Category – Action
Rating – Easy
Points to Neopoints ratio – 1:2
Defender Trainer is categorized with a green star for a reason: it really is an easy game, and a good way to make 2000 Neopoints or more in just a few minutes every day.
The biggest advice I can give you for this game is to click on the right answer ‘as quickly as possible, ESPECIALLY in the earlier levels, because the point value for each answer goes down the longer it takes you. If you run out of time, you’ll lose a life, and you will need as many lives as possible when the game gets fast.
There are three difficulty levels. On the easiest one, you have 4 objects to choose from, and you get plenty of time to choose. You won’t make very many Neopoints playing on this level, though, so move up when you get used to the game. Medium difficulty gives you six choices. This level is fairly pointless, because it’s not much easier than the hardest difficulty level, and because the items don’t form a square, it’s a little harder to quickly choose the right thing to click. Hardest difficulty level is the one you want to be playing. There are 9 choices, and the later levels go pretty quickly, but you’ll soon get used to it, and the payoff from this difficulty level is good.
The thing that will deter you when you first start to play this game is that you won’t know the names of a lot of the images that appear. The average Neopian probably won’t know that the orange-ish squash-looking item is called a Sardplant. The quickest way to learn things like that is just to play the game. If you don’t know which of those items starts with Z, just click one at random. Not only will you find out that the answer is “Zafara” or “Zeenana,” you’ll be able to see the names of the option you picked. Before long you’ll have the names of these things memorized. If you start out playing on the hardest difficulty level, you’ll learn the names of things a lot faster, because you’ll see them all on the screen more often.
A few notes on some of the rounds. The first, second, and fourth rounds ask you what item starts with a certain letter. DO NOT automatically think of an object as soon as you see the letter. A lot of items start with the same letter, so if you see K and automatically think “Kiko,” you’ll be looking for a Kiko and will probably pass right over a Koi, Korbat, or Kau. I’ve found that it’s helpful, instead, to look at the letter and think of the sound it makes. That way, if you see “P” and start thinking “Puh, puh, puh,” you’ll quickly notice anything that starts with that sound.
The sixth round asks “Which has the longest name.” This is only pets and petpets. This is not too hard in general, but on the hardest difficulty it gets a little bit tricky. Some items have names that are quite obviously longer than the rest, like “Elephante” and “Kadoatie”. If you see a Kadoatie and immediately click it, though, you’ll be wrong if there’s an Elephante or Puppyblew around. So just be careful with those. Also, if you get a bunch of items and none of them is obviously longer than the rest, the answer is frequently Snorkle or Cybunny. One last thing. Tuskaninny and Drackonack are tied for the longest-named pet/petpet in the game, so if you see either of those, you can click it immediately.
Every once in a while you’ll see “NOT” in the question in red letters, like, “Which does NOT start with the letter Z”. In the first five or so rounds these are actually easier because you have a much better chance of getting it right. If you’re feeling lucky, you can just click on whatever your mouse happens to be on, and you’ll have a 75% chance or better of getting it (depending on which difficulty you’re playing). In the sixth and seventh rounds, however, the “NOT” event gets a little trickier. That’s because, in these rounds, you have to choose which item has the longest name or the shortest name (respectively). Because the question is always the same, it’s easy to get into the habit of not looking down at the instructions. Therefore, when the reversed question pops up (“Which does NOT have the longest name”) it’s very easy not to notice it. In these rounds, be sure to always glance down to check for the word NOT in the question. It will save you a lot of needlessly lost lives.
Here are the other things that will pop up occasionally:
– Small items. This one isn’t too bad, you just have to look a little closer to find the thing you’re looking for.
– Silhouettes. You’ll see a bunch of black blobs in the shape of the items. Again, this one isn’t too hard once you get the hang of it.
– Upside-down items. Pretty self-explanatory, this may throw you off the first time, but after that it’s not a problem.
– Moving targets. This will be the cause of most of your lost lives. It causes the items to randomly change position every few seconds. When this happens, it will say “Moving Targets!” in red at the top left corner of the screen, but I’ve found that it’s easy not to notice this. If you don’t notice, you’ll frequently click an object just as it moves, and end up clicking the wrong one. It’s a good idea early on to get in the habit of consciously noting that top corner all the time.
Now that you know how the game works and some basic tips, it’s time to practice, practice, practice. Eventually you’ll find that you’re memorizing things and developing strategies on your own. It doesn’t take long to get really good at this game, and the payoff is very good, especially if you play on the hardest difficulty. Happy Training! – Ellen (neopets username = ellenshuman)