Eye of the Storm - Eye Think You Should Play!

Most of you probably tried this game once or twice, and thought it was boring, or you weren't very good and gave it up. But I dare you to try it again! Eye of the Storm is a fairly easy game; with a little common sense, you can easily gain 1000 Neopoints each time you play, which means 3000 Neopoints for you in a day! What could be better?

So what does this magnificent game entail, you ask? Well, it's really very simple - the Cyodrake's ship is lost, and it's up to you to find it. You are shown a grid of 12x20 (which means a grand total of 240) tiles, and you need to find it by clicking on the right tile! How are you supposed to find a lost ship looking randomly through 240 tiles, you ask? Simple - it's not random! Luckily for you, you have helpful crewmembers that will help you along the way.

So, now you know the basics. You click on tiles, and your goal is to find the Cyodrake's Gaze (psst... that's the ship, in case you forgot). When you click on a tile, there are a few things that can happen. One (which you really want); it will reveal the Cyodrake's Gaze! Ah, but what are the chances your first click will be the right one? Not very good. So what else might happen? The tile might reveal a helpful crewmember pointing you in the direction of the ship (No, they have all become honest crewmen, and won't lie to you), the tile could be blank, or a few special tiles even have little treats for you, but we'll cover those later.

So if you weren't lucky enough to have your first guess be the tile which would reveal the Cyodrake's Gaze, then your tile might be blank. If that's the case, choose another tile randomly until you find a helpful crewman who will point you in the right direction. In the beginning levels, you'll find that most of the tiles are not blank, but the more levels you go through, the more and more blank tiles there will be (this is because the challenge increases as you go up levels... what did you expect?). Anyways, once you find a crewman, depending on where the Cyodrake's Gaze is located, and which tile you click on, the crewman will point you in a direction. If the crewman points left, then the Cyodrake's Gaze is found to the left of that crewman. If the crewman points down, then the Cyodrake's Gaze is located below that crewman. It goes the same way for when they point right or up as well, but I'm sure you get it. Until you get the hang of it, you can click tile by tile, not skipping any as you go along. Once you start to recognize a pattern, you can skip three, maybe even four tiles at once to find the Cyodrake's Gaze more quickly, and while revealing fewer tiles. It's very helpful if you can remember which tiles you clicked on, and which crewman told you what. For example, it will help you greatly if you remember a crewman told you it was to the left of them. Then you know, that no matter what, you will never have to go right of that column. When the direction changes, don't forget that you still won't have to go right of that column. Am I confusing you? Let me clarify a bit with a picture for you visual learners.

To make things more simple, I'm making my grid 6x10; you didn't expect me to map out all 240 tiles, did you?

X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X X X

There's my grid. The Xs represent the tiles that have not yet been revealed; this is the beginning of your game. Now, let's click a tile.

X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X L X X X

X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X X X

Let's pretend I clicked the "L" tile, and I found a crewman pointing to the left. That means that the Cyodrake's Gaze will not be found in that column, or to any of the ones to the right of that tile...

X X X X X X N N N N

X X X X X X N N N N

X X X X X X N N N N

X X X X X X L N N N

X X X X X X N N N N

X X X X X X N N N N

So with just that one tile, you are able to eliminate all of the tiles to the right, above, or under the tile you just unveiled. So, I have marked all the ones that you can eliminate right away as "N". See? I have just eliminated almost half of the tiles. Let's unveil another tile.

X X X X X X N N N N

X X X X X X N N N N

X X X X X X N N N N

X X X X X U L N N N

X X X X X X N N N N

X X X X X X N N N N

Seeing as the first one said that it was to the left of that tile, it's logical that your next move would be the next tile to the left of it. Let's pretend that this one reveals a crewman pointing under him. This means we can eliminate all the tiles on the same row, or on any of the rows above it. Need some more visual support? Coming right up!

N N N N N N N N N N

N N N N N N N N N N

N N N N N N N N N N

N N N N N N U L N N

X X X X X X X N N N

X X X X X X X N N N

See? You can now eliminate all the tiles above that one, and beside it. Wow, look how much we've narrowed down our search in just two tiles? Amazing, isn't it? Using common sense like that will greatly help you in this game.

With that information, you should be able to complete most of the levels, if not all 20 if you play on the normal mode. But remember those special tiles I was telling you about? Let's take a look into those ones...

Basically, there are three special tiles; the cannon tile, the storm tile, and the loot tile. The cannon tile (which, appropriately, looks like a cannon) will destroy all the tiles adjacent to it. What does that mean? It will reveal, permanently, all the tiles touching that one tile (but not the diagonal ones). So instead of just revealing one tile, you get to see four! It's possible that doing this will reveal numerous crewmen, for more than one hint on its location, or even blank spaces. It's even been known to reveal another special tile, or even the Cyodrake's Gaze itself! Of course, revealing this tile counts as if you only revealed one, so it is a huge advantage if you stumble onto one at some point.

Then there's the storm tile, which looks like a big whirlpool. Similar to the cannon, the storm tile will reveal all the tiles adjacent to it (but not the diagonal ones), but after a period of time, just like any tile, will flip back over. So it's important to take note and remember what it reveals. Just like the cannon, it might reveal crewmen, blank spaces, other special tiles, or even the Cyodrake's Gaze.

Lastly, there is the loot tile. This one looks like a treasure chest. I think it's pretty obvious what this one does - it adds points to your score, but only after you find the Cyodrake's Gaze. And before you get any ideas, once you click on a tile containing the loot, it disappears, so there's no point on clicking it numerous times for more points.

So you know all the basics of how to play, even some basic strategies. So you should be able to go out on your own and have fun playing, and make a whole lot of Neopoints out of it too! But just hold your horses for one more minute.

Before you run off, you might notice there are three modes you can play your game - Zen mode (play if you want to practice, don't bother if you want your score to count or to send Neopoints, you can't), Normal Mode, and Time Trial. If you're just learning how to play, and you're not very quick yet, I'd suggest Normal Mode. Once you're comfortable with the game, and you're fairly speedy, switch to Time Trial Mode, which is really where you get the most points if you're any good. There is also an options panel, where you decide if you want the "Brief View" or the "Extended View". Basically, if you're just learning, and you want it to be easier, switch over to the extended view, which means tiles will be shown for longer amounts of time, but it will take away from your score. The Brief View should be used if you want a higher score, are going for a trophy, or want to collect more Neopoints.

That pretty much sums that up! Pretty easy, no?

Just a few more quick tricks:

1. The first tile you click should be somewhere in the middle so that you can eliminate more right away; this will help you reduce the amount of time you take to find the Cyodrake's Gaze, and how many tiles you need to reveal.

2. You want to go the quickest you can, and reveal the least amount of tiles so that you will get a time bonus, and also just a higher bonus (which is reduced every tile you click).

3. Be patient, this game also requires a bit of luck if you want the highest scores (like finding the Cyodrake's Gaze the very first tile you reveal!).

4. Practice. I know it's pretty obvious that the more practice you get, the better, but really, this game is all about practice, luck, and strategy!

So now I leave you all to scuttle over and go play Eye of the Storm! Possibly the best flash game ever made on Neopets. If you've got any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them, just drop me a neomail! Have a great one, my fellow Neopians!