Hello! I'd like a moment of your time to talk to you about Guardian Rock, and the many benefits of owning one... oh! Might want to get your door checked out there, friend. If I hadn't had my foot jammed in there, why, it might have slammed in my face! Golly!
Guardian Rock, manufactured by the fine folks at Torpedo Lab, is perfect for all your ancient temple guarding needs! Now, I know, I know. You think your temple is safe. You think all your treasure isn't going anywhere. Wrong! Let me tell you, friend, that miniature tomb raiders are an invasive species, and they can be found anywhere! Now, you can spray, sure, but that won't get rid of all of them. And I suppose, yeah, you could go through the historical preservation society and get a cease-and-desist, but that takes forever. No, what works, and what works fast, is smashing them across 48 levels of arcade-style puzzle action.
Now, you're thinking, "Gosh, I'm interested in Guardian Rock, but I bet it's too darn complicated to use!" Wrong again, friend! Guardian Rock responds to the [arrow] keys. All you do is tap the direction you want to go, and it'll zip off in a straight line until it hits something! Guardian Rock disposes of intruders by efficiently smashing into them, and then it's a simple matter of guiding it to the glowing golden exit for speedy storage. Get stuck in a bad spot? No problem! Just tap [R] and you can start your level all over again.
Now of course, Guardian Rock is pretty sturdy, and it'll smash right through any old, crumbled blocks in the temple. But you're going to want to keep it away from any, uh, ceremonial T.N.T. crates you might have lying around. Or spears! Guardian Rock isn't compatible with spears. In fact, you're probably going to find a lot of stuff lying around your ancient temple that just don't work well with Guardian Rock. Fortunately, if Guardian Rock breaks, it'll instantly reform, although you'll have to start work on the level all over again.
So, tell me, what can we do to get you outfitted with a Guardian Rock today?
Analysis: Okay, so it's a sliding rock puzzle. Your rock does not level up. You won't play a mini-game where you perform a timed dance to learn a new ability from the fairy queen. Your rock does not find a belt of +2 Face Smashing. What Guardian Rock does is offer a wealth of very well designed puzzles all wrapped around one simple mechanic. The game offers extra level packs available for purchase if the 48 level "story mode" isn't sufficient for you to get your smash on, but they're not a requirement. Personally, I was more than satisfied with the amount of fiendishly clever puzzles presented free of charge.
The difficulty of Guardian Rock depends on your ability (or inclination) to think ahead. If you spend a while plotting out your path before you even touch the controls on each stage, you'll have a much easier time of it. Because you travel in a straight line until you hit something, it's easy to predict where you're going to end up. There's no penalty for restarting, so if you'd rather rely on trial-and-error, that's fine, too. Guardian Rock has all the time in the world, but those little raiders aren't going to smash themselves.
The game introduces new elements as you go along to either help or hinder you. Cannons? Bad. Ghosts? Good! What's nice is that Guardian Rock does a good job of mixing several of these things together in clever ways to make puzzles more challenging, rather than sticking to one for several levels before abandoning it. Curiously, the game also provides an option for you to purchase (yes, with money) keys that will let you skip a level if you find it too difficult. Well, okay, I guess, but why bother forking out money for a game you're not actually playing then? Yes, there were times when I was absolutely confounded by a level for so long I began questioning my own intelligence, but it just made figuring the puzzles out that much sweeter when I succeeded. Hey, I'm not stupid! High five! Whew, what a rush.
It's curious that a giant sentient rock powerful enough to render people into nothing but a puff of smoke and a numerical value can be destroyed by a wooden spear. But then if I start whining about that, I'd also have to whine about, well, the giant sentient rock. Or how ghosts can act as a wall. And I think I'd rather just enjoy the game and avoid the spears. With a retro vibe, top-notch presentation, and addictive gameplay, Guardian Rock is a whole lot of bashing fun packed into one scowly little package. So don't delay; do your part to prevent the overpopulation of tiny tomb raiders today!
I'm not sure I can bring myself to smash countless hordes of tiny Indiana Joneses.
Hmm There's something quite satisfying about destroying the miniexplorers, especially with that sound effect...
I just love the looks on their little faces when they see their little friends crushed against the walls. Priceless.
Anyone have a way to beat Lv. 11?
Nevermind.
Fun fun fun! Reminds me a lot of the Ice Cave puzzles in Pokemon Gold, Silver and Crystal.
Stuck on 38. Anyone have any hints for me?
Oh for pete's sake! Why don't they SAY these things?!?!?
You have to be LOGGED IN on their site for the game to save your progress.
Accidentally went back to the menu screen and lost twenty-some levels of play.
AARRRGGHH!!
What a cool puzzle game. A bit different than the usual ones I've come across.
Anyone have any luck with level 15??? That level is whacked! How do you get over to the left side of the screen through the little path by the spikes? I've been going in circles for minutes now.
Anyway, this is the kind of headache I don't mind so much (unless it's for another 10 minutes...ugh!)
Any help would be most appreciated. Thx!
Working on level 38, too. lol
I love games like this.
@Aaronzdad, I was just going to post the same thing. Incredibly frustrating to get 40 some odd levels into the game and then go look at the menu screen to figure out how many levels there actually are, only to find out that you have to start over from level 1!!!
DUMBEST THING I'VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME, how many other games don't save this info in your cache for crying out loud?!? I don't care about a high score, I just wanted to check on the number of levels.
Beyond that, the game is actually pretty easy and I blew through 80-90% of all the levels on the first try.
Stuck on level 15 too.
I like this game.
Yeah I was on level 25 and went to check the menu and lost it all.
Lame.
I'm not sure why everyone is having issues with losing their progress here, but I do apologise for it. I do not have an account with Mochi and have never logged in with them. The game has still saved my levels for me.
Great music!
Hi, I'm the developer of the game! First, thanks Dora for the great review. If anyone should apologise for people losing progress it's me :)
This is the first I heard of this issue, and I assure you that it wasn't intentional. It should work both with or without a login (and has worked for the testers). I will look into it ASAP!
My only guess at this point is that something happens when people log in or out, so perhaps if you make sure to refresh the page after logging in or out it will work. But as I said, I'll look at it so it works no matter what.
Thanks to all of you for your comments!
OK, I found the bug - the good news is that your level progress has been saved, but you have to restart the game to see it. So if you try again now you'll see it. The problem was that it didn't appear if you just left the game to the menu. Again, sorry for that! The game will be updated shortly.
Big thanks to those of you who pointed this out!
Thank you, torpedolab, for figuring it out so quickly! :D
Update: New version now up, and I've confirmed that escaping to the main menu saves your progress.
I've been stuck on 38 for like 25 mins now...any help would be appreciated :)
I think we can all agree that 38 is insane.
Thanks for fixing the save issue, I'll start it over from scratch but feel confident in the fact that it can't/won't happen again. I love the old Orbox (was that the right name?) games so this one was right up my alley....but like I said a bit easy.
But, so is 47.
What's the problem with level 38? Once I finish the game I'll come back and do a write up on it, it's only a few moves.
For lvl 38, the trick is to kill the top guys first
DRUL-LD-R-DLD-LULD-R
Just finished the game, only #18 in the rankings though. Since I was playing it form work there were a few levels where I just left the clock ticking while I did some actual work and forgot to pause...oh well. 329,100 was my final score, and the last level takes some good timing in about 3 places.
I see someone else did a level 38 walk through, thanks for saving me the trouble.
This is so much fun, and kudos for fixing that bug so fast! I love popping the little guys :)
Thanks for springing to the rescue, TorpedoLab!
I'm happy everyone else is enjoying this.
It seems that if you close the game, it saves your progress, but not your total score. It was a little disappointing to finish the game and only get credit for 19,xxx points.
Stuck on 43. I've restarted the level like 10 times, lol. Any clues?
Nvm, got it! now if I can just get past 46.
@caitlin1989: Wait until you get to lvl 47.
For level 15
up, right, down, left, up, right, up , left, down, up, right, down, right, up, right, down, left, down, right, for this part you need to wait till the little guys are together then go down, up, right, down, left, down
OK...I can't get through lvl 4... am I stupid??
If anyone has a solution for 48, I'd love to hear it.
Lol, just got to 48 too, I've figured out how to get around the first two sides, but then I just keep turning to dust.
Finally beat it! Tips for 48
Follow the ghosts and keep moving. Move clockwise and when you get to the top of the third side, wait a beat before moving to the ghost where the cannons aim. If you wait a second, then you can immediately move backwards where the second ghost will appear and be out of danger.
Hope that makes sense, I'm not very good at explaining stuff. lol
I'm still very stuck on 24, I'd love it if some one helped me out, it's been two days!
excellente game, had me hooked from the start. cool music, game mechanics and cute graphics. I'll keep coming back for more, thanks!
Level 24
d d (kill the explorer on the platform) u r r d (now you move with the arrow) u l d (kill the first guy from the left on the ground) u l d (kill the second guy) u l d
can someone help me out for level 34, i'm unbelieveably stuck!
Walkthrough
Hope it helps.
1
d r u
2
r d l d r , d l d r l
3
r d l u l , d r u r u
4
u l l r d , l u u l d , r d
5
u r d u l , u r d l d , r u r
6
d u r u l , d l u l d , l d
7
l d r u l , d r u u l , d r u r d , l u r
8
l u l d r , u l d r d , l u r
9
u d l r d , l u d r
10
u l d l u , r u d l u
11
r u r u r , d l d l d , l u r u r , d l d r u , l d r u r , d
12
d r u l u , l d r u r , d l u l
13
d u l u r , d l d r d , l u r u l , u r
14
r d (guy 1) u r d (guy 3) u l d r d (guy 2) u
15
r d (2 guys at the same time) u r d (guy) l d l u r d (guy) l (guy) u r u l d (guy) u r d r (guy) u r (guy) d l d
16
u l u
17
r d (guy) r d d l d (guy) r d d l d (guy) r d (guy) r u r (guy) r u r u r (guy) r u r u r (guy) u l d , d d d l (guy) u u r (guy) d
18
When you kill all the explorers and go to the left, stop before the TNT; u u r d r r d r
19
l r u l (guy) l u
20
l u l d u r r (2 guys) u l (2 guys) u r l d l u l
21
u l (guy) r (guy) u (guy) l l u l (guy) d
now you are on the pyramid, kill the others
22
wait for the ghosts right above the left spears UP, RIGHT, DOWN (kill 2 guys at the bottom).
Wait for the 3 ghosts at the top and UP, RIGHT, DOWN, LEFT
wait for the 2 ghosts under then go DOWN, wait for the 2 vertical ghosts in front of the spears and LEFT
3 ghosts, and go UP, LEFT and kill the two guys at the top.
Guys are gone, go out.
23
u l r d r
24
d d (guy on the platform) u r r d (arrow) u l d (guy) u l d (guy) u l d
25
u r d r (guy) l d
26
r l u, now you need to wait for the right ghosts for the directions below
d r d r u
27
u l , now you are right under the gate. Smash the guys just using up and down and go out.
28
d r u r (guy) d l d l (through the orange door) r d l (4 guys) r u u l d l (through green door), d l u l (guy) d r d r (through the red door)
29
r d d l u and let the cannons do the job for you.
30
R U R smash the first floor.
D L smash the third floor.
U R smash the second floor.
D L U out
31
U L (bottom left ghosts stop you) D R U (top right guy is gone)
D R (bottom right ghosts) D (kill the four guys)
L U (top left guy is gone)
R U (top left ghosts stop you and you are out)
32
Timing is important.
L D R U L U R
33
U L D (guy) L U L U R D R (guy) U L D L D L U L D (guy) L D (guy) R U L U R D L D L U L D L U
34
D R (through blue door), U (arrow and through red door), U L U D (arrow and through orange door), D L
35
D R U R U R D L D (guy) L U R D (guy) L U U R D
36
R (through blue) L D (through green) L D (guy) R (guy) L U R D D L U (through orange) L U L U U L D (and kill the two guys at the same time) U
37
L D D D R U, R R D R U , U U R U
38
D R U L (guy) L D (guy) R (guy) D L D (guy) L U R D L (guy) R
39
D L R U (through green) , L (wait fo the ghost) R U L (wait for the ghost, do not do through the blue door) D R (through the red door)
40
Horizontal ghosts are from left to right: 1,2,3,4
Vertical ghosts are from top to bottom: a,b,c,d
R (ghost 1) D R (to the blue door) , R (ghost 3) D R (to the red door) , L D (ghost d) R D L
41
R D R U R (2 guys) D L (guy) D R R D R (cannons kill the guys at the bottom, go through red door)
42
Do not go through the red door, wait for the ghost U L D L
Go towards the green door, wait for the right ghosts U R D
Before going through the green door, wait for the ghost appearing in front of the red door.
Using the right ghosts, go out L U L U L D
43
D (through orange) D (guy) R (guy) U (guy) U U L U (guy) L D (guy) R U (guy) R
44
Before you go through the colourful doors, wait for the ghosts to appear at their exits)
U R R D (guy) R U R R U U L (guy) U L (go through the red door)
U L R (orange)
U L L (green)
U L (blue)
L U
45
Start when the ghost in the middle appears
D R
46
Wait for the right ghosts to go with the right directions.
R D (guy)
L R (through the blue door)
L D U R
47
L U (guy) L D L U R (go with the arrow and smash the guy), L L D U L
48
Timing is important, this level works mostly with the ghosts.
Grouping of the directions is according to the order of appearance of the ghosts.
U R U - R R U R - D L D - R D L D L (through the blue door)
Great game! It's, dare I say, a real blast!:-)
Unfortunately, I've hit the wall on lvl 32. My fingers are crippled due to scleraderma, so I'm not fast enough to dodge the cannonballs. One of the things I really liked about the game was it didn't rely heavily on split second timing.:-(
That's so nitrome :)
Ha, got myself stuck in an endless teleportation loop on level 43.
Nice review and a very nice game, I am at l23 now - doing well, we'll see how I get on..
my question is, around the late 80s/start of the 90s there was a game for the PC (DOS) which was very close to Guardian Rock, does anyone know what I talk about?
This thing is driving me crazy for a looong time :-)
Thanks !
The ending is cool...
The temple is saved, the remaining intruders all run away in terror, and the Guardian Rock "hooks up with a spirit block chick named Greta" and they live mostly happily together for the rest of their eternal lives. Aww, isn't that sweet?
LVL 38:
Left, Right, Down, Right, Up, Left, Left, Down, Right, Down, Left, Down, Left,Up, Left, Down, Right.
There You Go! DONE!
Woah, when I saw the image I almost forgot this wasn't a Nitrome game. Great game tho.
help with level 7?
somebody help me on lvl 7 plz its hard
So does anyone know what is up with the special square things? There are like stars and other shapes but I dont get what they are there for.
Update