Happy Turkey Day!

Hey everybody, today is Thanksgiving and my special Birthday! I hope you all have an awesome day today, and feel free to share anything special with us here at KCG.

In case you guys didn't notice, greg brought Turkey Fling to the featured games table being that it's one of the few popular Thanksgiving game. This game has a really easy medium badgesfor those of you who never got it.

I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving!

~hokage4354

Review Subject -- Incredibots

As promised, I'm going to try and make up for the week I didn't get post anything. [I got the assignment done, feels good to have that off my back] And now I have a full-length review to make up for that skimpy one I posted last Friday.

Alright, did you like Fantastic Contraption? Thought it was good? Well, recently, a game very similar to Fantastic Contraption, Incredibots, was uploaded to Kongregate. Incredibots is basically an enhanced version of Fantastic Contraption, with so much more than Fantastic Contraption had. In this game, you can draw your own shapes (Circle, Rectangle, Triangle. You choose the size.) instead of just drawing lines and circles. Not to mention the joints, the sandbox modes, the challenges...The list just goes on!

First, the graphics. They aren't the best. As good as the game is, the graphics look like they were drawn in MSPaint. (Not that awesome things can be made there...) Still, the graphics aren't "bad". Just bland, is all. Graphics aren't everything, though, right?

Next, sound. There's no sound in the game. It's as simple as that. Don't let that discourage you from playing it, though. It's still an amazing game. I think the game is better off without music anyway, as it's more of a relaxed game, and not a fast paced one. Maybe some calming music would have been nice, but it's good the way it is.

The Difficulty. Very, very hard. You have the first eight levels that serve as a tutorial, then you have the nine different challenges, each with three difficulty levels. Each challenge requires you to think in a different way, and they take quite some time.

Originality is pretty good. I've only seen a handful of Flash Games like this, and actually, the only two I can name off the top of my head are Fantastic Contraption and Incredibots.

The controls near perfection. Entirely mouse. The only time you use anything other than the mouse is if you are typing in numbers to change the colors of your shapes, or to highlight multiple shapes. Mouse control = Good control.

My last point, the gameplay, is the game's strongest point. In addition to those challenges and eight basic levels I talked about earlier, you have the sandbox mode. This mode is your blank canvas, and there are infinite possibilities. You can make everything from Rube Goldberg machines, to home movies, to interactive games, or maybe just simple rolling machine, it's all up to you! That's not even half of it, though. In addition to making your own bots, you can load other people's bots, and beat levels they create, play minigames created, ride around as a really intricately designed bot, or pretty much anything else you can think of! Also, you can save and upload your replays of epic moments, such as a really high jump, or "A barrel roll" ;D

So basically, as a conclusion, this game's got endless possibilities, enough challenge to keep you busy for days, awesome physics, and great sharing capabilities. It's a really awesome game, and I fail to see why it's rating is as low as it is. (It should be in top 3 puzzle games. :/) So if you haven't played it already, give it a whirl!

PS: Sorry 'bout the horribly long review. X_X

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PLAY INCREDIBOTS HERE

Review: Shore Siege!

Shore Siege! can be found Here!

Audio:I love the cute music in this game. The background music was nice and the overall audio was good.
.8

Graphics:Good clean designs. The little pink enemy reminds me of doeos but enough of that. Cute characters + Cute Music = Win.
.9

Gameplay:This game is not long enough for anything higher then what I gave it. It's really fun and well made, but just not lengthy enough.
.7

Originality:A defense game with a nice twist. I thought it was pretty original, but there are others like it out there.
.8

Difficulty:This is probably the only thing bad about the game, it's way too easy. I managed to get all the badges plus the card in about fifteen minutes. This game is simply not difficult.
.4

Overall: 3.8 A great game.

Tips: Buy the artillery as soon as you have enough. Then buy repairs as you are able until you can leave the island. During the game don't let any enemies hit your ship, don't buy anything else, and you should escape in either 10 or 11 days.

Shore Siege! Walkthrough

This walkthrough will get you all three badges for Shore Siege!

The only things that you buy are:
Upgrade Nail
Upgrade Flame
Research Artillery

Make sure no one gets through to your ship you need all the money.

Day 1: Play normally killing all on the screen. Buy nothing
Day 2: Get used to the birds, they will come in handy. Research Artillery
Day 3: Play normal using birds when you can. Repair Ship
Day 4: Play normally. Upgrade Flame
Day 5: Play normally. Repair Ship
Day 6: Use birds on Behemoths when you can. Repair Ship, Upgrade Nail
Day 7: Use birds again. Repair twice
Day 8: Play normally. Repair Ship
Day 9: Play normally. Repair Ship
Day 1o: Play normally. Repair Ship twice
Day 11: Play normally. Repair Ship and you're done.

That is how it's done folks. I even did it witout upgrading the Nail. You can vary things up your way as well. There is quite a bit of lee-way here. Enjoy your 50 points and your Juju card. I did not get the card until my second game after killing about 10 people so just keep on playing for the card.


~hipcheck

Monster Mash Challenge

Monster Mash Challenge

Prove your mastery of all things monstrous for a chance to win a Nintendo DS and a copy of Monster Lab!

• Earn 3,000 points – This task must be done in the game "Mosters' Den: Book of Dread." Click the task link to play this game.
• Win 3 games in a row – This task must be done in the game "Monster Master." Click the task link to play this game. This task can be done with any deck strengths.
• Slay 1,000 total monsters – This task must be done in the game "GemCraft." Click the task link to play this game.

I haven't personally done this yet, but it's great to see that Kongregate's going to make these contests regular things. Also, it looks like Kongregate's bringing back multiple-game challenges, where you have to play more than 1 game to get a challenge. Yay!

Review: SeppuKuties

SeppuKuties can be found here

Audio: Well, not that much sound in the game, but there is some music. And it's good.
.4

Graphics: Nice colour, cute animals. The graphics are excellent.
1.0

Gameplay: Great gameplay, I like the levels, some levels can be easy.
Puzzle + cute animals = awesome
.8

Originality: It's some sort of original
.5

Difficulty: Too easy, the game needs more levels and it needs to be difficult.
.3

Overall: 3.0 I really like it, awesome game!

Tips: Don't kill yourself so many times and make a pile of bodies. Use your brain!

Phoebe

Almost forgot to do this :/.  Anyway, enjoy guys

Stats:
Physical Defense: 2
Light Defense: 4
Dark Defense: 2
HP: 70
Innate Ability: 25% chance to disable the enemy item on each attack

General Use:
Phoebe is a fairly annoying character to play against.  She can lower the opponent's accuracy by using Deafening Crack.  Hamstring makes it harder for the opponent to change ranges.  It's guaranteed to hit, so sometimes, if the enemy's HP is low enough, you might as well use Hamstring.  Rapid lashes can be one of the most energy-efficient moves in the game.  It's really effective now since there aren't many characters with light defense.  Power lash is a huge threat that many enemies just want to get out of.  It's really important to watch for her innate ability when playing against her, especially for certain character like the Ninjas where the scroll is essential to good gameplay. 

Phoebe should be brought in at far to take full advantage of her range-dancing capabilities and Power Lash's threat.  Use Rapid Lashes at far, and either use Hamstring or Deafening Crack at close.  Try to get in a lot of attacks so that it's more likely that her innate takes effect.


Here's a small chart showing how likely it is for Item Lash to take effect

1 attack | 75% chance of nothing disabled
2 attacks | 56% chance of nothing disabled
3 attacks | 42% chance of nothing disabled
4 attacks | 32% chance of nothing disabled
5 attacks | 24% chance of nothing disabled
6 attacks | 17% chance of nothing disabled

Suggested Items:

Herbal Remedy:  She has fairly low HP.  Using this will let her survive a bit longer.  She's also a decent range-dancer because of Hamstring.
Sharpening Stone:  Combined with Power Lash, the opponent has a ~47.5% chance of getting stunned or killed.
Stoneheel Totem:  Okay, I will admit, I've never tried this before.  In theory, this should really help drain the opponent's energy when used in tandem with Hamstring.

Notable Matchups:

vs Andromeda:  This is another fairly lopsided matchup.  Andromeda will almost never win this matchup.  The only range that Andromeda can play at is far, and Phoebe beats the hell out of Andromeda at far.

See Also:

http://kongregate.wikia.com/wiki/Phoebe

Friday Pick -- :the game:

Okay, firstly, I'd like to apologise for not posting this week; I've had a major assignment due, and I've gotta get it done this weekend. Combined with the fact I'm performing pretty much all day saturday and sunday, and you've got one busy weekend. Anyway, I don't really have the time to write an extensive review as I'm supposed to do for these friday picks, so I'll just do my standard format, (Also, I had a full review typed up, but I accidentally hit "back" and lost it all. Very frustrating.)

Okay, I didn't really know which game to pick this week up until today. No other games "stood out" to me. Sure, there were some good games, but no really fantastic ones. Until :the game: was uploaded under the real developer's account this morning. Review tiem!

Graphics: 9/10 -- Awesome. Simplistic, yet loveable.

Sound: 7/10 -- Pretty good, but some sounds get repetitive.

Gameplay: Na/10 -- It's not really a "game" persay, just a form of hilarious comedy that you can control. :P I can't really give it a gameplay score.

Controls: 8/10 -- Very good, they keep the spotlight put on the comedy on the game, and not furiously mashing buttons, hoping to do it in the right sequence.

Originality: 10/10 -- Never before have I come across a Flash Game that made me laugh out loud multiple times. The jokes are highly original, and just phenomenal.

Replayability: 5/10 -- Not really "replayable" but you can come back and replay some minigames, and maybe you'll get a joke you didn't get the first time around. ;D

Conclusion: I know this review probably isn't enough to "convince" you to play a game, but believe me, this game is HIGHLY worth a play. [reverse psychology] DON'T PLAY THIS GAME! [/reverse psychology]. Anyway, if you don't play this game during your life, you're insane.

Once again, I'm REALLY sorry about the quality and length of this review, but I'm stressing about this project a little (^_^') and I don't have much time, but I'll try my hardest to make up for it next week, when I have a bit of free time! XD

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PLAY :THE GAME: NOW! NO, SERIOUSLY, PLAY IT.

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Site Updates!

I have done a few updates to the site this evening. The first I would like to point out, is the small site description next to the "Latest Badge" section. This is just a small update so people visiting the site know what the site is about.

The second update is the job openings section. This will be updates weekly to let you guys know which job positions are open. There are currently two guide writing positions open, one interviewer, and one comic creator. If you're interested in any of these jobs, feel free to contact either me or hipcheck.
Lastly, I updated the first two KCG comics created by salsajoe. I fixed some of the graphics in the first one, and the spelling error in the second.

That's the only updates I have for now, good night everyone!

~Hokage4354

Kreds

There is now a new feature on Kongregate that is called kreds. You can use these kreds to buy cards, tip developers, or eventually get limited items and power ups for selected games.

You can use paypal or your credit card to obtain kreds. You can get 50 kreds for $5, 110 kreds for $10, or 225 kreds for $20. This is the what kong staff had to say about the release:

Have you ever had more love for a particular game than a simple 5/5 could express? Well now there's a more concrete way to say thank you: a tip jar for developers. At the same time Ron Paul's dream of competing U.S. currencies has finally come to fruition today with the launch of kreds, the official monetary system of Kongregate. Using now-obsolete United States dollars, Kongregate players can fund their accounts using a credit card or Paypal. Once your account is funded, you can use kreds to tip developers on the site using our shiny new tip jar system. Hey, if you're willing to fork over a few dollars to a waiter for carrying over your omelette, why not show some love for the talented developers who slave over a hot ActionScript stove to bring you some really great games for free? Once a tip has been made, your profile will be optionally updated to show your contribution and support. After credit card fees are factored in, 100% of the tip revenue will go straight to the developer, without any cut for Kongregate (it's okay, don't worry about us -- we have lots of ramen).

So if you feel the need to support a developer (like myself) then buy some kreds and show them some love.

~hipcheck

Review: Zilch

Zilch can be found Here!

Audio:This game lacks background music. Only some sound effects, which are still nice and clear.
.6

Graphics:Really clear graphics. Their nice but I couldn't really give a perfect score since there is better out there.
.9

Gameplay:I like this game a lot because it's a good mixture of strategy and luck. It got boring after a while, but it's still a good game.
.8

Originality:Very original "Poker Table" game.
.8

Difficulty:Is this game hard? Depend on what you consider hard. This game is probably 70% luck, and 30% choices you make. The hardest mode can be pretty annoying. Getting Zilch like 5 times in a row...
.9

Overall: 4.0 A totally awesome game!

Tips:Make your moves based on how much you need to win. If you are far ahead and only need a couple hundred more to win, take it slow by gaining 300-500 each round. Of course, if you can get more take that. On the other hand, if your far behind you might want to take some risks in trying to really up your score.

Zilch Achievements

Here are all the achievements in Zilch thanks to Cobshape for providing.

L-R, top to bottom.
Row 1:
Point Collector: 50,000 pts scored across all gamesPoint Hoarder: 100,000 pts scored across all gamesPoint Trader: 250,000 pts scored across all gamesPoint Master: 500,000 pts scored across all gamesPointless: 1,000,000 scored across all games
Low Roller: 250 dice rolledPaint Roller: 500 dice rolledHigh Roller: 2,000 dice rolledHard Shoulder: 5,000 dice rolledSteam Roller: 20,000 dice rolled
Zilcher: 20 Total Zilches over all gamesRegular Zilcher: 50 Total Zilches over all gamesCommon Spotted Zilcher: 100 Total Zilches over all gamesPincher Zilcher: 500 Total Zilches over all gamesKilo-Zilcher: 1,000 Total Zilches over all games
Zero Zilcher: 2 consecutive Zilch-free gamesNegative Zilcher: 3 consecutive Zilch-free gamesAnti Zilcher: 4 consecutive Zilch-free gamesAllergic to Zilching: 5 consecutive Zilch-free gamesWhat’s A Zilch: 6 consecutive Zilch-free games

Row 2:
Hero Zilcher: 1 Zilch-free winHiro Zilcher: 2 consecutive Zilch-free winsIron Zilcher: 3 consecutive Zilch-free winsSteel Zilcher: 4 consecutive Zilch-free winsI Accidentally The Whole Zilch: 5 consecutive Zilch-free wins
Good Score: Win a game with more than 11,000 ptsGreat Score: Win a game with more than 12,000 ptsStunning Score: Win a game with more than 13,000 ptsCrushing Score: Win a game with more than 14,000 ptsImpossible Score: Win a game with more than 15,000 pts
Alright Score: Taking 2,000 pts on one turnOk Score: Taking 3,000 pts on one turnGood Score: Taking 4,000 pts on one turnSweet Score: Taking 5,000 pts on one turnMa-hoo-hassive score!: Taking 6,000 pts on one turn
Run of Luck: 2 wins in a rowBetter Luck: 3 wins in a rowPlucky Luck: 5 wins in a rowBritish Spirit: 7 wins in a rowU R Teh Zilch!!!11one: 10 wins in a row

Row 3:
Run of bad luck: 2 losses in a rowVery Unlucky: 3 losses in a rowWhat a Loser: 5 losses in a rowMega loser: 7 losses in a rowMassive loser: 10 losses in a row
Got the hang of it: 3 wins in totalGetting Comfortable: 10 wins in totalZilch Adept: 25 wins in totalZilch-pro: 50 wins in totalLifetime Zilcher: 100 wins in total
Still Learning: 3 losses in totalAlmost Got It: 5 losses in totalStruggling: 10 losses in totalCan I Haz Fail?: 25 losses in totalEpic Fail!: 50 losses in total
Zilch Player: Finish at least 25 gamesZilch Playa: Finish at least 50 gamesPilchard Slayer: Finish at least 100 gamesZilch Fiend: Finish at least 200 gamesGold Plated Zilch Machine: Finish at least 500 games

Row 4:
Squasher: A winning margin of 2,000 pts or moreSqueezer: A winning margin of 3,500 pts or moreCrusher: A winning margin of 5,000 pts or moreDecimator: A winning margin of 6,500 pts or moreObliterator: A winning margin of 8,000 pts or more
Red Faced: Losing by 2,000 pts or moreEgg On Your Face: Losing by 3,500 pts or moreFull English On You [sic] face: Losing by 5,000 pts or moreFalling On Your Face: Losing by 6,500 pts or moreEh, Eh…Eh…(No Face): Losing by 8,000 pts or more
Coarse Finish: Won a game by just 200 ptsSmooth Finish: Won a game by just 100 ptsTight Finish: Won a game by just 50 pts
Dropping The Baton: Lost a game by only 200 ptsScraping The Barrel: Lost a game by only 100 ptsScraping Your Knuckles: Lost a game by only 50 pts
Frugal Roller: Win a game in 15 turns or lessThrifty Roller: Win a game in 13 turns or lessMiser Roller: Win a game in 10 turns or lessBah Humbug: Win a game in 9 turns or less

Row 5:
Wasteful Roller: Win a game in 18 turns or moreSplurge Roller: Win a game in 20 turns or moreRollin Like There’s No Tomorrow: Win a game in 25 turns or more Never Ending Games: Win a game in 30 turns or more
Clock Watcher: Any game lasting 18 turns or moreTime Waster: Any game lasting 20 turns or moreAeon Waster: Any game lasting 25 turns or moreTime Lord: Any game lasting 30 turns or more
Reckless Damage: 2 wins against a Reckless CPUReckless Endangerment: 5 wins against a Reckless CPUReckless History: 10 wins against a Reckless CPU
Overly Cautious: 2 wins against a Cautious CPUCautious Steps: 5 wins against a Cautious CPUTake Caution: 10 wins against a Cautious CPU
More Human: 2 wins against a Realist CPUToo Human: 5 wins against a Realist CPUInhuman: 10 wins against a Realist CPU
Your First Zilch: 3 Zilches in a rowUnlucky: 4 Zilches in a rowReally Unlucky: 5 Zilches in a row

Row 6:
Have You Looked At The Rules: 7 Zilches in a rowNooooooooooo…(Jazz hands): 10 Zilches in a row
Reckless Driving: 2 consecutive wins against a Reckless CPUReckless Endeavours: 5 consecutive wins against a Reckless CPUReck-ing Ball: 10 consecutive wins against a Reckless CPU
Cautiously Optimistic: 2 consecutive wins against a Cautious CPUCautious Steps: 5 consecutive wins against a Cautious CPUNo Longer Cautious: 10 consecutive wins against a Cautious CPU
Humanity: 2 consecutive wins against a Realist CPUOh The Humanity: 5 consecutive wins against a Realist CPUOh The Huge Manatee: 10 consecutive wins against a Realist CPU
Award Chaser: 20 awards gainedAward Maestro: 50 awards gainedAward Montego A Goat Please: All other awards gained now just 110 Awards Gained
Lawman: You read the rulesAmnesiac: You read the rules a lot!Accountant: You read the scoring guideInformant: You read the about pageSocialite: You looked at your awardsNarcissist: You looked at your awards a lot!

~hipcheck

Tuesday Card Challenge: Phoebe R2

This Tuesday brings with it Zilch. Its a fun dice game that's rather addictive. If you win 3 games, you'll be rewarded with the R2 version of Phoebe (most likely along with the easy and medium badges).

The game itself is rather like Yatzee but with 6 dice. You get points based on what you roll. Once you have 300 points, you'll be given the option to bank the points and end your turn...or you could keep rolling and try to get a better score. Be warned, however if you don't score any points on a roll you get a Zilch and your turn ends. 3 Zilches in a row and you lose 500 points. Since the game is random, I can only give you some tips on how to win some easy matches:

• Unless facing a third Zilch, keep going if your score is under 500. The risk is well worth the reward.
• Along the same lines of the above tip, keep in mind that you get a free roll if you use all your dice. This can lead to very high scoring turns, just kow when to bank.
• Always use the least dice possible to make the most points, this gives you more dice to rol and thus more chance to get more points.

Now, about Phoebe. She's a character that may take a few tries to get used to, but she has some of the most versitile attacks of any of the amazons, and most deninitleythe best innate ability. First, lets talk about Item Lash. With an innate 25% chance of disabling an opponent's item on attack, you can nullify annoying items almost reliably. Her attacks are nothing to scoff at either, all of them above speed 5 and most of them cheap. Her Power lash move is like other power moves of the amazons with a chance to throw the oppoent out of the battle (one of my more favorite happenings). Even though she's somewhat of a long range character, she has 2 great attacks that work up close. Deafening crack can save you some damage by making it harder for the opponent to hit you; Hamstring can cause your opponet's move cost to go up by 20 energy, this helps keep opponents right where you want them.

By the way, there's a Loot Ticket challenge going on. Play some Last Stand 2, and if you can collect 3 survivors, you'll grab yourself a chance to win an XBOX 360 and a copy of Left 4 Dead.
Lots to do this week, so get to it!

Left 4 Dead Sweepstakes

Left 4 Dead

There is now a Left 4 Dead sweepstakes on Kongregate. You need to find three survivors in The Last Stand 2 to enter for the prizes. 9 winners will receive a copy of Left 4 Dead for the 360 or PC. And 1 lucky grand prize winner will receive A brand new Xbox 360 and a copy of Left 4 Dead. So everyone hurry and play The Last Stand 2 and round up 3 survivors for your chance to win. You also get a ticket (pictured above) that displays on your kongregate profile. So go and get it before November 23rd.

~hipcheck

New writer: Juze

Hello, this is Juze. I am the new guide writer for KCG. I will try to write guides when I have some time. I usually hang at Feed the Ducks, but you can sometimes also see me at Helsinki (Note: The language is Finnish). Yes, I am from Finland. See you at Kongregate!

Onimaru

Sorry about the late post guys, it's been a really hectic week for me.  I'm posting these on fridays now instead of wednesdays because Greg has suddenly turned unpredictable with how he's releasing cards :/


Stats:
HP: 85
Physical Defense: 10
Light Defense: 0
Dark Defense: 0
Innate Ability: Enemy can't crit on Onimaru



(please ignore what the image to the right says on onimaru, because those stats are way out of date)



General Use:

Onimaru is a fairly strong character with some weak buffs.  He's somewhat vulnerable to range-dancers like Andromeda and Phoebe.  However, if he manages to work around his disadvantages, he can seriously kick ass.  Double slash deals out 26x2 damage for 40 or 35 energy, depending on if you're using a scroll or not.  Sword flurry is great against opponents with low physical defense or enemies that you used ancestral curse on.  Onimaru's buffs, like I said, are not that great, since they are one of the few buffs with a 90% chance of success and they're usually not worth their cost.  However, they do give Onimaru something to do if he's stuck at long range.


Suggested Items:

Scroll of Inner Focus:  Onimaru's worst enemies are characters that have way better energy efficiency.  The Scroll of Inner Focus really helps the situation and lets him move in close and do two double slashes.
Mindreader's Chalice:  26x2 damage with a chance to disable range-changing can do serious damage.  His moves are somewhat expensive as well, so enemies might want to switch out to drain Onimaru's energy.
Flash Powder:  Yes, Flash Powder.  It's pretty likely that Onimaru will get stuck fighting against some very bad matchups such as Cornelius or Andromeda, so Flash Powder will let him switch without taking any damage at all.

Notable Matchups:

vs Vanessa Voss:  Voss is one of the most popular characters out there today.  She's fragile, however, and her moves can't really hurt Onimaru that much.  You'd definitely still need to make sure there's no other character that can really hurt Onimaru before you send him in, however.
vs Cornelius:  This could possibly be one of the most lopsided matchups in all of Kongai.  When Cornelius uses Blood Burn once, Onimaru's Sword flurry does no damage, and must use Double Slash, which can be deflected by Hypnotic Stare.  Ancestral Curse doesn't work because of Cornelius's innate ability, and using Ancestral Spirit doesn't help much because Voidstream reduces dark defense by 2 every time it hits.


See Also:
http://kongregate.wikia.com/wiki/Onimaru

Friday Pick! -- Mytheria

Alright, I've decided to start a new weekly article, which, basically is a review of my favorite game that has been uploaded in the past seven days. I'll post this every Friday, or Saturday if I'm unable to get on the internet on Friday. Alright, boring intro stuff over, Review time!

The game I picked as my favorite game uploaded this week was Mytheria. I absolutely loved it. Most Flash card games are total garbage, but Mytheria is an exception.

I (used to) believe card games should stay in real life, and should never, ever, EVER, under any circumstances be made into a video game. I used to think every card game made into a video game was horrible. Especially in flash form. But then I found Mytheria.

As soon as I played the tutorial, I was in love with the simplistic, yet very strategic gameplay style.

In short, here's how to play the game: Each card takes "energy" to play. There are creatures, which can attack, and items, which can do various things to your creatures or yourself. The catch lies within the "energy" concept. First of all, you don't have a set amount of energy, Oh no. You have five different types. Each turn you have the option to increase the maximum amount of any of those energies, or draw a card. At the beginning of each turn, all of your energy comes back, so you an use as much as you want every turn. And if you choose to attack, your monster cannot defend you from enemy attacks, while if you choose to make your monster bide his time, he will absorb the damage normally subtracted from your health points when your enemy attacks. A very strategic game indeed.

There are several missions within the game, and they all grow in difficulty slowly, letting you get used to the game flow before the missions get the slightest bit hard. The tutorial is exceptionally clear in teaching you how to play the game, and then you learn from playing the game during the following missions. This game also has "challenges" and a Deck Editor, so it offers plenty of fun!

The graphics in this game are pretty good, but you can only make a card game's graphics so good. The gameplay is really where this game shines. It's just fantastic. Very innovative, and I've never seen anything similar done in a Flash Game before.

At the end of every mission, even if you are intending to quit, you'll always just say to yourself "Just do the next one, it'll only take a minute...", and you'll end up spending another two hours playing it. Very addictive indeed.

If you haven't already, go ahead and play Mytheria, seeing as it's a great game, not to mention Greg has stated he's giving it badges today. Have fun!

Until next week's "Friday Pick"
~PlatinumIce

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PLAY MYTHERIA HERE!

Two more new domains!

KCG can now be accessed under the domains kongregatecollectiveguides.tk and kongcg.tk. When I was making alternative domains previously, I forgot about these two obviously good domain choices. I hope you guys like them and use them frequently. ;D

~hokage4354

Im sorry guys, but...

Again, I'm very sorry about this, but i think i'll have to resign from KCG, at least for a while at least. I've been very busy with school, sports, and the whole sh'bang... As you may have noticed, ive only been able to get 2 interviews so far, and i dont really have the time to get them done. I'm sorry for all of the people who I may be letting down, but I will most likely be back someday soon.

Again, sorry.

--Fishy

99 Problems Badge

The link below is to a forum post in which many have posted their towers. Tasselfoot and Mr. Rubix have also posted videos on the second page. These will really help you in getting this badge.
http://www.kongregate.com/forums/1/topics/26525?page=2

~hipcheck

Kongregate Wiki

Hey guys,

So I'm the guy who maintains the wiki at http://kongregate.wikia.com.  Until recently, it's mostly only a Kongai reference, but now I want to expand it into having at least one article on every game.  I'd like help doing this, so if you want to spend some time helping me write articles for every single game, go here and pick a game to do: http://kongregate.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Games

Tuesday Card Challenge: Onimaru R2

Welcome once again to another edition of Tuesday Card Challenge. This week, the game is 99 Bricks, a fun throwback to the good old Tetris days but with some interesting physics twists. Build yourself a tower with a height of 350 and you'll snatch up the R2 version of Onimaru.

The game itself has a fairly simple concept: you get 99 tetris-like bricks to build the highest tower possible. The twist comes when you realize that the physics in your virtual construction site are done pretty well. To get the card, the height you're looking for is 350. The best way to do this is slow and steady, making sure you have a well formed tower the whole way. I suggest starting out pretty wide at the bottom and slowly tapering up as you go to keep the structure from being top heavy. Don't worry, the bricks won't disappear when you get a whole row. By the way, you'll get an easy badge at a height of 250, a nice little "two-for-one" action.

Once you get Onimaru, he can be put to good use. First off, his innate ability (cannot be hit by criticals) may not seem so useful at first, but go up against Popo or Andromeda with Sharpening stone, and you'll see how nice it can be to not have to worry about crits. He's only got 2 real attacks: Sword Flurry is very fast (speed 8) and has a chance to knock a buff off the enemy, not to mention it does decent damage (5x7); Double slash is slower, does more damage, and has a proc of keeping your opponent from changing ranges the next turn, usually forcing them into a "fight or flight" situation which can get very ugly if you're a good mind reader. Oni's other 2 skills are a buff and a debuff. For just 10 energy, Ancestral spirit will boost all your resistances by 2-4 for for turns. Alternatively, for the same energy cost, you can use Ancestral Curse, which will lower your opponent's physical resistance and allow you to do more damage.

I hope you enjoyed our little get together. Now get out there and use Onimaru to stomp some newbs until next week!

Review: 99 Bricks

99 Bricks can be found Here!

Audio:Awesome song playing in the background!
.8

Graphics:Really clear graphics, the developer outdid himself.
.9

Gameplay:I lowered this rating since there's unnecessary swaying. Even with a perfectly balanced tower it will sway like crazy and fall.
.8

Originality:The big down rate on this is the fact that the whole concept and design is too similar to the well known game "Tetris".
.5

Difficulty:This game is really hard. I find it hard to pass 550 points. If you can get on the leader boards, I respect you.
1.0

Overall: 4.0 A totally awesome game!

Tips:The only major tip I have is that when the tower starts swaying a lot, rapidly stack pieces on top to get a few extra feet.

Review: Hanna in a Choppa

Hanna in a Choppa can be found Here!

Audio:Some of the sound effects are cute, the music is nice and bouncy, and all the audio fits the game well.
.8

Graphics:Another game with simple 2 colored graphics, but the game seems suited for them anyway.
.8

Gameplay:"Quick Hanna, get to the CHOPPA!". That's probably what I would say best describes the gameplay. No, seriously though, this game is pretty entertaining.
.8

Originality:Another excellent original game. There's nothing wrong with Hannas in a Choppa!
1.0

Difficulty:I managed to get all the badges in under 2 hours, but that doesn't change the fact that Hanna in a Choppa can be difficult.
.7


Overall: 4.0 A totally awesome game!

Tips:Figure out how to beat each leave first. Then redo the lever as fact as possible. Then finally redo each level getting a perfect. Eventually you should get every achievement.

Review: Storm the House 3

Storm the House 3 can be found Here!

Audio:Audio is clear, balanced, and adds excitement to the attacks.
.8

Graphics:There's no doubt about it, this games graphics are excellent and greatly appreciated.
.9

Gameplay:This game is one of those games that you can come back in a month and play it and still like it. You can never get tired of the variety of game modes.
.9

Originality:There's many other games out there like this. An example would be "The Last Stand". This game is still original in it's own way though.
.7

Difficulty:There's some game modes that can be a challenge, but the only real challenge is completing the campaign mode for the hard badge.
.8


Overall: 4.1 A totally awesome game!

Tips:I really don't have any tips since the gameplay varies so much, but a guide for this game was posted before, so that should be good.

Review: SHIFT 3

SHIFT 3 can be found Here!

Audio:Nice music, definitely the SHIFT mood music although it wasn't that clear.
.7

Graphics:The graphics in SHIFT are simple, but anything that's not black or white still looks good.
.8

Gameplay:I have always been a fan of the SHIFT series, and SHIFT 3 still has it's great gameplay as always. Only now there's a twist, and it just so happens that that twist has some funky hair.
1.0

Originality:SHIFT 3 is still one of a kind.
1.0

Difficulty:This is a fairly easy game if you love puzzle type games like I do. You can earn all of the achievements for SHIFT 3 in under an hour.
.7

Overall: 4.2 A totally awesome game!

Tips:Think about where you are, and where you have to get for each level. It shouldn't take too long before you figure out what to do.

Review -- Shore Siege!

While looking through the thousands of games to review, I looked on Kongregate's homepage, and one of my favorites, Shore Siege, had been uploaded. I just had to review this one. Well, let's skip the rest of the introductory stuff and get straight to the review, shall we?

Graphics: (10/10) - I honestly could not ask for more out of the developer in terms of graphics. The game features simplistic graphics, with a pixel-y background. The enemies and foreground are also simple, yet fantastic; The graphics in this game are just perfection.

Gameplay: (9/10) - I love the great gameplay present in this game, I couldn't ask for much more. All you have to do is pick up the tool used to kill the enemy (You are responsible for remembering which tool kills which enemy) and then click the enemy you are killing. Then, head to the upgrade shop. Sweet, sweet upgrades. Sometimes, simplicity is the best thing.

Controls: (10/10) - Anything that only uses the mouse is a bonus for me, as I love being able to play a game easily, without having to sit in front of the computer, careful to watch which button I press and when. As stated above: Simplicity is great.

Sound: (8/10) - Not the best sound I've heard in a Flash Game, but pretty good nontheless. During the day (When the action takes place) there's some relaxing and more calm music, while in the upgrade shop, there's some more dramatic music present.

Originality: (7/10) - Definately not the first "Use correct item on enemy to kill it" game, but I do like the creativity presented with the ability to hire snipers, upgrade your weapons, and gradually heal your ship to win the game, or just never heal it and let it go on forever.

Difficulty: (6/10) - At the beginning of the game, it's rediculously easy. Too easy. As you get farther in the game, and more enemies are introduced, it gradually gets harder, until you find yourself frantically clicking, releasing, and scrambling to find the next weapon needed. (Especially if you don't upgrade your weapons ASAP :P)

Replayability: (4/10) - By no means is this game replayable. It's very fun the first time around, but when you come to play it again, it just seems a bit dull.

Overall Score: (54/70) -->(Approx. 77/100)
FINAL SCORE (not an average): 5/5

NOTES: Even though the difficulty and replayability drug this games rating out of 100 down, I still gave it a 5/5, because it's just really fun to play. If you haven't already, PLAY. IT. NOW.

======================================

PLAY SHORE SIEGE NOW!

Weekend Picks

Here's my Weekend Picks.


Frantic
Because SHMUPs are awesome.  Great for burning an hour or two if you're bored.


The Irregular Game of Life
This game is a set of puzzles based on the game of Life.  And no, the answer to each of the puzzles isn't 42.

Modern Tactics 3
Definitely one of the most underrated games on Kongregate.  It's a turn-based strategy game, where every turn you make your units move and attack.  The learning curve isn't bad at all, but the game can be challenging.

Zilch Guide to Probability

Play Zilch Here

Zilch is a game based on skill and luck (which means for a lot of users, luck). I'm not gonna bother with a game description, but here's a small probability guide that might help you out.

Chance of not getting a 1 or a 5 every roll:

# die avaliable | % chance
6 | 11%

5 | 16%

4 | 26%

3 | 33%

2 | 48%

1 | 67%

I gathered some data (5 games) on the opponent on "cautious" and here's the results:

Rolls for under 500 points: 62%

Rolls for under 400 points: 41%

Rolls for 300 or under: 33%

Rolls for a zilch: 24%
Average gain per turn: 480.59

I didn't really need to make complicated rules for myself to beat the cautious opponent. Basically, I just don't roll when I have over 300 points and I have 3 or less die avaliable. If I get a winning set like a pair of die and a 5, I don't roll again. In a nutshell, avoid zilches at all costs.


BTW, for those who are wondering where the card guide is, I didn't write one because Greg didn't feel like putting a character as one of the challenges.

Hanna in a Choppa

Here are the achievements.

But I think the easiest 5 are:
Hoverchamp
Dev-Friend
Presser of Buttons
Services to Summer
Tower Buddy



For Hoverchamp just hover in level 1 for 20 seconds
For Dev-Friend just click the "Tell The Author" button and send him a note
For Presser of Buttons click the above button and press that button until you get it
For Services of Summer just squash all the bees in level 7 with the weight
For Tower Buddy just fly straight through the tower without it falling


This will get you the card General's Insignia


~hipcheck

Interview with Ivory!

Here's the interview with Ivory (Storm the House I, II, III)!


Where did I learn actionscript? I was taught a bit about flash back in 2003 I think, sophomore year in high school and I absolutely hated it. It was because of the teacher I had at the time though. You just have to have the right teacher otherwise learning stuff like that becomes hell. Once I got out of school for summer vacation, I started teaching myself, with the help of google and some friends. So I've just been dinking around with it since then, picking up new tricks and things.

I got the inspiration for storm the house from an old game called defend the castle. I admit to ripping off the idea in the about section of storm the house 2. It initially started off as a project to just see if I knew enough about actionscript to make a game, so I decided to do a defense game like that. Somehow it took off, so how after a few years I've made a third one. Hopefully I'd like to keep storm the house going for a while, just because so many people seem to get into it.

I've been working on it with help from a friend (wildtwilight.com) who did most of the animation. That took a huge load off, especially since he took so much time to rotoscope them all by hand. Though up until number 3 I've been making them alone.
The game actually took far longer to make than I'd thought, maybe 3 or 4 months. Just because I've got more grown up stuff to do now unlike the good old days when I could sit in my parents basement in the dark and stay up till sunrise coding.

I've been addicted to Sonny lately. I'm a gunslinger :-) N was one of the most brilliant games I've ever played. I played N to death. Tower defense games are more addictive than crack. No guarantees, but I'd like to make a tower defense game of my own soon ;-) flOw was very pretty... lots of fun games out there.

I love the community on kongregate. The fact that there's a chat room there on the side makes it so funny to sit and play games while you talk to other people who are bored and playing flash games too. I've been in on lots of funny conversations there. Plus it's always cool to talk to someone who's played one of my games. The guy who made ether war (kajenx) and I have been getting together in the chat room dystopia every monday and we've been trying to get other developers to join in. Who knows, maybe it will turn into an event. I like Kong. The sens of community does wonder's for a developer's ego.
Good questions.

Thanks Ivory!

NOTE: The questions are pretty much the same as I asked MrJinx, if you want to know exactly what i asked.

Guide Request

Hey everyone. I have some spare time on Friday and want to make some guides for the readers. Please request something feasible. Not a badge just based on luck or an impossible badge. You can request any guide anytime by leaving me a shout or emailing me. But since I will have some time please put a request in the comments.

~hipcheck

Poll Results!

hipcheck	12 (11%)
hokage4354	32 (31%)
re4beast	2 (1%)
kryn	1 (0%)
EsIeX3	21 (20%)
SalsaJoe13	4 (3%)
Yeknomssa	19 (18%)
Iceburg116	1 (0%)
BlargElite	1 (0%)
TheNiceDuck	10 (9%)

Votes so far: 103

Game Guides	72 (60%)
Game Reviews	30 (25%)
Weekly Card Strategies	43 (35%)
Video Walkthroughs	44 (36%)
Comics	26 (21%)
Organization	23 (19%)
Writers	19 (15%)
Admins	33 (27%)
Other (Specify)	7 (5%)

Votes so far: 120

Okay, so according to our results, hokage4354 (me), EsIeX3, and Yeknomssa are your favorite writers and KCG needs guides, video walkthroughs, and weekly card strategies the most. Interesting... the KCG team will keep this poll in mind in the future. Thanks to the 120 people who voted in the polls and the 32 people who voted for me. xD

I'll be posting some reviews soon enough. ; D

~hokage4354

Ohh and BTW, there's a new poll up for you guys. ; D

October Contest Winners

October is finally over, and we have the winners for the October monthly contest!

1st. Bloons Tower Defense 3
2nd. SHIFT 3
3rd. Gateway II
4th. Warfare: 1917
5th. Splitter
6th. Storm the House 3
7th. Straw Hat Samurai
8th. Gateway I
9th. Karoshi: Suicide Salaryman

Congratulations to all the winners!

Tuesday Card Challenge: Necronomic Tomes R2

Ah yes, it is time again for our weekly get together. This week, the challenge is for Storm the House 3. Your reward for surviving 5 days in Normal Campaign mode is the R2 version of Necronomic Tomes.

This card is excellent at keeping a Vampire alive while putting your opponent at a disadvantage. I really love to use it on Ambrosia Thorn because it has the chance to proc on almost all of her attacks. It turns her into a real tank.

Now, on to the game. Surviving 5 days in Normal Campaign mode is not hard at all. Infact, I did it without buying a new gun (on my first ever try at playing the game). The big trick is to buy a couple gunners, a repair man or two, and upgrade your gun. It also helps to be a good shot heh. For most of you regular readers, this card should be easier than easy and won't take you more than 10 minutes. As for the rest of the game, it looks like hipcheck is working on a guide, so I won't step on his toes.

Tune in next week for another card, same Kong time, same Kong channel.

-Yeknomssa

Storm the House 3 Guide

Click here to play Storm the House 3

For the Hell Dining Badge I just used 1 full missile tower and 1 partially full one, then get a shotgun and upgraded reload and 4 carpenters.

This is provided by Miganiya
Good tactics, I used similar. Actually, you don't need carpenters, tho. If you upgrade damage and reload on your shotgun high enough to back off those who pass through the rain of missiles, none will reach the fence. Then just use the rest on missile number on the second turret.

Sparta Mode:

1. Purchase fan, place in middle, fully upgrade all stats for fan
2. Place 2 flamethrower Joes around the fan and fully upgrade them
3. Purchase as many gunman as possible
4. Watch as all 300 Spartans are killed without you having to do anything.

Splitter Review

Play Splitter

Review:

Splitter is another physics based puzzle game. The objective is to get a smiley face ball thing over to some sort of hole thing. There's also one or two stars you can get with each level, which gives you something to aim for. In order to move the smiley, you cut the stage so that the smiley moves in the direction you want it to move.

Like the image above says, only wood and rope are cuttable, but stone and bricks aren't.

The game isn't hard to learn at all. The only control you have is through your mouse, and it takes about a minute to figure out how the game works. The game doesn't shove lots of problems down your mouth with each level; each level is short and sweet. You can pass by 2 levels if you find them too hard (I admittedly did that for one of the levels). Some of the problems, especially the later ones, force you to ignore conventional wisdom and try out some really wacky tricks

The game doesn't have amazing graphics. I mean look, there's only, what, 6 textures the entire game? Other than that, the physics are almost completely accurate except with the lack of friction. In some levels, especially the last, if you nudge the smiley-face thing it will continuously roll. I don't know if that's a bug, but it's probably the only flaw in the physics.

Overall, the game is pretty fun. The graphics are simple and not distracting, so the player can focus his/her attention on the game. The learning curve is pretty soft for the player, and the game gets gradually more difficult at just the right pace.

Rating:

Gameplay: 8/10 - Great physics puzzles. Requires you to think outside the box to solve some puzzles.
Graphics: 7/10 - Simple but accurate graphics.
Replayability: 5/10 - Sure, you can go back for those stars, but there's not much else you can do after that.
Overall (not an average): 7/10 - Worth a look

Walkthrough:

One of the great features about Splitter is that when you finish a level, it saves your actions, which made it much easier to make walkthroughs.

Levels 5-13: Working on them right now. I didn't realize this feature was in until level 14, sorry guys :/

Level 14:
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040230080893

Level 15:
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040232250984

Level 16 (no star):
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040234380403

Level 17:
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040235510460

Level 18 (just missed the star):
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040240490896

Level 19 (takes a lot of tries):
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040243500633

Level 20:
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040248310513

Level 21:
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11052039450650

Level 22:
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040255010268

Level 23:
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040256110471

Level 24:
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040257200112

Level 25:
http://www.king.com/games/splitter/viewer.jsp?w=11040259030149

Review -- Feudalism II

The Character Select Screen

The long awaited sequel to the hit game Feudalism by Vitaly finally arrived on Kongregate recently. It received a huge response, and it's ratings are currently set as the third best RPG and strategy game on Kongregate, so when you are waiting for the game to load up, I'm sure your expectations are set pretty high. Let's see if Feudalism II meets those expectations.

Graphics: 8/10 - The graphics aren't exactly "top notch" but they are exceptionally good, and are a lot better than most Flash Games.
Audio: 2/10 - There is no music in the game (That I can hear), but only the noise of arrows flying, swords clashing, and other battle noises. Still, the battle noises are pretty real sounding.
Controls: 7/10 - I quite like the controls, and they are very simple: WASD to move, space to attack, shift to switch weapons, and mouse for everything else.
Gameplay: 9/10 - I really love the style of gameplay in this, and although some people say that the battle system sucks, I say otherwise. The potions are cheap for a reason, they are the sole thing to balance out the battle. Other than the battle system, the game consists of asking for randomly generated quests, and capturing towns by battling them.
Originality: 6/10 - The game's not really "original" but it's so well executed that it stands out from the crowd. The whole style of the game is to move about, and attack the enemies, but that's not the good part, it's the "capture the towns, recruit people, buy horses, etc." things that make it original for a Flash Game.
Difficulty: 6/10 - It's a pretty hard game when you battle the towns to capture them, and when sailing, don't get me wrong, but it's also really easy once you get a sense of how to navigate the battle field, and what to do once all your troops are dead. (That being use potions a lot.)
Replayability: 7/10 - Now, I haven't beaten the game completely, so this is all based on what I THINK the replayability value of the game would be. I love the style of the game, and I think it would be fun to come back and play a little bit in your free time after you've beaten the game, but not come back and beat the game entirely again.

Overall Score: 45/70 --> 9/14 --> 4/5

COMMENTS -- This game is really worth a play, and if you haven't played the first one, go and play it, because it's just as good. The only real bad point of this game is the audio, and the difficulty is somewhat of a letdown, but everything else is pretty good. This deserves a score of above average, a 4/5.

NOTES - I've presented plenty of "hints" to the game throughout the review, but if you take away one tip from this, let it be this one: Always have potions handy. And I mean in the triple digits. Especially when sailing, as I've found that's when most enemies appear, and your troops will die after a few battles, but your person could easily take out seven or eight pirate crews if you have a good amount of potions.

~ PlatinumIce

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CLICK TO PLAY FEUDALISM II

New Writer: PlatinumIce

Hai Guys. I'm the newest writer for KCG, and I suppose if I had one area of writing I specialized in, it would be reviews.

For the personal introduction: I'm a guy, and I live in North Carolina. I spend 80% of my free time on the computer (Kongregate, most of the time.) I also love video games (Is Nintendo/Microsoft fanboy), and as a random fact, I think cats are way better than dogs.

Also, as something that should have become apparent by now, I'm a nerd, and I'm proud of it.

Okay, I guess that is a satisfactory introduction, and I'll write my first review for the blog in just a bit.

Thanks for having me aboard!
(Also, first post in November, w00t!)
~PlatinumIce