Escape the Volcano

In this game you fly as Glubgar and guide him through the often thin volcano tunnels, past geysers, fireballs, and scorching rocks, all the while trying to gather valuable gems. If you manage to score well enough, you can win yourself a shiny new trophy – or even a precious avatar! Volcano Run II is no walk in the park, however, and it will take a lot of skill, practice, and determination to gain such an elusive avatar. Hopefully after reading this guide, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your goals!

In the following sections I will introduce you to the basic components of the game, as well as give you some useful tips!

The Basics

Lives

Glubgar begins the game with three lives, and if you know what (or rather who) to type, you can quickly grab a fourth life, and maybe save yourself from missing out on a trophy or the avatar.

Shields

Shields appear occasionally throughout the game, and take the shape of a small bubble. These can be useful if you’re heading straight for a moving rock or stray fireball, but they only last for around five seconds, so don’t go out of your way to collect one, especially not if it would be even remotely dangerous to get there!

Gems

Gems also appear right from the start, and always appear in groups of three. Most often, you will find yellow gems, which are worth a handy 10 points. On occasion, you may find a red gem grouped with the yellow gems. These red gems are worth a great 20 points, so be on the lookout!

Obstacles

There are many obstacles which you will see whilst flying through the volcano tunnels. These include rocks, fireballs, and geysers. Rocks and fireballs will appear from the beginning of the game. Rocks will either be stationary or moving vertically, but they only appear in mid to wider sections of tunnel, making them relatively easy to avoid. Fireballs appear (for the most part) one at a time, and only around gems. However, they appear in all tunnel types, and are extremely hard to navigate past in the small sections of tunnel. They can also appear two or even three at a time! Geysers are only found later in the game, after you have travelled around 500 metres or more, and spurt hot magma upwards, blocking your path completely for short burst of time. These can be very tricky and difficult to avoid, especially in the later stages of the game.

Flying

You control Glubgar’s flight – how high he goes, how smoothly he travels, and how well he fits through the tunnels. To make Glubgar fly upwards you simply click your left mouse button; to make him fly downwards, simply let go of the button. If you hold the button continuously, Glubgar will smoothly fly upwards. This is good to avoid rocks and fireballs heading your way as you can quickly fly out of their way. If you continuously click the mouse button, Glubgar will stay at basically the same level, moving only slightly up and down with each click. This technique is useful for travelling through small tunnels as you can more easily avoid bumping into a tunnel wall.

Tunnels

The volcano tunnels come in three sizes: large open tunnels, medium sized tunnels, and small and dangerous tunnels. Try to avoid spending too long in smaller sections, as they are the most dangerous - particularly if a fireball is heading your way!

The Tips

C and V

Some players always use these keys, whereas others don’t use them at all. I implore that you use them, as they are the most important tool you will get in the game. If you master the use of these keys, you are well on your way to getting a brand new avatar to add to your collection. The ‘C’ key will slow Glubgar down, and make him thin and long vertically. This is a great key to use if you are about to hit a moving rock, or need to find some extra time before you can slip past that pesky fireball. The ‘V’ key will speed Glubgar up, making him thin and long horizontally. This key does wonders for getting you through small tunnels, or past fireballs and rocks when you only have a small space to work with.

Geysers

I know I have covered them already, but you need to know how to get past them, rather than just knowing what they are. Geysers always come in pairs (sometimes the pairs even come together – I have seen up to eight geysers in a row!), so you don’t want to just rush right through them both, or hold off until you can definitely make it safely through the first geyser. If you do either of these things, you will be lucky to make it past them. When I see a geyser, I quickly hold down the ‘V’ speed key to make it past the first geyser. This gives me plenty of time (with the help of the ‘C’ key) to hold off until it is safe to pass the second geyser, without worrying if the rear wall is going to catch up with me.

Technique

On my first life, I always aim to go for the longest distance possible. Always aim to travel for over 1000 metres, as this will most likely lead to your avatar dream. For your next two (or three) lives, just try to collect as many gems as possible to make up your score, as you have already achieved your best distance.

When you have a bonus gem total of around 450 or higher, gems will no longer appear. Instead, you will always get three fireballs at once. This obviously makes it very tricky to survive, especially when you’re in the smaller tunnels later in the game. To stop this from happening right as you’re reaching that elusive 1000 metre mark, I try to avoid collecting gems for the first 400 or 500 metres or so. I know I sound loopy – avoid gems, why would you do that?! Trust me, though, you’ll be thanking yourself later when you only have to contend with one fireball at a time and have two or three more lives left in which to collect all those gems.

Avatar and Trophy

The trophy score varies throughout the month. At the beginning of the month any avatar score will most likely get you a trophy, but further towards the end of the month you may need to get as high as 1600 for a trophy.

Final Tips and Don’ts

Don’t go for the extra life unless you’re down to only one left. I find that by gaining the extra life early on, you also gain extra fireballs, which is never nice!

Don’t do anything risky to attain a shield – remember their protection won’t last long.

Don’t stay in the small tunnels for long – make use of the ‘V’ key and get out of their fast!

Don’t collect too many gems to begin with – it will be much easier later on when you only have one fireball coming your way.

Don’t rush in or hesitate too long when you reach geysers. Take your time, whilst making sure you’re not in danger of being caught up to by the screen.

Master the use of the ‘C’ and ‘V’ keys for improved performance.

And remember to practice, practice, and practice! If you follow these tips and practice daily, you’ll be well on your way to adding that avatar to your collection, or gaining a new trophy for your cabinet.

Hopefully this guide will help you reach your goal, good luck!