Over the River and Through the Woodz
About:
“Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go,
The horse knows the way, to carry the sleigh, o’er the driven snow.”
These words come back to me every Thanksgiving, and signal the start of the Christmas holidays in my mind. Well, Gruntz need to celebrate too. So let’s go hitch up the horse to the sleigh, oh yeah no horsez, no sleigh. But we can find some friendz and toyz and go to Grandmother’s. . .no, not that either. OK then, to the King’s fort. He could use some company, and giftz. Let’s go!
Gruntz:
The game starts with 7 Gruntz, one more will be created, and one will be resurrected.
#1 is free in the SW corner on the “farmhouse” plateau.
#2 is free on the “icehouse” plateau.
#3 is trapped in the arrow maze.
#4 will be created from the goo of the three bricklayers and the timebomber.
#5 is trapped on a plateau with no stairs.
#6 will be resurrected from the goo puddle in the “cemetery.”
#7 is trapped in the tar pit.
#8 is trapped behind some rocks on a plateau.
#9 is trapped in a small meadow above the Christmas tree grove near the beginning.
Walkthrough:
We start in the southwest corner at what I like to think of as the Christmas tree farm. One is in the farmhouse and the other is in the icehouse. It seems they’ve been planting treez and they’ve left the shovel out. One of them picks it up and cleans up the mess in the grove. The other one gets the tool that was found in one of the holez. Shovelz (now #1) continues to clean up the property, finding all kindz of goodiez which he picks up, and since he already has a toy he shares the other one with #2. When he’s finished, he picks up the new tool he found and both #1 and #2 go to the checkpoint.
There’s a rock in that little gully that needs breaking, but if you already have a toy (and you should) than don’t pick up what you find there. Leave it for someone else. Both of you go down the alley to the arrow maze and stand on the switchez to let your friend pick up the shovel and dig a couple of holez. He should pick up everything he finds there. Then he can leave. On the way out, one of the Gruntz notices that the snow has melted in one corner of the fence. Wondering why, he investigates.
Spy gear can now do his job, which is helping Gauntletz do his. As you’re going through the brickz, you can pummel the three enemy bricklayerz to goo, or you can wait until you’ve finished with the brickz. Whatever floats your boat 8^) One way or the other, get that job done so you can send Shovelz in to take care of the timebomber. SAVE! Timebomber seems to like to turn south after he’s laid his bomb, so you might want to lead him as far north as you can. Hit him twice and lead him north again so you can finish him off. Remember, there’s no goo if the rock gets him. Now you can send Shovelz through the rolling rockz to get those two holez, then slightly west to the other holez. Send Spy gear in to pick up the tool. Let Gooberstraw do his job and send him out of the brickz. Send your new friend (#4) back to the gully for the toy. While he’s doing that, Gauntletz can break all the rockz in the meadow around the plateau that doesn’t seem to have any stairz. There must be a way for Grunt #5 to get off the plateau. Look around. . . dead end alleyz are always good placez to look. All righty then! Now that that’s done, have #5 pick up the Toobz and go north to help our friendz get over this blasted bridge.
SAVE! Up. . .down. . .no up....urrgh! OK, so the timing’s a little different, but really, it isn’t hard. Just keep your eyez open for both bridge tilez to be down at the same time and then go for it. Now that all your gruntz are over the river, have Shovelz start digging again. Wave that shovel around because some of the holez are a little obscured by the treez. (Well, we are in the woodz you know. The north woodz to be exact.) As he standz on the blue hold switch to get that hole, bring Grunt #6 over the tar pit. Since he has no toy, let him pick up the scroll (did you remember that the scroll is a toy too?) Resurrect that goo puddle in the cemetery (#7), maybe he can give you that yo-yo you see in there. Then #7 can pick up the toy that Shovelz just dug up in the corner. Now #6 can stand on the checkpoint with his picture on it. What’s this? A not-so-very-well-hidden Secret (?) Switch? Well, step on it and see what it does. What do you know, now we have seven Gruntz going to Grandma. . .er, the King’s house. In the meantime, Gauntletz can free #8 from behind the rockz on his plateau.
OK, let’s take a breather. We have eight friendz all taking toys to the King’s place. What do you mean, you don’t all have toyz. Well, let’s figure that out when we get to the fort, OK? Besides, it’s only one who doesn’t, right? What do you mean you have two. Oh yeah! Toobz can go north to the landing, and then bypassing the bridge go down the river to the little island with the toy that only he can reach. Now you only have one without a toy. Right?
We’ve come around to the thicker east woodz now. They’re a little scary because we really can’t see what’s in there. Let’s all go west a wayz and let Shovelz explore, but SAVE first. There’s a hole just south of the plateau, and another one a little farther south. . .Whoa! Rrrockz! Two of ‘em! Get rid of them any way you can, but try not to take too many hitz. Gauntletz can probably help out here! Once the rockz are gone, be sure to dig up that last hole. Gauntletz should wave his tool around too. Then bring all the buddiez to the fort.
One last job. Toobz can go down to step on that blue toggle switch, losing his tool at the same time. Gauntletz will now be able to help Grunt #9 out of his little prison. #9 wants to bring the turkey, oops, warpstone to the King, so now we can all assemble on our checkpoint switchez. There should be two toyz in the Grunt machine, and you should now have two Gruntz without them. So give them their toyz and the King will welcome you all in perfectly!
Happy Holidayz Gruntzerz! God Bless you all!
Coins:
#1-#3 in holez in the Christmas tree grove
#4-#5 in holez in the field before the checkpoint
#6 in a hole in the arrow maze
#7 in the open behind the bricklayerz
#8, #9 in holez near the rolling rockz
#10, #11 under rockz near the giant rock and closed plateau
#12-#15 in holez obscured by treez in the north woodz
#16 under a rock on the plateau in the north woodz
#17 in a hole south of the above plateau
#18, #19 under rockz in the thicker east woodz
#20 under a rock to the left of the fort
#21 under a rock across the river from the fort
Toolz:
#1: Shovel – picked up in the Christmas tree grove.
#2: Spy gear – dup up in the Christmas tree grove.
#3: Gauntletz – dug up in the field before the checkpoint.
#4: Goober straw – dug up below the rolling rockz.
#5: Toobz – under a rock near the plateau with no exit.
Toyz:
#1: Monster wheel – in a hole in the “icehouse.”
#2: Baby walker – in a hole above the “icehouse.”
#3 Beach ball – under a rock in the gully.
#4: Go-cart – in a hole in the arrow maze.
#5: Jack-in-the-box – via a megaphone under the giant rock.
#6: Yo-yo – in the cemetery.
#7: Pogo stick – in a hole in the cemetery.
#8: Squeak toy – via a megaphone in a hole in the thicker east woodz.
#9: Jump rope – on an island in the river.
Powerupz:
There are no powerupz in this level.
Warp letterz:
The letter W is located above the giant rock. It can be reached via red warp #1.
Secretz:
#1: The red warp trigger is in the south corner of the arrow maze fence where the snow has partially melted. The red warp opens in the alley below the brick maze and takes you to the W above the giant rock.
#2: The red warp trigger is at the end of the row above the brickz. The red warp opens under the grunt trapped on the plateau and sends him to the meadow. You can’t reach the return warp, nor would you want to, unless you want to be stuck back on the plateau
#3: The not-so-secret switch is located along the north river bank and is blocked by a checkpoint with a yo-yo on it. Once accessed, the corner of the cemetery opens to let out the trapped grunt.