The best part of this game is that you dont have to keep clicking the mouse button to get the ship to shoot, the game automatically keeps shoooting for you. Other shoot-em-up games where you have to keep clicking away eventually tire your mouse finger out.
All in all i like the game very much. I can't see why people think this game is too difficult as i'm no hard core gamer by any means and i made it to level 5 the second time that i played it and i played the game on intermediate level.
Moderator, please just ignore all of the naysayers. You do us a big favor by going thru all of the headaches and hoops that you do to bring us these games for FREE. I assure you there are alot of us that very much appreciate what you do. It's very kind of you.
Thanks,thanks,thanks. Did i say thanks ? lol
regards.

Never mind. Didn't see the screenshots.

Is it anything like Archmage? It sound like it might be...

i find the game great eventually one good side scroler shooter!

tried to install it was missing a .dll file and would not play.
the file was not in the download..
so i missed out on this one
and i saw no game for sunday did i miss something some where?

HATED IT!! ONE OF THE WORSE GAMES EVER...IF YOU'RE GOING TO BRING BACK THE OLD ARCADE GAMES OF THE 70'S, AT LEAST MAKE IT SOME OF THE GOOD ONES

@#47: I'd hardly call installing an up-to-date version of DirectX from the MS download site 'fiddling with the OS.' If your PC doesn't have a version of DirectX as high as 9.0c, it's quite likely that you will find a variety of other software won't work either (many programs which use or manipulate graphics, sound, or video).

I've never heard of anyone ever having any computer woes as a result of installing ANY version of DirectX (and I've been a PC tech since the original IBM PC came out in 1982). Think of it as an update similar to a Windows Update or a Service Pack if that makes you feel less worried.

There again, if all you ever use is office-type software, fine; but you may well find that your presentation software (PowerPoint or equivalent) may complain as well, especially if you try to use video, sound, or some of the fancier transitions.

it´s sunday, why it come´s not a game to download ???
greetings,
mike


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

I did mention in my post @#1 that there would be no game giveaway on Sunday. The team were unable to secure any games. I've posred alrernativeesn the games forums (see week 76 games.)

First time I've felt compelled to post here about one of these games. I loved this one! After first installing I would run it and just get a blank screen with music, but that's happened before (seems to be related to DirectX games that don't like my dual monitors). However I was able to open the config file and turn off full screen (Kudos for a plain text config file!) and run it in a window succesfully.

The levels seemed a bit disjointed but the gameplay is spot on. I was worried at first as the dead bodies blocking your shots makes the early game more difficult, in particular the second level seem to be impossible if you die and lose most of your firepower. However once you've built up enough firepower to destroy the dead bodies before they block too much of your fire, it smooths out. Having multiple 'boss' types that fire streams spaced perfectly to kill all your drones is evil, but effective at upping the difficulty.

The Graviball weapon is most interesting. Once you've got a decent number of upgrades on it, it becomes very effective at taking out a 'lane' of incoming enemies. In particular, if you start to charge another one before the current one leaves the screen, all the bodies in the current ball will 'bounce' up and you can catch them and use them again, which is the only way I could build up a decent sized (15+) ball.

Overall I'd like to see more levels (and maybe a slightly smaller hitbox on the player ship) but this is a great start!




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


Thans JD , sorry it took several hours to moderate. Once the giveaway had finished I tend to forget to check.

Got the same dll file error as #3. Just uninstalling it. My comp works perfectly fine don't want to fiddle with the OS for a game ... pity. would have liked to play this

Solution for missing DLL problem: for people with DirectX v10 on their computer download d3dx9_41.dll for free at http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?d3dx9_41 save the DLL file in the game's main folder (where you installed it)

I have a problem opening the exe, is says it can't find this .dll file?


d3dx9_41.dll


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


Please read previous comments to fix this problem. :lol:

Installed and worked great on Windows XP Home, old computer.
The grammar is a bit off, kinda reminded me of Zero Wing, lol. But other than that it's a great game, it's exceedingly hard which is rare to find in games these days. I started on the lowest setting and got destoryed on the 5th level, haha.

Two thumbs way up!

I have to say thumbs up for the Moderators' efforts here!!!!
Thanks a lot for this!
And if I have to read those guys queeking and mourning "bad game, give us better, blablablahhh" every weekend, I have to tell those, why don't you go somewhere else, where you get everything for free and even with so much help???
Sure, I don't like all the games offered here, so what, nobody forces me to download it, to install it, to even play it.
It's ok to rate a game negative, if you don't like it, but do you have to be impolite then?
I love this site, and I am very curious every weekend, what's next.
Thanks (also for the .dll-tip)

I installed STAR PRINCE several times and everytime I tried to run the program I got the same message: THIS APPLICATION HAS FAILED TO START BECAUSE d3dx9_41.dll WAS NOT FOUND.


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

Have you read any of the previous comments? This issue has been discussed and fixes made available above. :) hope you get it to work.

not well balanced - gets extremely hard quick

but it's a free game, and I already had some fun game time

Thanks, GoTD

Installed it, but when I tried to run it - Nortons found its behaviour suspecious with sonar and deleted it.

I thought this game was meant to be free of malware and viruses?
Is it not free of adware as well? Are there other hidden "features" we've not been told about?



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

ALL the games given away by the game giveaway team are rigorously tested using several AV softwares; If there really was a virus, you'd be seeing many more complaints from the community; as it is, so far only you have complained and it's more than half way through the giveaway period already. There's usually well over a thousand downloads of this program by now which makes it a 0.001 probability that there is a virus. (Statistically speaking that figure is insignificant) On top of that you state it was Norton Sonar that gave you the warning - "say no more", that particular AV package is notorious for being overly sensitive when not properly configured. The probability that the hit you got is a false positive is 0.99 certain. Which is statistically very significant; however if you feel you can't trust the downloads from this site, despite there having been hundreds of thousands of clean downloads since the project started in 2006, then that's your perogative. I hope you will reconsider. :)

regards

Moderator

Post 22: Installed twice – added the dll but only get a blank screen – I can hear the music but no images Tried running it in compatability mode for XP Pro SP3 – still no images

os Win 7 pro 2gb ram -

Comment by Kim — February 20th, 2010 at 9:38 am

---

I had the same issue. Are you running two monitors at the same time? For me, when I have 2 monitors, it no visuals display. If I only use one, it runs fine.

Anyone know how to get around this?

this game is missing a dll file and won't run. No sence downloading it.



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

The game isn't missing a dll file, your computer is probably missing the file. You'll find a download link above for the package that includes this file. I checked the game and there isn't a dll file found within the games folders and it works on the two computers i've installed it to.

installed perferctly fine on windows 7 64 bit, didnt have do anything special. Did install as an admin, just in case.

Had a blast playing for little while. Its not especially fancy, but its a good time killer for free.

Thanks Rabbit.
-----------------------------------------------------------
You people need quit whining. ...........edited........
Since, you have so much spare time, why dont you find some game authors or companies in control of some games that you are looking for that will let their games go for 50cents apiece, maybe a dollar but I doubt GOATD gives that much.

Ya know if you did any sort of research you would that these games just arent given away. GOATD pays for each install. This means the only way that make money is you being on the web page and wow 1 person on a web page just rakes in cash.
server costs, electricity costs, rent

you either need to get a clue or grow up.stop complaining
---------
Not sure if your gonna let this go rabbit, but I couldnt I help it.



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

I'd like to add that you can get some excellent games for free by beta testing for developers (the big game houses don't generally give you games though they may give you a generous discount; that said I've had several games given to me by Alawar ( they now give beta testers 40% off), wheras the small indie developers will often give you a game if you fawn enough. I wrote to one developer who created the game Arklight telling him that I loved the art work and then asked if he had any games in the pipe line as I would be really interested in helping with the play testing. I was given a copy of the final game called system mania plus offered copies of three other games for free. (I'd already purchased two of them called Scavenger and Darkside, so he said is there any others I would like, but I declined as I felt I'd gained a lot already and I'm all for supporting indie developers anyway. :lol:). It just take a little time to compose a suitable letter and then find the contact details for the developers of the games you may be interested in. You may end up with nothing though. :lol:

I have Win 7 x64 with DirectX 11. The program seems to run fine for me with no questions asked. I checked my windows\system32 directory and found the "missing" d3dx9_41.dll along with dozens (literally) of other dx3... files. I don't recall having installed anything special either.

For all who are missing the DirectX file: Go to Microsoft's website and get the DirectX Web Setup package. That will install every single DirectX library for your operating system. It's not just for this game, there's a lot of other games that don't include the DirectX library it needs and relies on the one installed on your system.

I blame Microsoft for this problem because they don't put any DirectX updates on Microsoft Updates and neglect to tell people (especially beginner users) that there are always new DirectX libraries pushed out.

Download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3

And for those of you who are wondering if installing DX9 will downgrade your DX version? No, it won't. Your overall version won't be downgraded. The installer will just fill in those library blanks. And as a bonus: If you're using Vista SP2, you will get upgraded to DX11.

Interesting observation: play.url is referenced within the game. Does that mean this was a GameTop/FreeGamesPick version?

@#8: I have to admit, when I read the description, my first thought was 'All your base are belong to us! For great Zyg!' :D

@#16: Nice use of Nederlands there, Stephen: or was it a Google translate job (looked too colloquial for that)?

Whiterabbit, I would like to ask you something about a game not posted here (not lately anyway). If you'd rather I'd email you privately I will. Do you know whether Alawar Entertainment is trustworthy? I like their games but am having difficulty getting a response from them about a game I purchased there that is infected with a virus. It's been two weeks now. Do you have any advice for me?



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

Hi Naomi,

PM me over in the forums. Generally Alawar are a very safe bet. you'll have to give me more details.

I find this game very interesting. To be more accurate, it's the game engine that's interesting. Apparently, the developer had converted their 3D shooter game engine into a 2D one. Also, some interesting technical elements were added, such as video playback. (Though that never worked for me.) The level definition looks familiar, as it is in similar format as the one from Star Warrior 2.

The game itself: Instantly difficult, even on novice. I also hate how you get spawned right in the middle to hit those meteorites. It gets very annoying. I never did get past level 1...

I recognize to2.mp3 as the song Wind Racers by Vibe (which I first heard from Robbox). I'm pretty sure all of the other music are converted from module files as well.

I aggree with #25. I didn't like the gameplay. Gave it a try, deleted it after 10 Minutes.


.....................moderator comment...................

Check out the link I posted to Caiman's games. There's much better space shooters available from ther. also Gametop games. you'll find several space orientated games of a commercial quality.

http://www.Gametop.com then click on the space link

Watch out for tool bar and browser hijack tactics with games from Gametop. Easily avoided if you uncheck the boxes.

"Every day we also offer licensed games you'd have to buy otherwise, for free!"

So where were the games from 15 Feb to 19th Feb, 2010?


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


The giveaway team were forced to go to weekends only when many of the games houses stopped allowing games to be given away; that coupled with the economic climate and some game houses setting up their own game giveaway schemes has seen the game giveaway team struggle to find any developers/game houses willing to give any games away. Or at least not enough to give games away every day.

If you want more free games check out G@rgoyles free games synosis in the forums and the games discussion forums. I've just posted a link to the third Command & Conquor game that EA have just converted to freeware - Command & Conquor: Tiberium Sun; (see Week 73 free games for the weekdays - a project started last year to fill in for the lack of a game every day)

please can you give us the game mount and blade for free it's very very goog but i can't find it


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

You could have bought it via Steam for around $5 last week. I mentioned it in one of my posts over in the forums. mount & blade II will be released next month. Really looking forwards to that one.

I have two copies of the game, one from direct 2 Drive (purchased on a half price offer last year) and then a Steam version bought last week. unfortunately the games are non transferrable otherwise i'd have given you my D2D copy. (I purchased a second copy so that my sn could play with me, but he hasn't any interest in the game). (unfortunately it's now nearly 30 Euros).

I've just bough the expansion to Mount & Blade called Warband for 1 Euro from Direct 2 Drive It's a standalone multiplayer only game, but if you really want to play mount and Blade then 1Euro is a steal. i'm sure they have the wrong price up on the site, but thats all they charged me and now i have a reg code; though no game yet as it's not been released yet. :)

http://www.direct2drive.eu/9172/product/Buy-Mount-&-Blade:-Warband-Download

Is there a trainer out for this version of the game? I cant even get past the first level. Too many meteorites even on novice.

Anybody else think that the spaceship in the small teaser/title pic for today's game looks like a flying hotdog? *g*


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


lol

had to put .dll file in game folder,worked like a charm.windows 7 (64 bit)..


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

I've checked every folder and sub folder within the installed game and did not find one dll, yet the game works absolutely fine for me. The only down side is it's only got 10 level.

Installed twice - added the dll but only get a blank screen - I can hear the music but no images :( Tried running it in compatability mode for XP Pro SP3 - still no images

os Win 7 pro 2gb ram -

Prince Goober and Princess Pinata... great names lol. I'll have a look at this when I finishing downloading it (someone else on the network is using an extremely aggravating P2P program... grrr).

Installed and ran flawlessly on Windows 7 32bit ... Nice little game.

i have gotten a quite a few games free from sandlot and it is ok to include your cc info. make sure you are on a page with a url that begins with "https". this shows it is a secure page and all info is encryted. just be sure that the "no backup CD" box is checked. i am very careful with my info and i hope by paying attention to the url i am doing right.

............comment remove............ (basically said this is rubbish) - Aren't these games tested before they are inflicted on the unsuspecting. It is missing some dll file but when I go look for it I am running around in circles. At least it was less than 24megs. I would be extremely annoyed [trying to be polite here] had it been a huge file. I'd rather blow off a small download than a big d/l file. I have had that happen before and I was not a happy camper let me assure you.


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

I've installed the game to two of my computers and it's running absolutely fine on both of them; no messages saying the game is missing dll files, so I can't understand why it's not working on some computers unless they are missing these files from their system folder. It can't be the game that's missing the files.

i am getting a message that d3dx9_411.dll isn't loaded. i tried going to the link that #13 mentioned and it said that they didn't have that file. i also tried reinstalling the game and even downloading it a second time from the giveaway site then reinstalling. still not working. i have windows xp. hopefully this can get fixed so i can get it working later today. thx. :o)


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

I just checked the site mentioned above. i've used the site on several ocassions and never had a problem as i didn't this time. i downloaded a 1.84Mb file. you have to make sure you're clicking the right buttons. It's easy to mistake the correct one.

http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?d3dx9_41

Kudt spel werkt voor geen meter.d3dx9_411.dll zit er niet bij. XP 32 bit


............................Reactie Moderator........................


Iemand heeft gepost hierboven een link waar u een kopie van het d3dx9_411.dll bibliotheek bestand dat u voor het spel nodig. Ik hoop dat dit helpt.

Stephen;

Just a comment on your Sandlot game for free note - I tried getting Boonka, and in order to do that for "free" you have to complete the checkout process, which does require registering, and every time I tried to complete a checkout - which showed the game for free - it included a $7.99 backup CD. Now, it may give the option of deleting the CD from the checkout at some point, but I didn't go further, not wanting to enter my CC info just to find out. So it looks like the "free" game offer may be a come-on.

As for Star Prince, today's game, I've downloaded it and will give it a try soon... looks interesting.

Also, thanks for the great reviews AND all your hard work in the Forums; I really enjoy just cruising your postings and checking out some of the great free games you and the others have uncovered - and some of them are keepers for sure. Kudos to all of you!


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

Hi JL, thank you. The offer isn't a come on honestly. I've got several games from Sandlot so far, by following the instructions below. Monster Mash for example, which was a great tower defence game, and for me the first one I got was the first of the Westward series. Great games and moreso for free. what I like about these games is you don't have to install a games manager and the activation code gives you basically a lifetime licence for the game provided you keep a copy of the game and the activation code backed up. You do have to give a vaild email, but I think it's worth it if you want free and decent arcade games every week.

I’ve written out instructions for getting the game free. This is not meant to be a condescending note to you, just one that others can use to ensure they get the game minus the CD. :lol:



• Firstly (if you haven’t already), you need to create a free account, or log in if you have already got an account. The log in link is to the top right of the home page. When you click on it a log in window will appear.

• Click on the free game of the week banner that’s situated about midway down the home page :

http://www.sandlotgames.com/w5

• Click on the red coloured ‘Get it free’ button. There’s two buttons, one to the top right of the page and another just below midway down the page on the left.

• When you click on either ‘Get it Free’ buttons a small window will pop up which states that you must complete the check-out process to get the game. Click on the ‘new’ red button that also says “Get it free”


• That opens up the shopping cart. Click on the orange button that says “Begin Check-out” This takes you to the page where the Back-up CD is mentioned. There’s a small checkbox to the right of the image of a CD. It says “no Back-up CD”. Make sure that it’s been checked then click on the orange button that says “continue Check-out”


• A new page opens up that should show the total price to be $0.00. If it doesn’t, you’ve not checked the correct box on the previous page.

• Click on the orange button that says “Submit Order”

• The next page says” Thank you for your order” – Next to the Boonka icon you’ll see your activation code. You can copy this to whatever document application you use, though it’s not necessary because you’ll also get an email with the Activation code.

• On the same page there’s a download link for Boonka and below that is instructions for installing your game and activating it.

• Make sure you download the game from this page as you’ll find it difficult finding a link for it once you’ve navigated away from this page without having to go through the whole process again.

could not you predict that I need the old update dx9 to the game. I would not need to make me the trouble of going download thos game.i not overwrite my new version dx10 for a game and i not Creating a restore point only because to play this game!


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


Downloading and installing DX9.0c will not overwrite your DX10 files. The restore point is just a precaution, but that's your prerogative mike.

If you do have problems running this game the links I've provided in my comment @ #1 should be sufficient to sate your thirst for such games. There are over 200 of them available for free. :)

if the game asks for d3dx9_411.dll just download d3dx9_41.dll from dll-files (exact link: http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?d3dx9_41) and put it on the main game folder.
Worked for me (win7 64 bit)


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

Thanks for the link oxid

@3 and @4: Download the missing dll and put it in the main folder of the game

now work - i have download d3dx9_41.dll and placed in \system32
thanks

Installed successfully,
then receive error when trying to run:
This application has failed to start because d3dx9_411.dll was not found. Try re-installing.

Xp professional sp3 and directx 9c installed

Couldn't get it to work, still!!!!!

The description needs to be cleaned up: "There remained one thing for Prince to equip his spaceship and pursuit the slug!" should be more like "There remained only one thing for the Prince to do: Equip his spaceship and pursue the slug!"

Also...Princess Pinata? Does that mean that she likes to be beaten with a stick? And just because one nasty slug steals his girl, he needs to kill every slug? Does he kill the last boss slug with a salt gun?

Something seems a bit wrong about this game.


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

The poor grammar aside, the game is just another take on the side scrolling space shooter. The subject matter really doesn't matter so long as the game elements work, which for me they do.

Rick - Make sure you download and install the directx redistributable full package for vista, not the end user package. If it still doesn't install the missing file, you can get it from dll-files.com and just copy it to your system32 directory.


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

Thanks RS

It need DX9 it won't work on any higher version :(
I have DX10 and not going to downgrade to DX9. Not a very good job from this maker.


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

I don't think installing DX9.0 is going to overwrite your DX10 files. Make a restore point then try downloading DX9.0c.

Sorry forgot to mention that I have Vista home premium 32, 3GB ram