for the powerups.
Thanks for the game!