The Game Boots

Retro Handheld Games - Know Your Roots!

2011-04-29T19:56:00.001+08:00

Hipopatamstudio.pl has done it! Retro Hand Held Games! Feast your "hands" on them?? Anyway, enjoy the trip back in time and continue to monitor this site for updates!

I remember Game n' Watch games back in elementary... There would even be people who rent out Game n' Watch outside the school for ... hmm... How much was it? Anyway, usually for a period of 10 minutes or something like that. My brother and I owned a game each and we would play them like they were the greatest games ever! ^_^ That was then... But it's fun reminiscing how simple pixel graphics and plain left, up, down, right, button A, and button B movements would give you endless times of fun!

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAMES

I would like the "cement" game we had to be revived too!

You can check out their website which also has some retro-themed games like this Defender Game.

Happy Gaming!

3D Gaming Competition! - SM Cyberzone Megamall (April 8-9, 2011)

2011-04-07T11:23:00.000+08:00

Source: http://smcyberzone.multiply.com/journal/item/7/3D_Gaming_Unleashed_Official_Mechanics
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/smcyberzone

Get your game on, gamers!

3D Gaming Competition! - SM Cyberzone Megamall (April 8-9, 2011)

2011-04-07T11:22:00.000+08:00

Source: http://smcyberzone.multiply.com/journal/item/7/3D_Gaming_Unleashed_Official_Mechanics
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/smcyberzone

Get your game on, gamers!

Gaming Industry - Affected by the Earthquake and Tsunami

2011-03-16T14:52:00.001+08:00

Let's start off by saying, so far, there is no structural damage to gaming offices and facilities. PR officers of big gaming companies in Japan started twitting one after another or sending PR statements, and for the most part, their messages all say that employees are safe, and facilities are undamaged.

Here's what some of them had said exactly:

Capcom - "Capcom is okay in Tokyo and Osaka."

Microsoft - "All Xbox employees in Japan are ok"

Konami - "Everyone @Konami Japan seems to be alright. Received confirmation earlier via twitter from @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN #japan."

Sony - "sounds like everyone is ok in Tokyo. ... Facebook is connecting everyone."

Nintendo- "We appreciate the concern shown in the aftermath of the recent disaster in Japan. We can confirm that at this time it appears that no one from Nintendo in Japan was injured and there was no apparent structural damage to our company headquarters in Kyoto and other offices and facilities in Japan. Business operations, including future product shipments, have not been affected. Our thoughts and best wishes are with everyone who has friends and family members who may have been affected by the earthquake or tsunami."

But, after listening to the news, watching clip after clip of devastating minutes go by in Japan rescue efforts, news of rolling black-outs, food shortage, gas shortage, etc., the question on all gamers remain... "IS THE GAMING INDUSTRY AFFECTED BY ALL OF THESE?" The no-brainer answer is "YES! OF COURSE!" Although there are no lives lost (as of now) that have been confirmed who directly works in the Japanese Gaming Industry, the power outages, supply problems, gas, and everything, have also obviously affected 1 aspect of the industry, which is launching of new games. Further, unquantifiable effects are slow-down in terms of new game developments, servers for online games like FFXI and FFIV are down to help conserve energy, and people (employees) cannot go to work because public transportation is unavailable. One launch delay is Ubisoft's downloadable contest for "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood" - "The Da Vinci Disappearance." listed in MSNBC (some delays are also caused by censorship - some games are too apocalyptic for release).

One good thing about one of the biggest Industries in Japan, is that it's supported by billions around the world and there are just too many creative ways to send gamer donations from anywhere in world!

Read this article for an idea how you can be part of this industry's effort to give financial aid to a country that is still trying to wrap their heads around the devastation that has caught them, and the world, by surprise.

Sources:
http://content.usatoday.com/
http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/

Daily 5 New Games!

2011-02-12T09:00:00.001+08:00

1) Warlords 2 (click here to play)
This is a strategy game that requires attention (yep, no blinking), fast hands and a good set of eyes. Of course that's exaggeration but you do need to pay attention to the game or risk being overrun by enemies.
Controls: Mouse: Select menu / W,S: Choose lane / A,D: Choose unit / Space: Send unit

Screenshots:

2) Hungry Shapes 2 (click here to play)
A new twist to the shape puzzlers. You have to place shapes where they can touch the food and eat them. Certain colors/shapes would require a certain amount of food to be eaten. That means, you sometimes need to find a spot where a shape can roll down and touch several burgers when you let it go.
Controls: Click = Drop Shape / Feed all the hungry shapes according to their colors: 2 burgers for red, 1 for yellow, none for green!

Screenshots:

3) Moo (click here to play)
Same principle as Hungry Shapes 2, but this time you have to move the cow so it touches the bottle and fill it with milk. Sounds easy, but as the levels progress, of course it gets difficult. You would be require do knock-over some things to use them to get to one thing, etc..
Controls: Mouse / AD-move cow

Screenshots:

4) Sift Heads:Ultimatum (click here to play)
This is probably the coolest free online shooting game ever! Interactive movie scenes, never bores you with the same shooting/sniping missions and gives you something else to do. Wonderful cut-scenes and action-packed stick mercenary game!
Controls: Mouse / ASDW / Space / R-reload

Screenshots:

5) Inquisitive Dave (click here to play)
An adventure game with a sense of humor. The lines are too funny to skip sometimes. Seems quite easy, but the bosses can be a challenge.
Controls: A or Left arrow: Move left D or Right arrow: Move right W or Up arrow: Jump Control or Space: Action

Screenshots:

Happy Gaming!

Daily 5 New Games!

2011-02-11T09:12:00.000+08:00

1) Gunball Arena (click here to play)
You are a ball (yes) and so are your opponents. You smash them with your, umm... protruding attachment/s which you can change by buying upgrades. ^_^ Collect the gold gears that fall, those are used to buy upgrades.
Controls: WASD or arrows - movement / Mouse - aim and shoot / Z - TimeWarp skill / X - Teleportation skill / C - Berserk mode / P-pause / 0-mute / --volume down / +-up

Screenshots:

2) Cardiac Snowdrift (click here to play)
Simple game, eat up all the hearts that are smaller than you. You eventually grow bigger and you still eat those that are smaller than you... ^_^
Controls: WASD-move

Screenshots:

3) Chaos Faction (click here to play)
1 on 1 shooting/action game where you have to fight it out with another "ball" by punching/kicking or, every now and then, some crates fall with guns, bombs, traps, etc. You can use those too.
Controls: Arrow Keys-move / Z and X-Attack / Space-pause

Screenshots:

4) Balloon Invasion (click here to play)
Here's a strategy game (tower defense-like) where you control an upgradeable cannon/tower and you can command crafts to attack the enemies. You know how I like upgrades, so that's why I like this game.
Controls: Mouse-aim and fire / 1-3-air raids / 4-9-buildings

Screenshots:

5) Simpsons Millionaire (click here to play)
Are you a Simpsons fan? or just someone who happens to watch 1 or 2 episodes out of their hundreds? Test how much you know about the show with their version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
Controls: Mouse

Screenshots:

Happy Gaming!

Daily 5 New Games!

2011-02-10T08:50:00.000+08:00

QUICK GAME
1) Fifty Two (click here to play)
See how many levels/rounds you can finish in 50 or 52 seconds!
Controls: Mouse
Screenshots:

2) Scale of the Universe (click here to play)
This isn't really a game, but for some reason, I had fun with this! You'll know what I mean when you load it!
Controls: Mouse
Screenshots:

SIMULATION GAME
3) Into Space (click here to play)
One of those games where you try to go as high as you can in something that you can purchase upgrades to. The usual, but this one's still as addicting as the other ones. Have fun going to the moon!
Controls: Mouse
Screenshots:

SHOOTING GAME
4) Warning Foregone (click here to play)
Graphics, not so much... ^_^ It's actually like playing old school pixel shooting games. Hey, I'm not complaining 'coz it loads really fast and it satisfies my shooting game urges this day.
Controls: Z or X-shoot / Arrow Keys-move
Screenshots:

STRATEGY and SIMULATION GAME
5) Hight Tea (click her to play)
You buy and sell tea and/or opium and make sure you stay away from risky countries... ^_^; Yes, not for kids, but fun for adults!
Controls: Mouse
Screenshots:

Happy Gaming!

Daily 5 New Games!

2011-02-09T09:09:00.000+08:00

SKILL/SIMULATION GAME
1) Toss the Turtle (click here to play)
All you have to do is "toss" (or more like shoot) the turtle all the way across the level map until it can't bounce any further. Collect coins and points. The more points (or the farther you go) the more coins you get which you can use to buy stuff at the shop.
Controls: Mouse / ASDW-move

Screenshots:

PUZZLE and SKILL GAME
2) Achievement Unlocked 2 (click here to play)
If you're an achievement or "unlockable" junkie like me (a person who wants to get all the trophies or achievements in a game or wants to unlock all the items/room/etc unlockable in the game - yes, I just made that definition up but you know what I mean), this is your game! It has way more than what was going on in the first title and that's always a good thing! Even hitting "PLAY" is an achievement! ^_^ Enjoy! (5rooms/levels and 1 penthouse... ^_^).
Controls: (you figure it out, it's part of the achievement)

Screenshots:

PUZZLE and STRATEGY
3) Mana Chronicles (click here to play)
Here's a puzzle game (match gems, etc - rules are like Bejeweled Blitz) and you get to summon units to fight off the AI's units and win levels with different goals. It's fun because it's a combination of puzzle and strategy game, although, to me, it's more puzzle than strategy.
Controls: Mouse / A,S,D,F,G,H keys-summon units / P-pause

Screenshots:

SHOOTING GAME
4) Zombie Splatter (click here to play)
Zombie shooter, which has voice over and great weapons! I can't get enough of games like these that seem to have no end and no sense.. ^_^ Nah, I just like shooting zombies and even if graphics aren't at par with Resident Evil, I'll take it! It has upgrades, unlockables and, 2D blood and gore!
Controls: Arrows or WASD-move / Mouse / Space-shop / "Rambo mode" will activate when HP is low

Screenshots:

SHOOTING and ADVENTURE
5) Canary (click here to play)
A unique side-scrolling shooter/adventure game that gives you a character that is armed with some sort of laser. You get rid of objects that are in your way by cutting it with the laser or pushing them.
Controls: Mouse / P-pause

Screenshots:

Happy Gaming!

Daily 5 New Games

2011-02-08T08:45:00.000+08:00

PUZZLE GAME
1) Alxemy (click here to play)
This is an alchemy game where you have to mix 2 elements in a "transmutation circle" to create more complex elements. Unlike other alchemy puzzle games, you can actually see the "world" being filled-up with the "elements" you created.
Controls: Mouse
Quick Tip: The girl in glasses will say hints on what you should combine if you've been idle for a long time.

Screenshots:

2) Click Play 3 (click here to play) ^_^;
Still another puzzler and the 3rd installment in the "easy" but not-so easy game. Rule is to just click "play" (the icon. Every level will present a puzzle and there are things you need to click, drag, etc, in order to find the play icon, or make it appear. It's definitely a challenge!
Controls: Mouse
Quick Tip: The title of each level is a hint to what should be done in order to find/make the play icon appear.

Screenshots:

STRATEGY GAME
3) Sushi Tower Defense (click here to play)
Sooner or later someone's bound to say, "Hey, aren't enemies in TD games like sushi on a conveyor belt?" And here's the game that is the product of that imagination... ^_^
Controls/Shortcuts: Mouse / S-sell / N-next / 1-0 - towers (customers) / Q-quit / P-pause

Screenshots:

SHOOTING GAME
4) Sierra 7 (click here to play)
Stickman games sure have come a long way! This game, although stickman figures, gives players smooth animation, wonderful shooting challenges, superb elements in terms of sounds, guns, and replay-value for collecting emblems and giving 3 difficulty levels. You just have to finish the hardest one for bragging rights!
Controls: Mouse / Space-execute actions / R-reload / F-change firing rate / Q-change weapon / V-night vision / Down Key-pause or menu

Screenshots:

5) Saturday Night Blood (click here to play)
Want to shoot zombies for as long as you want? Want 2D blood and gore? Want addicting game with great upgradeable guns? Levels with different goals? Then this is your game.
Controls: Arrow Keys/WASD-move / Mouse-aim or shoot / R-reload / P-pause or menu

Screenshots:

Happy Gaming!

DAILY 5 NEW GAMES!

2011-02-07T08:42:00.000+08:00

*** I'm starting the Daily 5 New Games post which will be posted, umm..., daily... It will feature 5 new games from any category that are worth your time. Just a brief description, a link to the game, and a lot of screenshots! Enjoy!

QUICK GAME

1) Tasty Planet (click here to play)

You're a goo that's supposed to eat just poo, then you go gaga and eat everything and everyone!
Controls: Arrow Keys (to move) / Space (to pause)

Screenshots:

SHOOTING GAME

2) Bubble Tank 3 (click here to play)

Great 3rd member of the Bubble Tank family! You have more tanks to choose from but I still stick with the standard tank and building up to become fast, and fully weaponized bubble!

Controls (can be changed): ASWD (to move) / Mouse Left Click (to shoot) / Space (to use secondary weapons) / P (to pause)

Screenshots:

ACTION-ADVENTURE GAME

3) Arm of Revenge (click here to play)

This is one of the best Action-Adventure games I've played in quite some time now. Actually, maybe the best action game I've played so far. It's rich in in-game items that you can hit, has good graphics, smooth animation, unlockable moves/combos, character gains experience, challenging enemies... oh, and has a story. ^_^

Controls: Refer to one of the screenshots (too many to mention here)

Screenshots:

STRATEGY GAME

4) Caldera Legends (click here to play)

If you liked playing Plants Vs Zombies, then you'd love this game too! It has the same linear defense game play as PvZ, the characters are a little different (mages, rockpiles, medieval enemies), graphics isn't as smooth as PvZ but the game play is just so addicting, you'll have a longer playing field here though, which I love. There's more room to put your defense pieces.

Controls: Mouse

Screenshots:

TIME MANAGEMENT GAME

5) Jennifer Rose Restaurant: Love (click here to play)

Hats off to game developers who can add and interesting twist to time management games! Yes, it's one of your restaurant-click-here-and-there type of game but with a simple yet interesting and refreshing twist! Apart from serving restaurant customers, every now and then, the boyfriend comes in and all he wants is for some attention. The moment his heart meter fills up, he leaves. Cute!

Controls: Mouse

Screenshots:

Happy Gaming!

Icy Gifts Review (4 out of 5)

2011-02-03T22:20:00.000+08:00

ABOUT THE GAME
This is a puzzler and also called a chain reaction game. The goal is that at the end of each level, you're left with the least number of floating thingies or left with nothing at all to get the highest score. Each thingie floating in the screen will have different reaction when it's "popped", "exploded", etc. For example, a gray gift box will affect gift boxes within a minimal range when it explodes. A computer mouse-shaped thingie will give you an additional click, a chance to pop some more gifts open. A thingie that has a thunder drawing means it zaps (randomly) other thingies floating in the screen.

There's an element of luck and also some level of strategy needed to win all trophies in the game. The toughest one I have yet to get is the trophy for getting 108 stars. Stars are what you get everytime you finish a level. You can get upto 3 per level and you only get the 3rd star if you finish the level perfectly, which means zero floating thingies left on the screen. That trophy is actually the only thing that made me decide to rate this a 4 instead of a 3. The element of difficulty is what makes me want to play the game some more.

Here are the screenshots:

Collect gifts (by mouse-over) to earn upgrades (left side of the screen).

You'll get gifts for gray boxes.

OVERALL
Well, I still like the game despite how ordinary it is compared to other chain reaction games, but I appreciate the addicting nature of the game (as all chain reaction games are) and the wonderful sound popping gifts make especially when it sounds like a machine gun gone wild. It kept me playing until I completed all the upgrades and the whole game.

Game Boots Rating: 4 out of 5

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAME

Happy Gaming!

Traffic Command (5 out of 5)

2011-02-03T20:57:00.000+08:00

Here's a great time management game that lets you control those darn street lights and has other elements to it.

ABOUT THE GAME
This is a game that has its challenges and some elements that sets it apart from other traffic control games. You use your mouse to click on the street lights to make them go "Green" (means cars on that lane go) or "Red" (cars on that lane stop). Obvious enough, the goal is to not let cars crash into each other (don't cause an accident), and, not to let drivers get mad at you for holding them in one late for too long! Not only that, you also have to take note of the time. Each level, there's a set amount of cars that have to pass through the intersection successfully and a time limit to do so. ^_^ I love how they made it more challenging than usual!

There are also some levels where you only control 1 traffic light, and you'll have absolutely no control over the cars on the other intersecting lane. You'll have to wait for the right time before letting the other cars on the street light lane pass.

Here are the screen shots:

Game Boots Rating: 5 out of 5

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAME

Happy Gaming!

Age of Defense 3 - Review (3 out of 5)

2011-02-02T21:38:00.000+08:00

I'm really impressed with the quality of games coming from Belugerin and here's another installment of their hit Age of Defense strategy titles. They gave this 3rd version a totally different twist.

ABOUT THE GAME
Usually, rather, past Age of Defense games only involves you clicking on which character to send out to the enemy, you have your own base to protect from enemy units, and at the same time you have to attack the enemy (by overwhelming the AI with sheer number of weak units or by quality units who cost more but have greater HP and stronger attacks). In the course of each level you gain experience, and once you have enough experience, you can upgrade your civilization - from stone-age to robot era, and each upgrade of civilization unlocks better units for you. So you also are in a race against the AI to get experience faster and upgrade civilizations faster.

In the new Age of Defense game, you will also (at the end of every level), choose how to spend "points" that you get after each level, either unlock an existing unit's skill, or using the points to get an entirely new unit. Not only that, you'll have to follow a, sort of, skill tree, so you can't just go on unlocking units, you have to unlock units in a certain order to get to what you want.

Here are the screenshots:

And that's only page 1

Left side, UNIT TREE (unlock grayed out units there) and Right side, SKILL TREE (unlock each unit's special skill

My technique has always been melee followed by long-ranged units. Another change in the system is that units can occupy the same space at the same time (unlike previous versions, they line up and wait for the unit in front of them to get killed before going forward).

OVERALL

Do I like the new system? Well, I like the previous Age of Defense better than this one. This one has a lot more going on, although I welcome the fact that they increased the levels, I just think that 100 levels (2 pages of 50 levels each) is too much. After playing the first 10 and winning easily, I just found it boring and there's no excitement even if I knew there were unlockables. So this one was a little disappointing for me, while I know a lot will probably disagree. I rate this version 2 because my point of view is comparing it with the other versions of this title, but if I would rate it against other online games with the same system, it would be a 3.

Game Boots Rating: 3 out of 5

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAME

Good luck gaming!

Source for Free Mobile Games (and Apps)

2011-02-01T13:07:00.000+08:00

I'm a proud owner of a Nokia E72 and I love it mainly because of its 5MP camera with powerful LED flash (blinding, actually) which I use for blogging and they give me great results once I mastered it, and it's quite a capable business phone with Quick Office (can open and save docs, powerpoint, excel) and ready for push email (can configure several email accounts at the same time). But I'm also a gamer, and what it lacks (when it came from the manufacturer) are engaging games. The only ones I got were Block Cascade (usual match colors, explode, don't let stacks reach the top) and Solitaire (all types of card games). I finally found a great mobile apps and games site which has free full/demo games, ad-supported games (sometimes ad pops up and asks your permission to connect to the net) and online games. The ones I love are the full/demo free games without the annoying ads. ^_^ That's http://www.mobilerated.com.

Here's a screenshot:

I recommend downloading games that don't say "Ad-supported" and also, if you want games that are entirely independent from internet connection, stay away from "MMORPG" or "Online games" - this one you'll find out from the description.

Downloading is fairly easy so enjoy!

The ones I have on my phone are:

Art of War 2 - Strategy Game

Farm Frenzy - Strategy Game

Zelda - RPG - Action game

Kissing Frenzy - Action game

* Photo Credit: Mobile Rated [dot] com

Happy Gaming!

Gem Warrior - Review

2011-01-31T22:01:00.000+08:00

ABOUT THE GAME
I'm currently playing Gem Warrior and haven't finished it. It's described as an Action RPG game and my addition to that is "challenging". It's not your 1-day RPG game that you start in the morning and can possibly finish in the afternoon with non-stop playing, but this one will force you several trips back to town (where all the different kinds of NPCs are) and several trips to level-up your character and your pet. ^_^

The challenge is really how patient you are to finish this game. Because there's no doubt that it's very possible to finish the game, but there definitely is no work around grinding to level-up. Inlaying (which is this game's word for embedding gems/attributes into weapons) can only give you some (if not little) help in the whole game, so grind, grind and grind is the mantra. I made it to level 57 without inlaying gems, but I did talk to the "Master Compound" NPC to "synthesize" my gems (combine a lot of low level gems of the same kind to make some higher level gems) which I use for "strengthening" or "evolving" my pet.

It's really a good game considering I've been hooked for a week now, but I guess once I beat all the levels I'll get tired of it, just like any never-ending game (there's really no ending to this game, enemies are just becoming stronger and stronger - from what other players said).

QUICK TIPS:

SPACE BAR - picks up items nearby without having to click on each one

Keyboard Shortcuts - click and drag items (healing, mana, etc) and skilss to each shortcut slot for quick button access ^_^

Game Boots Rating: 4 out of 5

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAME

Happy Gaming!

Monster Slayers - Review and Guide (4 out of 5)

2011-01-28T21:24:00.000+08:00

ABOUT THE GAME
This game was created by Nerdook and the version I played was what they designed for Armor Games although they also have the same game created for other game sites like Kongregate. It's an action/strategy game that lets you build an army of 5 customizable soldiers and go through missions to gain experience and items that will help you clear the game and improve your army to get it ready for multi-player. The cute character and background designs remind me of a PSP game. I'm sure you'll know which one it is once you start playing the game.

GAME COMMANDS/CONTROLS

You'll only need your mouse in this game and to control you're army during a mission you'll just need to click 4 commands on screen:

Fall Back! - Lets you regroup your army (doesn't attack)

Defend! - Units will Attack while maintaining position and take half damage but inflict half damage as well

Attack! - All units will attack (of course...)

Quick March! - All units march forward. Units will automatically stop if they're too close to an obstacle (which is most of the time an enemy)

CREATING A CHARACTER
You can add/create characters and choose whether they're melee or ranged. I suggest getting a mix of both ranged and melee and different abilities too.

Here's the list of the different character types and you can see it on the game if you go to view your army and click on "career guide". Mouseover and you'll see the description for each character.

You can also remove any character at any given time and create a new one from scratch if you want.

HATS
You can also have your characters wear hats that you collected from battle which have perks.

The trophies in this game are the hats. As you can see, I haven't completed them all. Most of the really good hats you can get from playing against armies in Multi-player.

Here's a sample of how to equip a hat on the army view. Just click on a character, and click on the arrow left or right to scroll through the hats that you have.

List of Summoning Combination

There are certain items you get after a mission and these can be used in making a summoning item which, by its name, can summon a guardian of some sort and assists units in battle by way of special perks like additional damage to melee units, or paralyzing enemies, etc for a limited time.

Here's how the summoning menu looks. Just click on the 2 ingredients you want to combine, in this case I clicked on Animal Hide and Demon Tooth. The summon can be used once and for a limited time.

Here's how it looks going into a mission with a summon (lower right). Just click on it to use it.

And here's how the Seraph summon looks like when in use. You can see that on the right side of screen there's a clump of green balls... Those are the items and gold left behind by enemies after you defeat them. You have to mouse-over them to get the money and the items.

Here's the list of summoning combination:

Animal Hide + Demon Tooth = Guardian (All units become invurnerable to missles)

Animal Hide + Oak Leaf = Seraph (All Units heal over time)

Animal Hide + Fire Stone = Deamon (All units gain flame attack)

Animal Hide + Cursed Bone = Reaper (All enemies lose HP over time)

Animal Hide + Blue Crystal = Blade (All melle units double damage)

Animal Hide + Monster Claw = Savage – All melee units gain lifedrain)

Demon Tooth + Oak Leaf = Treeant (All enemies move at half speed when entangled)

Demon Tooth + Fire Stone = Deamon (All units gain flame attack)

Demon Tooth + Cursed Bone = Serpent (Units gain dodge and poison attacks)

Demon Tooth + Blue Crystal = Fox (All units move twice as fast)

Demon Tooth + Monster Claw = Savage (All melee units gain lifedrain)

Oak Leaf + Fire Stone = Reaper (All enemies lose HP over time)

Oak Leaf + Cursed Bone = Serpent (Units gain dodge and poison attacks)

Oak Leaf + Blue Crystal = Seraph (All Units heal over time)

Oak Leaf + Monster Claw = Treeant (All enemies move at half speed when entangled)

Fire Stone + Cursed Bone = Blade (All melle units double damage)

Fire Stone + Blue Crystal = Frosty (All units gain frost attack)

Fire Stone + Monster Claw = Deamon (All units gain flame attack)

Cursed Bone + Blue Crystal = Frosty (All units gain frost attack)

Cursed Bone + Monster Claw = Savage (All melee units gain lifedrain)

Blue Crystal + Monster Claw = Fox (All units move twice as fast)

Here are some pictures of the other summons and the battle:

On the World Map, you can choose which mission you would like to do. Here's a monster mission or perhaps what can be called mini-boss fights. ^_^

Here's the monster...

Here's my summon...

Bye! Bye! Mr. Burning Ram!

End of Mission - Yey! New Summon ingredient found and 1 character leveled-up! Don't worry if some of your characters die in the middle of the fight, they still get the experience. Also, game is automatically saved after each mission.

OVERALL RATING
I love how simple yet very interesting the game is. Also the fact that you can build up your army and play against other people's army keeps you wanting to play some more. The hats are not easy to collect as it also relies on chance so if you want to collect them all, you have to play a lot and go to the multiplayer option because the strong hats can be won on the multi-player mode.

What I am just a little bit disappointed about is how you can complete the whole game really quickly. I wish there were more chapters. But still, a game worth your time!

When you click on "multi-player" it brings up a window where you can choose your opponent.

There's a cute surprise when you finish the game... ^_^

Game Boots Rating: 4 out of 5

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAME

Happy Gaming!

Raiden X - Review (5 out of 5)

2011-01-28T20:48:00.000+08:00

ABOUT THE GAME
Raiden X is a game made by Go0gley for CrazyMonkeyGames.com. It’s gameplay is exactly like the game it’s named after, which is Raiden. I missed Raiden so much that I’m so thrilled to find a vertical shooter game which has wonderfully similar graphics and features! It only has 8 levels which is a little disappointing because you just want to keep on playing and playing but the SAVE feature is so awesome!!! You can save your game at the end of each level and load it so that you start where you ended. It’s good for those who want to finish with a perfect game and just start all over again in a level if you get hit once.

Aside from the SAVE and LOAD functions, it features difficulty levels, graphic options (the game itself is not that big so I don’t think choosing a low quality graphic would make a difference), of course sound option and a RESTART option. Please take note, RESTART lets you restart to the 1st level (back to zero) and not the start of the level you are on.

CONTROLS

STEER: Arrow keys / CONFIRM and PAUSE: Space / FIRE: Z / BOMB: X

WEAPONS

Laser – the blue gem item and shoots blue laser at enemies. This is the strongest (kills instantly) but has a downside to it. It only shoots in front of the ship. But if you’re going through the level and want to be lazy and not need to aim at the enemies, you can pair this up with Homing Missiles. Pairing it with Missile for the boss fights will make it like a walk in the park.

Laser with Homing Missile

Vulcan – the red gem item and shoots red vulcan ammo at the enemies. Has mid level power and at max level it spreads and covers almost the whole screen. Not really a favorite of mine because it just messes up the whole screen which confuses me with everything going on and trying to avoid enemy “bullets”. You can pair this up with the Missiles which fire just in front of the ship so that you’ll have power to finish off whatever’s in front of you.

Vulcan at max level with Homing Missile

Plasma – the violet gem item and shoots homing plasma which tracks and locks on to 1 enemy at a time until it finishes it off. If paired with Homing Missiles, it will be redundant but fun to look at and use. It’s the weakest so it’s not really recommended to go into boss fights with it. Best paired with Missiles though if you like to go through boss fights with a little bit of challenge than using Laser.

Plasma with Homing for double homing fun!

Plasma with Missiles to balance power with... umm... laziness?

CHEATS

5 Bombs

On the title screen, select "New Game" whenever the background animation is flashing white. If you get the timing right, you'll start with 5 bombs instead of 3!

For a better success rate, play at normal resolution (300x350) to reduce lagging.

Hidden 1UP

In stage 3, just before you reach the open harbour, you'll see a blue box marked with a "?". Don't shoot at it (if you have homing missiles or a wide-spread gun, let go of the FIRE key). Try not to die either, or the debris of your ship may hit the box.

Wait until a nearby tank comes out of its base and runs over the box to break it. Taadaa! Out comes your free 1UP!

Invisibility Mode

During the takeoff sequence after stage 5, press CTRL. A textbox at the bottom-right corner will pop out. Type in "go0gleypower" and after the animation (stage 6), you'll remain invisible for 20-30 seconds. Survival guaranteed!

You'll return to normal at around the time you see the ruby (which gives you a 1UP).

OVERALL RATING
Overall, there’s nothing I don’t like about this game except for the fact that it only has 8 levels. Not enough for me! But I heard that there’s going to be another version coming out soon so I’m looking forward to that.

Game Boots Rating: 5 out of 5

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAME

Happy Gaming!

Turtle Run – Review (5 out of 5)

2011-01-28T20:16:00.000+08:00

If you're looking for a really quick game while waiting for a youtube video to load, or an anime episode to buffer, no stories, no achievements and not to be bothered by trying to get all the upgrades, well, here's one!

ABOUT THE GAME
Turtle Run, created by Mausland Entertainments, uses a turtle character to speed through a straight course until you get to the ocean by running (or driving a car at some points of the game) and trying not to get squashed by, ummm, giant baseballs falling off of coconut trees as if they were coconuts... ^_^

Usually depicted as slow poke, a turtle shows fast he can go... ^_^; And how strangely baseball can grow from coconut trees...

GAME CONTROLS

Simple game controls and only involves 3 buttons -- Arrow Left, Arrow Down and Arrow Right. Arrow Left to go backwards (I don't think I've used that ever in the this game), Arrow Down to duck or hide inside the shell (to avoid the falling coco-baseballs), and Arrow Right to go forward (of course).

Try to duck/cover at the very last millisecond and as soon as it's safe, go forward. Those really quick and last minute maneuvers will shave off a couple of seconds or milliseconds from your total time.

GOALS

Avoid getting squashed by baseballs, an get to the ocean in the shortest time possible, submit your score and be proud ^_^ - if you're one of the top 10 players...

Here's when you've successfully avoided the baseball.

And here's what happens if you either pressed arrow down too late or you got out of the shell too early... :( Poor turtle...

There are a couple of times in the game when you get to ride a car. Nothing you need to do here but just keep pressing forward. You won't get smashed by the balls... ^_^

GAME TIME
The game takes a little over 30 seconds to finish (depending on how quick you get to the finish line).

My best score so far... You can submit your names and scores...

Oh yeah! Got 3rd! I know the 1st and 2nd places' scores are a lot better... ^_^ It's still nice to be part of the leaderboard!

OVERALL RATING
I love this game! It's quick, it's fun, it's challenging and the animation is not bad at all. Although it's really simple, it can be quite addicting. It's also a game I can go back to a few months after playing it the first time, just to challenge myself again.

Game Boots Rating: 5 out of 5

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAME

Happy Gaming!

Methus Tower Defense – Review (4 out of 5)

2011-01-28T13:30:00.000+08:00

ABOUT THE GAME

Methus Tower Defense, created by Explored and hosted at Crazy Monkey, is a shooting tower defense game where, instead of creating towers along your enemies’ path like the usual TD (Tower Defense), you aim and shoot at the enemies before they get to you or whatever it is you’re protecting. In this game, you are a wizard and you get to choose the spell you want to use provided you have enough mana to cast them. You also collect the souls of the enemies you defeated which you can use to upgrade or buy spells and even covert some souls to mana if you run out of it.

Game Screen, instructions and controls.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE GAME

This is considered a strategy game and I like these types of games because there are a lot of spells to upgrade and choose from so there are a lot of ways you can beat this game, but of course, there’s always the best and easiest way. Also, the game offers a respectable degree of challenge and you’ll really want to finish the whole game and not stop halfway.

This upgrade screen appears each time you complete a level. You can also recharge your "magic barrier" or health bar.

WHAT I DO NOT LIKE ABOUT THE GAME

No/Minimal Replay Value
After completing the game, I’m not motivated enough to play it again. And that’s because you’ll have to start from the very beginning where you don’t have the spells you upgraded, and the enemies are, well, weaklings. You’ll have to go through those boring levels first before you get to the challenging ones and have the arsenal of spells you like.

No Game Speed Control
I would also like to have speed control so that it’s faster to get through the levels or waves with the weaker enemies without spending too much time on the game.

Can Not Continue Game after Completion
When I completed the game, I could no longer choose the “CONTINUE” option under the main menu. I thought that the “CONTINUE” option holds the latest game data that I have before finishing the last level, but it didn’t. I wanted to try the other spells and use it on the last level but it seems that I have to play the game again, from the start, if I want to do that. Ugh!

QUICK TIPS
Best spells for me:

FIREBALL – Hits multiple enemies within the radius of the spell range (range improves when upgraded).

RAISE DEAD – Maximum spell level 10 allows you to create upto 20 zombie minions to fight for you. For those struggling how to raise the dead and make zombies, choose this spell when you have souls in the field (don't collect the souls). You'll see on the screen the scope or range of the spell and all the souls within the range will be turned into zombies, upto the maximum limit depending on the level of your spell. The more you level up this spell, the wider the range is (more zombies in one click - provided you have a lot of souls clumped up in a spot) and more zombies for you.

SUMMON GOLEM – Fights enemies that get too close to you. You can only summon 1 Golem though.

WAVE OF DEATH – Hits all enemies on the screen. Best upgraded to 10 then use RAISE DEAD after casting this spell because there’s sure to be a buffet of souls to be converted to your own zombie minions.

Here you can see my Golem and Zombies (purple health bar) fighitng the enemies for me. You can let them take care of the melee enemies but make sure to watch out for long-ranged ones. The Zombies are slow and the Golem is even slower. You'll take on damage if you don't take care of the archers and spellcasters yourself.

OVERALL RATING FOR THE GAME

Even though I listed more “DISLIKE” than “LIKE”, I think it was still a game worthy of my time and effort. I love a challenge and completing a game that offers a respectable degree of difficulty makes my day.

Game Boots Rating: 4 Boots out of 5

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAME

Happy Gaming!

Bug War 2 – Tips and Review (4 out of 5)

2011-01-28T08:56:00.000+08:00

ABOUT THE GAME
Bug War 2 is a second release (duh!) for the Bug War title by Bubblebox.com. It’s one of those strategy games where you or your minions occupy a tower at the start of the game and you have to overrun enemies by occupying all of their towers.

There are 2 types of towers in the whole game, the Spawn tower which can produce bugs every second and there’s the Cannon tower that can fire cannon balls at incoming attacking bugs but can’t create bugs. Both towers can hold unlimited number of bugs. There are 13 levels in the game and after finishing a level you’ll get a rating of 1-5 stars depending on how well you do for that level. 5 stars is the maximum number of stars you can get in a game and it’s very important you get all 5 stars for every level if you want to complete the trophies. This game encourages replay by offering trophies and other races of bugs. At the start, you’ll see that there are 3 options for races of bugs: Agile, Fast or Strong – but you can only choose Agile type of bugs if you’re playing the game for the first time. Fast and Strong bugs can be unlocked after finishing the game using the Agile Race. Also, there are 12 trophies or achievements you can complete while playing the game which are all fairly easy to get.

HOW TO GET 5 STARS IN ALL LEVELS

The key to get all 5 stars in each level is speed and to some extent, not losing any spawn over to the enemies.

Here's when all levels are played and have 5 stars rating each plus all the trophies completed.

SPEED

To finish the game really quick, you should attack the enemy straight on. Don’t bother occupying the nearby towers if they’re not leading the shortest path to your enemy’s tower/s. Better if you capture another spawn tower at the start of the game for higher levels so that you can produce more bugs per second, but for lower levels, if the nearest tower is a Cannon tower, then go ahead and occupy it right away.

Here's finishing level 1 in 11 seconds and 1 spawn lost, still got 5 stars.

SPAWNS LOST

The lower levels are more forgiving in terms of losing spawns to the enemies. As long as you finish the level really fast, even if you lose a couple of spawns or towers, you’ll still get 5 stars. But for the higher levels, 10 and up, you’ll need to secure the spawns/towers you occupy by concentrating on putting bugs until you get to have 30 or so bugs in the tower, a comfortable number that you know can’t easily be overrun by the enemies.

OVERALL RATING FOR THE GAME

I love this type of strategy game because it does get you to think of strategies per level because some levels can prove to be challenging if you make a wrong move for the first few clicks. But I think the game is a little too easy and the trophies, aside from being easy to get, aren’t at all that rewarding (well, maybe it’s because they’re easy to complete so that’s why there’s no ‘feeling of satisfaction’). I like the art and the levels but after completing the whole game, I won’t bother to play the levels again unless it’s to complete the trophy set. I’ve played a lot of other games like this that really have more replay value. I wish there were more levels that are more challenging and more trophies or achievements to complete.

The end of credits - after you finish level 13 'aka' "The Final Level"

Game Boots Rating: 4 Boots out of 5

Happy Gaming!

How to Get Top Score in Bejeweled Blitz Every week

2011-01-28T00:11:00.000+08:00

ABOUT THE GAME
Bejeweled Blitz is one of the games in Facebook that has sustained its popularity since it has been introduced to the site last year by PopCap. It is a fast paced puzzle game, a round lasts only 1 minute, and the goal is to out-score your friends every week because the scores are reset every Wednesday early morning. Here are some tips on how you can out-rank your friends every week and be the talk of the town for your high scores in this game. Our goal is to get 300,000+++ every week for a safe spot on top.

TIPS

First, you should know how to recognize a good set from the first 5 seconds of the game. If you find yourself struggling to find a match, then chances are, it’s not going to give you good results in the end. Quit it and start a new game. If you start a game and quickly find matches easily, then that’s a good round. Halfway through the game, if you haven’t got any multiplier or you’re still at less than 50 thousand points, then it’s best if you quit the game and start again. It’s important not to waste time on games that won’t put you on the leader board.

This is a so-so game. You can find 3 matches in a glance so you can play this set but I've seen better combination so you can quit this and start a new one too.

This one's a good game. You have possibilities for big scoring and multiple jewel matches. You can play this game.

This is a great game! Do I need to explain why? Just a few clicks and you'll have bonus items!

Speed is the key to this game and as soon as the game starts, you should have already found at least a couple of possible matches in the board. And every time you successfully find some jewels to match, as your hand is leading the mouse to make the match, your eyes should already be looking for another one. Think a step or 2 steps ahead of the game. If you do this, you’ll start piling up Speed Bonus. Speed Bonus gives additional points to every quick matches you make hereafter. Speed bonus starts at 200 and increases to 1,000 points as long as you keep matching colors or jewels quickly. You should not break the momentum or else you’ll lose the speed bonus and have to build it up again starting 200 points. That’s a waste of a lot of points and time. Also, once you max out the speed bonus, as long as you keep getting matches really fast, you’ll notice that the bonus (upper left corner of the game) is filling up with orange color. Once it’s full, you’re going to have a few seconds of speed bonus explosion. All the jewels that you create matches with will explode and break the other jewels around it, which is good because it means more points for every match.

Learn to prioritize matches that contain 4 or more jewels instead of just 3 jewels. Simple reason behind this is that they give you more points and give you bonus items. It’s important that if you see bonus items such “multiplier”, “flame gem”, “star gem” and “hypercube”, you should prioritize finding matches or using them, especially the multiplier. If you can break the multiplier as soon as you see it, then it will start multiplying the points that you get for every match from the moment you break it. Imagine if you have 1,000 speed bonus and you currently are at 7x (after matching a 7x multiplier gem), that 1,000 speed bonus gives you 7,000 points.

Start finding matches at the bottom of the board so that it shakes up the placement of the gems and gives you a lot more chance to find good set or balance of colors and matches.

If you have enough coins to buy boosts, make sure you can buy the maximum number of boosts which is 3. Buying just 2 or 1 won’t do much good. Here are my top 3 boosts that work absolutely great when used together:

Mystery Gem (and pray it gives you a hypercube or a multiplier)

+5 seconds (adding 5 seconds at the end of the game is crucial because this is when you have a big multiplier and you’re piling up speed bonuses at this point)

Free Multiplier.

Using boosts will give you easy 300,000+ points or as much as 500,000++ points.

It's possible!

All in all, practice makes perfect and as soon as you get the hang of applying all the tips in this article, then you’ll find yourself placing first every week with the least amount of time spent on the game.

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UPDATE as of August 21, 2010, here's my last 5 weeks score, highest so far is 708,950!

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UPDATE as of November 17, 2010, my highest score so far 868,050!

Can I get a Million next time?

Happy Gaming!