Who said that only the games that are multiplayer or those downloaded into your computer are the best. I discovered in the last few days some games on Yahoo Games that can be played for free, thus you don’t need to pay a fee to play a multiplayer game, nor to occupy your hard drive with a game that you would probably finish in about few hours. I am talkning about games that are very interesting and teach you something. So instead of killing enemies, like you might do in a multiplayer game, you could learn some useful things by playing “Around the world in 80 days”, the free game available on Yahoo Games, that transports you back into the XIX century.
The adventures will be just like in the book, on air, on sea and on land, presenting spectacular images. If you haven’t read the Jules Verne book, I tell you that the main characters in the game are Phileas Fogg and Passepartout, a French servant. October 2, 1872, London, this is the date and location of your first adventure. This is the day when Fogg hires a new servant, on his name Jean Passepartout.
Jean lives in London for five years now and he speaks English rather well, but he still shows his origin. He was born in Paris. After a short period, Jean says that Fogg is the master that he always dreamed of. Fogg announces Jean that they will leave on a trip around the world in 80 days and Jean is a bit skeptical about the leave.
The first level is not like I expected. You have to solve a puzzle, in order to find two pieces of a book. You need to group three or more pieces or gems, I don’t know how these rocks can be named in order to reach the pieces of book. If you do not see them, the game will point your direction towards them. The first level of the game ends with a statistics page, that has at the bottom the Continue button, on which we will press and also another button. Can you think of what button is about? It is the Download button. So, this game too has a downloadable version. And I just said that you don’t have to play a downloaded game to play a good game. Anyway, because the game can be played also in the browser, I give the game a white ball. The other white ball goes for the nice and friendly interface, another one for the story, the fourth for the dialogues between the characters and I will think of more, because certainly the game is worth your time.
The book is actual Fogg’s diary where he says that he hired a new servant and he is French. He mentions also about his plans of leaving on a trip around the world along with his new servant. The second level of the game requires the user to match three or more gems, just like in the first level. The difference here is that the level is a bit more complicated and you will discover three pieces of something, not two. That something is represented by the three parts of a bag. Most likely the bag that Fogg will take with him in his trip around the world.
Again, Fogg writes in his journal and he is very proud of his new adventure, telling that maybe in years he will read his children from this notebook he writes now. You have the finish the levels in a certain period in time, I have never crossed the line, but I guess that the game stops if you don’t match the gems in order to obtain the pieces that you need in time.
The third object that you get by completing the thrid level is a compas. So, until now you have a book, a bag and now a compass. Let’s see what’s more.
Mr Stuart, chairman of the Reform Club has argued with Fogg about the impossibility of traveling around the whole world in 80 days. He became so nervous, that he bet on his position of chairman of the Reform Club that Fogg will never manage to accomplish this mission. These words are described in the Fogg’s journal. The day four of the game is still in England. Fogg did not leave yet, because he needs some extra objects, that he doesn’t possess now. Like a globe, which is gained after you perfom the fourth level. Let’s see what Fogg writes in his journal after the fourth day spent in England.
He talks about the upcoming leave. But he still needs three more items. The first item that he needs is the pocket watch. The boards where the player must match three or more pieces are becoming larger and larger. So, the player will lose more time when performing this activity. Still, you don’t have to worry. I played the game and I even left it to go in my other room, while it was running. The clock was running, not only the game itself and I still managed to match all the gems there. But here’s a trick. If you match more than three pieces, which is four or five, because six you cannot match, because at three they explode, you will receive some extra points that will make a hammer, which is at the left corner of the screen to become more powerful. In other words, you will be able to use the hammer to get rid of some pieces on the table that bother you when you want to reach the pieces of the item that Fogg needs, for examples, pieces of a book, pieces of a bag, of a pocket watch and so on.
After a few combos, as they are named, you wil be able to use the hammer, to get rid of one single gem. So, if you have a gem that bothers you on the table, simply smash it with the hammer. If you use the hammer now, you will have to wait for the hammer to be upgraded once again to be able to use it in another way, that is to wait to use it to smash all the gems that have the same color. This is the best option to use the hammer, because there are a lot of gems having the same color on the board. Try to smash the gem that is has many “sisters” on the board. The third upgrade of the hammer simply transforms it into a bomb. If you place the bomb in the middle of the board, it is supposed to hit as many gems, but when I did that, I had the impression that the second upgrade of the hammer was in fact better than the first one. It depends on how big you have the board and on the shape of the board.
To discover what other items Fogg needs to go on that trip of his, I invite you to enter the site and play the game by yourselves. Good luck! If you like the game, you can download it and play it whenever you want, not being conditioned by the Internet connection.
