 Flying Through Volcano Run II
by pregnatress
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Any game avatar is a proof of mastery of the Games Room. Many hours of practice, sweaty palms, and maximum focus. Some would even say playing Neopets games gets them into their flow state, where they are completely immersed in an activity. Volcano Run II is no exception, as it is considered one of the most elusive game avatars. You may have always been told that practice makes perfect, an optimistic saying...but blind practice is no good. Thankfully, here's a guide to learn the basics, as well as the tips and tricks, to Volcano Run II. With the ins and outs in mind while you practice, there's no doubt hard work will get you to that avatar and trophy! Deep in the depths of Tyrannia is a cave filled with valuable gems. However, to plunder the riches, you must be brave enough to enter a cave filled with volcanic rocks and scorching lava. Luckily, a hero has shown up and has lent his courage to Neopians far and wide. In Volcano Run II we fly through the caves as Glubgar the Tyrannian Scorchio. How to Play The goal of the game is pretty straightforward - to travel as far as possible while collecting precious gems. Holding down a left-click or trackpad will fly Glubgar upwards, and letting go will let him slowly descend. Of course, it can't be that simple. Along the way, there will be rocks, both moving and in place. There are also fireballs that come towards you from the right side of the screen. To help with dodging these, there are a few more controls. Pressing 'C' will slow Glubgar down while pressing 'V' will speed him up through an area. Not only do they change Glubgar's speed, but 'C' will make Glubgar taller and thinner, which is great for waiting out fireballs and moving rocks, while 'V' will make him flatter and wider, which is great for zooming past narrow areas and between fireballs. Sometime after you've reached 500 meters, you'll start seeing geysers as obstacles. These come in pairs and will turn on and off, spewing lava straight upwards. More on navigating these in the tips section. Finally, there are also shield powerups that will appear along the way, and they look like bubbles. They will protect you from a rock or a fireball, as you might have guessed. For the most part, I completely ignore these - sometimes they can provide a false sense of security since they can disappear without notice and do not protect you for long. Scoring You may think getting a high score or the avatar (1500+) must be pretty easy, having three lives and all. However, the way the game is scored is that it takes only your longest run plus your bonus points, which are the points collected from gems. Yellow gems, which is mostly what you'll encounter, are worth 10 points each, but occasionally you will see a red gem that is worth 20 points. Bonus points carry across all of your lives, but once they reach 450 or higher, the gems will stop appearing. This means that to get an avatar score of above 1500, you need to get a distance of 1000-1050 in a single run. I will explain how you could only need a distance of 1000 below. Tips You may come across a way, or a certain flying Scorchio, to get an extra life, but this is not very helpful. Rumour says that using the extra life actually results in extra fireballs, which is NOT fun. Due to the way the game is scored, I recommend just restarting the game after you die on your first run if you don't reach a distance of 1000. The only time the life could be useful is if you've already reached the distance you need on your first life and you need the extra life to cap out on bonus points, although that should be the easier part. Delay your gem collecting. Once you reach 450, anything that would have been a gem instead becomes extra fireballs, making it extremely hard to travel a further distance. You could potentially go for a distance run on your first life, and once you are successful in getting 1000+, you can spend the rest of your lives collecting your bonus points. Time your bonus points so that you stop at 440. This way, you can grab at least three more in one group to get to 470. If you are lucky, sometimes two groups of gems will spawn before you go past the threshold, meaning you could grab six gems at 440, resulting in a bonus score of 500 (or even higher if you get lucky with a red gem)! For most of the game in general, I try to keep Glubgar near the middle (or a little bit behind that) of the screen. This gives plenty of time to hang back with 'C' or zoom forward with 'V' to dodge any necessary obstacles. For geysers, my typical strategy is to use 'V' to zoom past the first one, hold 'C' until the second one turns off, then zoom past it again. Of course, this works best if you follow the tip above about keeping Glubgar near the center of the screen. Since the geysers always come in pairs, this strategy can be used consistently. Sometimes, you will get multiple pairs in a row, making for a long stretch of geysers. Make sure to be patient! When you have the space behind you, it is always safer to hold 'C' and wait for the geyser to turn on and then off than it is to race past it without knowing how long until it will turn on again. One of the hardest terrain patterns for me is when the cave narrows and there are fireballs through it. There is a dip where you can dodge the fireball by letting Glubgar descend into the dip, then fly back above once the fireballs have passed. In general, practice a LOT! Learning all of the different terrains and how to dodge obstacles in them will give you the expertise you need to earn the avatar, and likely even a gold trophy, especially if you're attempting this near the beginning of the month! The End.
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