It's been nice to slow the blogging down for a few days. Been playing Luxor, the gameplay is rather like Space Invaders. You fire projectiles at a descending enemy. In the case of Luxor you're firing colored balls at other colored balls which are working your way toward you on a track (on some screens there are two tracks that intertwine). The track twists back and forth and you have to hit blue with blue, red with red, etc. When three balls of the same color form a line they disappear.
The hardest screen has to be one called Khufu's Revenge. No margin of error is available on that screen. Luck and unerring aim have to be on your side to clear it. In order to get from one level to another you have to clear several screens. If you fail to clear the 6th of 6 screens on one level you have to start over at the 1st screen on that level. This wasn't a problem, really, until Khufu's Revenge.
Say you are able to get past KR, right? I was able to. After probably twenty tries. But the other screens were hard, too, and I knew if I didn't clear the screen after KR I'd fall back behind KR again, trapped for 20 more tries. I appealed to Kent, who is much better at the computer thing than I. Isn't there some trick? Isn't there some way to return to the game before 'game over'? K looked for where the computer saves the play data and made a duplicate of the folder.
When I then did fail to clear the screen after Khufu's Revenge I was able to throw out the failed files and revert to the game as though I'd just cleared KR. Yay!
Many screens are still fairly easy. And some take a few tries. Khufu's Revenge has appeared twice. The first time it was on an early forgiving level where you get all the right colors and the balls move slowly. The second time was the bad time. That's several screens back now. And I'm hoping hoping hoping it doesn't turn up again. If it does that's probably where the game will end for me.
And Karl Rove? Here's hoping his own tricks don't include this one!
4 comments:
I'm still trying to get past the second KR
When I do I will try your tip so I dont go back before it again
Thanks
I can breeze thru Khufu's Revenge these days.
Tips:
Master your mouse's right button. With the right button you can switch between the ball you have and the ball you will next have. It is essential to be able to have more than one choice on the Khufu's Revenge screen. (When I first hit this screen I was using one of those single button Mac mice; thing became much more reasonable when I switched to a two-button mouse.)
If you catch one of the special powers balls you don't have to use it right away.
Say you get a lightning ball, for instance. You might want to save using the lightning ball until the row of advancing balls is stretched down the long righthand drop so you can take out the whole thing at once. In the meantime you can switch to a colored ball and shorten the string.
Concentrate on the back of the string, nearest the pushing scarab. Taking out balls there slows the advance. This is especially helpful if you're trying to keep a second string from catching up to and blocking your first unfinished string.
Hope these help a little!
VERY SIMPLE...KR is unforgiving, uncompromising, and unmerciful. Remembering this is the most important thing you can do if you want to conquer it. You need every element possible to kill this screen and believe it or not? Skill isn't enough by itself. You need to have an enormous amount of patience to wait for the right screen with the balls in the exact lucky order to randomly present itself one day and match up along with those skills. It finally happened for me but not until after many failures. The best advice I can give anybody as far as Khufu goes is to be patient beyond patient as possible. Lose count of how many times you've tried and especially ditch the memory of the "almosts"..."In only had 2 balls, 1 ball left!" It doesn't matter and believe me? Khufu doesn't care. It will only work against you and get under your skin unless you treat Khufu the same way it treats you. Like you DON'T CARE! Treat this screen like any other one in the game when it comes up. (Easier said than done). By that I mean, of course don't let your guard down or think you have time to answer the phone. Be alert, but try to stay relaxed as well. Economy of motion is just as important as precision and placement of shots. Know and use your Power Balls wisely. Save lightning power balls as long as possible for unfriendly strings of single balls lined up in different colors. Like the guy posted before me, your best bet is to wipe out the bad strings on the vertical drop on the far right of the screen before they make the turn across the bottom. The lightning balls kill a lot more in a string on the vertical than on a horizontal run. Use the "doubler" swirl power ball between 2 balls of different colors that are in between strings of multiple same colored balls on either side. For example...10 green followed by 1 red followed by 1 blue followed by 7 green. 1 shot in between the red and blue ball will wipe them all out because the 2 green strings on either side will bang each other once they touch leaving you to move on to the next shot. This is the "economy of motion" I was talking about earlier. You are better off wiping out the most balls possible with the least amount of ammo. This serves not only to clear the screen quicker but saves your hand and arm from cramping up with fatigue from too many consecutive shots in a row. It's impressive to be able to fire off 200+ shots per screen, which you eventually will while you're still learning the game, but if you're going to beat Khufu, you MUST learn how to reduce the amount of shots you take by using the best selection of shots in the best possible order using your Power Balls at the best possible time in order to maximize the time frame as well as your energy and focus. The "right click" (color change) on the mouse is your friend. Use it often as possible so you know your 2 color choices at all times. Catch as many coins as you can on the screens leading up to Khufu in order to gain more lives...(1 extra life per 30 coins caught or something like that). Practice forgetting the coins while in Khufu...You don't have time to spare for catching them. I've had quite a few "almosts" that turned to failure in Khufu simply because I forgot TO FORGET about catching the coins. It's a reflex you get used to in all the other screens that you MUST ditch in Khufu to survive. Good luck and good fortune I wish upon all of you....Just remember one thing? Your life will go on whether you beat Khufu or not and I can tell you right now...Many of you won't. It's not the end of the world. It really isn't. (But those of you who succeed?) All I can say is, the feeling of defeating KR 11-4 is like no other! You will experience a triumph like no other in any other game...Is it really worth all of that? HAELL YEAH!!!!
VERY SIMPLE...KR is unforgiving, uncompromising, and unmerciful. You need every element possible to kill this screen and believe it or not? Skill isn't enough by itself. You need to have an enormous amount of patience to wait for the right screen to pop up one day and match those skills with luck. It finally happened for me but not before many failed attempts. The best advice I can give as far as Khufu, is to be patient beyond patient. Lose count of how many times you've tried and especially ditch the memory of the "almosts"..."I only had 2 balls, 1 ball left!" It doesn't matter and believe me? Khufu doesn't care. It will only work against you and get under your skin unless you treat Khufu the same way it treats you. Like you DON'T CARE! By that I mean, of course don't let your guard down or think you have time to answer the phone. Be alert, but try to stay relaxed as well. Economy of motion is just as important as precision and placement of shots. Know and use your Power Balls wisely. Save lightning power balls as long as possible for unfriendly strings of single balls lined up in different colors. Like the guy posted before me, your best bet is to wipe out the bad strings on the vertical drop on the far right of the screen before they make the turn across the bottom. The lightning balls kill a lot more in a string on the vertical than on a horizontal run. Use the "doubler" swirl power ball between 2 balls of different colors that are in between strings of multiple same colored balls on either side. For example...10 green followed by 1 red followed by 1 blue followed by 7 green. 1 shot in between the red and blue ball will wipe them all out because the 2 green strings on either side will bang each other once they touch leaving you to move on to the next shot. This is the "economy of motion" I mentioned earlier. You are better off wiping out the most balls possible with the least amount of shots. This serves not only to clear the screen quicker but saves your hand and arm from cramping up from fatigue. It's impressive to be able to fire off 200+ shots per screen, which you eventually will while you're still learning the game, but if you're going to beat Khufu, you MUST learn how to reduce the amount of shots you take. This can only be done successfully by using shots for the best possible string, in the best possible order, while using your Power Balls at the best possible time. The "right click" (color change) on the mouse is your friend. Use it often so you'll know your 2 color choices at all times. Catch as many coins as you can on the screens leading up to Khufu in order to gain more lives...(1 extra life per 30 coins caught or something like that). Practice forgetting the coins while in Khufu. You don't have time to catch them. I've had quite a few "almosts" in Khufu simply because I forgot TO FORGET about catching the coins. It's a reflex you get used to in all the other screens that you MUST ditch in Khufu to survive. Lots of practice and lots of patience. Getting over on Khufu is a win that doesn't come easy. Your life will go on whether you beat Khufu or not and I can tell you right now, many of you won't. Anybody claiming to breeze through 11-4 in one or two tries simply isn't telling the truth or is an alien being from another planet. Don't worry though, it's not the end of the world. It really isn't. (But for those of you destined to succeed?) All I can say is, the feeling of defeating KR 11-4 is like no other! You will triumph over a victory well deserved, not to mention bragging rights to all your friends and family who have had to listen to all your whining about Khufu being too hard...Is it really worth all of that? (I think all of you relentless fools like myself who thrive on darn near impossible challenges, know the answer to that!) And may the luck of the ancient scarab be with you :)
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