Overview
You were exploring the spooky forest one fatal night when you hear a voice chanting from the ground. Plucking up your courage you go of to explore. As you get nearer you get a weird feeling in your belly. You fall to the ground and hug your belly, as the feeling gets worse. Suddenly you change colour from a bright yellow to a sickly rotting green! “Bring me food or you will stay that way, For-ever!” A voice booms and echoes.
Would it not be easier to just nip down to your local tesco’s and maybe even get some great 2 for 1 deals? Nope this monster has a fancy only for disgusting food, the kind the food agencies try to ban! So you’re going into a huge graveyard with multiple sections, where every section is dominated with ghosts, walking tombstones and blinking giant octopus. In every section you will find food that even school would not serve you for Lunch, well, they do try.
Enemies
OCTOPUS – Depending on how you think this is probably no threat to you at all. The first time you might experience a problem with it is on level 3 and 6
(Only ever got to level 7, yes I know, “why should we listen to someone who hasn’t even got very far?” Well my excuse is that my computer doesn’t work very well; it freezes then starts when you least expect it. I scored my best score, current 1,427 on a different computer!)
Anyway general tips are, if you have to go past this thing, wait until your path is free. You don’t want to be half way past when a ghost flies past causing you to stop and then get caught! On level 3 +6 I recommend leaving the item direct south of the octopus for last. To get it, go south west of the creature, do not go up and 270* around! If you need to go back, then go the long way around; as for some reason you can’t go the short route back. When you’re near this creature do not stop, if your path is blocked, go back if possible!
TOMBSTONE – The most awaked enemy, I believe it has a better brain then the ghosts, luckily there’s only one on each level. They move anything from 1-4 squares then have a rest for about 5 seconds. They can move in any direction of 1-9 on a num keyboard. If they are at a corner and the next diagonal square is free, they can jump into it, so play safe. Watch them carefully and always stand at least two squares from them and stay away from dead-ends! Also watch out for ghosts when working with the stone, they might try to make you move near to the tomb, or if you’re blocked they might try to get you. The most annoying behaviour is when they block items; level 4 and 5 best show this. On these levels, try to get items in dead-ends first! The biggest mistake people do is go for the best items first, which are normally easy to get, but then you find the little items are in dead-ends and blocked by a tomb stone!
GHOSTS – The most complicated enemies. There are two of these on every level and you will probably notice they get faster and move farther but trust me, they don’t get any smarter. On the first level they move about 3 squares before changing direction at a constant speed of like 2 metres. As you progress though they will move farther and faster, until level 3 you can beat the ghosts in speed, after that, they are faster. The movement rule though is kind of an advantage. Else they hit a border wall they will go the full distance they can before choosing the next direction, use that to your benefit. Lets say they move 5 squares at a time, a ghost is on square 2 going north, you are 1 square northwest, get the idea yet? The ghost will move to square seven, without touching you! The ghost has this kind of rule, {move x{x == level*} if false {check move direction if false check move direction if true move x{x == level*} } Ok, I admit I know nothing about Java programming but it must be something like that.
The ghost when finished/interrupted its course will move N.E.S.W or carry on. Always stay one square from the direction it is travelling. Stay away from one square narrow paths, if they are faster then you and moving your direction you might not be able to get there in time. Take your time with them, yes it’s nice to get good time bonuses but you won’t get any bonus if it touches you!
Scoring
As you progress you will find better items, so take it nice and easy. The remaining time is also added to your score on each level except for if an enemy touched you. Take your time, the clock goes slow, you should be able to complete the first level with over 77 seconds spare, and the more levels you complete without being hit, the higher your score, my record is getting to level 6 without being touched, so that’s like over 300 extra points! Also, the score is converted with the formula Neopoints = Total Score (not sure about cap)
The most common item, the bleeding watermelon as it looks likes, 2 points
Eyeball noodle 3 points
pink donoughut 4 points
French bread 5 points (this isn’t a disgusting food, I quite like it)
tongue thingy 6 points
ham thingy 8 points
Eyeball lolly 10 points
Rice noodle 25 points
Fungus melon 50 points
Bat shaped sweet 100 points
Outdated cheese 500 points (rare, though I once found one on level 2, you see them after 4)
???????? 1,000 points (never seen it)
Extra Tips
I know how it feels when you see a rare item at the start of the level; your heart goes beating, but don’t change your strategy, find a strategy and keep to it!
If you only have one life left, (there are no power ups) or if you have been hit and are invincible go on a shopping spree, go for the best items, might as well get as much as you can before dying.
As I just said, if you’ve been hit, you’re invincible for about 10 seconds, go and get any hard to get items! If I loose a life before the end of level 3 I always restart, I recommend it.
LEVEL 1
Common score after level = 110
Though you might have different routes, I’ll tell you my common route.
First I go to the south east corner and get the items while the tomb is moving. Then I go up north and get the items in the ne corner. Then I go due west, and then to the middle monster and due south, get those items. Then I choose which route, NW or sw to do first, it all depends where the ghosts are.
LEVEL 2
Common score after level = 220
This is a very interesting level; there are two clear paths to take any this level. My choice is normally determined by what the tomb is up to. If it starts going south I tend to take the left area then up and finally complete the right area. If the tomb stone is messing around and goes up then I’ll do the south west area but then move right and do all of the right area, finally followed with the north west area. Items can get as common as the eyeball lolly things, but anything above that is quite rare. The octopus again can be found in the middle area, the tomb starts in the left. If you lose a life before completing this level then I strongly recommend restarting.
LEVEL 3
Common score after level = 350
Quite a difficult level, watch out for the octopus at the northwest corner, leave this area for last! I tend to go northeast to the top, then south middle, watch out for ghosts, they always interfere. Next try due west and get everything found in the south half. Now go up and try to get all the middle items, last thing to remember is when passing the octopus, go the south route, and if you go to the north then you will lose a life! The tombstone is in the middle at the start of the level.
LEVEL 4
Common score after level = 550
I expect by now you will have found at least one rare item, if not then you will probably find one here. I recommend the northwest area that you are you are already in, watch out for the ghosts near you. Leave the south for last, that’s a long shaft where the ghosts love to trap you. Make sure you tomb friend doesn’t block the top area, that’s why I said go there first. The right area is great, loads of places to dodge the ghosts; they’re faster then you though!
LEVEL 5
Common score after level = 900
Here we go, the last new level, this one can be very annoying, get the items in the middle left wall first! Watch out, the ghosts are directly beneath you! The tomb loves to block the left area, so get it first, then the northeast, southeast areas, leave the south to last, and like I keep saying, get the left first!
LEVEL 6
Common score after level = 1,200
Same as level 3, just be careful, the ghosts move very quickly and farther.
LEVEL 7
Common score after level = 1,500
Never got past this level, same as level 4, so keep the same strategy, my best ever game ended when the tomb stone blocked the northwest area and I couldn’t get pass, I lost all three life’s because the ghosts kept getting me and the tomb wouldn’t move from the item. At that time I got 20th place on the high score table, now I’m slowly moving down the board, the funny thing is, 58 points and I would have got a bronze trophy, 65? And I would have got gold!
LEVEL 8+
Common score after level = no idea
No idea, never got past, I’ll keep you informed, if you have a better computer then me (you probably will) then I wish you best of luck, use this information, maybe just as revision, but I hope it gives you that little push to getting a high score – Sabrina Bate