Looks remarkably like Insectoid, which I enjoy. I typically get about halfway through such games and hit a level I just can't beat ...so I start over. Great for playing a level or two while awaiting dinner. Thanks again to GAOTD and to Immanitas.

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

I do the same. :)

12 meg denotes a W95 game? Or a bad game? At what size does it become an XP game? Or a Vista game? Or a W7 game? What download size signifies a good game?

I have games which weren't even a 5 meg download yet were more fun than some occupying two DVDs.

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

Most of the games I had on my first computer were less than 1.44MB for example Civilization and FI Stealth Fighter, both of which I played for hundreds of hours, probably thousands in the case of civilization, and one of the first RPG's I purchased which came with 13 floppy discs when installed was just under 20MB in size. Released in 1992, a game I still play today (It was released on GOG and Steam, called Darklands. One of the best RPG's i've ever played, and which I wish would be remade using the latest game engines.

I bought this and Star Defender 4 on a BigFish '50% off sale' after I fell in love when you gave away Defender 2. Like Mark Van (comment #17), I would like to find out about Defender 1. I do not like this one and #4 as much as #2 because I can not see through the large explosions to see if anything is coming at me until it is too late. I guess I just need to practice more! Can anyone tell me if there is a way to erase top scores in this family of games so I can get back on the scoreboard after my grandson filled the top 10 with scores I will probably never reach? It kind of takes the fun away, if you know what I mean. Thanks for today's game even though I already have it. To quote a few others on here "See you tomorrow".

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

We have a totally different game tomorrow. Something to relax to. :)

With respect to your question, it may be possible via the config document, but am not sure.

Very nice Space Invaders clone, mouse controlled.

With this giveaway I was actually able to install the game without turning off my anti virus software! ;-)

.............................Moderator Comment.........................
:)

Couldnt find the bonusus file in the directory..... to change the strength of the weapons/

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

Hi BDK, I didn't actually check the folder when I found the tips and tricks page for Star Defender 3, assumed it would already be created. I presume you have to create the bonuses.xml document yourself. See my comment just above yours for further details

This is not really my type of game as I never get very far into it. However it is a great to play for short periods as a stress reliever. I will keep it and who knows, I might get to level 5 one day!
Thanks Stephen and the developers for this little offering.

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

Hi DJ, check the Tricks and Tips section in my review above. There's a way to make your weapons really powerful, making it much easier to survive. All you have to do is edit the Config.xml file opening it using notepad. Follow the link I've provided in my review for details of what you can do to get through the game i=using various tips and tricks.

p.s.

I think you have to create the document yourself then add the following line

[! #1 Energy ] [Bonus type="1" sample_name="bon_powerup" amount="100" info_page="17"]
and for other weapons change the first set of parentheses to whichever weapon you want to increase in strength; for example:
[! #2 SG STRAIGHFORWARD MISSILES ] [Bonus type="2" sample_name="bon_powerup" amount="900" info_page="17"]

To increase the strength, or decrease it if you find it too easy change the amount from 100 to whatever you wish. I've not used this cheat, so don't know how effective it is.


1 Energy
2 SG STRAIGHFORWARD MISSILES
3 SG HOMING MISSILES
4 MINES
5 LASERS
6 NUCLEAR BOMB
7 SG PIRANHA
8 PARASITRON
9 BFG
10 LIGHTNING
11 INSULATOR
12 INFECTOR
14 BALL LIGHTNING

Apparently you can select those power ups you would like to see and not use others, but I don't know how to do that.

Am a big fan of Star Defender 2, which I got here a couple of times, so thanks GGOTD for this. Immanitas essentially picking up many games, probably mostly orphaned, for re-distribution. So the ages vary considerably. The Star Defender series was originally developed, or at least distributed, by AWEM. Actually, think I had this at one time. Basically an improved SD 2.

The other difference with a game of this type is it includes a gamma option to adjust for ambient light, as these games can often be on the dark side in their normal outer space design, if your video card can handle it. And it usually can, easily.

Let me confirm what Whiterabbit said about the corrupted file. This is because, though zip is a universal format, that still doesn't mean that compatibility is guaranteed. What I'm saying is, that even though your archiver is telling you it's unzipping the files fine, sometimes they get garbled in the unpacking. Always best to have more than one available. I do find 7-Zip to be the most simple, dependable, and consistent I've seen. And free! Which is always a winning strategy in my book. ;)

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

I use the same. Though only after getting the file corrupted when I purchased a game from direct to drive about 10 years ago. When i'd downloaded the zip file got the corrupted message, re downloaded only to ge tit again, so i emailed D2D's service dept and they said the file was okay. I then tried 7 Zip and it worked first time. Have used 7 Zip ever since and never had a reoccurance. :)

This was a new encounter for me today: a "Failed- System busy" message. After downloading I researched and found that (if using Chrome): "Instead of clicking on the file to download, right click on the link and select Save link as." Other than that initial glitch, I had no problems with the game installing on my Laptop with Win10/64 Intel Core i5. As previously stated the game is a big step up from SD2 with the graphics and weapons and it sucks you in as I was planning on just checking it out and ended up putting in an hour before I realized it.

Thanks GameGiveaway of the Day and Immanitas Entertainment for this game. And thanks to those of you who contribute to the comments which make the weekends so much more informative and entertaining! God bless you all.

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

Please excuse the very late moderation. Was invaded by my sons friends and ended up with a sleep over. my computer was commandeered. Only just got them to bed

Thank you for your feedback Biker Bro.

What do you ride? I used to ride previously a Triumph Tiger (original) and a Yamaha XJ 900, but my accident put paid to ever getting on a bike again, though I'm still considering a motocycle trike. :) Worked as a courier for Pony Express while doing my Masters degree back in the 90's, riding upwards of 1500 to 2000 miles a week. :)

I'm not going to download today's game. A shifting and a shooting just ain't my thang! (Imma do my THANG!)

I'm still playing Gardenscapes 2 from a couple weeks ago. I loooong ago finished the game. BUT BUT BUT ( I like big butts and I cannot lie) I just cannot let it go! I spent over an hour earning money just to put a spiked collar on my dog Rover. In fact I've spent so much extra time in Gardenscapes 2 this week that I haven't even returned to the Wild West game from last Saturday. So, that one will keep me busy this week. UNLESS something tomorrow just BLOWS ME AWAY!!!

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

Glad you are liking Gardenscapes. :)

Star Defenders games are usually very good and addictive games, and this one is no exception. Especially with its nice colors and graphics, without being to heavy to download, it is very cool for all ages, and space fans in particular. Cool flying experience.

I would give this game a 9/10. 10 would be for perfection only. I definitely recommend this download to everyone. Thanks GGOTD and Immanitas Entertainment for offering this game for free today.
That will relax me a bit from helping my teenage daughter with her homework and chasing free study guides on Hamlet. To play or not to play that is the GGOTD question today!

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

Please excuse the very late moderation. Was invaded by my sons friends and ended up with a sleep over. my computer was commandeered. Only just got them to bed

Thank you for your feedback Sandra

My Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Home Premium was updated today then used to scan the downloaded game file. Nothing bad was detected here.

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



:)

This game was last given away on Aug 13,2011. In case anybody is interested in knowing that.

I think I'm looking for "Star Defender I" now personally because I'd like to check out that one.

This is a good game. No HOG mind you, but still a good game. Easy to play with just a mouse.

I truly appreciate your first paragraph "For those of you who are getting hits by your anti malware suites; etc..." I feel safe again. Thank You! Keep up the excellent work!

Oh Yeah! Love this game and had it before when I purchased years ago, but lost it when a seagate drive crashed and burned.
Very happy to have this back, and this is a great alternative to all the HOG and TM games that have been saturating the site lately. A great Game Of The Day!

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



:)

"The game is IMO an improvement on all previous versions but not quite as good as the fourth in the series."
Gosh, hope we get fourth version too at some point. Liked one & two and three looking like funs! Kinda rare for a series to improve. At best they just remain sameish like Fish games or most HOGs.
Very much enjoying The 39 Steps. Dragging it out by playing just a chapter at a time late night. Haunting and just gotta know the outcome of mystery. Like the earlier London atmosphere and way they designed the 'game'. It's close to experience of reading a good book but with visuals. Not a comic book either, just a mix of novel & bit interaction.
Thanks for comments, reviews. Hate that darn red laser. Should be someone's handle RedLaser. Catch ya Sunday.

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

Hi Lynn, check out the Tips and Tricks via the following site. May help to get you through the later levels.
http://www.cheatbook.de/files/stardefender3.htm

Check out the tips and tricks section of my review. it was only added abut 20 minutes ago 10 hours into the giveaway. There is a way to increase the strength of your weapons (if you get stuck):)

p.s it is valid until the 15th of this month and if you like simulators in general and trains in particular then this is currently the best out there.

Fun for a few hours when bored but recently I am not really getting bored

I got a 20% off code for Train Simulator 2016 Steam Edition, as I already own the game it might be of some use to someone of the members here. Contact me on Steam, same nickname as here. I currently have a minion with bananas as avatar over there (in case more people call themselves Mavadelo there but I don't think so)
First come, first serve :)

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



I love Train Simulator 2016 and all previous iterations. The total number of dlc may be ridiculousl;y large with hundreds of trains and new routes, but they are often on sale. Also if you get the Steam edition of the game you actually get quite a few routes added that didn't come with the opriginal. If you like simulation games, this is definitely one to get. :)

NICE GAME!!!
I have been using 7 Zip for a while now, and have had no problems with any of the downloads from here. I am using a Win8 64 bit machine. Anyone that keeps having problems with the downloads from here, it's your own fault.

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

Hi thanks for the kind words, though I deleted the last bit so as not to offend a small minoroty of community members, hope you don't mind

:)

Great addition to my collection. I was able to download SD2 when it was offered here and enjoyed it. hmm you mentioned SD4 in the reply to LuidesAlph gona grab that one later also. But I run Windows 10 64bit and did not have the first problem except the false virus but I just added the exception to Bitdefender and all was good. Thanks again WR for all you do and GGOTD also.

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

Thanks Keymaster

:)

I downloaded this the last time it was offered and I love this game and Star Defenders 2, which is strange because I never got on with Space Invaders and Galaxians when they first came out! (Showing my age now).

This version is verging on the impossible during the last couple of levels. I hope future versions don't continue to get harder. My suggestions for improvements would be more choices when upgrading ships and weapons. Making it more user-configurable would mean that It could be played several times using different combinations of weapons. I actually find some of the less powerful weapons more useful than the top of the range ones!


...................

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

Hi Lynn, check out the Tips and Tricks via the following site. May help to get you through the later levels.
http://www.cheatbook.de/files/stardefender3.htm

:)

Downloaded on Win 7.. No glitches. Installed fine. Everything so far is working correctly.. I was going to do a quick check it out, but found myself actually playing. It is addictive. Thank you GOTD and Immanitas.

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

I did say it was easy to play but hard to put down. :)

**** Anyone with Zemana AntiLogger will need to temporarily disable it before attempting to install this game. ****

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

Hi George, thank you for your feedback George.

This is pretty much the same game with Star Defender 2, only with fancier graphics. I played it for about 20 minutes and I can say that this is as addictive as Star Defender 2.

The only difference in game playing is I think about the missile system. In the older version, there were only 2 missile types and you could switch them whenever you wanted. In this new version, only the last missile bonus you pick is active and if you pick a diffent missile type, you lose everything you got. It makes this game harrder to play when compared to SD2, but still very addictive when you get used to it.

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

Thank you for your feedback kerem. If you just allow the most recent missile acquisitions to be used foirst, the rest of the missiles are stacked, so when you exhaust the most recent, the next in the stack becomes live, then the next etc until you've exhausted them all. I've not noticed the situation you've described, but I'm not that observant. Will check that next time I play.

Forgot to mention,

Installed without hassle on Windows 10 with build in extractor, an my AVG did not gave any alarms ;-)

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

Thanks again. :)

Hello WR

First a thanks to GGOTD and Immanitas for the game, very nice sequel of Star Defender 2.
The game seems to be harder than the previous one, but i guess the Insectus are desperate too, i didn't defeat them yet.

The graphics is even better then before, and the bonus bulles looks awesome but they should stay faded so you can see the enemies bullets better. They move now behind the bulles so hard to see all of them and getting hit faster.

Another suggestion for the developper is to create a on screen keyboard, so it would be possible to play on touch screen devices. That would expand the audience.

another suggestion is to make the game speed adjustable, slow, normal or fast with thier own point earnings, slow a bit less and hard a bit more.

Well this were my two cents.
Greetings from out of France.

Be back tomorrow :-)

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

Thank you for your feedback LuidesAlph, I agree with ball of your suggestions. They would improve the game. :) Star Defenders 4 is even better. and I count it amongst my favorite shmups - there are free shmups to be found in the game discussion forums. check the game synopsis as it's easier to find the shmups as each game listed also has a genre lable. you'll find the free game synosis via the following link. It lists all the free game sposted in the game discussion forums through to the first 100 weeks of the free games project that I and others used to contribute to. I still add games occasionally, but since the proliferation of indie game bundles I've not bothered to post many games. I think the last entry in the game discussion forum's related to the week number was week 257 posted several months ago, so there are a lot more games to find that are not listed in the synopsis, you'll have to search through pages of entries in the game discussion forums to find those.:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/4534

No offense but a 12mb game is windows 95 era. Just my 2 cents. I can't complain about a free game though this type of game is not my type. I'll pass on this one.

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

The game is quite old, but it created while XP was ruling the roost, but it was created using DX6 which is from the Win 95 era. the game easily equals or is better than some shmup's that have only just been released, for example, Hypership Out of Control, released 5 days ago, Steredenn that was released 2 days ago and Pixel Galaxy yesterday all similar to Star Defenders but all look much older than Star Defender 3 with their retro styled graphics (pixillated), which is a growing trend at this time due to the availability of cheap game engines that were originally only available to game design studios, but virtually anyone can afford to purchase now.

the last 2 software i have downloaded from this site has done the same thing as above. i get a error that says this file is corrupt. pleas abtain another copy. i also disabled the antivirus

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

There is nothing wrong with the file that everyone is downloading. It must be a problem at your end. Maybe the way you have your computer configured, a program you have running in the background that is conflicting with the installation or something else. Please check your event logs immediately after trying to install the game, hopefully any error messages related to the game will give a clue as to the problem.

The FAQ's thread doesn't cover every problem that arises. lets hope someone from the community can suggest other reasons for this problem that affects a few community members. I've now installed this game to four PC's and one laptop and the game have installed, registered and been up and running each time.

nope!
Unzip is fine, but when starting setup.exe I always get "The setup files are corrupted. Please obtain a new copy of the program."

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

I've had the problem before. When I used a different file archiver, the file unzipped and worked fine when I used a different one to m default archiver. for example 7 Zip. I've linked to several different free file arhivers in the FAQ's thread.

The following entry in the FAQ's thread may be of use:

Getting a Corrupted or invalid files message?

Problem:

The setup files are corrupted. Please obtain a new copy of the program

Solution:

This is usually associated with AV software such as Kaspesky. Try setting it up in safe mode. That should hopefully allow you to install the program. Failing that temporarily (at your own risk) turn off your AV software until the game has installed. The game giveaway comes with a security file called Setup.gcd which is probably the cause of the problem. Some AV software may see the file as a threat.


If the above doesn't work, check the FAQ's thread just in case there are other fixes that may help. You can find the FAQ's thread via the following link:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/11647

I've reinstalled the game again just in case the file I downloaded a few days ago had been updated. The zip file unpacked and the gamer installed okay. If the files were corrupted we would already have had several messages from the community. So far almost 600 community members have downloaded the game.

Oh yes, forgot to add, check your event logs immediately following your next attempt at installing the game. If you are still getting the corrupted message, you may find more information in the even logs that may shed light on what the problem is. To see the event logs you need to open the event viewer. (to open the event viewer, type event viewer in the search box)

Thanx again, Game Giveaway. Loved the previous version of this, this one looks like a bit more of the same or similar. A nice fancied up Space Invader shooter and a good fun mindless shoot-em-up. I'll admit it gets a little too fast for me and I rarely got far past the second boss in the last version, but still, a nice relaxing noisemaker.
Quick comments on some previous games. Mini-Hockey struck me as simple and silly at first but it's become addictive. And I got stuck on Echoes of Sorrow and nearly abandoned it but Whiterabbit's review claiming it was, if anything, too easy encouraged me and the walk-throughs that were posted got me past a couple tight spots where I had no idea what to do (Doesn't earning a precious Jewel of Innocence and them just thrusting it into a fire strike anyone else as counterintuitive?)
Anyway, I've been getting some artwork done, a bit of writing, and between those "grown up tasks" I've been having fun with the games from here and this new one looks like a treat. See you tomorrow.

Oh, the redesign on the GOTD main page is nice and clean. Came as a surprise but didn't take long to adapt to.

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

Hi Napoleon.Park,

Thank you for your feedback :)

File seems to be corrupted. It's not possible to install.
Even disabling AntiVirus does not help.
Please fix.
Regards

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

Hi Chris, There's nothing wrong with the download, try redownloading the file. I was able to install it to 2 different computers using Win 10 and Win 7 and it played okay.

Check out the FAQ's which I link to in the problems section above. Let us know the outcome. Thank you.

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

For those of you who are getting hits by your anti malware suites; it's because they are picking up the Themida based protection, which was put in place to protect the game from unscrupulous community members that were hacking the giveaway wrapper which then gave them unlimited access to a registered copy of the game, which was being put on peer to peer sites. Some community members were even uploading video tutorials on You tube telling you how to do it yourself.

Themida based applications are sometimes seen as a thread by anti-malware. I can assure you this game and hundreds before, that have given community members cause for concern have been totally safe. The game giveaway team have managed to secure well over a thousand games for us since they first started giving away games back in late 2006 (firstly via the main site back in Oct 2006, then via the game giveaway site early December 2006). There has never been an infected game given away.

If you are able to configure your anti-malware suite to allow the 'offendiong' file through security, the game should then install normally. if you can't, or don't know how to, then the other way would be to temporarily turn off your protection. You do so at your own risk, but please do take into account what i've already said above; in a nut shell, every malware occurance reported here since the game giveaway went live in Dec 2006 have been false positives due to overly sensitive anti-malware suites.

It would be against the teams best interest to allow such an occurance as it would destroy their good standing with the big search engines and I'm sure many who have frequented this site for a long time would leave. The giveaway team use several antimalware suites to test every game given away here.


Another thing to consider when you think the game is infected, if it really was, there would be hundreds of community members posting about the infection; we rarely more than a few posts for any particuylar game; though, since the gcd file that contains the Themida code was introduced in 2012 I have seen many more community members reporting infections due to the Themida based code found in the giveaways wrapper protection. However, out of the thousands of downloads each week, those numbers are insignificant and supports the fact that the results they are getting are actually false positives. They have always been proven to be so.

Star Defender 3:





Installation:

Star Defender 3 downloads as a 12 MB zip file that unpacks to a read me document that contains the terms and conditions and a wrapped dual activation and set up module and a security set up file (setup.gcd). Just for the newcomers amongst today’s users that means the game will be registered once it’s gone through the set up process, so there’s no registering the game with an activation code. The instal path is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Star Defender 3

To install a desktop shortcut make sure you check the appropriate box during installation. Sometimes I've found the installation path shows the previous game I installed from this site, so to be sure you don't install the game inside a previous game, check the installation path when you start the installation. You can usually find where it's supposed to go by looking in the read me file that comes with the download. To stop this happening, clear your cache. The installed game is 28.8 MB in size

If you have any problems installing or registering Star Defender 3, check the problems section below and if none of the fixes work, it is available free from MyPlayCity (MPC) 24/7 HERE and Gametop HERE. If you like this genre you'll also find Star Defender 2 and the Space Invader clone Chicken Invaders (at least 3 versions) at MPC. You may also find Star Defender 3 on other free game sites, but I've not had the time to check Do take care when installing from such sites as you may install toolbars or have your home page or browser provider changed. Make sure you uncheck all check boxes during installation. :)



Introduction:

The year is 2743 A.D., only two short years since the last war, and the Insectus have already prepared for their next wave, with new tricks to defeat you at every corner. The human forces are still weakened from the Star Defender 2 battle and it is up to you to beat back the swarm, destroy their weapons and stronger, more dangerous bosses with your own newly crafted wares and technology stolen from the Insectus. But you will need all of these along with your wit and reflexes to not only send the Insectus home, but to destroy their last stronghold and win the game.


Blast through 8 huge missions nd apart from Star Defender 4 the third in the series is the most exciting iteration of Star Defender. You'll immediately notice the updated and leading-edge Star Defender 3 graphics in the Space Shooter genre. Star Defender 3 has a new progressive system of bonuses and power ups to help your cause. You've never had so many types of weapons to destroy your enemy with! Missiles are just light fun for kids, but here you'll get mines, lasers, nuclear bombs, piranha, parasitron, lightning, insulator, infector, ball lightning and homing lasers! Yeeeaahhhhh! :)

Don't miss this hot star battle! The new Star Defender 3 explosions and sound will blow you away and you'll never want to return home. And if you don't succeed at your mission, you'll have nothing to return to. So what are you waiting for? Star Defender 3 will change the way you think about Space Shooters forever!

Reference accessed HERE Dec 25th 2010 (this page no longer exists)




The Game:

The game has 100 levels divided into 8 missions. At the end of each mission you have to fight an end of mission boss. You can change the difficulty level from For Kids, through three more levels to hard via the options; also you can change the input method from Mouse to keyboard via a slider toggle. both the sound effects and music can also be adjusted via sliders. there's a gamma slider to darken or lighten the overall feel of the game plus theres a windowed/full screen toggle.

Upgrades to your ship are picked up by destroying enemy ships. As you pick up more power-ups your weapon load-out becomes increasingly more powerful. There are twelve weapon upgrades in total and include straight missiles, homing missiles, mines, lasers, nuclear bombs, homing lasers ball lightning and more. There are also other power-ups such as a slow-mo and extra lives as well as immediate effect rockets that spread out across the playing arena. Whenever you are hit by an enemy weapon you will lose one of your weapon upgrades until you are at your default strength at which point your ship will be destroyed. The bosses lasers are more powerful and may destroy your ship with just one hit so beware the red laser. You can see a boss firing its red laser in the image above and a couple more several images below:

Bosses:


To use the main weapon you use the Left Mouse Button and to fire missiles the Right Mouse button. The latter (missiles) are best saved until you are either in a sticky situation or when you face the end of mission bosses which can be very hard to destroy, especially if you are left facing a boss without secondary weapons (missiles) or your weapons load-out has been reduced to your basic weapon. At my first attempt at a boss I had no missiles and was on my default weapon. I lost all my lives and barely made a dent in the bosses defences, on my second attempt I'd saved all of my missiles and had a reasonable weapon load –out. I managed to destroy the boss relatively easy. All weapon upgrades are carried forwards to the next mission.



Unlike some shmup's there is no end of level shop where you can buy power ups and defensive shields. (I marked the game one point down for this omission). All power-ups are gained while in game. Weapon upgrades double as shielding for your ship. When you are down to your default weapon your shields are at zero. Once you've completed a level it is automatically saved so if you end the game it will automatically start at the beginning of the level you either left or start at the next level if you completed the previous level. If you select to start a new game using the same profile you will lose all previous saved data. You can however create as many profiles as you wish. Each one can be saved. When you die or complete all 100 levels you are entered in the high score table.

The game is fully mouse controlled with few keyboard commands apart from creating your profile name and the ones detailed below:

Controls:





Mouse Control:

• LMB – Fire Primary Weapon (guns and lasers)
• RMB – Fire Secondary Weapon (mines, missiles and defence)
• Mouse X axis – Left & Right movement of your ship
• Alt – Enter - Windowed mode

Keyboard Control:

• Left Arrow – Move left
• Right Arrow – move Right
• Shift - missiles
• F1 – HELP
• Esc – Game Menu


Tips & Tricks:

The game can get quite hard at times, especially for those new to the genre or a little slow on reflexes. There's an excellent tips and trick post HERE that gives advice on how to survive the insectoid onslaught, you can even change the strength of various weapons by editing the bonuses.xml document file found in the games installed folder. You can change the value of the following weapons to whatever you feel you need to survive. 1 Energy, 2 SG STRAIGHFORWARD MISSILES, 3 SG HOMING MISSILES, 4 MINES, 5 LASERS, 6 NUCLEAR BOMB, 7 SG PIRANHA, 8 PARASITRON, 9 BFG, 10 LIGHTNING, 11 INSULATOR, 12 INFECTOR, 14 BALL LIGHTNING.


Video:

You can see several videos of game play HERE, HERE, " rel="nofollow">HERE, HERE, " rel="nofollow">HERE, " rel="nofollow">HERE, " rel="nofollow">HERE and HERE.






System Requirements:


Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8
CPU: 600 Mhz
System RAM: 128 MB
DirectX: 6.0 or higher (this tells you the game is quite old)
Hard Drive: 33 MB



Conclusion:

Star Defenders 3 has loads of action, high explosives, boss battles, weapon upgrades, and a decent audio track (Intro and in-game music). Try playing this game with the lights off and turn up the volume on this game. You'll have yourself an immersive time (if you like shmups). The game is IMO an improvement on all previous versions but not quite as good as the fourth in the series.
Star Defender 3 is one of the better space shooters (Shmup's) IMO, with gorgeous graphics and a good array of weapons and enemies. The game is very colourful and the in game screens are filled with alien 'space-scapes' not just a black background interspersed with a few stars like some shmup's I have.


I'd definitely give this one a try. It doesn't require much thinking apart from considering how you're going to beat the end of mission bosses which are quite hard to beat if you don't have a fully armed ship. This is one of those games that is ideally suited to stress management (ie. Blowing off steam) or if you've only got a few minutes to play in between more important jobs/games. It's one of those games that can be easy to play but hard to put down once you've started.

Scoring:


I've included new categories to reduce the scoring bias that is inevitable when a single person is scoring a game.

Game play ------- 9 (I'd have given this a 10 if it had an end of level shop where you could upgrade your ship, thankfully in level upgrades are carried through to the next level)
Graphics ------- 8
Audio ------- 8
Replayability ------- 8
Originality ------- 7
Fun Factor ------- 9


Total = 49 out of 60 which equals 8.2 out of 10



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


Problems:


If you have any problems installing or getting today's game working, please go HERE for help. I've posted most of the common problems and solutions in a FAQ thread, which you can find in the sticky section of the forums by following the above link.

If you are posting late in the day I would also suggest posting in the main giveaway forums; in the game discussion section, because I cannot moderate 24hrs a day over the weekend. I've created a thread HERE for that purpose. If you've installed the game but it doesn’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at a later date. Unfortunately if your problem is actually downloading it, once the giveaway deadline is reached you will no longer be able to download the game unless you've already started downloading it before the cut-off. Sometimes you can still register the game after the giveaway has ended so long as you managed to start the download before the giveaway ends. I've tested this and the grace period lasts for up to 1 hour. Apart from the above instances; i.e. already installed, but having problems running the game, (with the possibility of receiving help from the community via the giveawayoftheday game discussion forum); or still downloading after the cut off period, but within the 1 hour grace period, or registering within an hour of the cut-off period. Once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done to get the game (unless its available from one of the free game sites) until the game is given away again (though that isn't always guaranteed).

It's worth checking the giveaway game discussion forums the day before the giveaways go live to see if we are getting a large sized file (I usually post a comment about approximately how large a file is, though if I'm particularily busy I may neglect to do this). It is especially important for those who have slow connections and even more so if the game is popular. We can have up to forty thousand (40 000) community members downloading over the 24 hour period, with the bulk of community members downloading in the first 12 hours of the giveaway going live, there is always a massive strain on the giveaway servers. The bigger the file size, the more community members will be downloading at any one time. Because the bandwidth is shared equally amongst all community members, downloads can become excruciatingly slow, so if you do have a slow connection, its important to start your download as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Because these games are free, the giveaway owners cannot invest in more bandwidth without compromising the whole project, so we have to be satisfied with what we have at present.

A download manager can help speed the download up and also protect the download in case of an interrpution. There's nothing as frustrating for those with really slow connections to have the connection break after an hour or so, then have to start from the beginning again. I would ask community members if you do have decent bandwidth please avoid using a manager as it does add to the number of downloads occuring at any one time, for example some download managers will download your requested file in up to 32 packets simultaneously, that will take 32 download spots, thus slowing down everyone else's download speeds. For those with slow downloads (due to having a slow connection e.g. a 2MB Broadband connection or less) I would advise using a download manager if the file is larger than around 200MB. My broadband connection is 100MBs, so I don't need to use a download manager, (I do have one called Internet Download Manager, but don't use it when downloading files from the giveaway site). For me a 1GB file usually downloads in about 1.5 minutes or less. My connection is quite a long way from the provider so it is slowed a little, but is still quite good at a download speed of around 12 to 14 MB's per second.

I hope the above goes some way in expalining why we sometimes have really slow downloads.


It’s always worth checking out the free games sites because sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them. MyPlayCity (MPC) has the most with over 1000 games to choose from. Today's game is available from MyPlayCity (MPC) 24/7 HERE and Gametop HERE. I've not checked the other free game sites.



If you do download any games from MyPlayCity, Gametop or the other free game sites please 'do' watch out for toolbars etc. Make sure you un-check the check-boxes during installation, and, in the case of MyPlayCity, every time you boot the game up, (this may have changed now as these free game sites tend to change the format frequently)....... I've posted links to all of the common free game sites below in the games, games games section. If you do download a game from any of these sites you do so at your own risk. We cannot be held responsible for problems arising from an installation recommended here. :)


For now I won't be recommending you download games from Jenkat Games. They have changed the way you get games from their site. Diane has posted information about this over in the game discussion forums. If I have time or remember, I'll link to it. TooMyk Games are now safe to download from. They have removed the games that were suspect and have cleaned up their act. As always, you download from those free game sites at your own risk. The giveaway site is the safest site I know of where you can get free software and games. The only disadvantages with downloading from here is you have to download and install within the day of the giveaway (apart from the instances mentioned above and if and when you upgrade or buy a new computer legally you aren't allowed to transfer games given away previously, unless they are being given away on the day you upgrade, or if you've purchased a licence. :)

You just have to look at the sites track record since the game giveaway site was created back in December 2006. Zero games given away have been infected with malware, there are no toolbars installed, nor home pages hijacked or browsers changed. There is one slght annoyance, but that only occurs if a community member isn't paying attention when the final window pops up after installing a giveaway. That is the Software Informer installation. Some community members have complained that they were given no choice in its installation. That is not true; when the final window pops up, there are two buttons, one asking if you want Software Informer installed and the button to close the giveaway window down. Some community members have clicked on the wrong button, probably because they weren't paying attention. Thankfully Software Informer is a genuine application, that can easily be uninstalled by the usual means. It's actually a useful piece of software, especially if you have a lot of applications running on your computer. Basically the program will list the programs that need updating, or programs that have available updates. They wont be automatically installed (thus cancelling many giveaway registrations); you have to click on individual buttons to update each program/application. :D

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

Other Shmup's:

You'll find loads of shmups posted in the free games project. Check the Space Shoot 'Em Ups thread for a great list of Shmups such as Forbidden Galaxy, Galaxy strike, Alien Arena, Allegiance, Fraxy, Orbiter, Noxis, Parsec 47, and Universal Combat to name just a few , also you'll find many more in the Game Discussion forums, just look for threads entitled Week……. . Then there's the Free Games Synopsis where you'll find most of the previously named free games mentioned, though I've not updated the synopsis since week 100 (it's in week 145 at the moment). You'll also find over 30 space orientated games over at MyPlayCity, where you'll find Astro Avenger available 24/7 and Gametop.


Games, Games, and yet more Games:




There are 653 games on sale over on Steam this week, ranging from 10% to 90% off. The weekend deals include 66% off the Double fine adventure Broken Age, and play Speedrunners for free until Sunday 1pm Pacific Time. There's a Paradox Publishers weekend sale between the 1st to the 5th October that includes great titles such as Crusader Kings and the Europa Univeralis franchise (80% off), and 50% off the fairly recently released Magicka 2. Other great deals from this massive number of sale items include 75% off the excellent Trials Fusion, 80% off Victoria II, 75% off Sanctum 2 (a first person tower defense game), 70% off Starpoint Gemini 2, 85% off the Stronghold Complete pack that includes the Stronghold Collection (5 games for £4.48, that includes the original Stronghold, Stronghold 2, Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold Crusader Extreme and Stronghold Legends) plus Stronghold 3 Gold. (If you like strategy games that included castle building, you'll love the Stronghold series), 75% off Red Faction Guerilla (This is amongst my most favorite games from the last 10 years, with a game engine that enables you to destroy virtually anything in game, buildings can be taken down with explosives or even with a simple sledgehammer. I spent a whole week destroying a large bridge across a wide canyon, making it collape in different ways. The game is based on a Mars colony that has an open world aspect and hundreds of missions and at least three modes of play. You can drive around in loads of different vehicles and collect various weapons as well as fight the Earth Defense Force who are subjucating the residents of the colony. Basically a Sci Fi FPS game, but also a lot more. It's a brillaint game well worth £3.74 (I paid £30 for it when it was released). 75% off Ancient Space a rts game (gorgeous graphics), 80% off the excellent strategy game King ArthurII: The Role-Playing Wargame (on the lines of a Total War game) , 75% off Timeshift (only £2.49) though it is 8 years old), 90% off Orbital Gear (a fast paced sidescroller shooter , at £0.59 it's a steal. You can also get a four pack to share with friends and family for only £1.99 - it's got single player and multiplaer modes plus a local co-op mode), 75% off the wacky Gas Guzzlers Extreme (a combat racing game, where you can win a race simply by blasting your opponents away), 95% off Terrorhedron, a 3D, cooperative tower defense game costing only £0.39. There are too many other great deals to mention here, just check out the specials section for all 650 plus titles on sale HERE.

There's loads more in the weekly sales and the 48 hours sales to choose from. almost certainly something for everyone. The next set of weekly sales starts on Monday with usually a few hundred titles added. :)





You'll also find some excellent deals over on the following Game sites.

GreenManGaming They usually have coupons to the value of 23% and sometimes more off pre ordered games. I've just pre ordered Just Cause 3 XL and XCOM 2 using a voucher and saved £22 on the price paid in the Steam store
Gamersgate Summer Sale
GOG (DRM free games)
Gamestop
GameFly (soon to be sold off)

I've removed the Desura link because the owners are bankrupt and there has been no activity on the site in months. The servers are still live (at least until Bad JoJo's subscription to the servers has ended, Bad JoJo are the owners of Desura and Indie Royale, or were until filing for bankruptcy). If you own any games via Desura I advise downloading all of the drm free games you have on that platform and on the Indie Royale site before the sites are taken down.




Free Game Sites:


MyPlayCity (over a 1000 games to choose from)
Gametop
FreeGamePick



To be honest there are too many game deals around too list them all. Just visit the sites I recommend above and I'm sure you'll find something that suits you for a very decent price. If like me you prefer Steamworks games, many of the above sites also sell steamwork games.

If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums HERE for details of other games either free or on deals such as the Indie Game bundles (there's over 20 of them - If you purchased all of them you'd be paying around $80 for around a thousand dollars worth of games); or check out the four day sales at IndieGameStand. you'll find the indie bundles thread HERE. The thread is outdated, but all of the links will still take you to the latest bundles.






The latest IndieGameStand game is To the Moon:

Two doctors traverse backwards through a dying man's memory to fulfill his last wish of going to the moon.

Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts have peculiar jobs: They give people another chance to live, all the way from the very beginning... but only in their patients' heads.

Due to the severity of the operation, the new life becomes the last thing the patients remember before drawing their last breath. Thus, the operation is only done to people on their deathbeds, to fulfill what they wish they had done with their lives, but didn’t.

This particular story follows their attempt to fulfill the dream of an elderly man, Johnny. With each step back in time, a new fragment of Johnny's past is revealed. As the two doctors piece together the puzzled events that spanned a life time, they seek to find out just why the frail old man chose his dying wish to be what it is.

And Johnny's last wish is, of course... to go to the moon.

You can get the game for $0.99; pay over the average to get a second game called A Bird Story. (The price at the time of writing was £1.81 and rarely goes above $2 unless the bonus content includes a second or third game). The second game is an experimental light, whimsical short game with an interactive pixel animation with the sole purpose of telling a simple story. It is a standalone narrative, with its own beginning and ending.

The deal ends Monday 5th Oct 2015 5am (GMT)



The latest DIG game is The 39 Steps:
Prepare to experience the original man-on-the-run thriller in a completely new way. This is a digital adaptation of John Buchan's incredible book (inspiration to Ian Fleming's James Bond!). Be transported back to 1914 London, where Richard Hannay finds himself framed for a murder he didn't commit. Now he must escape the Capital and stay alive long enough to solve the riddle of The Thirty-Nine Steps. There are secrets to be discovered, locations to be explored and - above all - an incredible tale to be told in this ground-breaking interactive novel.

Key Features:

- A new form of entertainment, merging the worlds of literature, gaming and film into one visually stunning storyline.
- Faithfully constructed using the original - and best-selling - John Buchan text, first published in 1915.
- Hundreds of hand-painted digital environments, and authentic materials from 1910s Britain.
- 8 different storytelling mechanics, 25 collectible items and 16 awards to be unlocked.
- An original soundtrack by Si Begg and theatrical voice performances, including Ian Hanmore, Greg Hemphill and Benny Young
- Created in Unity4, with a playtime of 5-8 hours.
Pay £0.99 for the game or you can get two keys if you pay more than the average of $1.00 (at the time of writing ). One Steam key to share with a friend or family member perhaps? You'll find that deal HERE. They also have five bundles of several games that'll cost you less than $1.50 each HERE (DIG Bundles 39, 40, 41 & 42 and re-bundle 8). You get Steam keys for all of these games.
The single game deal ends just after Midnight Mondayday 5th Oct 2015 and will be replaced with Storm in a Teacup, games later in the week and early next week are The 39 Steps, Red Lake then Space Farmers.

Most of the bundles available retail for around $5 give or take a few dollars (apart from the Daily Indie bundles that only cost $1.49 for six games), but you can pay as little as a dollar for some. There are some excellent bundles out at the moment. Check out the following:

Groupees (5 bundles)
Indie Gala (? bundles)
Humble bundle (2 Bundles)
Indie Royale (this bundle is no longer live)
Bundle Bandits (0 bundles)
Blink Bundle (0 bundles)
Play Injector (0 bundle)
Get Loaded (0 bundles)
Games Rage (0 bundles)
Flying bundle (0 bundles)

The free game from Origin has changed from Zuma's Revenge to one of Command & Conquers later games Red Alert 2 plus you get the expansion Yuri's Revenge. This is another AAA game, well worth having if you are into strategy war games.

The world erupts in conflict as Soviet forces invade American soil in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. Time travel has helped to eliminate the German threat, and now the Soviets are expanding into the West unchecked. You are the Supreme Commander. Arm yourself to the teeth with top-secret technologies and lead the Soviet or Allied troops to victory.
Plus, defeat an army of mind-controlled Soviet forces in the expansion Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge.

Game Features:

Many ways to play. Lead Soviet or Allied forces in a gripping single-player game or a Skirmish game, where there's no particular objective other than destroying everything else on-screen. Who will win the war for world domination?
No need to play nice. You'll need to pull out all the stops if you're going to win this war. Thankfully, you've got a well-stocked arsenal of legitimate and illicit technologies from Prism Tanks and Terror Drones, to Psychic Mind Control devices and Soviet Cloning Vats. Use them.
Deliver the fury. Dominate land, air, and sea battles with the help of over 80 units and structures. Plus, you'll benefit from a enhanced veterancy system that turns newbie forces into battle-hardened war machines -- and brings you closer to victory.

Check it out HERE.


You do need a free Origin account and install the Origin client to get these free games. Once you've installed the Origin client and signed into your account select 'On the house' from the 'Free Games' drop down menu. Then select download now. The game will then be registered to your Origin account permanently.

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

A Request for help:

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, and a big thank you to immanitas games for sharing and to the game giveaway team for getting these games.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen