Courtesy of Macrom (imagez
(and pluralz) by GooRoo)
These are strategiez used in solving the quest levelz.
Very few, if any, will apply to battle levelz. Some of
these strategiez are obvious, but presented because I
wanted them to be.
As usual, these strategiez are not hard and fast rulez,
they are guidelines: techniquez to fall back on when
you're stumped with a particular puzzle. There are
probably exceptionz to each one.
NOTE: In the discussion below, I refer to things as
they are in Rocky Roadz or their first appearance. For
instance, when I mention rockz, I mean dice in High Rollerz
and sugar cubez in Honey, I
Shrunk the Gruntz! I also assume that you know the
difference between a hold switch and a one-time
switch , and
what the effectz of different colored brickz are, etc.
BREAK THINGS
- You may break brickz , small rockz , and
giant rockz.
- You break thingz with gauntletz , bombz , and time-bombz .
- Sometimez you don't have the proper tool to break
something, but are able to acquire one later. In that
case, return to the rock and break it.
- In other casez you won't be able to get the required
toolz, but an enemy bomb or time-bomb grunt is nearby.
Here, you must lure the enemy grunt to the object you
want broken.
- For an enemy bomb grunt, get between him and your
target, move close enough to the grunt to get him to
charge you and get out of the way. The grunt will
charge until he runz into your target and explodez,
also breaking the target object. You only have to get
the grunt to explode adjacent to your target, so you
could have him run into a wall near the object.
- For an enemy time-bomb grunt, lure him to the target
object and let him attack you while you are next to
it. After he placez the time-bomb, get out of the way.
The time-bomb will explode and break the object. This
method may be repeated as often as desired.
- Rockz may conceal useful objectz. Objectz include
Coinz , Toolz,
Toyz,
Power-upz,
Switchez, and Teleporter
triggerz. They may also contain hazardz or other
obstaclez, such as Pyramidz . Sometimez the
objectz are required to finish the level; other timez
they are required to find the secretz or obtain the
perfect result.
- Breaking brickz usually allowz you to progress in
the level.
- There are timez you don't want to break brickz,
particularly the colored onez which may destroy your
gauntletz
or grunt(z) .
Other timez, you must sacrifice the gauntletz or grunt
to proceed.
- A rock may be hidden behind a landscape object, such
as a tree. Sometimez you may be able to see part of
it. Other timez, it will be completely hidden and you
must move your cursor over the square to see if
something breakable is there.
- Only a few casez exist where you never have the
opportunity to break an object. In those casez, there
isn't anything under them anyway. Otherwise, a perfect
score would not be possible.
DIG/FILL MOUNDS
- You can either dig up a mound or fill in a
hole by
using the shovel.
- A hole
will alwayz turn into a mound when a shovel
is used, but a mound can turn into
(almost) anything else!
- A "Magic Shovel" can
turn a hole
into a mound
... with something in it! So you may want to dig
again.
- Digging a mound can reveal the same thingz as
breaking rockz. Therefore, many of the strategiez for
breaking thingz apply to moundz.
- You may be able to lure an enemy digger grunt to a
filled mound. He will then proceed to empty the mound.
I have never seen a digger grunt fill a hole.
- If you fill a mound, you won't accidentally fall
into it.
- Teleporter triggerz may be hidden over an empty
mound. You must fill the mound (or sacrifice a grunt)
to activate the trigger.
- Be sure to fill an empty mound before you move a
grunt onto it to pick up an object.
GIVE TOOLZ TO BARE-HANDED GRUNTZ
- In general, you should give toolz to a grunt with no
tool as giving one to a grunt that already has a tool
discardz the previous tool.
- When all your gruntz have toolz, look ahead in the
level to see which grunt you should give it to.
Sometimez a checkpoint will make your decision for
you. Other timez, upcoming puzzlez (such as moundz,
brickz, etc.) will aid your decision. When in doubt,
save your game. You can restore later if you made the
wrong decision.
GIVE TOYZ TO GRUNTZ ONLY WHEN NECESSARY
- A toy may be carried by one Grunt, and passed off to
another Grunt.
You can usually wait to distribute a toy to a grunt
until you need to.
This is especially true if the toy is in the resource
section of the sidebar.
- The same strategiez for distributing toolz apply to
distributing toyz, that is, give a toy to a Grunt that
doez not already have one, as the previous toy will be
discarded.
- A scroll countz as a toy, so
do not give a scroll to a grunt carrying a toy!
LOOK AHEAD
- If you have a choice to make as to the direction to
go, or what toolz or toyz to give to gruntz, look
ahead to see what you may need. Chancez are, you'll
see something important and be able to make better
decisionz.
GO AHEAD, SAVE YOUR GAME LIKE A LITTLE
BABY
- Save your game before a difficult puzzle. This letz
you retry the puzzle until you solve it. This is
especially useful if you have trouble with a
particular type of puzzle (e.g., those involving
timing).
- Saving your game makez recovery from simple mistakez
much less painful. Simple mistakez include walking
into a empty mound and cutting a corner over death
tilez.
- Use a saved game to observe the action of timed
pyramidz that you cannot re-activate (e.g., Mini Golf
3).
LOOK FOR UNUSUAL LANDSCAPE
- This is particularly useful for finding secretz, and
can be the most frustrating part of the game. It is
also the strategy that is most overlooked.
- Unusual landscape could be moundz or background art
in the shape of an arrow or question mark, or
surrounding an empty tile. These scream secret.
- Look for interactive objectz (especially arrowz)
that seem to serve no purpose, they sometimez point
you in the right direction.
- Out of the way areas where there is no reason to
send a grunt to can also contain secretz. These
include dead-end pathz, small inletz in lakez and the
like.
MINIMIZE FLYING TIME
- Unlike other toolz, wingz are an expendable
commodity. Unlike power-upz, you decide how long they
may last. You can only use them so long before they
fall off.
- Do not use your wingz unless you must. In some
puzzlez, you only have enough flight time to solve the
puzzle. If you do any unnecessary flying, you won't be
able to solve the puzzle.
- If you need to fly both horizontally and vertically,
fly diagonally instead. Flying diagonally countz as
one square, if you flew horizontally, then vertically
(or vice versa) it would use two squarez.
- Sometimez you can eyeball a shortest path to your
destination. Other timez, it helpz to trace your path
with the cursor and count the squarez to find the
shortest path.
- When looking for a shortest path, be sure to try
different take-off and landing squarez.
- Renewable Wingz? It has been
discovered that certain actionz renew the flying time
of a Wingz grunt, such as playing with a toy, or
consuming Zap Cola. (Likely not intended by the game
designerz.)
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
- When a puzzle involvez timing, watch the action to
find the proper path through the danger. A saved game
will help if you'd actually like to try sending a
grunt through to see what happenz.
- Some puzzlez (especially secretz) cannot be solved
when you first run into them because you don't have
the proper toolz. You must move on and then return
when you finally get the toolz you need. Take a moment
and think of wayz to solve the puzzle with the toolz
you have and even toolz you don't have. If you can
easily solve the puzzle with a tool you don't have,
and it's available later, that may be the solution.
- Sometimez, however, patience will fail. Certain
puzzlez in the game require you to act in a timely
manner or you won't be able to solve the puzzle (e.g.,
the 8-ball on the outer track in Rollerz 4).
LET OTHERS DO THE DIRTY WORK
- If one of your gruntz can't do what you want, see if
you can get an enemy grunt to do it for you. For
instance, a bomb grunt may blow up a rock or a shovel
grunt may empty a mound.
- You may need to let a rolling object activate the
switch you need or destroy those pesky enemy gruntz.
- You can get an enemy grunt to move by luring it
toward one of your gruntz. Depending on the enemy
gruntz' range, you may have to get quite close. You
must move outside the grunt's range to get him to stop
chasing you.
- You can also move a grunt with boxing glovez or the
sponge gun. Either of these could push the grunt onto
a switch, arrow, or teleporter.
- You can sponge your own gruntz if you target an
empty square and then move the grunt to be hit into it
before the ball getz there. To target an empty square,
activate the gun and click on the empty square. This
is useful when you need to move your grunt over an
arrow that is pointing in the wrong direction.
THE LEVEL DESIGNERS ARE LAZY
- Just kidding, but they don't often put thingz in a
level that don't have a use.
- If you see something, chancez are there's a use for
it. It could be something that is needed to complete
the level, a key to a secret, or just a hint. There
are a few casez where this is not true, but I haven't
found that many.
SUICIDE BOMBER 'QUIRKZ'
- The Suicidebomber grunt can run (diagonally)
between Pyramidz and other (usually) impassable
objectz!
- Also, he has a short "attention span", and if a toy
is placed in his
path, he will stop and play with it, and forget to
complete his mission.
- These thingz are true for both enemy gruntz, and
your own grunt(z).
|