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Monday, February 11, 2008

Games Review: KingMania by 300AD.com

Tough week ahead and it’s only Monday! I got to get back to being used to early mornings and late afternoon shifts. If there’s a virtue in taking up 9-to-5 jobs other than an excuse to get out of the house, I’m all ears. Otherwise, I wonder if there’s a market for free-lancing?

Being able to slept in is a benefit to my dreams as a columnist writer. Hehe, skip my ramblings. This entry is about a game I’ve recently cracked and very much enjoyed.

There’s not a lot of 3D action strategy games available for download from the Internet and I supposed that’s why KingMania caught my attention. By viewing the screenshots alone, I thought it could be as complex as that huge 3D download Depths of Peril (I’ll make a review on DoP once I’m done with Dungeon Siege 2 expansion).

You know what? It ain’t.

300AD.com's KingMania is all about potatoes.


Your city built on stones and potatoes.


The story goes... Actually, there is no real storyline. It’s a command-and-conquer game, where you start on this tiny island in the middle of an archipelago of tiny islands. Everybody’s got a death grip on their islands, including you, because... really, you need to eat and there’s not enough land to plant potatoes.

So what do an impoverish king to do?

Turn barbarian, of course.


Pillage and plunder for potatoes!


The gameplay is fun and engaging, kind of reminded me of a simplistic version of the Heroes of Might and Magic series. You start with a castle of a settlement and then raise enough muscle of knights and peasants to take over a neutral or enemy’s buildings.

Unlike HoMM or the Warcraft series, there aren’t any heroes with special powers or being able to assemble a battalion or build new buildings. Just take-over whatever peasant settlement you can grab your greedy hands on, beef up the upgrades and bully your opponents to submission.

Sure is a lot of work for potatoes.


Dragons powered by potatoes!


I think the tricky part of what makes KingMania so good (that isn’t about potatoes) is the visualization and story dialogue. It kind of get repetitive after the first 10 or so conquered islands, but it’s the kind of game which you can play for a quick few minutes in between long periods of office work.

I duly recommend KingMania for the work-weary who needs more than coffee in between projects and assignments. It’s comically funny and it’s not hard to get immersed in.

Now... what the heck am I going to do with all these potatoes?


Let’s bake them potatoes in our fire towers!


PS: Downloads for this game can be found in Reflexive Arcade. If you want the cracked version, ask me nicely.

Flash Game: Hapland Series Walkthrough

This is one of the coolest strategy flash games I’ve ever played. But the system to complete the game, the correct system, is horrendous. There are a lot of steps and timing involved one after the other in order for you to open the portal.

Not surprisingly, the feedback for Hapland was so successful, Foon.co.uk made two more Hapland flash games.

It’s quite funny the see the animation following each sequence of events. But it’s tricky; if you get it wrong, you might get stuck and have to restart.

Just for that, I’ve looked for the walkthrough for all 3 Hapland games and spoil your enjoyment right here.

Hapland 1 Walkthrough
(taken from PCWize.com)


PLAY HAPLAND GAME


1. The first thing you need to do is click on the manhole cover to open it, and then click on the yellow up arrow to get a man to come out.

2. Make sure the barrel of the cannon is parallel to the ground and click on the man to fire the cannon. A rock will hit the log, knocking it down to make a bridge across the gap.

3. Once the bridge is down, click on the window to open it so that the man inside can hear the bell when you shoot it next.

4. Click on the cannon to raise the barrel to shoot a rock at the bell.

5. You're going to need a bit of timing here because you need to click on the spear when the rock hits the bell. If you don't the spear will be trapped under the rock. The below picture shows what you should have if you timed it right.

6. Now click on the cannon again to lower the barrel. The next two projectiles are bombs and you need to get rid of them.

7. You'll need some timing here. When you click on the man to fire the cannon, you'll need to click on the bridge when the bomb gets close. The bridge will angle up and when the bomb hits it, it'll bounce straight up and explode harmlessly in the air. You'll have to do this again for the next projectile.

8. Your last projectile is a key for the man in the cave to open the cement pylon blocking his way. Keep the cannon barrel level to the ground and fire, but don't click on the bridge this time.

9. Click on the man next to the cannon again, which will raise the stairs and dump him into the barrel.

10. Click the yellow up arrow below the manhole to get another man to pop out. Click on the cannon to raise the barrel to aim at the bell again. Fire.

11. Click on the man below the bell to make him push the bell tower to the right.

12. Click on the spear to get one end under the rock, then click the bell three times to make it fall on the spear. This will launch the rock and explode the trigger bomb.

13. Next click on the red arrow sign so it points to the right.

14. Now, click on the door below the red arrow to make the man come out. He'll climb the hill and go inside, lighting the first torch.

15. You'll need a bit of timing here. When you click the man in the cave, he starts to walk to the right. The crate opens and some kind of dog with a sawblade drops down. Just before the dog hits the ground, you need to click on the window below the cannon. It'll open and slam shut which will jar the rock loose to land on the dog and kill it.

16. Congratulations! The second torch lights when the man goes inside and the portal opens.

Hapland 2 Walkthrough
(taken from PCWize.com)


PLAY HAPLAND 2 GAME


1. The first thing you need to do is turn on the light and angle it so that it shines on the rocks.

2. Next you'll click on the bird who will then pick up a rock. You'll need a little bit of timing here, because when the bird flies over the cloud on the left, you'll need to click on the cloud to squirt the bird with acid, which will cause the bird to drop the rock on the electrified wiring which will then explode.

3. Wait for the bird to land again, then click on him to pick up another rock. This time, you'll click on the right cloud when he flies over to make him drop the rock into the catapult.

4. Now, click on the sign with the red circle to turn it around showing a green arrow. Then click on the manhole to open it up so he can fall through. Then click on the yellow up arrow to make him walk forward.

5. Once he's fallen through, click on the sign again to turn it around back to the red circle. You'll need a bit of timing for this next part. Click on the box to his right which will release a bomb. He'll pick it up and right about the time you see an exclamation point over his head click the yellow up arrow again which will shoot a puff of air to blow the bomb into the door on the far right side, blowing it up.

6. Next, click on the pink lid of the box to his right three times which will cause it to fall and make a ramp he can walk up.

7. Click on the man and he'll walk up the ramp and into the door you just blew up. The upstairs window light will come on.

8. Next you need to close the two top switches to provide power to the stairs. Then click on the right arrow of the flywheel to tell the stairs which direction to move.

9. Next, click on the stairs which will move to the right to allow the man to climb back up to the catapult.

10. Ring the doorbell to the house on the right and the man will come out and climb up.

11. You'll need some timing for this next part. You'll need to click on the left cloud twice to get it to explode. As soon as possible click the man at the catapult to fire the rock through the acid rain, setting it on fire, which will burn down the hanging banner and blow up the trigger bomb to the right of the man on the top level (left-side).

12. Next, click once on the man on the top level (left-side), he'll fall down to the next level.

13. You'll need some timing here again. Click on the manhole cover on the left side of the wall of where the man you just moved was. This will open up and another man will jump out followed by a fly. Immediately start clicking on the fan in the wall between the two men on the second level. The fly will get sucked through the fan and bother the man on the other side of the wall. While the fly is bothering the second man, you need to click on the man below the crate to get him to move to the throw lever. Once he's moved, click on the man who came out of the manhole cover to get him to fall to the bottom level. You should now have a man on each throw lever.

14. Below the man on the bottom level is an arrow pointing to the left. Click on it to make it point to the right. Now click on the bottom man to throw the lever for the current. Next, click on the man on the second level to open the trap door, then click the third man to drop the crate. The crate will release a fish which falls into the water and is carried by the current to the fishermans hook.

15. Click on the man on the bottom level to stop the current, then click on the fisherman who will reel in the fish, eat it, and then bounce to the very top.

16. Once he's at the top, click on him so he goes inside which will turn on the first torch.

17. Click on the sign to turn it back into a green arrow and then click the yellow up arrow to make the man go back inside the house.

18. Click on the left arrow of the flywheel to tell the stairs to go left, then click on the stairs to move them up against the crate.

19. Click on the window to open and slam shut the window. This will cause the green blob to fall to the ground.

20. Click on the man on the bottom level to turn on the water current again, then click on the green blob who will jump into the water, but because of the current will blow up the trigger bomb.

21. Click on the man on the bottom level to stop the current, then ring the doorbell again to make the man come out and go up the stairs. You'll need a bit of timing as you need to click on the crate when the man is at the top of the stairs so he falls into the crate. Immediately after, the left side of the crate will fall down and the man will be driving a monster truck (literally).

22. As soon as you see the monster truck go into the water and get to where the trigger bomb used to be, click on the porticullus to raise it out of the way of the truck. The truck will drive through and the man will jump off, climb the steps, and go inside.

23. This is it! One more step to winning! Click the two torches to close the switch and enable the gate.

24. Congratulations! You're a wiener!!!!

Hapland 3 Walkthrough
(taken from MrGreg 2006)



PLAY HAPLAND 3 GAME


Goal 1: Get Rid Of That Pesky Mine
1. Click on the carrot to eat it.

2. Click on the guy who ate the carrot and he'll move to the right.

3. Click the bottom lever guy 3 times.

4. Click on the carrot and then click on top of box below him. Two flys come out. You need to click on both of them before they get to the carrot.

5. Click both "launch pad" switches so the UFO floats up.

6. Click the bottom lever guy 3 times so a right red arrow appears.

7. Click the other arrow so it turns to the right.

8. Click on the right side of the box so the right flap comes down.

9. Click on the red arrow directly above the guy on the platform, and he will move down.

10. Click on the UFO and then very quickly click the yellow button below the box on the right. Several things happen here. The UFO tries to abduct the guy, but gets the boulder instead. It drops the boulder on that mine which explodes and turns the red arrow up. The guy runs into the bathroom and flushes which causes pipes underneith to fall away exposing a red blob that we'll use later.

Goal 2: Drain The Pond
1. Click the doorbell on the bathroom.

2. Click the guy that comes out of the bathroom.

3. Click on the same guy again so he moves left.

4. Click the bottom lever guy three times so you see a shield.

5. Click the switch to the left of green arrow.

6. Click the bottom lever once.

7. Click on the tube above the door on the far left, so it will bend upwards.

8. This requires some timing. click on the UFO and it will fly up and to the right. Just before the UFO leaves the screen, click on the shield and then click on the bottom left guy who will pull a lever. This will fire a rock that destroys the UFO and freezes the pond.

9. Click on the shield then click the left lever guy. This will fire another rock that will bounce off the shield into the yellow basket.

10. Click on the shield then click the left lever guy. This will fire a water activated bomb that will bounce off the shield into the yellow basket.

11. Click the light directly above the door on the far left. The guy will move back to his original position.

12. Click the small gear in the middle of the wood box, it should start to spin.

13. Click the left yellow button under that box which will shoot out another boulder.

14. Click the switch to the left of the green arrow.

15. Click the lever guy 3 times16 - Click the red bomb. The top guy will throw it over the pond, which will cause it to melt.

16. Click the window in the top left in the tree. This will drop a carrot.

17. Click the spider web in the top left in the tree. A spider will come down.

18. Click the spider and then quickly click the bird. This will cause the bird to get pissed off and shoot a laser out of its head (???) which releases a ladder on the second tree. This will also overload the yellow basket, causing it to fall on the boulder below. It then gets kicked into the pond and the water bomb sinks and blows a hole in the wall, which drains the pond. Whew.

19. Click the switch to the left of the green arrow.

20. Click the lever guy once. You should now have the bottom guy waiting at the lever at the bottom of the pond. Leave him for now.

Goal 3: Burn The Vine
1. Click the right leaves on the second tree. A yellow fruit will fall and damage up the second landing pad.

2. Click the bell on the building to the right. The last guy (a mechanic?) will climb down and repair the landing pad. When he goes outside, close the door bending him by clicking on the door. He will repair the landing pad and eventually end up by the red up arrow.

3. Click on him and he'll climb the ladder.

4. Click him again and he'll burn the vine.

5. Click him again and he'll climb down.

6. Click the red arrow twice so it points right.

7. Click the small bridge just between the bathroom window and the landing pad that got repaired. This will open up an entry to the cave below.

8. Click the left edge of the crate in the cave below, which will open it.

9. Click the mechanic and he'll fall into the cave.

Ending: Make The Soup
1. There is one last sequence, and you have to get the timing right. You must click on the mechanic so he goes into the crate. He will ride out on a cart with a large bowl and arms. Click on the red blob on the ceiling so it drops an orange donut in the cart as it drives by. Click on the guy by the lever in the pond which will release a green donut, too. Both donuts need to land in the cart, which will stop under the light. For the timing on the red blob, click just as the cart is reaches the edge of the side of the crate that we opened. For the timing on the lever, click the lever guy just as the cart reaches the first bump it goes over.

2. See that button that says "Do not push"?

3. Don't push it. It will blow up the guy in the cave. You can still finish even if you do, but if you let him live, you can see some concept art for all 3 Hapland games at the end.

4. Click the gear at the bottom right to turn that button sign around.

5. Now you can push the button.

PLAY FOON.CO.UK GAMEs

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