Official Snow Games Guide by space_monkey_3000 |  |
It's the month of Celebrating, and Neopia is full of fun things to do: Advent
Calendar, Snow Quests, and loads of games! This being my first winter in Neopia,
I asked my Neofriends if there were any special traditions for this month. The
unanimous answer was Snow Games! With their help, I've put together a guide
to help you prepare! Some of the most popular snow games include: Battledome
Snowball/Ice Weapons Fights, Alpine Challenge, Grundo Snow Throw, Ice Cream
Factory, Snow Wars, Cliffhanger, and Ice Caves! I wish I could go through all
of these games, but I will just give you hints on some of my favourites (and
the ones I'm best at!).
Snow Wars
Although very similar to a well-known game involving battleships, in this game
you blindly catapult snowballs over a wall and try to hit all of your enemy's
eight targets before they do the same to you. Your enemies grow more advanced
with each of the 10 levels, but the targets stay the same. There are 48 squares
on the map, which sounds like a lot, but some targets take up several squares.
Targets include: catapult (three squares), snow cannon (two squares), two snowball
piles (one square each), two small snowmen (one square each), one large snowman
(four targets) and two snowball piles (one square each). Black spots and icy
puddles are not targets. Look at your own map to see the shape of the targets.
If you've hit a corner of one of the larger targets, it will be easy to see
where the rest of the target is. Instead of uncovering the whole thing, keep
going and find the one-square targets as quickly as possible. The one-square
targets are the most difficult to find, and you can always come back to the
larger target. Remember to keep track of the targets your enemy has hit!
Battledome Fights
My pet, Rainbow_Lounge_Host will ONLY take part in these kinds of fights. :)
The basic Snowball Fight is great for Newbies and newcomers to the Battledome.
The rules are simple: each contender equips only snowballs! Using no healing
potions or Hypno Helmets, one can use only natural abilities and their equipped
snowballs. For more advanced users, Ice Weapon Fights can be just as fun. Stock
up on Frost Cannons, Ice Motes, and various types of bottled snow, but leave
your Fire Sword at home (how unfair would that be?!).
Ice Caves
By far my favourite Snow Game, Ice Caves is a great challenge (for me at least!)
as it progresses through each level. Although frustrating at times, I love the
satisfaction of completing a particularly hard level. Now, I haven't gotten
very far in this game, but I understand that many people get so frustrated with
the first levels that they just give up! For newcomers to the game, make sure
to read the 'Help' and 'Rules' sections before playing, and make sure you know
what everything does. I'll start from where that leaves off. :) The maze is
vertical, not horizontal as I first thought, so watch out snowballs held up
by bombs, jewels, or ice patches! Once you get rid of those objects, they will
fall right on top of you! Plan your route ahead of time. Don't pick up torches
immediately - if you pass by a spot next to a bomb while carrying a torch, it
will go off. Only pick up torches if you need them. If plan to light a bomb,
or dig through ice that's holding up a snowball or boulder, make sure you have
a planned escape route, and remember that holding the arrow key down moves Garon
faster! If picking up a treasure chest is too dangerous, don't risk it. Oftentimes,
the game will put out treasure chests that you can't get to, just make you lose
a life. Also remember that using the 'Reset' button subtracts five points from
your score. Sometimes you'll get in such deep trouble that it's best to just
let a snowball or a bomb get you and send the score or just start a whole new
game. Of course, this method gets increasingly frustrating as you move up on
levels, but you will eventually master the first few levels and then be able
to 'Skip to Level 5.'
Cliffhanger
Fun all year round, this game tests your guessing skills as well as your knowledge
about Neopia. A great way for Newbies to learn more about Neopia, one should
probably do a little bit of reading up before playing. Cliffhanger is almost
exactly like Hangman, but the poor green Tuskaninny moves closer to the edge
of the cliff with each letter you guess wrong! He goes over the edge after six
wrong guesses. :(
Ice Cream Factory
Another game people enjoy year-round, and also my favourite way of making Neopoints!
Because there have been so many articles already written on this wonderful game,
I'll keep it short. Here are some tips on snowball dodging: Keep your eyes on
Adee, not the snowballs, which you can see coming out of the corner of your
eye. Stay in top center of the screen, moving as little as possible from that
spot, and you won't get trapped by a snowball formation. Things to dodge: level-colour
snowballs (they change colours with the level), blue and yellow snowballs with
plus signs (these speed up the snowballs coming at you), purple and red snowballs
with Chias (this make you really big, which makes it harder to maneuver between
snowball formations). Things to go after if you can: blue and black snowballs
with minus signs (good for higher, faster levels, they slow down the speed of
the snowballs coming at you), and purple and yellow snowballs with a tiny Chia
(makes you smaller, so it's easier to maneuver, but if you get too many, it
becomes harder to move quickly). Things to risk you life for: red and white
snowballs with hearts in them (these give you an extra life), and the rare golden
snowball (this will give you enough points to move onto the next level, but
watch out for the golden snowball level). Another important aspect of this game
is sound (not as silly as it seems). After a while the 'bings and 'booings'
start annoying and distracting you. I prefer to turn the sound off and listen
fast music. Now for warehouse tips: The purple boxes are worth 10 points each
(each snowball you dodge is two points). The orange boxes will often move only
in one direction, and will get stuck permanently if pushed against another orange
box. The best thing to do here is to try to touch as FEW orange boxes as possible,
especially when you're near the exit. If a purple box is too hard to get to,
and you think you won't be able to get out again, don't go! Escaping costs you
a life, so your priority should be getting to the exit, not picking up purple
boxes. Also, try to get as many life snowballs as possible early on, because
in later levels, it becomes sometimes impossible to get out of the maze of boxes,
and you need to have extra lives on hand to continue the game.
I hope this guide has helped you, and I hope you try playing ALL the Neopian
Snow Games out there! They're really fun, and they earn you a fair amount of
Neopoints, too! Happy Holidays! :) |
