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Only saw this after lunch. I haven't been getting any forewarning with most of these Falco games and only saw today's game this afternoon; several hours into the giveaway. I usually prepare reviews the night before the game goes live, but wasn't able to prepare today's before the game went live despite already owning the game via Steam. I'll post more information later if time permits; (I've got some interview and exam preparation with my daughter for the next few hours. She has two important university interviews next week; one of which will require us to travel down to Plymouth the day before. We don't anticipate returning until very late Friday evening/Saturday morning, so I doubt I'll be able to post reviews for games from Wednesday until the Sunday (3rd March) next week . I've also arranged to meet some good friends online tonight for some online gaming (L4D2), so it's unlikely i'll have anymore time to play Wishmaster today. :)

Wishmaster

In Brief

A hard match three game that requires strategic thinking. Should appeal to those who like a challenge and anime.

Installation Issues:

Wishmaster downloads to a 57.9 MB zip file that unzips to two files, (a setup.exe file and a read me {there's no security wrapper}). The installed game is approximately 534 MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed if you wish.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Wishmaster

Five shortcuts are installed to the desktop, four of which can be safely deleted (i.e. Falco Space - Online Game!, FalconLine Online Games Website, FalcoGo WebGL Games! and Free Games Downloads!). If you don't want to install the games shortcut to the desktop during installation, just make sure the install desktop shortcut is unchecked when the 'additional task's window appears; you will still get two of the other Falcoware shortcuts installed (i.e. FalconLine Online Games Website & FalcoGo WebGL Games shortcuts). Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure the appropriate checkbox is unchecked when the 'additional task's window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window).

Introduction:

Wishmaster is a game with an interesting and complex history of human desires and about the fact that not everything will go the way you wish. The game includes a part with Visual Novel, where you will learn about the world and the people themselves, and, certainly, about their dreams. The second part of the game is the game Match-3, where you will search for mysterious energy to fulfill all the dreams of mortal creatures. Also you will be able to track your progress in the gallery.

You start the game as a magical creature that was born only a few moments ago and doesn’t know anything about itself. Using the advice of the master and the power of Wishboard, you will fulfill the wishes of the living. But do people really want their desires to be fulfilled? And is it possible to trust a new “friend”?

Features:

⦁ More than 30 characters with diverse wishes
⦁ You can decide which wish to fulfill
⦁ Company mode for not one play through!
⦁ Mode on time for relaxation
⦁ Gallery with your progress

Reference accessed HERE. 19th February 2019

The Game:

I purchased Wishmaster via Steam over three years ago (£0.79/$0.99) and found it a challenging match three game, which I played for around 3 hours (so must have liked it) . It's an anime themed game with lots of story boards between each level. It's also not a straightforward match three game, for example, on my play-through today it took me three tries to complete level 1. As you start with three lives I almost lost the game before it had even started. As you progress you can earn extra lives up to a total of five. You can see the number of lives you have via the indicator to the left of the game board. It's not just a case of matching tiles, you have to ensure that you have the correct number of tiles left in the end game, otherwise you're left with un-matchable tiles. The game requires some forward thinking and strategy to complete a level. You can move tiles in any direction on a squared grid to create matches of three or more i.e. up, down, left, right and diagonally NW, NE, SW & SE, the only requirement being that the matches are in a line. Most levels have to be completed in a specific number of moves. Each column has a number at the top that indicates how many tiles are in that column. You'll find the first few moves, especially if made at the bottom of the grid, will clear quite a lot of tiles in just one move, however be careful that you don't exhaust specific columns too quickly otherwise you may find it more difficult to complete the end game. Some levels don't have a move limit, instead they are timed via a bar located along the top of the board. This is one of the hardest match three games I can remember playing apart from some of the later levels in Treasures of Montezuma, Treasures of Montezuma 2 and Sky Bubbles Deluxe (all free via MPC).

It's not a chess game, but those who play chess will probably find this a doddle to beat; the rest of us, well, download this excellent and challenging match three and see for yourself. :) Wishmaster is definitely a game worth downloading in my opinion. It has a fantasy anime theme with none of the usual anime explicitness that you see in many anime and manga anime games, therefore it's family friendly.

Whiterabbit-uk 19th February 2019

Conclusion:

A decent and challenging match three game; though I found the frequent story boards a little too distracting. Most of the story could have been included on one or two boards rather than ten or more. Still, if you like unusual match three games, this is definitely one to check out.

Other Reviews and Video of Wishmaster:

You can see over 30 mixed reviews of Wishmaster via the Steam community HERE and a few game play videos HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

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 later, 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 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.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via Steam HERE for £0.79/$099.

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting Wishmaster 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 white-listing the setup.gcd file. In the almost 12 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 Falco Games and Mantis Games for giving away Wishmaster 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 Wishmaster 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 elsewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums).