The Treasures of Montezuma 4

In Brief

Today’s game is the fourth in the excellent Treasures of Montezuma series of match three games. I’d score this an 8.5 out of 10. The first in the series is still my favorite. :)

Before you decide to download todays game, please do check out the in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. You can also see a slideshow of 250 images of The Treasures of Montezuma 4 HERE.

If today’s game isn’t to your taste check the end of this review for links to more excellent (and for a limited time FREE) commercial games called Plants vs. Zombies and Sanctum 2, Also MDK (Murder, Death, Kill) and Spellforce 2: Anniversary Edition

Please only post comments about today's game giveaway; other comments either inappropriate, or comments with only one or a few words; for example vg, good, thank you, TY, bad, rubbish, this game is ****** etc , or if the comment has nothing to do with today's game or is complaining (send your complaints to the giveaway team via the contact form that I've linked to below), they may be deleted at the moderator or administrators discretion; however, a little light banter among community members/friends and with the moderator to keep this a friendly place to visit is acceptable and welcomed. All comments not specifically about today's game giveaway will be judged by the moderator and if deemed inappropriate, will be deleted and usually with no explanation. Please see the moderation policy HERE for details about posting comments.

Installation:

The Treasures of Montezuma 4 downloads to a 442 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper, the set up file and a read me). Those with multiple hard drives are able to save games on any drive they wish. The newly installed game is 567 MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed by the user if you prefer:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\The Treasures of Montezuma 4

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop. three of which can be safely deleted (Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game which vary each week). Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure you uncheck the box when the additional tasks window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window)

Introduction:

Unleash the magic of totems and defeat the epic boss in the breathtaking game The Treasures of Montezuma 4! Are you tired from exhausting daily routine and want to have a rest? The game The Treasures of Montezuma 4 is the best choice to combine rest and logic exercises. It’s of vital importance to train your logic and quick wits to become a well-educated person. Use all your mental resources and don’t lose a chance to get smarter! The gameplay in The Treasures of Montezuma 4 is really captivating, once started to combine multicolored crystals in rows of the same color, you can’t stop until come to the end of the game and reveal all the ancient mysteries. Make chains of the bright multicolored gems to get all kinds of boosters, helpful power-ups and powerful totems.

You can use totems during the game – just destroy the precious tiles of its color twice to activate it! The super booster is also very helpful, just fill in the special scale with sand below during the game to get it. If it’s activated, all your game scores will be doubled! If you are lack of special bonuses, buy them in the shop to set new records. When you appeared in the ancient land, you would be told about an age-old mystery that you are going to solve. Do your best to get to the roots of the hidden story, break the stones and set the gods free! Use totems to activate the powers of elements and cope with all the tasks and numerous levels lightning fast! It’s high time to set out on the journey through the jungle and restore Aztec pyramid to gain the ancient gods’ support and succeed in breaking the rows of colorful tiles! Use super bonuses to launch unbelievable combos and get mind-blowing rewards! Accept the challenge and prove that you are the one who can overcome the difficulties and release the petrified gods from their imprisonment! Let’s go through the numbers of sparkling levels together, cope with all the riddles and quests to break the chains of jewels and get unique rewards in the game The Treasures of Montezuma 4!

Edited reference accessed HERE. 25th November 2017

The Game:

You have a choice of playing the game in either Casual or Expect difficulty depending upon your skill level. I always find it best to start at Casual level and then move on to the more difficult Expert level later. When you first start the game you are limited to tackling the Story mode. Once you have made the necessary progress then Puzzle and Quest modes become available. Story mode involves completing 14 different playing boards of Match 3 game play for each of seven Aztec statues in order to release their power to reopen the portal.

Each board layout consists of rows and columns of different coloured tokens. In standard Match 3 mode, you need to create lines of 3 or more tokens of the same colour by swapping two adjacent tokens. As the newly created line of tokens disappear, the space is filled up by other tokens falling downwards. Often this will result in more new lines of three or more similarly coloured tokens being created so causing a chain reaction as they disappear and more tokens take their place.

Some of the tokens will contain gems and money which is then added to your account so increasing your points’ total and bank balance. While your points total will sometimes play a role in completing a board, the money you earned can be used to purchase items from the game Shop. There are two types of items available for purchase. You can either purchase and upgrade powerful mini-statues or select from eight types of bonus.

As with the main statues, there are seven mini-statues. Each one is coloured red, green, blue, white, purple, orange or yellow. After the initial purchase, you can pay more to have a statue’s power upgraded. This power is automatically applied once you have created two successive Match 3 lines of the statue’s colour. The bonuses generally come into play after you create a line of five similarly coloured tokens. Messages will appear when statues, upgrades and bonuses are available for purchase as long as you have the money.

In order to complete each board you will need to reach its specific target. In some cases you might need to achieve a set points total while another board will require you to include a set number or percentage of tokens that have been endowed with specific attributes such as fire or frogs which do have a habit of jumping from token to token. There are also boards where you need to clear away the tokens from every cell or reveal specific areas.

The game will provide assistance by identifying a possible move with a directional arrow. However this is not always the best move. While speed might seem to be a necessary consideration, it is often beneficial to take a few moments to study the board to look for possible matches that can be repeated to activate a particular statue to provide its help. If you do complete a board within a designated time limit then you will be rewarded with a Gold, Silver or Bronze symbol. I have to discover whether these symbols have any benefit other than decorative.

Any matches created by falling tokens will add to your total of points but have no bearing if they create a match of the same colour. Only matches you make will be recognised in this respect. Unlike some other Match 3 games I have played, this title allows you to create further matches while the previous move is being implemented. In this way you can create a match that might otherwise have been lost as tokens are displaced by the previous match. You need to be quick but it is possible and can prove useful when trying to make a second match of the same colour. When no further moves are possible then an automatic shuffle of the tokens will take place.

As well as the Story mode, there are also Puzzle and Quest modes. Puzzle mode becomes available once the first statue has been completed. You can tackle set challenges to include a set number of tiles with special attributes in your matches. Quest mode only becomes available once Story mode has been completed. Each Quest sets you three targets which need to be completed within a time limit.

The game’s graphics are well up to standard with some impressive explosions and views of the Mayan pyramid. I did notice that the background music would tend to cut out occasionally but this did not affect the game play. The Treasures of Montezuma 4 is certainly challenging with three game modes, two difficulty levels and a Story mode that has 99 boards. You can download a time-limited trial version of this excellent Windows game from www.Alawar.com before committing to purchasing to the unrestricted version.

Reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by mfereday on 30th October 2013. Reposted by Whiterabbit-uk 25th November 2017.

Other Reviews and Videos of The Treasures of Montezuma 4:

You can see Big Fish community reviews of The Treasures of Montezuma 4 HERE and Steam HERE. There are several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Conclusion:

I loved the first one and love this one, tohugh IMO the first one is still the best. If you like match three games, this is definitely one to download. A keeper for me (purchased it when it was first released). :)

Suggestions:

After you've had an opportunity to play today's giveaway please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? If you don't have time to post a comment today, please do so at your convenience, thank you. If you wish to post a review or comment about the game at a later date, you can access the comments section by going to the game giveaways home page, then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Archives and select the date the giveaway was live (giveaway days are in bold type). This will open up the appropriate page for you to post your comment or review. Alternatively, you can google the name of the game and include Gamegiveawayoftheday in the search. This should give you a list of links to whenever this game was given away.

There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers new or fresh ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as better or more original mini games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you. Maybe you think the graphics are a little dated and are in need of re skinning, or maybe you've just had enough of the genre and want to see something different or something with more originality? Giving such feedback instead of saying nothing or just saying this game is rubbish or good may bring more developers to the site, which could mean more and better games. Would 'you' give away thousands of copies of a game (or extra content for a game) away to a community that complains all the time instead of giving useful feedback? It only needs a few moments of your time.

This site could be transformed if only the community would be more forthcoming in their opinions of the games they are getting for free instead of complaining about the way this site has changed, for example, they don't like MPC games, they hate HOG's, have had enough of Match Three and Time Management games, or they want to see the latest version of Call of Duty or some other big name AAA game given away or that they don't like Steam games. If something isn't for you then please move on to the next giveaway, or check out the forums HERE, HERE and HERE, where a few members of the community post details of various free games and free game sites as well as links to various indie bundle sites etc; you never know, you may find something that really interests you.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE; or If you prefer to purchase the game you can get it HERE via Big Fish Games or via Steam HERE.

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting The Treasures of Montezuma 4 to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted, for example, a common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced three years ago is that some community members installation of the game are blocked by their security because Themida code has been known to hide malware, (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not); so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though the files (i.e the setup, read me and setup.gcd files are actually totally free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. You could also try whitelisting the setup.gcd file. In the almost 11 years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away The Treasures of Montezuma 4 and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If The Treasures of Montezuma 4 doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and eslewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums).

The latest Origin giveaway is Plants vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition. which you can find HERE. If you love Tower Defense, or arcade games in general, this is a fabulous game. It's not like your typical TD game. It's easy to pick up, but hard to stop playing. A fantastic and well balanced arcade game, with brilliant game play and in my opinion one of the best of its kind. You can see a couple of game play videos HERE and HERE. You can also get a free Steam key for Sanctum 2 another unusual Tower Defense game via Failmids site HERE. You can see a couple of game play videos HERE and HERE.

Thanks to Picollo30 for the heads up on two more free games one from GOG called MDK (played this about 10 years ago with my son, a little dated now, but still a lot of fun, you'll find it HERE and Spellforce 2: Anniversary Edition (you need to install and play the games for several minutes, then it becomes yours permanantely) HERE.