Hokage's Picks! Up for a challenge?

Last Weeks Picks: Jigsaw Deluxe, GravPull, Platform Combat

The New Picks:
Challenges:
The Line Game: Orange Edition: Guide your trail of orange through fiendish caves, avoiding obstacles as you go.
A Crow In Hell: Well once again the crow is stuck in hell and must get out. Avoid traps and winding tunnels. Collect keys to unlock exciting new bonus challenges.
Average Picks:
The Great Sperm Race: Millions die and only one can make it, Is it you? This is the journey of a sperm to the egg, race to the end and learn about how it all works.
Arachnid Wars 1.5: A classic turn-based strategy game… with spiders :P
Germz!: Defend yourself against an onslaught of mischievous Germz! The only hope is to match Germz to destroy them and reach your goals. Matching 4 or more will release powerful Antibodies that you can match to unleash a PowerBlast against the Germ hordes.

Death vs. Monstars

A new game on Kongregate that has been badged. By a developer which has brung us other games, but not so popular ones.

Introduction
You're Death and you have to kill monsters upgrading your weapons and playing on different modes. There's also a To-Do List and you have to complete all of those to finish the game.

Quick review
I don't see the diference between many games such as these. They're all the same, you're a creature or a person and you have to kill different enemies which have different strengths. I think ZunderFury, Amourphous+... have a very big similarity to this game.

To-Do List
These are the levels, and you need to get an objective time or mark of points or kills to pass to the next level.

Shop and Upgrades
If you get some money you'll be able to buy weapons or buy some upgrades for your characters to have better abilities.

Last level helpful guiding video

Video by kongquake.

Review - Shopping Cart Hero

Generic Header, I luff thee.

Alright, rather short review this time, seeing as its 11:17 PM at the time of writing, and I have to get up at six AM tomorrow for school. But enough about me, let's talk about this game.

As you guys already know, Shopping Cart Hero recently got badges and a challenge. At first glance, the badges probably seem hard. After playing the game for a mere twenty minutes, however, I had already achieved everything other than the hard. A mere ten minutes more, and thirty more points was mine. These achievements are really quite easy.

Now to get to the review part. As stated above, this review will be pretty short. In other words, this review is going to have about as much depth as the game it's reviewing.

The main statement I want to make with my review here is that this game lacks a lot of depth. It's just so simple, and boring. It's not necessarily a bad game, it just lacks depth. Now, some of you may say "Well, so does Tetris and Pac-Man, but they are all time classics!". Tetris and Pac-Man both have a lot of depth to them. A whole lot. Every game you play will be different with those games, and every player plays them differently. Also note you have to have skill to be good at those games.

However, with Shopping Cart Hero, nearly every player plays through it the same way:
1. Grind monies until you purchase all rockets, wheels, and tricks.
2. Do the tasks specified for the badges.
3. Close the game.
-3.1: Some players may, if they are really hardcore, try to go for a highscore, but since the game has badges highscores will be hacked.

Now that I've made my main statement on why I think this game isn't so hot, I'll rapid fire through the rest of this:

Graphics: 7/10 -- Rather simple, looks a bit hand-drawn (Which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Bland.

Sound: 2/10 -- Horrible. The only sounds in the game are the stepping of feet and the crasing or clanking of the shopping cart. Really could have done the game some good to include some music or further sound effects.

Replayability: 6/10 -- Depends on if you played it before badges or not. If you have played it after badges, and got them all, replayability is present, just not as much as other games. You may want to replay it on a rainy day just to get a higher score, it all depends on how you play the game.

Gameplay: 8/10 -- The core gameplay is actually really good (ignoring all lack of depth): Nice and simple, yet appealing and has a nice fun factor to it. If I counted the fact it has no depth, it would be around a six or so. The game just turns into doing the same thing over and over.

Overall: 2/5 -- I gave this game a 2/5 because of it's overall lack of depth and music and (In my case) replayability. That pretty much sums this game up, actually.

NOTE: I'm not trying to bash the game, I'm just giving my honest opinion on the game. Not all reviews have to be a 5/5 review, you know.

NOTE2: Well, I guess that wasn't so short after all, eh? I get carried away a lot.

~PlatinumIce

Perfect Balance: New Trials

Perfect Balance: New Trials, by tttursas, is a continuation of the Perfect Balance series which consists of Perfect Balance and multiple other brick stacking games. This game is not a sequel to the original Perfect Balance, but an extra set of stages to play.

Of course, out buddy tasslefoot already has a video tutorial out on how to complete all of the levels. Video can be found below:



Along with this, ttursas is currently working on a version of Perfect Balance for the iPhone/iPod. The name of it is "Perfect Balance: Harmony" and a video preview can be found below.

Guide: Shopping Cart Hero!

Many have tried. Many have failed. Do you have what it takes to be a hero?

Whee! Shopping car(t)s!

Monday's challenge is up again, this time on Shopping Cart Hero created by MonkeyWantBanana. Scoring 2,000 points in one run will reward you the Mindreader's Chalice.

Instructions:

Didn't Tasselfoot talk about this? Yes, he did. Read the instructions, he said.

The game pretty much explains the controls, but here they are again:

Right arrow to run, Up to get in, Up to jump.

Oh, and I hope you don't do a face plant, as that will cause you to get 0.10x points and kill your friends if you have any on the shopping cart.

Achievements:

Mindreader's Chalice: Score 2,000 points in a single jump.

Dropping Loads Badge (easy – 5 points): Load your cart up with 3 groupies, then crash to the ground.

Going the Distance Badge (medium – 15 points): Travel a distance of 600.

Rocking a Rhyme That's Right on Time Badge (hard – 30 points): It's tricky! Score 1800 trick points in a single jump.

The Guide:

This guide will reveal all the achievements, and how to get them.

Well, first of all, you need money. Take some speed, jump in the cart, get to the ramp, jump, hope that you will go far. Oh, and don't do a face plant.

Then, you should have some money now. If you run out of money, or can't afford anything said in this guide, complete some more runs. You should buy the round wheels followed by metal wheels. This will get you a nice speed. Don't worry about the racing wheels yet.

Now, get some money for the rockets. First, buy the one rocket. Don't worry, it's not actually one-time use, it's always for you until you buy the twin-rockets or that big crazy rocket. When you have some money for the twin rockets, buy them. The rockets will launch itselfs during the run, so you don't have to worry about it. For a little bit of extra cash, try doing a backflip or frontflip by pressing the arrow keys left or right. Beware, this is where the highest chance of faceplanting is. After that, buy the racing wheels.

What about the groupies? You don't need them yet, I suggest buying them the last, as there is a chance that you fail and your guys will die, wasting your money. Get some money and buy the new trick, Superman. To activate it, press Up + Left and hold down the Down with the arrow keys. This will make your stickfigure go into a Superman position, earning you extra cash. You can also combine this with flips, earning you even more cash. To stop this trick, just simply let the down key off.

Now, there are two options:

1. Do tricks, fly far and earn cash until you have $5,000 for the big insane rocket.

2. Buy the new trick, Handstand, earning you a little bit more money than Superman. Press Up + Up and hold down Down to activate, release down to stop doing the trick.

Do which ever you like, as each run at this point should bring you around $1,500 money.

After all, buy the big rocket upgrade and the handstand when you have money for both of them. When you get the big rocket, you should have earned your medium badge.

NOTICE: When you buy the big rocket, the controlling can be a little bit difficult. Like the game says, it's not safe. People also want me to notice that when you have the big rocket, if you want to fly far, you should always point your rocket left, so you will get boost to the right. If you're backflipping, it will slow down you due the rocket power.

Now, groupies! No, they don't give any group hugs to anyone. No, they don't kill you. But you kill them. They earn you extra cash. Now this is the most important thing: DO NOT face plant! It will kill your groupies. Buying the groupie, then upgrading to two groupies, and the last to a full harem, will most likely unlock you the card at this point. If you are really good and do awesome tricks, you can even earn the hard badge.

Hint: Get a full harem, and launch your rocket so it points to down, making you fly super high, giving you alot of time doing handstands and easier 1800 trick points.

Congrats! You just won the Mindreader's Chalice!

Yays!

Thank you for reading this guide. This guide was bought to you by Juze. Happy gaming moments at Kongregate! :)

But hey, there's just one more thing to do! The easy badge! This is very simple: Buy the full harem, face plant! Watch the blood coming, and yays! 5 points for you! It's a total of 51 points, 50 by completing all the badges, and 1 for rating the game!

Short review of this game: I gave this game my self 5/5 stars, it is pretty hilarious, like "Don't Ship Your Pants". Yes, I said "ship". I don't want to swear. You know what game I mean. :)

Henry Hatsworth Sweepstakes

"I tip my hat to you, good sir."

To get this ticket you need to complete two tasks. These tasks are found in the games Fancy Pants Adventure: World 2, and 3D Logic. Both of these challenges are easy to complete.

Fancy Pants Adventure: World 2: In Fancy Pants Adventure you need to find the happy little bee trophy, which is found in the first level. If you hjave trouble finding it then click here for a trophy guide.

3D Logic : Completing the first ten levels is incredibly easy, but if you get stuck then use this guide to help you.

Five Lucky winners will receive Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, a sweet new puzzle adventure game for the Nintendo DS. All you DS owners should definitely get this one, it looks like a lot of fun!

Check with the Challenge Rules & Eligibility first.

Special thanks to:
ChromeGamer for his video guide.
Tasslefoot for his picture guide.

Portal Defenders

Portal Defenders is a game by BoMToons, a developer which has also brang us badged games such as Castle Crashing "The Beard".

Introduction
In this game you have to defend yourself from waves of Developers, Animators and other people which are famous on NewGrounds.

Initial characters
I prefer Dan Paladin because he is faster. He gave me the 30 combo badge. Tom Fulp is slower but more effective. He also has more life, I was more time alive with him than with Dan. They are both good, though.

Levels
Level 1, Kitty Krew Killa: You have to beat up 5 people dressed as cats.
Level 2, Ashkinscrip 3 point OK: Kill the developers of the game! They are crazy and want to eat you, prevent that!
Extra Level, P-Bot Zambo: Cleaning time! Move around with P-Bot and leave everything shiny.
Level 3, Anim8tor Anarchy: Your character wants you to destroy the animators of this game. Help him with it.
Extra Level, Treasure Decoder: Jump on the buttons and get Crown, Cr*p and Thumbs up to get them all together and get extra life.
Level 4, PlzDntBan: NewGrounds wants to have you banned. Kill them to avoid it.
Level 5, Final Boss: Beware of Wodolf, he has lazors and minions and a moustache!

NewGround's walkthrough
NewGround guides us to their game with a useful walkthrough. Including introduction, controls, the players, etc.

Helpful video
Here's a video guiding you throughout the game with Tom Fulp.


Special thanks to kongquake.

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→ Play Portal Defenders now! ←

Strategery on the Mastermind Ep. 3

The third installment is here!

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w80/tapersteve-halo/comic/Comic4.png