Want to share Arcade game tips..?

#1

MemphisVol

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#1
There are a few games where I just don't get it. The secret of scoring high eludes me. "Collapse", a pattern-recognition game I expected to be good at but seriously ain't, is one.

Since the directions and "help" that come with the games are generally simplistic to the point of sadism, I have no problem sharing what I figured out about the games I've taken High Score at where skill matters more than luck and there's no upper limit on points.

IOW, I'll share tips on "Sniper" and "Crashdown" if at least one of the other decent-game Kings will promise to "show me theirs"....

Right now I've got an absurd lead in both the above games, but I think it's pretty obvious that that's just because I sussed out things about the game-rules nobody else did, not because the gods are insidious bastards who decided to give me a uniquely absurd genious that only worked with certain Java games.

As a teaser: With Sniper, it's all about black masks and who's on first; With Crashdown, it's about the first 4 levels, and how long you can wait before you have to start eliminating options with each.

 
#2
#2
I am no good at any of them, so I can't be much help. :(
 
#3
#3
Man, if someone could explain Hexxagon to me, I would be in their debt forever. I had one good game, basically replicating the computer's moves and since then haven't been able to come close. What's up w/ Minigolf - if I understand correctly, to get the 118, you can't take a stroke?!

I love Tower Blaster but it seems to really come down to the 'hand you're dealt' in terms of how well you do but a couple of these games really do have scores I just can't touch and it's driving me crazy!! Can we get some Madden on here so I'll feel a little better?????

I only have a couple of high scores (if that anymore, I haven't played in a while) and one is by default - I was the first person to reach the maximum score, thus my name is listed as the leader although others have since matched my score. I don't know how much advice I have to give but would be happy to share!
 
#4
#4
Oh, baseball. WTF???? I either can't hit the ball at all, or hit the pitcher everytime. I'm embarassed to admit it, but my best score is a pathetic little itty bitty 4.....
 
#6
#6
Gatorhator...Madden would be nice. I really would have no life then.
 
#8
#8
On baseball, I hope this makes you feel as dumb as it did me when I finally figured out the secret: Your mouse pointer has to be just below center of the ball when it's at the strike point...

Not that I've still come anywhere near a top score, but I can't tell you how many games I just clicked/ swung away without hitting more than an accidental foul or bean ball and never clued into the fact that you have to follow the progress of the ball with your mouse (unlike other batting games where it's only about position and timing).

Unfortunately, once I figured that out, I then counted the number of pitches per game and discovered it's 50... meaning it's not only a finite-possibility game, but that the current high-score of 47 is pretty damned obscene.

What's more, I'm kind've offended by the fact that you don't get any points whatsoever for hitting the pitcher. What is this, batting practice (with your own guy on the mound) or an actual hitters' challenge?! (grumble).

Still... since this one involves not just position & timing but a 3rd element as well, and because there's some insidious equivalent of a pheremone about a challenge you can't quite get, I'll keep beating my head against it until I can at least get over 30. Sure, it's frustrating, but you only have to spend a minute and a half at a time to get that way.


TowerBlaster is partly about gambling and the cards you're dealt (and looking at both 'hands' before you start), but mainly it's about noticing that you get alot more points for making it through to the next round than you do in any one. You can afford to screw around and discard & skip a turn a few times in the 1st two rounds, but after that you just can't get enough points for a high-numbered tower-top or consecutive numbers to make it worth your while to risk losing the level over. Basically, the name of this game is resisting the insidious temptation of small immediate gains in the name of less-exciting but bigger long-term gains.


Hexagon I still haven't quite gotten right, but if you've ever played "Go" (the original ancient chess-esque Asian game) you've got an advantage. The basic concept is the same as all the Oriental martial arts: "You are never so vulnerable as when you are attacking". The key, though I still haven't grokked it in practical terms as well as our top scorers, is to be aware of not only how your attacks might open up your pieces for retaliation in the next move, but how your attacks might limit both your defenses and attacks in turns to come.

This idea is so basic to the game that even though this is a relatively simple program, AI-wise, you'll notice that the "computer player" just about never moves any of its pieces EXCEPT in direct respose to your moves, even at the very beginning.- I've played experimental games where the AI didn't move any of 3 out of 4 of its "original position" pieces until I did something which tempted them.

What you've got to do, is figure out how to make feint attacks that tempt the AI into giving up the stronger (in this game's terms) defensive position for an unwise counter-attack that reverses the roles, allowing you to be the strong-defender responding to the AI's efforts.

It's sort've like the opposite of chess, where the opening advantage is to the attacking White, but, if you play Black well, you can sacrifice in such a way that your losses ultimately put White on the defensive.







 

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