Awesome game! Simply astounding! I have never enjoyed another puzzle game this much, nor do I imagine I will ever find another game that comes anywhere close. Minesweeper cannot hold a candle to Shellblast. If you liked Ac!dbomb or Ac!dbomb 2, you're gonna love this one.

I LOVED THIS GAME! But I downloaded it in Texas (on my friend's pc), and I'm in Florida so I don't have it. Could you put it up again soon?

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/shellblast/#comment-35124

Comments like this and "Wah! I have dial up!" are such BS. We're not using AOL for Windows 3.1 anymore. If you're going to game on the net, get a connection to support downloading stuff.

And if your computer can't run things like this, it's probably because it's cluttered with spyware from lame 'match 3' clones. I have a 6 year old computer that has run every instance of this game, including this one, just fine.

If you're going to comment, be constructive, not just complain about your computer's inadequacies, unless contributing genuine hardware/OS conflicts, or your slow connection since this is such a small download.

Seriously people. Grow up, or shut up.

This game is great. I love the framework that's used to add complexity and switch things up; it keeps the game fresh and challenging. If you like puzzle/logic games, get this one.

GOSH DARN IT! I MISSED IT! ARGHH!!!

I've been wanting the full version of this to be shown on this website forever! and of course the day that it's added, I dont visit the site... D:

This game is.... GOD! I have never. Ever. Ever. Been so engrossed. It's UNIQUE! It's fresh, it's new! It's AMAZING! It's logic puzzles and time constraints, and THINKING all the way, it's AMAZINGLY hard, and AMAZINGLY fun, the learning curve is SHARP, but that just makes it better!

For those with the mouse on the right side (though I am usually left moused for just this reason) the A,W,D, and X keys will also control the bar movement.

Turning off the music cures the sluggishness but the selection screens still have music on and are sluggish. There is a section which records high scores. I will give this game a 9 out of 10.

ShellBlast is like a game called Black Box, not Mine Sweeper. The graphics are nice but some of them are disorienting (probably intentional). I don't think there is a high score feature. I found it to be quite entertaining due to my love of logic puzzles. The game was a bit sluggish at times, maybe turning off the music might help. I give it a 7 of 10 on my computer. I only played a few bombs so it could be an 8. I would add 1 if it were faster (might depend on the computer system). ShellBlast is mainly a thinking person's game, but I'm sure the gambler type would have a blast with it. :) Easily worth $15.

this game sucked, played 5 minutes and deleted, but thanks anyway GGOTD keep up the good work.

i downloaded the game unzipped it ,everything,restarted the computer.nothing happens.

You people are defending Whiterabbit too much. I'm glad he can do the reviews, but he wasn't being attacked in the comment. I agree that he's too long-winded in what he says many times. Does that mean that I don't appreciate the review? Not at all. Not everyone has to love the style of his review. Get over it.

Hey guys when are the "non scrollers" going to learn, when you pick on one of the few to really check out the games for the rest of us that get here later in the day, you will see how many read those reviews. We had the same story a few days ago.

good game overall, as others have said, confusing at first, but once you figure it out, its actually really cool. Frustrating though, several times, i KNEW i had it, but apparently i didn't. anyway, definitely worth the download, i'll definitely be be keeping this one.

All Hail Whiterabbit!!

To #15 and Any Others, Whiterabbit is our Big Brother (the good kind, not the Geo Orwell kind .

Whiterabbit (Stephen) is kind enough (and smart enough) to analyze these games and assorted software, and give us his IMPARTIAL opinion. He often helps us decide whether to download and try a program, as well as what pitfalls, if any, to avoid. His help is immeasurable! I’m sure we all appreciate his efforts.

He can be especially helpful for those who don’t bother to read the instructions.

And let’s not all jump on the Newbies (we were all one once ). Let’s just throw them a line and help them to shore.

Thank You again, Whiterabbit. We all owe you.

I happen to be an a not so computer savy person and value White Rabbits entries. Even I can come to a conclusion whether I want to
download the game or not with his help.

Bless the Rabbit

I also always check out what Whiterabbit has written before I download anything. It wouldn't be the same here wthout him!!!

Hey, thanks again to everyone for the vote of confidence; still to someone that is new to the site, I'm sure I do come over a little long winded, lol. I can't help it. :) Jack you made me laugh till I lmost choked, with the god thing. I'm just lucky to have lots of free time on my hands and throughly enjoy what I'm doing. I do play a lot of games, but only because , well I've said before why so I needn't again. Comments made by you people really are worth the effort because no matter how useful money can be it doesn't buy everything.

Thanks for the information on the key bindings Mapsking, I didn't spend as much time as I'd have liked testing this one as I've just returned to other overdue reviewing and testing that I'd taken a break from. Also I wanted to play a little more of yesterdays great game. :D I was going to convert all the music files to mp3 so that I could see if there was anything I fancied putting into my collection, now i can check first and see if it's worth the effort. It's amazing what you can get from a game. :)

I did post my review of Monster House in the forums last night as I think it will be posted as a re-run due to all the problems that the community had. (however that will be up to Alawar and the Admins here.

I am a dial-up user and will not download a game this big without first reading whiterabbit's review.Thanks to his reviews I know if I do or don't want to take all that time to download.Thank you whiterabbit for takeing the time out of your day for dial-up users like me.When I can afford to upgrade I will, untill then I have to have dial-up.Keep up the great reviews whiterabbit,Thanks.

Anyone looking at the rating percentages might be getting slightly misled. From reading the comments, I can see a number of people who all had trouble understanding the game at first and they all eventually came to realise that it was actually a good game but not everyone will be as persevering. Chances are some people didn't understand the game and simply gave up and rated the game bad.

I think the game would be rated higher had it been rated fairly.

Another whiterabbit aka Stephen fan chiming in.

Cyndee, don't feel we're picking on you. Sometimes it's nice to let newbies know where to go for good info on which games may have glitches. He gives excellent info on how to navigate the folders if there are install quirks. He enjoys doing it and if I have a problem, I always check his review first.

Duds, pins, SDu's or whatever...???
For a non-native English speaker too confusing.
Don't want to study and try-and-err for hours to be able to play a game. For me the tut is clearly not clear enough (pun intended).

Also couldn't get rid of the annoying music, but thats a minor point.

The tutorial is poor. It should show only one concept in each page, or have some arrows to show what is what in the description. It should particularly mention that you use the arrow keys to move the scanning beams instead of just that you can press F2 anytime to see what you can do. It is combined mouse+keyboard control, so I'm sure that those who refuse to download anything without the choice of which to use should avoid this one.

Once you understand how it actually works, the gameplay is great. It takes the general minesweeper idea and expands it into something that is actually quite interesting, and it is very challenging in some levels. It even has some special abilities that are very useful, and various restrictions in some levels. The most remarkable of the restrictions is the chemical bomb that disallows marking safe spots, at first with a penalty to the time before it blows and later with instant kablooie if you do.

The music fits very well for a puzzler initially in each level, and rises to a stressing heavy metal tune when time is running out, which is very good for the atmosphere of disarming a bomb and sweating with few seconds left.

I see very few have voted today, so I expect you have chosen not to download as the screens don't look very interesting. I advise you to think twice about passing up this gem. It's certainly worth 5 dollars. Thumbs up, way up!

Took me longer to install than it took me to decide it was stupid and unistall.

And now we're getting more reviews for whiterabbit than the game!

I too would like to thank Whiterabbit for the thorough, instructive reviews. Keep up the awesome work!

Those still hooked on a dial up connection could download the older freeware version (acidbomb) on the same website, which is also available without music, resulting in 2.8 MB only.

thanks

Thank you Whiterabbit for taking the time to write your reviews of the games on here as they are very helpful.

Annoyingly laggy for me and with my copmuter it really shouldn't be.

Cyndee (#15)
You are evidently new to this site, since you do not know our Whiterabbit. Should you continue here, you will find that his critiques are invaluable and very highly thought of by the regulars. I would no more download a game without first checking with Stephen than I would download a piece of software without first consulting Bladed Thoth.
When you know him better I am sure you will join those of us who depend on Whiterabbit for thorough and clear analyses.
jetta j

This a great game, although I was *Almost* tempted to delete it shortly after I installed it, because I was really confused by it. I must have read the tutorial at 1:00 am, as soon as the game became available and did not understand it. After playing around with it though, it is extremely addictive, can't wait to see what bombs come up next. I love this game, and it would be worth more then $5. Just realize you need to use the keyboard and mouse, and it makes life a lot easier. BTW, Whiterabbit, you didn't mention this, but while you are playing, you can hit #s 7 and 8 to switch the music selection of the bomb you are currently working on, and also the F2 key to show you what keys do what as well as alternate keys you can use. Ideally, keymapping would be good here, but it is not detrimental to the game in my opinion. Thanks GGAOTD for the great game, and thanks Vertgo Gaming!

Thanks

#15: I appreciate what WhiteRabbit writes about the games giving me a heads-up on how good the game is before downloading. I can't imagine how much work he does without getting anything in return but the thanks of fellow Giveaway'ers.

The so-called tutorial isn't much help on telling you *how* to play the game. It would be nice if it included a sample run where it would actually give you hints as to what you're supposed to be doing and how to do them.

I went and watched the YouTube video at the web site, which I wouldn't have known about if someone hadn't posted the link on here, and it wasn't much help. It moved much too fast for me to get a sense of *what* they were doing.

I finally figured out you use your arrow (or your preference of the equivalant) keys to move the highlight bar (SUD) to find if there is a piston at that spot or not. I was very frustrated until I figured that bit out, which was not explained in the tutorial.

The jury is still out on this game in my book.

Hey, Whiterabbit, keep up the great work! 99% of us really appreciate your thoroughness. Cyndee (comment #15), go ahead and bypass his reviews, but don't dis 'em.

I agree with number #18, if I am unsure as to download a game or not I read his review first. I find his reviews quite delightful.

Great Game!! Thanks Game GiveAway Team!! Our Twin Boys loves games with Explosions!!
And Cyndee, WhiteRabbit AKA: Stephen is like the Guru Game God here. My wife and I value his opinions, because we are not extremely computer literate like Stephen. That is why we value his opinions. He Tells it like it is and also takes time to explain the aspects of the game at hand. Thanks again Stephen and GGAOTD!!
Jack Hammer and Family

Hace ya algun tiempo que estoy conectado a GGOTD,y es satisfactorio encontrar todo ese freeware software.
muy agradecido por los comentarios de whiterabbit, tanto del software como de las aplicaciones que se pueden hacer con los mismos.
Gracias por todo ello.

Wow. Really nice game. I like such puzzle games. Reminds me a bit of logicals or griddlers. And 4.95$ is not much for this game - I think I would buy it.
Thumbs up!

I too really appreciate white rabbit's reviews!!
I have gotten some great games thanks to his careful and intensive information.
I too say, keep it up and many thanks to both White rabbit and to GGOTD!

#15: Skip what you don't want to read. Are you too lazy to scroll? I look forward to Whiterabbit's review of each and every game.

16: Did you try playing before establishing that the in-game music-option is ignored? I checked it now and it works. The menu music still plays, but not the in-game music.

#15: Whiterabbit posts on every game and most people who download from here really value his opinion. Its great that hes "windy" because he writes full reviews and mentions any reason to/to not download. If you don't enjoy his long comments then please go ahead and don't read them. I personally love the way he describes the game fully.

Thanks Stephen.

Awesome game. The intro, music, and presentation do a LOT to set up stress levels. My head a'splode. No seriously, it's "the bomb."

Download this guy while you have the chance. Well worth five bucks, but it's nice to have it for free.

Thanks GGOTD. Would love to see more stuff from this publisher.

I "installed" this program, loaded it and then uninstalled without ever trying to play. You cannot turn off the music! I always play with sound effects on but music off and this will now allow that. There is an option for "in-game" music to be "off" but it is ignored.

Also, for the size of machine I have and the size of this game (other than music), it takes forever to load. I see no excuse for it.

The mouse movements were jerky and erratic as well.

This one gets a thumbs down from me.

#15 - Whiterabbit always does long, extensive reviews. I may not read off of any one of his reviews but I read enough to know if he likes it or not. His reviews are VERY thorough. I like the idea that someone takes the trouble to do such extensive reviews for a free game! Keep it up!!!!

Who is this White Rabbit, and why is he/she so "windy?"

Sorry I missed a vital piece of info in my note above. When you go to the start menu, you need to click on run than type in regedit

To Judalea comment #3:

To remove the game from your computer just delete the file from wherever you installed it. If you’re bothered about having any references to the game in the registry, then go to the start menu and type in regedit. When the registry editor opens up go to the tool bar and click on Edit, scroll down to find and then type in ShellBlast in the search field provide then click on Find Next. You can delete all the fields that are found without any worries that it will affect the performance of your computer; but if you are at all unsure about doing it then don’t. Deleting the wrong key could freeze your system or cause other unto wards problems. Always create a restore point before you do anything with the registry. To continue searching for registry entries for ShellBlast use the F3 key, until you get the message “Finished Checking Registry” I found no more than 12 entries and a large proportion of those were associated with the most recent application keys which would be overwritten once a new application is installed and a couple of other entries were related to using winrar for extracting the file. None of those need be deleted which left only a couple of keys to delete. These would be classed as orphan files and would probably be marked for deletion if you used a proprietary reg cleaner, although I’ve stopped using them as they can cause more harm than good. I prefer to do my deleting manually and have learned a lot of useful facts by doing so, rather than trusting the registry to an automatic process. ;)

Ok, please disregard comment number 9. I suppose I just wasn't concentrating enough. I hate having to READ through the tutorial. LOL. I am now hooked. It definitely takes a certain nack, but I like it. Game play seems to be a little slow. I tried to change the resolution, but that didn't help. Overall I like it.

This certainly looks like an intriguing game. The aim is to select and defuse bombs before they blow or be destroyed. You have seven modes of play to choose from and you are also able to create and share levels via the levels editor that comes integrated with this puzzle game. The atomic bomb blast you will see if you don’t make it reminds us of the folly of Oppenheimer, but hey it’s still only a game.

Check out the video from You Tube which was so kindly found and provided by Max comment #2 above, for a whistle-stop tour of the game. The music although monotonous is stirring and seems appropriate to the game. The graphics are somewhat retro, but add to this games quirky appeal.

The download size of 22.6Mb seems rather steep for such a simple looking game. However on investigating the games folder I found 66% of the size is actually an extensive music folder that contains around 15Mb of music files. I only query this because of the dial up users. It’s a shame that the music folder couldn’t be removed for the dial up users and a separate link created for them to use. :D When unpacked the game comes as a combined activation and set up module. Unfortunately there are no desktop or start up program shortcuts created, and the installation executable does not include the usual installer, so if you just point and click the game will be installed on the desktop or wherever you have downloaded the zip file to. The destination path can be chosen by clicking on the browse button (I’m using the winrar self extraction program to unzip and install my games) and selecting a suitable path for the game. If you use windows own extraction utility, I suggest you place the downloaded zip file into the directory you wish it to be installed to because otherwise the windows extraction facility will extract a zip file to the same directory as where the zip file is.

As I’ve said previously it is always sensible to install programs such as these on a disc other than the boot disc, that is if you have more than one hard disc drive (HDD) or have created two or more drives from a single HDD (called partitioning). See my notes in the comments section from a few days ago for a full explanation. Once the path has been chosen and you’ve installed the game, you will need to open the installed file and right click on the games executable and scroll down to create a shortcut. Once this has been done you can then either cut or copy, then paste the shortcut within your games shortcut folder, or where-ever you normally keep your game shortcuts. You can also create a program start menu by following the path below:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Start Menu\Programs

Then create a new folder by right clicking on an empty space within the window and selecting new, then scroll down to folder. Name this folder Shellblast (or whatever you wish, lol) then click on an empty space again. Copy your short cut to the game and paste it into the folder. You can even add a shortcut to the games home site if you want by clicking on the game sites link:

http://www.vertigogaming.net/shellblast.htm

Then going to your favorites menu on the toolbar (or bookmark if your using fire fox) of the internet browser you use, and create a short cut by clicking on add to favorites (this will be something slightly different in fire fox). Once this is done follow the path:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Favorites

Find the link, and then you can copy and paste the link directly to the start menu folder you’ve just created.

==========================================



All in all I found this to be an entertaining puzzle, although the In Game music did get a little annoying after a while, although the intro music is almost like one of those relaxation CD’s, which is a total contrast to the in game music. There’s actually quite a few music tracks included with this game, all in the ogg format. It should be possible for example to swap the intro music which is much more pleasant with the initial in game music, by just swapping the files around from their respective files and renaming them. You could also convert your own favorite MP3’s to ogg using one of the many audio converters that have been given away (although none recently). If you are new to the game giveaway and giveaway projects you will find freeware versions in the freeware library that’s accessible from the giveaway home page. The classic mode has over 50 levels to explore and the free play contains several mini games as well as a levels editor for making your own levels. The graphics unusual as well as colorful in the same was as ‘The Magic Blackboard’ or bullet Candy is. That is the colors seem to be phosphorescent in some way. Maybe it’s my eyes lol.
The game is mouse controlled and although there isn’t a help menu the game does provide a decent in game tutorial and story line.

Anyway I do like the look of this game and will be keeping it to explore further. I always like games that come with level editors because they add so much more to games replayability. My children love them to and can spend most of their computer time designing their own levels. My son is particularly good at it now.

Unfortunately I need to finish this review early today :( so didn’t take any screen captures. Follow the link below for some Googled screen captures of the game, although they are limited, an impression of the game will be given by the images and the You tube video that Max posted about:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Shellblast&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2


It’s a different sort of puzzle so for that it’s going to be worth 7 out of 10. I doubt I’d actually buy it, but then again, I’ve not played it properly yet. It’s quite an intriguing game, so I’ll need to explore it further. I’d certainly say, give the game a whorl and see what you think.