Sparkle

No one travels without worries in Crowberry Woods anymore. Vast blackness has blanketed the once beautiful forest. Only small sparkles of light trickle through the all consuming darkness. Use your orb slinger to shatter the orbs of darkness before they release their destructive powers.

Can you bring the light back, from a sparkle to full bloom? Explore three different game modes, multitude of greater magical amulets and powerups, and uncover the deepest secrets. Don't leave the fair trees of Crowberry Woods unsparkled!

It all starts in Crowberry Woods. The darkness is rising. The only thing that can stop it is to be found in these woods. Caught in the middle of all this, the burden has been placed on your shoulders. Your journey starts at the giant Mushrooms.

The basic goal in Sparkle is to form groups of at least three orbs of the same color. When a group is formed, the orbs disappear. Playing the game is simple and quite fun in the same time: aim with your mouse and press the left mouse button to release an orb.

You can switch orbs in the Orb Slinger with the right mouse button. You have to light up the outer ring of the Orb Slinger pedestal to complete a level. In the picture below you can see a situation where the player could shoot the green orb to break a total of five orbs.

· Try to order your orbs so that you can easily match three times in a row (chain factors 3, 6, 9 and so on) to get a power up. · You can save your power ups for later use by pressing the right mouse button. · The best spot to grab the power ups is right when they appear. (Notice the opening in the orb strip each time power up emerges!) · If you've got for example two same colored orbs in a row in your Orb Slinger, try double clicking the left mouse button to throw them both fast in a row. You can make matches of more than three-in-a-row very easily this way. · When picking up Slow or Backwards power up, try to concentrate on making the orb strip(s) "easier" to play. Basically this means shooting at spots where there aren't two or more like colored orbs in a row. · Good change to get more power ups is right after you've picked the Fireflies power up. At that time, the orbs are aligned so that matching is easier! · In Expert difficulty mode (will be made available when you complete the game for the first time), try using the Amulet of Immortality to "scout" the level. This way you don't lose precious lives even if you fail! If the level is too difficult, try using another amulet when you've gotten familiar with the board. · Joker Orbs can be a great way to extend your Chain Factor Level. You can shoot anywhere but the ends of the strip and make a match! It's a good way to get rid of two "lone colored" orbs too. · You can finish the level faster by making lots of combos and maintaining high Chain Factor Levels.

Requirements:

· OS: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows Vista or Windows XP · Processor: Pentium 500MHz · RAM: 64 MB · DirectX 5.0 or higher · Hardware graphics accelerator is highly recommended

Limitations:

· 60 minutes trial