Big Kahuna Reef 2: Chain Reaction

Big Kahuna Reef 2

Help File

Welcome to Big Kahuna Reef 2: Chain Reaction!

Dive into over 700 creative and colorful levels as you discover new and exotic fish in this stupendous underwater sequel! Lead on Big Kahuna…your quest awaits!

Please choose from among the following categories below:

Quick Help

How To Play

### Play Styles & Modes

Relaxed Play

Kahuna Quest

Tiki Challenge

Other Adventures

Bombs

Special Objects

Scoring and Lives

Timer

Sound and Totem Progression

Mouse Party

My Fish Screen

Level Editor

Troubleshooting

# Quick Help

Top 3 Things to Know:

1. The Fish Net. Knowing how to use it is absolutely vital. The Fish Net deletes ANY unlocked piece on the game board. You can use it to get any piece closer to two others to make a match by deleting a piece in the way. Click on the glowing Net (next to the Tiki Head) with your mouse to turn your mouse cursor into a net and take a piece off of the board. If the Net is not glowing, keep making matches of 3 or more pieces until it is.

2. Matches of 5 or more make Bombs. ANY match of 5 or more of the same piece will generate a bomb. Matching more than 5 pieces creates larger bombs. Pieces falling into a match of 5 or more create smaller bombs than if you make the match yourself.

3. “Throwing” a Bomb. Once you HAVE a bomb, the best way to use it is to swap the bomb TOWARDS the stuff you want to destroy. Sure, you can double-click on it to blow it up, but for a BIGGER explosion, swap the bomb with ANY piece next to it to make the explosion radius bigger. The explosion will be more destructive, and will blow more stuff up in the direction of the swap.

# How To Play

Move game pieces into matches of 3 or more in a straight line horizontally or vertically. Doing this on top of boxes will break them. The point of Big Kahuna Reef 2 is to break all of the boxes on each level, and to do this before the time runs out. Keep doing this until you run out of lives or you have beaten the last level and won the game.

In addition, you are “unlocking” fish as you progress through the game. These new fish are not only “rescued” from some of the boxes in later levels, but they can be played with on the “My Fish” screen accessed from the Main Menu or in-between levels.

## Play Styles & Modes

# Relaxed Play

This mode of play is exactly like the standard or “normal” mode of play, except for one large exception…the timer does not end the level if it runs out. In Relaxed Play, the timer acts simply as a way to get bonus points for finishing early, but does not penalize you for taking more time than the timer has. This style of play is for those players that like to take their time when playing and do not want to have to worry about how much time they have to finish a particular level.

#

# Kahuna Quest

This is the best way to start playing Big Kahuna Reef 2. It helps you learn the fun game play dynamics and gives quick instructions on how to use the bombs to their fullest potential. Most importantly, playing the Kahuna Quest unlocks the 26 fish for play in the Other Adventures area (outlined below) and also unlocks the Tiki Challenge area. There are 100 levels in the Kahuna Quest.

# Tiki Challenge

These levels are fairly challenging, and require a decent set of Big Kahuna Reef skills to enjoy. They are marked by tricky boxes to break, challenging areas that make you think, and a certain mastery of bomb destruction skills on later levels. There are also 18 fish to discover and unlock in this area, and 35 levels to complete.

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# Other Adventures

One of the cool new features of Big Kahuna Reef 2 is the over 600 included level sets created by players from around the world. These sets are loaded with challenging styles, crazy art and unique game play twists, and are indicative of the creative ideas that can be found on downloaded level sets from the Internet.

If you haven’t seen what these players from around the world are up to, you really should give it a try. If you play through all of these level sets included in the game, there are even more waiting online to download for FREE.

# Bombs

These explosive devices destroy pieces and boxes in a radius around themselves. Quick Bomb info:

· Bombs can be blown up by swapping them with ANY piece next to the bomb or simply double clicking on it. Swapping the bomb with ANY piece next to it will create a larger explosion.

· Bombs are created in the game by making a match of 5 or more of the same connected pieces at the same time.

· Pieces falling into a match of 5 or more create smaller bombs than if YOU move the piece into the match yourself.

· Bombs destroy one “level” of whatever they affect. If the box is a metallic Two-Hit box (meaning that it takes two hits to destroy), then the bomb makes it a single-hit wooden box. If the box has a single lock on it, then it takes the lock off of the box. If the box has a double-lock on it, then it takes off one of the locks and makes it a single locked box.

Types of Bombs

1. Firecrackers. These bombs have a destructive radius of 1 box around itself. They are created by 5 pieces FALLING into a match and cannot be created by the player. If the player makes a match by putting 5 pieces together, a Black Bomb will be created (see below).

2. Black Bomb. These bombs have a destructive radius of 2 boxes around itself. They are created by the player moving 5 of the same pieces into a match OR by 6 pieces FALLING into a match on the board.

3. Pack of Dynomite. These bombs have a destructive radius of 3 boxes around itself.

4. Nuke. These yellow bombs have a destructive radius of 4 boxes around itself.

5. Super Nuke. These green bombs have a destructive radius of 5 boxes around itself. In some cases, a Super-Duper Nuke can be created that has a destructive radius of 6, but good luck creating one of those.

“Throwing” a Bomb

Swapping a bomb with ANY piece next to it makes the largest explosions. It also allows you to direct the force of the explosion in that direction. When “thrown”, or swapped, to explode, the circular radius of the explosion becomes elliptical. This means that it will destroy more boxes towards the swap…it also means that it will destroy more boxes AWAY from the swap as well.

In just about every case, it is better to swap a bomb to explode it rather than simply double-clicking on it.

#

# Special Objects

There are four special objects during play in Big Kahuna Reef 2 to watch out for.

- Locks. These metal locks and chains prevent the player from switching out the piece below the lock with another piece to make a match. The only way to break a lock is to bring the other two matching pieces to the locked piece. In addition, pieces can be double locked, indicated by two overlapping chains.
- Metal Boxes. These boxes require one match to break it open to reveal the wooden box underneath. Metal boxes are the equivalent of having to break all the boxes on the board twice.
- The Skeleton Fish of Kamehameha. If the player moves three or more of these skeletons directly into a match, they magically reconstruct the boxes underneath themselves. This is bad. However, if the player can make a match that then indirectly drops the Fish Skeletons into a match, they then will provide bonus points and clear the boxes underneath the match for the player…or bombs can blow them up as well. This is good.
- Fish Net. This item can be very useful in clearing out a game board. The fish net deletes a piece from the board WITHOUT breaking the box behind it, and gets “charged” in the game by simply making multiple matches of 3 or more game pieces. Here are a couple of ways the Fish Net can be used to your advantage:

1. Delete a piece that makes one piece closer to two others so it can be easily swapped to make a match.

2. Delete a piece in-between 3 Skeleton Fish pieces to force them to match to clear them off the board and give you bonus points.

# Scoring

The Basics:

- AT LEAST 2 points for each box broken (Look at “Sound and Totem Progression” below for more details)
- 500 points for finishing a level
- 10 points for each second left in the timer at the end of the level
- 250 points for each Skeleton Fish of Kamehameha match not directly matched, or blown up by a bomb. Fish Skeletons moved directly into a match by the player earns no points.
- There are NO POINTS scored for just making a match of 3 or more objects.

Why do you care about points? For starters, points give you lives.

· You get an extra life at 50,000 points

· You get another extra life at 100,000 points

· Another at 200,000 points

· Another at 300,000 points

· Another at 500,000 points, and one thereafter for every 200,000 points earned

After that, bragging rights for a level high score and then…you just like the way that your score looks, especially if it’s higher than the last time you played.

# Timer

The “Tiki Head” in the lower right corner of the screen has a colored liquid in its mouth. This liquid slowly drains from its mouth as the level progresses, and if this liquid disappears, the level has been lost. As it drains, it changes colors, running the spectrum from blue to red so you can tell at a glance how much in danger you are.

NOTE: The timer only ends the level in the standard play mode. In “Relaxed Play”, the timer does not end the level.

The amount of time that you have per level can change, so a “full” Tiki Head on one level may be 9 minutes, while on another level it may be 7 minutes. The times have been balanced on a level-by-level basis.

You also get a bonus for time remaining at the end of the level of 10 points per second. However, all time “purchased” at the One Minute Remaining Warning does not provide a bonus. So, if you extend the time on a level at the cost of a life, you do not get bonus time for that extended time.

# Sound and Totem Progression

You are rewarded in Big Kahuna Reef 2 for breaking boxes in rapid succession. You are rewarded with increasing amounts of points and increasing the size of your “Tiki Totem”.

· Matching 3 objects and breaking boxes causes a special sound to play. Continuing to do this WITHIN 6 SECONDS OF THE LAST MATCH that broke a box will cause another sound to play that is progressively higher pitched.

· The “Tiki Totem” on the side of the screen will get slightly larger as this sound increases in pitch. This is a physical representation of just how high you have progressed your sound. The Totem reaches its peak at 50 box-breaking matches in a row.

· You get more points for each progressive match that breaks a box WITHIN 6 SECONDS of the last match that broke a box. You get 2 points for the first match, and then +2 for each box after that. This looks like:

First Boxes in a Match: 2 points each

Second set of Boxes: 4 points (if broken within 6 seconds of the first match)

Third set of Boxes: 6 points (if broken within 6 seconds of the second match)

Fourth set of Boxes: 8 points (if broken within 6 seconds of the third match)

And so on…

If you notice, a subtle sound will play after 6 seconds when your Sound Progression “Chain” is broken. This signifies that you have missed that opportunity to make another match and progress your sound and increase the size of your totem. If your Totem has increased in size, you will notice that it will also decline back to it’s starting position if you have missed your consecutive box break.

# Mouse Party

This is the Big Kahuna equivalent of Multiplayer. However, the twist here is that you can have UP TO 8 PLAYERS AT ONCE ON THE SAME COMPUTER! Each player will control a mouse and will be clearing the board cooperatively or competitively with the other players.

To play Mouse Party, you will need:

1. A computer with Windows XP operating system (or newer)

2. More than one mouse. One for each player.

To get started:

1. Plug in other mice to your computer. If you have a USB mouse and an available USB port on your computer, this is easy to do. Just plug the mouse in outside of the game and then restart Big Kahuna Reef. If you don’t have a USB slot available, it gets a bit harder. <For help on putting another mouse onto your computer please go to www.mouse-party.com >

2. Select “Mouse Party” from the Main Menu and a screen will pop up with a list of colors.

3. Each player with a mouse picks a color. Each player must have a color selected to begin.

4. Choose either Cooperative or Competitive.

a. In Cooperative Mode, everyone helps in clearing the board, so there are no separate scores on a per-player basis.

b. In Competitive Mode, players play against each other to color the most squares by breaking the most wooden boxes on a level. Each broken wooden box will give the player that broke it a square of the player’s color. Trust us, this is a lot of fun!

5. Press “Play” when all options are selected. Then you will pick a level to start on, and hit “Start”. Pick a big board, as everyone will be on the same playfield!

Competitive Mode: Additional Information

· Making a match for the first time in a square will cause the background to change to that color. Sometimes a square will not be broken directly or even what the game considers indirectly by the player. In this case, this space is “clear” and can be claimed by the next player to make a direct or indirect match over it.

· The player with the most colored squares wins. In addition, the player that breaks the last wooden box on the level gets 5 bonus points.

· Directly matching the Skeleton Fish of Kamehameha will cause the matching player’s colored boxes that were underneath the skeleton match to become clear and up for grabs. It will not affect the other player’s colored boxes, so it is possible to “re-break” these boxes only to find that someone else’s color is already there.

· There are no individual score counters in the level. This is on purpose so your attention is purely on playing the game.

· Once the last box has been broken, you will be taken to a special screen that has a Tiki Totem for each player.

TOTEM SCORING

1. The height of the Totem represents how many boxes were cleared. The higher, the better.

2. The Tiki Totem that shows the Tiki Mask is the winner. Please stop complaining about how your mouse was obviously broken and move on.

3. Once the Tiki has reached the top, numbers will appear below the Totem. There may be up to 3 separate numbers listed. Adding them together will obtain your total. Here is how these numbers break down:

4. EXAMPLE: The numbers below the Totem read: “34 + 2 + 5”. This means that you broke 34 boxes that gave you a colored square, you broke 2 locks (which give you 1 point each) and you got the last box on the board, giving you a 5 point bonus.

# My Fish Screen

This screen is accessed from the Main Menu or in-between levels of the game. It shows the ocean floor, and provides a “play area” where you are welcome to create and look at the fish that have been “unlocked” so far. Please take your time to look this screen over, as even in the Demo Mode, the demo time will NOT count down while you are on this screen.

Fish “buttons” ring the “My Fish Screen”. Clicking on a button that is “active” will spawn a fish that will swim around. Fish buttons that are active will show a colored version of the fish. The top 3 in the upper left hand corner of the screen are unlocked by default.

There are also buttons that line the bottom of the screen. Here is what they do:

· Change Reef. This button will change your view to another part of the ocean floor. It will also clear the area of fish, so you are welcome to start putting new fish in from scratch.

· Hide Buttons. This button will hide all of the buttons on the screen so you can enjoy the full view of the ocean without anything in the way. Simply click the mouse again and the buttons will return.

· Main Menu. Pressing this button will save the game in progress (if accessed from between the game levels) and will take you back to the Main Menu.

· Next Level (This button only appears if accessed between game levels). This button will take you to the next level.

# Level Editor

The Level Editor for Big Kahuna Reef can be used to make your own levels. The Editor can be reached through the “Options” menu.

While we believe the Editor is easy to use, it is “unsupported”. This means that Reflexive is not responsible for providing adequate documentation or answering questions that pertain to the Editor or its use. This also means that it may be possible for the player to create levels that don’t work correctly, seem broken, or don’t do what the creator envisioned them doing. Reflexive Entertainment is not responsible for assisting designers create their levels, or “fix” features that work fine in the shipped game but might not in some extreme condition found by a player using the Editor.

However, there is another document titled “Editor Documentation” that should be in the game root directory that can help you with some questions you may have about the basics of the Level Editor.

# Troubleshooting

- MOUSE PARTY ASSISTANCE

- Can’t see the additional mouse cursor when the mouse is plugged in.

Once plugged in, move the mouse around. A cursor “update” should occur, allowing the new mouse cursor to be seen.

- No available USB ports for another mouse.

USB Hubs are available at computer stores that will allow multiple USB devices to be plugged into one port. These are easy to connect, and are really the equivalent of just plugging it in and having it work. In addition, check the “Mouse Port” on the computer as well. Some computer manufacturers will sometimes provide a USB mouse that plugs into a USB port but will leave the mouse port empty. A non-USB mouse can then be plugged into the Mouse Port.

- Other help with getting Mouse Party working:

Go to www.mouse-party.com for general assistance.

· OTHER PROBLEMS

Please contact us at support@reflexive.net