The logic part is a ok, but not very interesting.

I like 3 match games and I've logged many an hour with this one but in the end, I have to give it a thumbs down. The reason is the lack of time...ie. you are given one set amount of time for a whole series, if you fail -- and I always do -- you return back to the first in the series. I've been stalled on stage 3 forever it seems, so despite my love for the goofy graphics and the loony artic animals, I can't see how anyone could win this game.

Thanks guys! I really like this game. I can't wait for Puzzle Quest game ;)

It is an awesome game and it is really entertaining to play on the weekends or whenever!!!

this is great, I love it!!!!!!!

I downloaded this game and both and my husband are really enjoying it. It DOES get harder as one progresses but we both enjoy the challenge, especially as there is an untimed version!
VERY relaxing!
THANKS SO much Alawar for listening; having the choice makes a huge difference to us(and to many others too!)
AND MANY thanks to GGOTD!
We appreciate the diverse games that are offered here.
Yes some games are not what WE prefer but OTHERS do, and the complainers should remember this!

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed their one hour demo because that is all I got. Then, if i had elected to keep the game I could have started over on square one......so as you might have guessed, it is deleted and forgotten. I thought these were free games to play at your leisure and discrection and not demos. Anybody else discover the same thing I did??????

Does anyone know why I'm just getting 60 min. playtime,same w/snowy lunch?

Jay, a match-3 with an everlasting mode. Oh... my... life!

Almost didn't download when I seen it was a match 3 game, but glad I did. It is different and makes you think. Easy enough for little ones to play and have fun yet hard enough for adults the try and think ahead for multiple breaks at once to gain tools and built high scores. It is a keeper, although I really like games that make you think a little more than this one. Of course, I didn't play to the highest levels yet.

the game was ok, I'd give it a 5/10 as an adult but my kid cousins enjoyed it up to where it became too difficult for them. The only problem I had was with a slow response from the mouse after big combos, other than that I had no problems. I did check out other offerings from alawar, and they offer much better games on their website. I recommend you check them out.
Finally, that little introduction at the beginning didn't make any sense. You lost me at "But you can still...." that's not a problem when it's winter. Maybe, and now you can enjoy a frosty treat from the comfort of your home.

#50 please use the right pronoun. You should use "I" instead of we. I got what I wanted today.

Thank you so much for another ALAWAR Game ... as always it was quick to download, easy to install and no running problems on Windows XP. After reading the comments, I was not sure about this game, but gave it a try ... I was not disappointed! This games is great because it has three levels of play = loved the untimed! Also, the ability to slide the lines up/down and sideways makes it much more a 'puzzle' game. People of all ages will enjoy this game! Thank you for offering another free game download.

I am new to this site and most of the comments are very helpful, whether good or bad, and are directed towards the game download, technical issues or the game itself.

Each 'free' offer for the past two weeks seems to have generated very upset people, who in turn make more comments to AND from more very upset people. I have never been to a 'free' offering site that has created so much unnecessary 'upset' comments just because of a 'free' offering and some people choose to accept that 'free' offering.

Aww man! Alawar is back!?
Stop bringing their games!

oops my bad, it was just a demo version I guess, said that on the download page.

This game was a lot of fun too bad I only got the demo version, even though it said it was free to give away of the day visitors.

We tried this game on vista , it works ! Suprise! Also works on 2000-pro and M.E. , NO PROBLEMS!

Running this game, the CPU is sizzling at 100 percent
almost all the time, and so the fan on the laptop has to
be on all the time. Something wrong with that.

I eventually started to run 'Process tamer'
from Donationcoder.com just to keep this thing
from going at 100% all the time. Don't want to burn
out my laptop playing this game.

This game I like! So does my 4 year old grandson. Installed good , running good. Running xp-pro on this one. Also to all vista users found a thingy called a hot swap hard drive tray. It allows you to swap out hard drives in seconds and operateing systoms.That way you can still play the games on xp and not switch computers. SIMPLE AS SWITCHING AN 8 TRACK TAPE.And you dont miss out on GGAOTD freebys.

I downloaded this game and ran the activation key which worked alright.
Installing wasn't a problem. Then I tried to open it and it wouldn't open....just kind of flashed, then nothing.
Any suggestions out there?
Glenda

Here Here Susan (#12). Thats GGOTD for everything you offer us - whether we download or not, it's always appreciated.

Something that I forgot in my above post: if you want to use your own music, you have to convert it to .ogg format for it to work.

Today's review:

The first thing that I thought when I saw this game was, "Not another match-3!" I was completely wrong.

This is quite simply the best "match-3" that I've ever played, simply because it is actually challenging. Unlike Bejeweled, which is all about mindless square-switching, this game requires whole ranks and files to be slid, and all squares must be cleared. This makes it quite a mental challenge, since the levels have many corners and vacant areas(I spent 20 minutes trying to solve a level with two holes in the middle). I don't know if this mechanic has been used before, but it certainly deserves more publicity.

There are three different modes: Logic, Quest, and Relax. The first is a waste of time, as you merely have to make certain patterns with the jewels, and none of them are particularly difficult. Quest showcases the game's true gameplay, but with time limits imposed, I lost a life on each of the first three levels(there's a hint button, but I'm averse to cheating). It's that hard. I found Relax to be the most enjoyable, as I was able to spend as much time as I needed solving hard levels(20 minutes on level 3!).

However good the game plays, though, the graphics look average at best and hideous at worst, like those in a school project, maybe. The game itself is low-res, but that is exacerbated by the awful penguin images at the top of the scoreboard(they look like something off of a Happy Meal bag). This game may have been released two years ago, but it feels at least five years older.

The sound is also annoying, with the droney background music and obnoxious clearing sounds that made me mute my speakers. The music itself sounds like it was written for a completely different game, like Zuma, maybe. I will give it extra points for including it in a seperate folder, enabling me to use my Apocalyptica tracks instead.

As for the setting, it's not one seen often, so I'll give it points for originality. I will never be able to forgive the designers for putting polar bears and penguins in the same location, though.

I give this game an average score of seven and a quarter out of ten(nine for gameplay, four for graphics, eight for sound, and eight for theme). I don't know if it will appeal to the Bejeweled crowd, but for people wanting more mental engagement, it's definitely a keeper. Good job, Static X.

I am new to the site (THANKS! Sis karen), and I find it exciting to find what is waiting to download everyday! This game, I believe, will be a permanent keeper. I love it and so will my grandkids! I give it TWO thumbs up! And I hope that the GOTD team are able to ignore the ungratful whiners, because some of us are very new at gaming. THANKS!

THIS IS NOT FIRST RATE SOFTWARE. THEY ARE THE SAMES GAMES OVER AND OVER, WITH DIFFERENT WAYS TO PLAY, DIFFERENT CHARACTERS, DIFFERENT GRAPHICS...THAT'S ALL. In other words, duplicates, and boring. RPGs are what we want. GIVE US WHAT WE WANT!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, Alawar and GGAOTD ...I will wait for the RPG...good try.....

Definitely a Chuzzle-style game! Very well done. The logic mode is very good for keeping your mind active. Sometimes, in quest mode, the matches don't "match up" when they are slid into place causing you to lose some time, but overall, still a good mode. So far, I haven't discovered any ways to earn new lives. Has anyone else discovered if this is possible?

Thanks, GGOTD & Alawar.

I like it!
Thanx a bunch Alawar, love your games, and thanx GGAOTD.....

The game downloaded with no problems. The graphics were cute but very generic. I liked how you had 3 types of game play, Logic, Quest or relaxed. Good game for all ages. Thanks for the game! I enjoy coming here and trying out games.

Sadly I found this game to be another ripoff of one of popcap's game "Chuzzle". Sorry GGAOTD.

Great game!

Yes #34 Bonnie it IS very much like Chuzzle - which is one of my all time favorites.

To #12 Susan - I agree - enough whining - if you can't say something relevant to the software keep your opinions to yourself!

Frankly speaking, I would have only a third of the games that I do have (mostly match 3) without the efforts of the wonderful people who run this site. I've kept about 17 games of the two dozen that I have downloaded since finding this site six months ago. I can barely afford my dsl connection let alone buying every game that I've played a trial version of online. This site has given me versions of games that I may never have found or been able to afford at $10 - $20.00/game (Cdn).

The only thing I don't like about this game is that there isn't a windowed version but I can live with that for such a "cool" game!! :) Thank you Alawar and GGOTD!!!!

When I try to activate this game I keep getting a window that says this:

The dynamic link library MSVCP60.dll could not be found in the specified path C:\Documents and settings\Carol.Home-A63AOAC57E\wz113;,:C:\WINNT\system32;C:\system;C:\WNNT;C:Program files\InternetExplorer;;C:\WINNT\system32:\WINNT\System32\Wbem.


What do I do to correct this? HELLLLLLPPPP!! someone please...I cannot activate the game without a working key. I too, updated my windows 2000 yesterday and now the key wont work. Before I rebuilt my laptop this past week the games downloaded and activated ok...no problem. Now....darn it!! I have this problem.

Anyone?

Suggest you ask this question in our forums

To the people who whine about whiners-

The purpose of this site is not for giving you a free "gift". Yes, that may be what essentially happens as well, but this site is really about companies attempting to market their software. The software offered for free is the company's attempt to not only sell that game but also to make a statement about the quality of the other games they release. I would hold that people "whining" about the repetitive clones is helpful to the companies who market here. That way they get a sense of what the general public wants from a game, what market there is for certain genres and also whether or not their clone passes muster. Also, it would be silly for GATOD to drive people away by repeatedly offering things that are of low quality... the less people downloading and reviewing, the less helpful for the companies that use GAOTD, so I think it would be helpful for GAOTD to know what people like as to attract more people to the site.

What is really pointless is when six or seven people whine and complain about other people whining.

As for the game itself it looks fun and relaxing, though usually things that work only in fullscreen can annoy me a little, especially with casual games, as usually I like to play them when I'm waiting for something, like when I'm downloading stuff or uploading stuff and having to ctrl-esc in order to check on the progress of things is a bit annoying and can sometimes really screw things up. Fun and relaxing, but not remarkable. I like to see a bit more original gameplay in clones, myself. And I do wish for a bit for variety in the offerings. There are things of semi-small filesizes other than clones. Thanks GAOTD.

Great game and very addictive and a good addition to the Alawar Gamebox.
Thank you very much!!!

The last two games I have tried to install have installed but I cannot run the activate.exe as I keep coming up with a window saying file not found in the folder where it was supposedly put. My winzip cannot find it!

I love the games I get from GAOTD! Makes me sad that I had to rebuild my laptop due to a trojan! At least I always know that I can get replacements. GAOTD is reliable and safe so I always know I can trust the games from here. A big thankyou from me.

To the scolders I say, fair enough about "not looking a gift horse in the mouth". And it's certainly true that you can't please everyone all the time. But I'm willing to bet most of the daily naysayers here are not simply petty complainers. GiveawayOfTheDay is not a charity; it's a business like any other. It makes its revenue by showcasing companies' software with the expectation a certain percentage of people will investigate further and place a purchase. At some point, people will tire of the daily genre repetition and inferior games, and visitors to this site will slow to a trickle. That won't benefit anyone. So, a little more variety, and overall better quality product, is advantageous to both Giveaway and its users.

Thanks Alawar & GGOTD. This has a very simple graphic look but it requires good logic skills & is very enjoyable.

This game worked fine with my Vista Home Basic.

I generally enjoy match three games, and I found this to be a fun one, though not one of the best I've played. It was challenging enough at the higher levels. I found it to be an enjoyable time waster, although possibly not good enough to keep permanently. However, it was well worth giving a try.

Plus, we're having a snow storm out here, and I love the winter themed game to match.

Many thanks to GGAotD and Alawar!

this game is pretty unique and has roused me to say as much here. it's another match 3, yes, but with a rubik's cube like logic. I was able to play a few levels when my wife kicked me off like she did with treasures of montezuma. it's hard to find a game she enjoys, is challenging, not tedious and really good at too.

the colours and animation are very appealing, but it's not so sacchrine to wear you out. the music and effects are palatable and found no bugs in the interface, setup or gameplay.

there dosn't seem to be a strict set of guidelines about what sort of comment people should make and it's almost more interesting to see people trying to define what sort of content is permissable here. the comments are in moderation, but there is a underlying morality being enforced on anyone expressing a critisim. some comments are really unhelpful to other subscribers to this site, such as complaining about another match 3 and the calibre of games of late but these might be invaluable to developers or to the site owners. personally I prefer informed critiques over complaints but hardly notice the complaints until someone goes off on a holier than thou witchhunt on them. I for one appreciate this site and the developers' offerings, and if a game sucks for some reason I'll let you know, don't think I'm being ungrateful ok.

Thanks GGAOTD. I downloaded and played for awhile and did enjoy this different type of match game. Very good job on the different selections you offer us. I don't always download everything but most of the time I find you have a game well worth downloading and I am thankful for that. You do a GREAT job and again thank you.

The Relax mode is a boon. It gave me a chance to get the hang of it before proceeding to Quest or Logic. The music kept the action going but was not intrusive. The Hint helps for littler kids who might get stuck so that they will not get frustrated before they attain mastery, and the mild boinking sounds are reinforcing as crystals are destroyed. I liked being able to return to the level of play attained, even in Relax mode. This game helps one recognize patterns and develop instinctual responses to them and also trains the player to maintain a sense of the overall gestalt and not get too caught up in particulars. Thanks!

This match 3 reminds me of Chuzzle - something I had lost when I got a new computer - so thanks so much GGotD and Alawar. There are nice adjustable sound, screen, 3 difficulty controls, multiple user, scoring, a trophy room - accessible from a well thought out menu. No window mode. Works well on Windows XP/newish computer.

I disagree with the comments that this is just another match three game. Whole rows must be slid, changing opposite ends and upsetting plans of attack for squares difficult to line up. There are three different modes to play.

LOGIC - You are presented with a pattern of the pieces that are jumbled up and need to solve the puzzle by moving them around. It gets progressively harder of course - as walls form within the puzzle. There are 100 puzzles to solve.

QUEST - Play against time with three lives. Clear each square on the board once(more than once as the game progresses.) Each board cleared chips away ice from an animal to free is at the end of a level. There is adequate time for each life and penguins dive off the top when you loose one. Once again walls begin to form making three together more difficult.

RELAX - Just play. There are little tools that appear when you make combos - hammers to knock out problem areas etc. Good for kids, challenged individuals or possibly for adult beginners to gaming but boring for me.

All in all - well put together and fun. I'll probably go through my others and delete a few now. Thanks for the new addition to my Alawar Game Box. Love it!

Sorry there's been no full review from me today. I've had major problems with my main computers. It's taken me virtually all day to get connected to the net.

The game looks like a keeper to me. With three modes to play with, logic, quest and relaxed, an achievements board which shows the awards you have earned during the game, as well as unlocking the animals that are trapped in ice (quest mode)I think there's something for all the family.

7 out of 10 for family fun

Thank you Alawar and the game giveaway team for another winner

Even if you have just about had enough of match 3 games, at least try this one before you pass it up. It doesn't play like the run of the mill flip and match, it slides and you can match more than just three. For example you can match a block of four, or L shapes. I just played the relaxed mode and...it was relaxing and yet rather addictive. It is a well made puzzle and better than you would think at first glance. The music is low key, which is good because you might end up playing longer than you thought you would. Nice details and one thing I liked very much, it doesn't give you unasked for hints. Thumbs up, thanks!

Thank you for another great game, I ALWAYS appreciate the daily FREE games. Some I download some I pass on.

Im a win2000 victim in that I get the DLL not found error. d3d8.dll to be specific.

Any hints anyone?

(I'm going to try on my Xp system latter today since I know I wont have issues on that one)

AS for "What another match 3?" by the whiners out there, I have two things to say.
1 - its free (not the best excuse but valid)
2 - its a good game (if you like good games then get it and play when YOU feel like it - nobody is forcing you to play it now)
3 - The publisher deserves some credit for making decent games available as opposed to the cybertrash we were previously subjected to *cough*

I agree with #12. I check the website each day and if it's not something I'm interested in, I move on. Maybe someone visiting the site for the first time would be really glad to get the free game offered. They wouldn't know that a similar game was offered perhaps a few days ago. Not until they read the whiners posts anyway! If this game is anything like 'Montezuma, which I can't stop playing, then I'll be glad to try it. And, thanks to the people who started this site!

"looks kinda dated".... It was published in 2005, I think. Also, I didn't notice any differences between this version (2.0) and the previous version (1.0).

It doesn't offer the option to run in a window (unfortunately), but you can change it to a window by editing the "options.ini" file in the main folder (change the 0 to 1). You might want to change the screen size in the options, too--either in that file or the game--so the window will be properly sized to your desktop.

Thanks Alawar and GGAOTD for offering this again!

To # 12, Thank you Susan, This is exactly how I feel, Don't be like little chidren who whine when they cannot get their way!
I would say that the majority of you people are adults, RIGHT????
Act like one!!!! Thank you Give Away of Day for another free game!

This is to Alaware regarding today's giveaway, Ice Puzzle Deluxe. The only problem with the game is that the control used to move the jewels is a little "floaty". The game is appreciated though. Have a wonderful holiday everyone!!!

I agree! Not to mention, it says right on the comment form to please comment only on the software here! Suggestions belong in the forums.
I look forward to checking this site everyday and appreciate it immensely!