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Courtezy of Macrom
These are strategies used in solving the quest levels. Very few, if any, will apply to battle levels. Some of these strategies are obvious, but presented because I wanted them to be.
As usual, these strategies are not hard and fast rules, they are guidelines: techniques to fall back on when you're stumped with a particular puzzle. There are probably exceptions 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 rocks, I mean dice in High Rollerz and sugar cubes 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 affects of different colored brickz are, etc.
BREAK THINGS
- You may break bricks, small rocks, and large rocks.
- You break things with gauntlets, bombs, and time-bombs.
- Sometimes 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 cases you won't be able to get the required tools, 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
runs into your target and explodes, 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 places 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.
- Rocks may conceal useful objects. Objects include coins, tools, toys, power-ups, switches, and teleporter triggers. Sometimes the objects are required to finish the level;
other times they are required to find the secrets or obtain the perfect result.
- Breaking bricks usually allows you to progress in the level.
- There are times you don't want to break bricks, particularly the colored ones which may destroy your gauntlets or gruntz. Other times, you must sacrifice the gauntlets or
grunt to proceed.
- A rock may be hidden behind a landscape object, such as a tree. Sometimes you may be able to see part of it. Other times, it will be completely hidden and you must move
your cursor over the square to see if something breakable is there.
- Only a few cases exist where you never have the opportunity to break an object. In those cases, there isn't anything under them anyway. Otherwise, a perfect score would not
be possible.
DIG/FILL MOUNDS
- You can either dig or fill a mound (depending on whether or not it's already full or not) by using the shovel.
- Digging a mound can reveal the same things as breaking rocks. Therefore, many of the strategies for breaking things apply to mounds.
- 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 mound.
- If you fill a mound, you won't accidentally fall into it.
- Teleporter triggers 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 EMPTY-HANDED GRUNTZ
- In general, you should give tools to a grunt with no tool as giving one to a grunt that already has a tool discards the previous tool.
- When all your gruntz have tools, look ahead in the level to see which grunt you should give it to. Sometimes a checkpoint will make your decision for you. Other times,
upcoming puzzles (such as mounds, bricks, 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
- 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 strategies for distributing tools apply to distributing toys.
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. Chances are, you'll see something
important and be able to make better decisions.
GO AHEAD, SAVE YOUR GAME LIKE A LITTLE BABY
- Save your game before a difficult puzzle. This lets 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 makes recovery from simple mistakes much less painful. Simple mistakes include walking into a empty mound and cutting a corner over death tiles.
- Use a saved game to observe the action of timed pyramids that you cannot re-activate (e.g., Mini Golf 3).
LOOK FOR UNUSUAL LANDSCAPE
- This is particularly useful for finding secrets, 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 objects (especially arrows) that seem to serve no purpose, they sometimes point you in the right direction.
- Out of the way areas where there is no reason to send a grunt to can also contain secrets. These include dead-end paths, small inlets in lakes and the like.
MINIMIZE FLYING TIME
- Unlike other tools, wingz are an expendable commodity. Unlike power-ups, you decide how long they may last. You can only use them so long before they fall off.
- Do not use your wings unless you must. In some puzzles, 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 counts as one square, if you flew horizontally, then vertically (or vice
versa) it would use two squares.
- Sometimes you can eyeball a shortest path to your destination. Other times, it helps to trace your path with the cursor and count the squares to find the shortest path.
- When looking for a shortest path, be sure to try different take-off and landing squares.
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
- When a puzzle involves 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 happens.
- Some puzzles (especially secrets) 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 ways 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.
- Sometimes, however, patience will fail. Certain puzzles 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 gloves 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 gets 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 things in a level that don't have a use.
- If you see something, chances 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 cases
where this is not true, but I haven't found that many.
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