follow up on the Game

My wife adores the game, Loves the theme and interface except....

She's a match 3 person and not a memory match type person. She's berrzed through the match three section but had to go through several screens to get through the memory match .

Ideally you should set up a counter to count how may times a person doesn't pass the memory match and make each subsequent memory match screen a little easier, like less boxes, rows etc..... maybe lose points but make it less frustrating for the people bad at memory matching

Just a tip .....

She loves the game otherwise

TTFN

Fun, addicting game! There is a little stragety involved which makes it different from usual match 3 games.

Excellent game! can't believe you got this one for free. I have to go checkout more rainbow games now.

installed and worked on Vista (32).

Love the game

Nice game, installed and played with no problems. Thanks!

It's a fun game and I really like it but it doesn't feel like something for selling because of a few reasons. For short:
1. Game interface does not look professional enough. It looks quite amateurish. Colour selection is good though, just work on the interface. For example, the main menu have blocks of rectangle for play, options and stuff which doesn't look good. When selecting the different stages, there is a big circle in the middle for continue which looks very out of place for me.
2. Text font selection is not good, like the main menu texts are very hard to read and doesn't fit in with the interface.
3. Text are too near text bubbles and some of the box borders. Please realign them.
4. Bad game description. I know your native language is not English, possibly Russian from what I see, but try find somehow to redo the description because that is the thing everyone see first.

Here is my opinion on the gameplay. The game is a bit challenging and most casual gamers doesn't like it because they play it from time to time and possibly during rest time at work so they don't want to get frustrated. I would suggest for more tools other than the net. I personally don't use the net that much and didn't think it is quite useful because mostly I would only manage to use 1 time in each game or 2 the most.

suggestion to the programmers :
make the arrow from a window that is pointing to something more eye-catching.
with so much color and animation, i found that my eyes where not attracted to what the window was pointing to.

Thanks Lone Paladin for the review. The reason it didn't get the usual review was becasue I'm on vacation.

Fishes works just fine on Windows XP.

Game loaded fine for Vista 32bit SP2. Only problem was the sound. WAS TOO LOUD. Even when I turned it down it didn't make much difference. Ended up turning it off.

Still a good game to play.

Fabulous to see the return of the games!!

"Tropical Fish Shop", as noted above, is a little cranky under 64-bit Win 7.

I finally got it to run, although without the music/sound adjustment working, as "administrator", using "XP Service Pack 2" compatibility.

The time limits are a bit tight, but otherwise, it's pretty-looking, low-brainpower fun.

Thx, GGOTD!

Excellent match three game, with great graphics and music. Gets quite challenging after a few levels! Great game GAOTD!

Includes minigames between some levels, like memory matching pairs. All the levels and minigames have a time limit if oxygen isn't renewed fast enough. Plenty to come back to for another try/ attempt!

I love match 3 games! Good to see the games back

Installed and ran perfectly on XP Sp3. Annabel is kinda hot but the shop owner looked like Cheech on Coke. Fun game for a match 3; one of the best I've played. Thanks.

Another "line up 3 or more and let them fall". The background effects and storyline are not offensive, but after 45 minutes I felt I'd seen it all.

Pleasant, but not exciting.

Does anyone know how to uninstall this game? I cannot find an uninstaller. Thank you!

Hi all...
Thanks for coming back. Sorry #18Whiterabbit about your computer troubles. Definitely missed you this morning and apparently most of the day. I hope you can get back on to review tomorrows offering.
About todays game. Where should I start? About 10amEST I logged on and noticed there were no comments or thumbs up or down. Rainbow Games didn't ring a bell but Realore did so I gambled and downloaded the game onto my XP sp3 laptop. During download I noticed that the tranfer speed was steadily dropping, whether that was Kaspersky's, Process Lasso's or Sympatico's doing I do not know. During install Kaspersky didn't like Setup.exe again but I let in go through anyway. Next problem Kaspersky came up with is that something was trying to change my search in Internet Explorer 8 something about "trying to get access to protected password storage". This obviously I blocked. Then Windows/IE8 felt attacked and figured I needed to change back to my favourite search engine and opened up the Options window.
During the rest of install I changed the destination to program files, found fishes.exe and sent it to desktop. It plays fine but I am not fast enought on the hidden object mini game and keep loosing which gets me frustrated, stressed out and worse. So unless they give me an opt out or easy setting I will not be playing it.
Hope springs eternal that there will be a better game tomorrow.
Thanks again.

My cursor disappears and the mouse does not work. I have Vista. Is there a fix for this problem? Thank you!

I liked it, Win 7 x 32

Enjoyable game! Thank you GGOD!!!!

I downloaded and installed the game on my XP SP3 desktop, figuring to wait until this afternoon to try it out. The first thing I noticed is no icon on my desktop, so I went to the installation folder, and sent one there. I clicked onto the icon to try out the game, and got a 'Sonar detected security risk fishes.exe' notice from Norton. Security risk has been removed, and so has the game play icon, which means I can't play the game. I removed the previous download, and re-downloaded/installed, and got the same actions; I repeated this action 3-4 times, btw. Match-3's are my favorite genre of game, so I was looking forward to trying this one out. A bit of a disappointment, I'll say.

It's very nice to see the game side back this weekend. I have to admit that reading the description of this game did not give me a clear idea of what it's about. But taking a look at the screen shots gives you some ideas. The game is a match 3 and it is very well done. I like the graphics and the game play. I think there is enough fun elements to keep a gamer coming back. Thank you very much to the game team and thank you to the publisher, Rainbow Games, for the offering. Nice game.

I'm surprised that this game didn't get the full review treatment that other titles have received, so here's my impressions after playing for about an hour.

Installation went without a hitch, except that it didn't create a desktop shortcut or an item in the Start menu. The default installation goes into the C:\Games folder, so it's not difficult to locate. Oddly, the executable doesn't have the full game title.

Like most match-3 or hidden-object games, the first thing it does on launching is ask for your name. Here's where the first real flaw showed up: it only allows 8 characters. This is one of my biggest pet peeves on these games, because my first name is 11 letters long. The interface in this has a very long space for entering, but uses a very small font, which means that the entry doesn't even take a third of the space allowed.

Makes me think of old console CRPGs, where you could name your characters, but the names had to be 4 letters long.

The typefaces used on the menu screens and in-game interface are very hard to read. The cutscenes are worse; in the first cutscene, the letter 'L' does not appear in the text, resulting in weird gaps. There are grammar and translation errors all over the place. The artwork on the cutscenes is very cartoon-like and it doesn't look like they put much time or effort behind them.

The game itself is pretty good. Basically, it's your standard match-3 game. You are working against a time-limit, in the form of an oxygen tank. The tank has a visual gauge, and a numeric indicator. Every few levels, you receive an upgrade, increasing your timer. You also get additional time in-game whenever you match a set of bubbles.

Your goal in each stage is to match a specific number of creatures. One level might require 10 crabs and 12 sunfish, for instance. Once you have the required number of a certain creature, it is checked off. When all of the items are checked, the stage ends.

You have a helper, in the form of a net. This requires charging up by making matches of 4 or more pieces. At first, the net you have only eliminates a single square, but you get upgrades to this as well. Higher-level nets require more large matches to use, but get increasingly-larger areas. Creatures caught with a net count toward your goal, so the net is useful for getting creatures that are proving difficult to match the usual way.

You can continue to make matches while pieces are falling from your first match. If you manage to create a chain of matches from falling pieces, you can use the time to make additional matches.

Some creatures appear with a small bubble floating around them. When you click on one of these (making a match with them isn't necessary), several randomly-selected squares will turn into spinning bubbles. These bubbles will spin around for about five seconds (you can make more matches in the meantime), after which they will disappear. This can be useful in rearranging the board.

In addition, glowing stingrays will randomly appear. These can't be used to create matches, but if you create a match that involves moving one, it will erase the items adjacent to it. These don't count toward your goal, however.

Each stage has a time-based goal; you earn an award based on the total time you took to finish the stage. The map shown between stages color-codes each stage to match the award. You can replay previous levels to try to get better times.

Every six stages or so is a competition level, where you face off against three opponents. You and your opponent both have the same goals, and take turns making matches on the same field. Whenever you (or your opponent) get a large match, you get an additional turn. The only change in gameplay here is that you can't make concurrent matches; basically, you get one move, then your opponent gets a turn. The AI on these opponents starts off really easy, but gets increasingly better.

All told, this is a fairly solid match-3 game with some interesting elements and power-ups. The story is extremely skippable -- especially when the text is hard to read, and error-laden.

My ratings:
Graphics -- 8/10. They could have put more effort into the look and feel, but they didn't totally ruin it. The cutscenes aren't exactly inspiring, but they don't induce headaches.
Sound -- 7/10. The music gets a little repetitive, but it's not terribly annoying. The sound effects in-game are pretty good.
Story -- 2/10. Don't bother reading the cutscene text unless you're patient. The typefaces used are too small for the spaces alloted, grammar and spelling errors abound, and text frequently fails to stay within the boundaries. The story itself doesn't make any sense, anyway.
Gameplay -- 8/10. Despite the nitpicking above, the game itself is pretty good. The award system encourages replaying levels to try for the gold medal.
Overall -- 7/10. This isn't a bad game, really. The graphics aren't half bad, but the text will make you wince. This would make a decent addition to your match-3 library.

Downloaded file is not valid at either download location.

After a long time a new game. Thx.

I'm not a big fan of puzzle games... though, nice artwork!

~Joji~

I installed this game, but I cannot get my mouse to work in order to play. It looks like it would be fun. Does anyone know what I need to do to make my mouse work? I have Windows Vista on a new manchine with a 4 quad processor. I would think my PC would be up to the task. Thank you!

Where are all the comments and reviews???

I like this game. Puzzles get you on your way.

Good match 3 game but no desktop icon, you have to create it yourself.

Bummer. Its been so long since we had a free game..and now that we have one: No Comments! Well, I am happy that the free game is a 'match three' which is my favorite. I will give it 10 thumbs up even without playing it as it comes from a great company and has some extra added features. Thank You give away of the day..for a free game!!

Yeahhhh....the games are back !!!

Thank you !!!

Ok The game itself is great My daughter loves it and I have to say I got a little addicted to it my self. Now when you run the setup.exe included in the file it turns out to be a self extracting zip file that extracts to C:\Game\TropicalFishShop, if you have installed other games it may install to that directory instead but just remember where it installs to. The setup does not create a desktop shortcut or even a startmenu shortcut but run the game from within the installed forlder. I give this a 5 out of 5 as far as ease of setup as far as playing the game I give it 4 out of 5 stars, just because the game is geard toward younger children. All in All Thanks for another great game GGOTD.

My norton 360 says that the exe file is a security risk and keeps deleting it. IT worked great early this morning but now after my norton updated it dont .

Installed without any issues on Windows XP and Windows 7 Professional 32 bit.
Install defaults to your C:\games\ directory; no desktop icon produced upon install. Manually go to the "TropicalFishShop" folder, right click on the fishes.exe and "send to" "desktop" to create an icon. Not a bad game; will pass the time. Thanks GGOTD.

It looks like a different kind of game. Might be worth trying.

Strange that is so late in the day and I see no comments as yet at the time of this comment.

It's nice to see a game giveaway again. This is a match 3 game with decent graphics. It's running fine on my Win7x64 system. There are several different kinds of levels such as alternate moves against a computer opponent (who seems easy to beat). Definitely not worth $20 but probably worth 5 or 10. I'd guess it would provide several hours of game play. Definitely recommended for younger children and since the main character is a girl it may be more interesting to young girls.

I just installed this game on a Window7, 64bit system and it installs fine. Problem arises when I try to play the game. It opens and asks for my name, which I enter and hit the enter key. Once that was done I had control of the arrow keys and I opened OPTIONS to have a look. Inside OPTIONS I had no mouse cursor and the arrow keys did not affect the music volume slider, etc.

I minimized the game, right clicked on the icon and chose to close it. I then reopened the game but this time the arrows did not work, no mouse and the menu disappeared on its own and I was left staring at one lone fish swimming slowly around the screen. I tried every key on my keyboard (because I had no mouse cursor) but nothing made any difference. I had to alt/tab out of it again.

I changed compatibility to run as admin and XP sp3 but this did not help either.

Just wanted to say "thanks" to you all for the games. I check every day and was pleasantly surprised to find one today after such a long time without. Downloaded and installed on XP3 with no problems...thanks again

The game installed fine, plays smoothly on Vista and tho it's a bit simple it's a good game. It's good for younger kids, and adults who aren't so easily bored. The sound effects wear on the nerves a bit, but the volume control takes care of that. Thanks GOTD for the game, looking forward to more.

I think this is the type of game I was looking for.... the problem is that I can't play it because I can't see the mouse during the game..... can't play when you can't see where you are clicking......

It took me awhile to find the problem. It appears that google desktop was causing the sluggish problem. It's now running smoothly.

Downloaded, installed, activated fine on Vista 32-bit OS.

Beautiful, colorful graphics, excellent helpful bubble tips on how to play the game, easy to learn (even without guidance) - I already played a few rounds, and it's totally fun - just my cup of tea.

Thank you, GOTD and Rainbow Games, for making my day fun.

Installed on Windows 7 machine with an error message appearing "Game may not have installed correctly, Reinstall???"

Just ignore the warning - game seems to function OK

Also installed on Windows XP laptop - with no issues

Game Play - This is a cute "match three game" with great graphics and music. The wife loves it ....

This IS a nice little game.

Originally I tried copying the zip to a flash drive and copy the flash drive to the Windows 7 machine.

Windows 7 had a cat fit over it. I ended up having to go to the webpage and install it. Maybe it was the lack of an internet connection at that point. It would not let me open and install from zip or even copy the zip to the C drive...

My guess is that it's a windows 7 issue but if you install from the webpage you should have no issues

Like the game

Game would not activate, froze, game will not download and install

Horray!!!! "Their backkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!! Good to see the games up and running again. Hope they continue. Really missed them.

Did a 3rd grader write this game description?

Does not work under Windows 7 x32

This is an OK kids game. Starts off fine with 3 combinations but becomes very sluggish after selecting 4 items in a row. Running Win7 Home Premium 2.2ghz and 2gig ram. Video card has 512mb ram and runs fine with higher graphic games. This would be a better game if the programmers would speed it up. Does not seem to refresh quick enough. Reminds me of the turtle odyssey games. Game 1 ran wonderfully yet game 2 was extremely sluggish.

Played with all the different combinations of windows compatibility service pack 2 to 640 x 480. Makes no difference.

Thanks GAOTD for posting a game again. It's been awhile.