Game Giveaway of the Day

#18

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

Just arrived back from our uni trip. Will moderate later as I need a cat nap and have also promised my daughter I'd play an Elder Scrolls online session this evening. We've not played in several weeks properly and she's been asking me to for a few weeks now, but with the university open days having been a priority, she's been losing out. I'll get back to anyone having issues later this evening.

Dona, regarding the access violation:

An access violation (also known as segmentation fault) is generally an attempt to access memory the CPU cannot physically address. It is often caused when attempting to access a null reference or a reference to memory that has been freed. Access violations can be caused by bad code, faulty RAM or even a bad device driver. You will also get an access violation if a program triggers Data Execution Prevention (DEP), an attempt to minimize the threat of malicious code.

DEP is covered over in the FAQ's thread, if several community members are getting this fault it's more likely to be a bad device driver. Try updating your graphics drivers and get the latest version of Direct X.

Reply | Comment by Whiterabbit-uk – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#1

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

I'm away for most of today again, University spotting for my son. Thankfully today's open day isn't as far as last weekends university visit, but will still take most of the day. I'll be back late afternoon. Please continue to post comments about today's game giveaway, I will moderate shortly after I return.

regards Stephen

Wizard Land

In Brief

A Match Three game.

Suggestions:

Whether you like or dislike Wizard Land please give some feedback about your opinion of the game, for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, and how it could be improved from your point of view. If you don't like this genre at all, please explain why. What improvements would change your opinion? There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers 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?

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE.

Installation:

The game downloads to a 35.6 MB zip file that unzips to four 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 35.7 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\Wizard Land

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:

Magic lands always hide something special and unusual for ordinary people. And Wizard Land had many of them. Powerful magicians and wizards lived there. They always tried to save harmony but of course quarrels happened sometimes though they were too small to take them seriously. Still there was a moment to be mentioned - the Last Battle of Wizard Land, an awful episode for the whole magic planet. A fairy flower that grew on the planet helped the country and its inhabitants to live peacefully in happiness and pleasure. White Mountains defended the flower from the evil but their forces were not eternal. The flower's energy was very precious and many people wanted to get it. So one wicked magician presumed to steal the flower and to deprive the country of its power. The skies got dark as it happened and wizards made up their mind to combine the forces and give the energy back to Wizard Land. Of course, it wasn't easy at all but they were determined. A fairy threw a fireball which brought that unfair magician to death. But the worst happened next - she turned into a stone together with a flower. The sacred energy was lost. Who could help to improve the situation? What could be done? Nobody knew. But one very old wizard prepared to solve dozens of riddles for the sake of the probable recovery of the treasure of Wizard Land. Will it be so easy? Such things can never be done without various attempts. If you're strong and brave enough you'll cope with it. Don't waste time - download the game and mix crystals to destroy them and remove the spell from the flower.

Reference accessed HERE. 12th Nov 2016

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Wizard Land to work please visit the problems section, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find HERE

The Game:

It’s rare that a game can come completely out of nowhere and impress, particularly in the sometimes-tired puzzle genre. Looking at the screenshots for Wizard Land, the latest from developer Rumbic Studio, it looks like an average puzzle game. But looks are deceiving, and seen in action, Wizard Land is one of the best puzzle games to have come along in a long time.

The story for Wizard Land isn’t awe-inspiring. A land has been overrun by evil wizards, who have turned the land’s source of power (a magical flower) into stone, along with the land’s protector, a magical fairy. You, as the oldest wizard remaining, travel across the land to restore the power of the flower to the people, and save Wizard Land.

The first thing that strikes are the fabulous graphics and sound. The whole game is colorful, full of little flourishes and details. The custom cursor is a jewel that lightly pulsates. Water streams through crevices on a rock on the title screen. The map screen is extremely detailed, and magical effects and sparkles are abundant. Lots of care went into crafting this one.

The audio is no slouch either, with high-quality tunes that don’t loop very quickly. Even the title screen’s looping track takes a while, with a choir singing the game’s title after a minute or two. And though the wizard has a voice, it never gets annoying, delivering the same lines in different ways to keep commentary on your game play fresh.

But it’s not enough to have a pretty face. The game play has to match the pretty pictures, and Wizard Land delivers. In a nutshell, there are three game play modes: group mode (click on groups of like-colored tiles three or larger to break them), chain mode (click and drag a trail of three or more like-colored tiles to break them) or swap mode (the tradition match-three tile swap).

Wizard Land‘s game play is extremely dynamic. At the bottom of the screen are tabs which allow you to select which type of game play you’d like to use at any given time. The goals of Wizard Land are pretty typical, breaking a colored tile underneath by making matches with symbols on top. But the ability to start with group mode to begin the progress, then fine-tune with either chain or swap modes (or, frankly, any other method you’d like) creates an element of strategy absent in most puzzle games. Granted, you have to play a mode for a certain length of time before you can change modes, and the pieces re-shuffle when you switch, but it makes for a constantly-changing challenge.

How many times have you played a match-three where there’s that last tile to destroy, and you pray a power-up might appear? In Wizard Land, you don’t have to wait long. The game has two basic power-ups, a shuffle which re-arranges the tiles on-screen or the Mega Bonus, which randomly destroys a bunch of tiles on the board, often the one you need destroys. Both power-ups refill over time, so you’re never stuck. And even though those are the only two power-ups in the game, Wizard Land doesn’t feel poorer for it. Besides, there’s one more thing you can do to help move thing along.

Along the sides of the play field are two arrows, one pointing clockwise, the other counter-clockwise. If you click on one, the entire board rotates 90 degrees! This amazingly original mechanic can be done every time, and is very helpful in eliminating that "one last piece." And when combines with the three different game play modes, keeps the action constant and fun. You can even do rotations in the middle of combinations.

But there is an even more amazing use of rotation for finishing a level. After you destroy all the colored tiles, a key and lock appear on the board, and you have to guide the key along a path (denoted by easy-to-see dotted borders and a light gliding along the path) to the lock. The path, though, will be winding, so you have to change what direction "down" is in order to drop the key along the path, then rotate the board to keep the key moving. However, later levels will have the path splitting, and if you blindly drop the key too far, you’ll have to double back a bit, carefully dropping the key one block at a time. It’s a great challenge, and highly original.

You’re scored at the end of each level based on how many blocks you destroys, how many combos you made and how much time was taken. During the game, you’ll hear the wizard gleefully calling out extra bonuses as you play (like "Energy Master!" if you break a lot of enchanted tiles which has little bits of extra destructive power, or "Swap Master!" if you make a lot of successive matches in swap mode in a short time). It’s very satisfying to hear commentary on your world-saving skills, especially when vast numbers of tiles exploding with light, color and magical particles flying everywhere.

There are only two main modes in Wizard Land, timed and un-timed. (Timed in particular can be very challenging as some levels can take longer than others.) But given that there are about 90 levels, and each level is as dynamic as the last, Wizard Land offers hours of amazing, original puzzle game play. Given how few stand-out puzzlers are out there, Wizard Land is definitely not to be missed.

Reference accessed HERE.
Review written by David Stone on Jan 26, 2010

Other Reviews, Videos and a Slideshow of images showing the How to Play pages:

You can see community reviews of Wizard Land HERE and more information in the Big fish forums HERE

if you want to see some game play you can see some videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Conclusion:

A decent match three with the ability to turn the game board and swap between three different modes makes this one of the better match threes around. It is severaal ytears old now, made at the height of the match three genres popularity. cA good family oriented game well worth installing.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Wizard Land minus the usual MPC checkboxes and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games, in this case Steam keys.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find HERE.

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

If today's game was not to your liking, you may find other games either free or for less than the price of a cup of coffee (from your favorite coffee house) via the 'Weekly Roundup of Game Deals' thread which I've posted a link to above, or HERE.

.

The latest free game over on Origin has now changed to the excellent (though now dated) RPG Dungeon Keeper. You can get it HERE. Please note that you do require the Origin game platform to be able to download and install the game.

Also available via Failmid's site is a non - Steam key for a Starter Pack for the free to play game Wauies The Petshop Game which you'll find HERE. The deal ends Monday afternoon (UK time) and Ubisoft has been celebrating 30 years in the business by giving away games every month since June. Novembers game is Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon which is free and the Ubisoft uPlay client, both of which are free. You just have to sign into your uPlay account and look for the Ubisoft turning 30 link HERE, or if you don't have a uPlay account create an account HERE. Click on the green Join the Club button, get your free account, then get your free copy of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. I think this is the last freebies from Ubisoft for a while.

The Indie Gala store has some fantastic deals in their store with some titles 90% off. You can find them all Angel Express

DIG are still offering free Steam keys for Hacker Evolution Time Dimensions and Crystals of time, though you cannot access the deals directly from the main site anymore, but they are still live via the following links:
To get keys for these two games you will have to do similar activities as you do for those Steam games that have been offered for the past several months over on the game giveaway site. You can find those free Steam key deals HERE (Hacker Evolution: Time Dimensions and HERE (Crystals of Time). Watch out for a new giveaway called rail adventures a fast paced action/racing game in a minecart

<blockquote>...........................................Moderator comment...................................</blockquote>
<ul><blockquote>I'm away for most of today again, University spotting for my son. Thankfully today's open day isn't as far as last weekends university visit, but will still take most of the day. I'll be back late afternoon. Please continue to post comments about today's game giveaway, I will moderate shortly after I return. </blockquote>

<blockquote>regards Stephen </blockquote>

Wizard Land

<blockquote>In Brief</blockquote>
<blockquote>A Match Three game.</blockquote>

Suggestions:
<blockquote>Whether you like or dislike Wizard Land please give some feedback about your opinion of the game, for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, and how it could be improved from your point of view. If you don't like this genre at all, please explain why. What improvements would change your opinion? There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers 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?</blockquote>

<blockquote>If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 <a href="http://www.myplaycity.com/wizard_land/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>.</blockquote>

Installation:

<blockquote>The game downloads to a 35.6 MB zip file that unzips to four 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 35.7 MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed by the user if you prefer:</blockquote>
<blockquote>C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\Wizard Land</blockquote>
 <blockquote>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)</blockquote>

Introduction:
<blockquote>Magic lands always hide something special and unusual for ordinary people. And Wizard Land had many of them. Powerful magicians and wizards lived there. They always tried to save harmony but of course quarrels happened sometimes though they were too small to take them seriously. Still there was a moment to be mentioned - the Last Battle of Wizard Land, an awful episode for the whole magic planet. A fairy flower that grew on the planet helped the country and its inhabitants to live peacefully in happiness and pleasure. White Mountains defended the flower from the evil but their forces were not eternal. The flower's energy was very precious and many people wanted to get it. So one wicked magician presumed to steal the flower and to deprive the country of its power. The skies got dark as it happened and wizards made up their mind to combine the forces and give the energy back to Wizard Land. Of course, it wasn't easy at all but they were determined. A fairy threw a fireball which brought that unfair magician to death. But the worst happened next - she turned into a stone together with a flower. The sacred energy was lost. Who could help to improve the situation? What could be done? Nobody knew. But one very old wizard prepared to solve dozens of riddles for the sake of the probable recovery of the treasure of Wizard Land. Will it be so easy? Such things can never be done without various attempts. If you're strong and brave enough you'll cope with it. Don't waste time - download the game and mix crystals to destroy them and remove the spell from the flower.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Reference accessed <a href="http://www.myplaycity.com/wizard_land/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. 12th Nov 2016</blockquote>

<blockquote>If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Wizard Land to work please visit the problems section, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/11647" rel="nofollow">HERE</a></blockquote>

The Game:

<blockquote>It’s rare that a game can come completely out of nowhere and impress, particularly in the sometimes-tired puzzle genre. Looking at the screenshots for Wizard Land, the latest from developer Rumbic Studio, it looks like an average puzzle game. But looks are deceiving, and seen in action, Wizard Land is one of the best puzzle games to have come along in a long time.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The story for Wizard Land isn’t awe-inspiring. A land has been overrun by evil wizards, who have turned the land’s source of power (a magical flower) into stone, along with the land’s protector, a magical fairy. You, as the oldest wizard remaining, travel across the land to restore the power of the flower to the people, and save Wizard Land.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The first thing that strikes are the fabulous graphics and sound. The whole game is colorful, full of little flourishes and details. The custom cursor is a jewel that lightly pulsates. Water streams through crevices on a rock on the title screen. The map screen is extremely detailed, and magical effects and sparkles are abundant. Lots of care went into crafting this one.</blockquote>
<ul><blockquote><a href='https://postimg.org/image/405q3brrd/' target='_blank'><img src='https://s12.postimg.org/qoux2w959/wizard_land_006.jpg' border='0' alt="wizard land 006"/></a></blockquote></ul>
<ul><blockquote><a href='https://postimg.org/image/pnuodrs5l/' target='_blank'><img src='https://s12.postimg.org/g3b1qw2tp/wizard_land_007.jpg' border='0' alt="wizard land 007"/></a></blockquote></ul>

<blockquote>The audio is no slouch either, with high-quality tunes that don’t loop very quickly. Even the title screen’s looping track takes a while, with a choir singing the game’s title after a minute or two. And though the wizard has a voice, it never gets annoying, delivering the same lines in different ways to keep commentary on your game play fresh.</blockquote>
<blockquote>But it’s not enough to have a pretty face. The game play has to match the pretty pictures, and Wizard Land delivers. In a nutshell, there are three game play modes: group mode (click on groups of like-colored tiles three or larger to break them), chain mode (click and drag a trail of three or more like-colored tiles to break them) or swap mode (the tradition match-three tile swap).</blockquote>
<blockquote>Wizard Land‘s game play is extremely dynamic. At the bottom of the screen are tabs which allow you to select which type of game play you’d like to use at any given time. The goals of Wizard Land are pretty typical, breaking a colored tile underneath by making matches with symbols on top. But the ability to start with group mode to begin the progress, then fine-tune with either chain or swap modes (or, frankly, any other method you’d like) creates an element of strategy absent in most puzzle games. Granted, you have to play a mode for a certain length of time before you can change modes, and the pieces re-shuffle when you switch, but it makes for a constantly-changing challenge.</blockquote>

<blockquote>How many times have you played a match-three where there’s that last tile to destroy, and you pray a power-up might appear? In Wizard Land, you don’t have to wait long. The game has two basic power-ups, a shuffle which re-arranges the tiles on-screen or the Mega Bonus, which randomly destroys a bunch of tiles on the board, often the one you need destroys. Both power-ups refill over time, so you’re never stuck. And even though those are the only two power-ups in the game, Wizard Land doesn’t feel poorer for it. Besides, there’s one more thing you can do to help move thing along.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Along the sides of the play field are two arrows, one pointing clockwise, the other counter-clockwise. If you click on one, the entire board rotates 90 degrees! This amazingly original mechanic can be done every time, and is very helpful in eliminating that "one last piece." And when combines with the three different game play modes, keeps the action constant and fun. You can even do rotations in the middle of combinations.</blockquote>
<blockquote>But there is an even more amazing use of rotation for finishing a level. After you destroy all the colored tiles, a key and lock appear on the board, and you have to guide the key along a path (denoted by easy-to-see dotted borders and a light gliding along the path) to the lock. The path, though, will be winding, so you have to change what direction "down" is in order to drop the key along the path, then rotate the board to keep the key moving. However, later levels will have the path splitting, and if you blindly drop the key too far, you’ll have to double back a bit, carefully dropping the key one block at a time. It’s a great challenge, and highly original.</blockquote>

<blockquote>You’re scored at the end of each level based on how many blocks you destroys, how many combos you made and how much time was taken. During the game, you’ll hear the wizard gleefully calling out extra bonuses as you play (like "Energy Master!" if you break a lot of enchanted tiles which has little bits of extra destructive power, or "Swap Master!" if you make a lot of successive matches in swap mode in a short time). It’s very satisfying to hear commentary on your world-saving skills, especially when vast numbers of tiles exploding with light, color and magical particles flying everywhere.</blockquote>
<blockquote>There are only two main modes in Wizard Land, timed and un-timed. (Timed in particular can be very challenging as some levels can take longer than others.) But given that there are about 90 levels, and each level is as dynamic as the last, Wizard Land offers hours of amazing, original puzzle game play. Given how few stand-out puzzlers are out there, Wizard Land is definitely not to be missed.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Reference accessed <a href="http://www.gamezebo.com/2010/01/26/wizard-land-review/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. 
Review written by David Stone	on Jan 26, 2010</blockquote>

Other Reviews, Videos and a Slideshow of images showing the How to Play pages:

<blockquote>You can see community reviews of Wizard Land <a href="http://www.bigfishgames.com/games/5419/wizard-land/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> and more information in the Big fish forums <a href="http://forums.bigfishgames.com/forums/show/1541.page" rel="nofollow">HERE</a></blockquote>

<blockquote>if you want to see some game play you can see some videos of game play <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhDrkKWjB4I" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYuNYip-zqc" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TweDXB8s05M" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT56gIakpbU" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgKJunq6LRw" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>.</blockquote>

Conclusion:
<blockquote>A decent match three with the ability to turn the game board and swap between three different modes makes this one of the better match threes around. It is severaal ytears old now, made at the height of the match three genres popularity. cA good family oriented game well worth installing.</blockquote>

<blockquote>I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Wizard Land minus the usual MPC checkboxes and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games, in this case Steam keys.</blockquote>

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:
<blockquote>The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/11647" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>.</blockquote>
 <blockquote> I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/458939#post-569898" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>.</blockquote>

<blockquote>If today's game was not to your liking, you may find other games either free or for less than the price of a cup of coffee (from your favorite coffee house) via the 'Weekly Roundup of Game Deals' thread which I've posted a link to above, or <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/458939" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>.</blockquote>. <blockquote>The latest free game over on Origin has now changed to the excellent (though now dated) RPG Dungeon Keeper. You can get it <a href="https://www.origin.com/en-gb/store/free-games/on-the-house" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. Please note that you do require the Origin game platform to be able to download and install the game. </blockquote>

<blockquote>Also available via Failmid's site is a non - Steam key for a Starter Pack for the free to play game Wauies The Petshop Game which you'll find <a href="http://failmid.com/game/wauies-petshop-game-starter-pack-100-discount/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. The deal ends Monday afternoon (UK time) and Ubisoft has been celebrating 30 years in the business by giving away games every month since June. Novembers game is Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon which is free and the Ubisoft uPlay client, both of which are free. You just have to sign into your uPlay account and look for the Ubisoft turning 30 link <a href=https://club.ubisoft.com/en-US/ubi30"" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>, or if you don't have a uPlay account create an account <a href="http://uplay.ubi.com/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. Click on the green Join the Club button, get your free account, then get your free copy of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. I think this is the last freebies from Ubisoft for a while.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The Indie Gala store has some fantastic deals in their store with some titles 90% off. You can find them all <a href="https://www.indiegala.com/store/ideafactory-games" rel="nofollow">Angel Express</a></blockquote>
 <blockquote>DIG are still offering free Steam keys for Hacker Evolution Time Dimensions and Crystals of time, though you cannot access the deals directly from the main site anymore, but they are still live via the following links:
To get keys for these two games you will have to do similar activities as you do for those Steam games that have been offered for the past several months over on the game giveaway site. You can find those free Steam key deals <a href="http://www.dailyindiegame.com/content_contesthe.html" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (Hacker Evolution: Time Dimensions and <a href="http://www.dailyindiegame.com/content_contestcot.html" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (Crystals of Time). Watch out for a new giveaway called rail adventures a fast paced action/racing game in a minecart </blockquote>

Save | Cancel

Reply | Comment by Whiterabbit-uk – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)

Reminder folks, you don't have to have any new icons from MPC games on your desktop. The game will automatically install a link in your start menu, so you have an easy way to access it. So, unless your ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE with having a game icon on your desktop, all you have to do is uncheck the desktop icon checkbox - right above the quick launch checkbox that WR mentions - and you won't get ANY of the 4 desktop icons installed. Simple and uncluttered (and unnecessary to have anyway, IMHO).

Btw, IMHO, it's strongly advise that whenever you see ANY kind of checkbox you should make sure what it's about. Best way to get what you want and avoid what you don't want.

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

Thanks for your feedback Watcher. :)

Reply | Comment by watcher13 – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#29

Hi!
It downloaded quickly and opened fairly easy. There was some flashing, so not sure if problem or not.
I changed to a regular cursor right away as the lag was tremendous with theirs. Game Play is easy. It is run of
the mill to me for matching games. It does give you the choice of 3 modes, which is nice. Graphics are good.
Only thing I find annoying is the arrow points to the hole, but its the arrow you have to click on. Minor detail.
Thanks for another good game and have a good rest of the weekend! Lee

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

Thank you for your feedback Lee.

Reply | Comment by Lee C. – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#28

No problems installing, and I guess it's registered.
I like this kind of game because sometimes I just want to play something relatively mindless and relaxing. This is the kind of Match-3 game that fills that bill. I like that this game gives us the unusual option of spinning the board! The graphics are decent, and gameplay seems to be smooth so far. Thank you to GGOTD and MyPlayCity!

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

Thank you for your feedback Marsha

Reply | Comment by Marsha A. – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#27

Thanks for your comments Stephen.

I was able to downloaded and install from GOTD without any problem using Windows 10/64. Can't check Relaxed Mode but played first four rounds without any threat of not going fast enough. Hope this continues to be the case.

It says you have to complete each round before moving to the next one. Like many of these older games, it isn't possible to play in full screen. If anyone knows how to get to full screen, please advise.

I guess I was fortunate to be able to get it going. I hope all of you who are experiencing difficulties will be successful in finding a solution to the issues you are having with this game.

Regards.

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

Thank you for your feedback HisSon. Glad you got it working. :)

Reply | Comment by HisSon – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

HisSon, mine opened up in full screen right from the beginning. I believe there is also an option allowing us to not play in full screen. Good luck!

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

:)

Reply | Comment by Marsha A. – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

HisSon, if you're running Win10, you need to adjust the compatibility settings. I have this problem with MyPlayCity games all the time. If selecting "full screen" doesn't do anything, exit the game and right click on the icon. Go to "properties" (way at the bottom of the menu). Click on that. Click on the "compatibility" tab. Under "compatibility mode" I selected Windows XP service pack 3, although you might not need to go back quite that far. Under "settings" check "disable display scaling on high DPI settings." Click "OK." Now when you run the game it should run full screen.

Sorry to be so late with the solution.

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

Thanks for the feedback LadyLark. Such info is always welcome even if a little late. you never know who checks back. :)

Reply | Comment by LadyLark – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#26

Win10 64bit Home. Download quickly and opened into small window so did changed the compatiability to Win 7 and ticked Disable display scaling on high DPI Settings. Works fine. So far.

Thanks is an easy game and great for time wasting.

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

Thank you for your feedback Suzanne.

Reply | Comment by Suzanne – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#25

This looked like an interesting little game, and it downloaded and installed as usual. It started fine, until I clicked Start. At that point it disappeared!

I tried various compatibility options (I'm on Win 10 x64) and admin permissions, but nothing made any difference. Downloading from MPC was exactly the same, and BigFish couldn't do any better.

So . . . well, I won't quite bin it yet, but I must stop for a while and get some work done. I'll try again later, and see if anyone else has solved the puzzle.

It's a pity - it did look good, but if it won't behave later on, it'll have to go. Sorry!

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

Hi Basilica, Hope you got the game to work. Check my comments to see if any of the suggestions work to fix the issues. This is an old game, so may have issues with newer computers, especially monitors and out dated drivers.

Reply | Comment by Basilica – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

Basilica, right-click on the game's shortcut and choose "troubleshoot compatibility." The operating system will make changes for you, let you test them, and then you can choose either a different option or accept the changes if they work correctly for you. That's what I did on 2 different PCs and both worked perfectly to find the right mode. Hope you can get the same result.

Reply | Comment by Buster – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

Buster, I'm afraid I did all the compatibility tests last night. The nearest I got was trying it with Vista, which gave me a smaller screen area but looked hopeful. But it was just the same once I got into the Menu and clicked to start the game. It vanished just as quickly (and completely) as before.

I'm on a laptop, less than a year old and all drivers are up to date. Win 10 x64. Usually games from here work as expected, but this one doesn't like me for some reason!

I've deleted and uninstalled the whole thing for now, but I might have another go at MPC after a few restarts, because it did look like a good'un!

Cross all your fingers, toes and eyes for me at my next attempt . . .

;-D

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

Hi Basilicas, did you check your event logs? If not, I hope there is error messages that will give a clue as to what the problem is and that you'll be able to sort the problem out? Also check the FAQ's thread that I link to in my review, as there may be some fixes not mentioned here. Good luck from W.R.

Reply | Comment by Basilica – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

Oh, I've just tried again (must be keen) and this time I got the Unexpected Error message, for the first time:

Exception: Access Violation (code 0xc0000005) at address 00550069 in thread 2CB8
Module: game.exe
Logical Address: 0001:0014F069

0019F97C 00550069 0001:0014F069 game.exe
Params: 09C8D938 4434C000 43690000 0019F9BC

StackWalk failed (error 299)

EAX:493B5029 EBX:0006AB19 ECX:03E08070 EDX:00000020 ESI:00000000 EDI:0000000F
EIP:00550069 ESP:0019F840 EBP:0019F97C
CS:0023 SS:002B DS:002B ES:002B FS:0053 GS:002B
Flags:00010202

Windows Ver: NT 6.2 Build 9200
DDraw Ver: 10.0.14393.0
DSound Ver: 10.0.14393.0

Product: Wizard Land
Version: 1.10
Time Loaded: 00:00:10
Fullscreen: Yes
Primary ThreadId: 2CB8

Unfortunately I haven't a clue what any of that means . . . ! It might help, if I can find out the translation. That was direct from MPC, by the way.

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

Hi Basilica, Exception: Access Violation usually means one of a few things, either there is some bad code in game; judging by the number of community members getting this it's a faint possibility, however it's more likely to be an out dated graphics driver that's the cause because thousands of community members haven't reported this problem (there's a very small chance that it could also be your graphics chip/card isn't supported by the game) . It could also be faulty memory.

Reply | Comment by Basilica – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#24

Great game. Downloaded and installed quickly. Clear, easily differentiated graphics and music, though I usually mute my gameplay. The key thing makes it a little different. I look forward to playing it all through.
Thanks everyone!

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

:)

Reply | Comment by DJ – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#23

Wizard Land
A match 3 game that does have a relaxed mode that shuts down the timer. Expansive visuals even if a few look a bit dated, but plays nice, and is a lot of fun.
Installed and played well on a Win10 x64 Pro and did play it in full screen mode without problems so far, so I can't help those that are, other than to suggest you don't start playing it right away after install..I always defrag (just a quick 1, not an optimized 1) after everything is done, including the GGAOTD page opening up. and give it a bit of time before opening. My daughter played for around an hour before shutting down, and I did too without any of the problems some are having.
A fun game that is nice to look at, and another big TY to GGAOTD and MPC!

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

Thanks for your feedback.

Reply | Comment by JBurt – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#22

Oh and I forgot - mine did not crash and I only play full windowed mode.

Reply | Comment by Anu – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#21

Download and installation without a problem under Win10.

Would love to click forward through the intro when read the screen.

Beautiful graphics, intriguing story, love the fact that we can choose between group, chain or swap mode. They reload after some playing when changed.

Also like the building up of the scenery as you play along.

All my thumps are up for this one. Thank you very much.

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

Thank you for your feedback Anu.

Reply | Comment by Anu – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

#20

I can't bypass the Facebook page so I can download this game.Has something changed? Thanks, I really enjoy Match 3's.

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

Hi Dusty, not sure. I seem to have had the same problem on this computer for some of the giveaways, but not all. for example I was able to by pass Facebook today. As I have five computers active at home at this time I was till able to by pass Facebook on others when I wasn't on this one, so at this time cannot explain what the problem is. I Did manage to get a download using an email, but not the one that I'm registered with with my Whiterabbit name. whenever I've used that combination of name and email I've never received any emails, nor did I win one steam code until I changed my email and name to something different, now I've won at least 75% of the Steam keys I've entered for and also at least three of the software's over on the giveaway site. Can't explain either problem, apart from maybe the comment posted by the giveaway team during the week for the Beholder game, that explains why you cannot apply for more than one Steam key.

Reply | Comment by Dusty – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#19

I was here earlier today and came back to see whether there were any additional comments. I too like Match Three games and was hoping the problems would have ben cleared up so I could download it with confidence.

However with all of the problems and others which showed up since I was here, I shall forsake doing so for right now.

Perhaps when Stephen gets back he might be able to figure something out. I will probably try to get back one more time and if it's still being problematic I will wait to see what tomorrow's offering will bring.

Many thanks to all of my fellow game enthusiasts for alerting us to what's going on with this program.

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

Hi HisSon, have you tried downloading the game directly from MyPlayCity? The only difference is they have removed the check-boxes from the initial install, otherwise it's exactly the same game. It may be an issue with the giveaway security wrapper that's causing the problem, if it is, then the MPC version may work. Also, I've just posted some initial ideas based on a short trawl through Google. Try updating your device drivers, especially the graphics drivers. also check to see if the game will play if you change the screen resolution. It may be that the games native resolution wont play on newer monitors when they are set to the maximum resolution. If that works and you aren't happy changing the resolution every time you want 6to play the game, you could just play it in windowed mode. I personally prefer full screen, but when I'm checking these games for a review I usually play in windowed mode as it's easier to take screen captures in windowed mode.

I do hope you can get this game to work as it is one of the better of this genre. Please post back if you do manage it following my suggestions.

I was here earlier today and came back to see whether there were any additional comments. I too like Match Three games and was hoping the problems would have ben cleared up so I could download it with confidence.

However with all of the problems and others which showed up since I was here, I shall forsake doing so for right now.

Perhaps when Stephen gets back he might be able to figure something out. I will probably try to get back one more time and if it's still being problematic I will wait to see what tomorrow's offering will bring.

Many thanks to all of my fellow game enthusiasts for alerting us to what's going on with this program.

<blockquote>...........................................Moderator comment...................................</blockquote>
<ul><blockquote>Hi HisSon, have you tried downloading the game directly from MyPlayCity? The only difference is they have removed the check-boxes from the initial install, otherwise it's exactly the same game. It may be an issue with the giveaway security wrapper that's causing the problem, if it is, then the MPC version may work. Also, I've just posted some initial ideas based on a short trawl through Google. Try updating your device drivers, especially the graphics drivers. also check to see if the game will play if you change the screen resolution. It may be that the games native resolution wont play on newer monitors when they are set to the maximum resolution. If that works and you aren't happy changing the resolution every time you want 6to play the game, you could just play it in windowed mode. I personally prefer full screen, but when I'm checking these games for a review I usually play in windowed mode as it's easier to take screen captures in windowed mode.</blockquote>

<blockquote>I do hope you can get this game to work as it is one of the better of this genre. Please post back if you do manage it following my suggestions.</blockquote>

Save | Cancel

Reply | Comment by HisSon – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#17

Fun match three with great graphics. I really like that you can choose style of match 3 action. Colors are a little difficult to distinguish easily.
Thank you for a good game.

Reply | Comment by Suzanne – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#16

Just stop with the security wrappers entirely... I'm not interested in having to restart my comp in full safe mode in order to install these things. Some time ago it was as simple as just turning off AVG and I'd have no prob, now nothing happens and installs fail due to some BEX crash. Get rid of the .gcd or whatever is causing this, I've lost out on the past few weeks of items I was interested in as a result.

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

Hi Jon, the reason the security wrapper was added about 3 years ago now was becasue many community members had figured out how easy it was to extract the unwrapped executable from the original giveaway wrapper. This then meant they could install the game at any time, on any computer. Some community members even went as far as to post details of how to do this on You tube an d other gaming sites, plus uploaded the unprotected executable to peer to peer sites for all to download at any time. This was totally against the principles of the giveaway , plus developers were starting to shy away from the project basically becasue their games would then be easily obtainable totally for free with no restrictions. The Themida wrapper was introduced and stopped most community members from ripping off the executable from both the game and applications side of the project. If they were to stop including the security, the same thing would happen. Maybe not as significant at the moment becasue every game we've had (apart from the steam keys) has been from MPC for the past several months. Maybe not as important for games from MPC???

Reply | Comment by Jon – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#15

ok

Reply | Comment by rapunzelo – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)

#14

I'm going to add my little 2 cents into this to be helpful, I'm sorry if this doesn't work for you. It seems that the major problem with the game crashing is caused by playing it in full screen. So, if you don't mind terribly, just don't play it that way - for now. This is certainly something that the developer needs to work on and I don't see them fixing the problem any time soon and certainly not in a game they just gave away for free. So, let's just make the best of it for now.

Other then that it's a very pretty and addictive matching game with 3 different modes. Getting that key to the lock can be quite challenging.

Thanks for another great game!

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

I agree, especially as this is quite an old game, and most newer monitors work at a higher resolution. The native resolution for older games were lower, so trying to play in full screen may be casueing the problem' that said, I may be wrong. it could also be device drivers nbeed updating or DEP issues. I installed the game to three different computers with varying monitors, one fairly new BenQ monitor and two ASUS monitors that are over three years old. One installed to win 7, one to win 8 and one to Win 10, all worked perfectly in full screen. I do tend to keep my computers updated with respect to drivers and also carry out maintenance at least monthly, for example defragging the hard drives. If a hard drive is badly fragmented, that can also cause problems with games crashing or not working at all.

Reply | Comment by Michelina – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#13

Same - keeps crashing on Win 10. There should be a way of either speeding up or bypassing the intro.

Reply | Comment by ba – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

ba,
Maybe this has something to do with problems in Win10:
"System Requirements: Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8"

Reply | Comment by alexyu – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

ba, to bypass the introduction press spacebar.

Reply | Comment by Suzanne – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#12

Like others, I couldn't get this to work (on Windows 10) It loaded ok and took me through the intro, but as soon as I clicked on play the whole thing crashed. I deleted it and then downloaded it again - same result. Pity, because a match 3 can be a relaxing way of filling a few minutes of spare time :-(

Reply | Comment by Fran – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

#11

I really enjoyed the game play, but upon exit the game opens an internet page!!!!!!!!
.
We live in a rural area and the only internet available is capped. I ***REALLY*** resent this game steal data.......besides the fact that opening a page on it's own every time I exit the game would be annoying if I wasn't capped.
Uninstalling and down voting.

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

Hi Dawn, MyPlayCity and all the other free game sites can only give away their games because they earn cash every time your internet browser is opened to their home page. All of the games given away are actually commercial games, sold elsewhere for example Big Fish Games, steam and Gamehouse. MyPlayCity pay the developers of the games they giveaway for every game they give away. If they stopped the browser from opening they would not be able to pay the developer and the developer would then stop the game from being given away. I understand your frustration, unfortunately that's the price we have to pay for games from such sites.

Reply | Comment by Dawn – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#10

Like others, the game crashed upon launching. I deleted it and tried downloading again. This is the error I get (Win 10): Exception: Access Violation (code 0xc0000005) at address 00550069 in thread 3E8
Module: game.exe
Logical Address: 0001:0014F069

0019F97C 00550069 0001:0014F069 game.exe
Params: 0681E808 4434C000 43690000 0019F9BC

StackWalk failed (error 299)

EAX:0E2D3512 EBX:00FFAA28 ECX:023C8780 EDX:00000022 ESI:00000000 EDI:00000000
EIP:00550069 ESP:0019F840 EBP:0019F97C
CS:0023 SS:002B DS:002B ES:002B FS:0053 GS:002B
Flags:00010206

Windows Ver: NT 6.2 Build 9200
DDraw Ver: 10.0.14393.0
DSound Ver: 10.0.14393.0

Product: Wizard Land
Version: 1.10
Time Loaded: 00:00:07
Fullscreen: Yes
Primary ThreadId: 3E8

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

Please see my comment at the top of these comments.

Reply | Comment by Dona – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

Downloaded a 3rd time and I got past the initial wizard screen and was able to select windowed mode. Got to the next window to play level one and once I hit start it disappeared. Just crashed and I was looking at my screen saver. I do like match 3s but not trying again. Thank you for your suggestions and for the game.

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

Hi Donna, Try running the game again, then, when it crashes immediately check the event logs via the event viewer. You can find the event viewer via the control panel or type event viewer in your search filed. The event log should record any errors that occur; from those you may be able to figure out what the problem is. It's most likely to be an outdated driver, or resolution issues.

Reply | Comment by Dona – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

Dona, I sent you an email with the event viewer results. My graphics card was OK. Computer is only a few months old. Thank you kindly for your assistance. It is rare for me
to have an issue with downloads from this site.

Reply | Comment by Dona – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#9

Installed easily on Win10 64bit.
Game play is addictive and very nice.
My only problem is that it won't go to full screen. When I change it in the Menu Settings, it crashes and restarts.
Playing is still enjoyable in the smaller window, but full screen would be great.

Reply | Comment by Dawn – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

#8

I too had trouble with the installation - every time I tried it I got a bit farther but got a lot of "Exception: Access Violation (code 0xc0000005) at address 00550069 in thread 2954" StackWalk failed (error 299)

Some glitch to the game it seems!

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

Hi A Hogan, please excuse the very late reply. Check my other comments. I have tried to suggest some fixes for this elsewhere in today's comments. Not sure if they helped though as no one has confirmed. Still, no one has mentioned these problems since Iposted.

Reply | Comment by A Hogan – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#7

Match 3 games are kind of my bag.
I wish, just once, someone would have one with something that sounded other than like kids music (rock would be nice) Most of the time I mute the game music and have my own tunes playing in the background.

The game installed to the default directory - no problems.

After the intro - that could not be skipped or sped up since I read it here first, only the timed mode would work. Relaxed was visible but not clickable. I saw nothing about earning the privs to use relaxed so either that feature is broken or the game is altered for GAOTD

I started in group mode - seemed to be the default and after a screen or two I was tool tipped the option to swap modes. I changed it to switch/swap - and then that option dimmed too. I could not get back to group or what ever the third option was. Another situation where either the game has disabled features for the give away or it breaks very easily.

Reply | Comment by Tica – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)

#6

Installed every time I hit play it crashes. Tried admid mode, all compatibility modes and uninstalled and retried everything again it still crashes. Will uninstall.

Reply | Comment by Ceealto – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+5)

Ceealto, the same thing is happening to me. Win 10 x64. I'm really disappointed because I love match 3 games & this sounds like a winner. I'm playing in windowed mode, so that's not the problem. Like others mentioned, the game goes through the story but then crashes when I hit Play or any other button. When it crashes, it also moves one of my program icons to another part of my screen.

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

Hi Laurie, check my replies to others who have had similar issues to see if any of my suggestions work. also check the FAQ's thread that I've linked to via my review.

Reply | Comment by Laurie Nelson – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#5

Downloaded and installed without problems --Win7/64. I almost didn't go for this one as I'm a little tired of match 3 games, but I'm glad I did. I found the music nice and relaxing for the first 5 minutes or so, then it got boring and I switched it off. But the game is certainly one of the better match 3s. There are interesting features that I haven't seen before. (Eg: being able to choose the mode, and being able to rotate the board.) I've only played the first few levels, but It has piqued my interest and I'll enjoy this one for the next couple hours.

Reply | Comment by DanO – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#4

Installed, as soon as I select Play it gives me an error, uninstalled and re-installed - same thing. :(

Reply | Comment by VG – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)

#3

using w10 64bit - Downloaded quickly and intro went well but every button i push to start the game, shuts the program down. I've tried compatibility modes and i am the administrator. Still no luck.
So I uninstalled it. Then downloaded it directly from the site and ...... it did exactly the same thing.
Not sure what to do next - looked like a fun game.
Krystal

Reply | Comment by Krystal – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#2

good game play not like the typical game .
can be addictive
but later games such as this type should not follow this style as it can be boring after some time. The players will lose interest in the game all together.