Duck Life 5: Treasure Hunt

The fire duck from the last adventure has been defeated, and the volcano where it lived has cooled into something far more tempting: a cave said to hide a mysterious treasure. Adventurers from all over the world have rushed to the town at its foot, and your little duck is about to join them. Duck Life 5: Treasure Hunt keeps the training-and-upgrading heart of the Duck Life series but swaps the usual races for something new - flying deep into the cave with a jetpack, dodging dangers and filling your pockets with coins.

Make Your Duck Yours

Before the adventure starts, you get to design your hero. The creator lets you pick eyes, hair, a tattoo and the body colour, with a rainbow slider for picking any shade you like. Later on, the fashion store and the hairdresser in town let you change your look again whenever you fancy a makeover, so your duck can be as stylish or as silly as you want.

The Cave Runs

The core of Duck Life 5 is the expedition. You click (or tap) to fire your jetpack and fly through the tunnels, collecting coins and keeping clear of the hazards the cave throws at you. Fuel is limited: the jetpack burns it while you climb, and it only starts to refill after you have been on the ground for a few seconds. Learning when to boost and when to drop and recover is the main skill, especially on long runs where a fuel mistake leaves you stranded right in front of a danger.

Along the way you will find treasure chests, reward keys and reward eggs that hatch items, from common bits and pieces to rare finds. Every trip into the cave earns money that feeds straight back into making your duck stronger.

Training and Upgrades

Back at camp you improve your duck in two ways. Training builds three core stats:

• Health - trained by swimming. More health means you can survive more hits in the cave.
• Speed - lets you dodge dangerous objects more easily.
• Luck - improves your coins and your chances of better treasure.

Then there is the jetpack itself. Upgrades increase fuel capacity, speed up fuel regeneration and reduce how quickly fuel burns, while other upgrades raise the value of coins and boost the chance of finding chests and reward keys. A bubble shield from the gadget shop protects you from one hit until it pops, and upgrading it makes it recharge faster.

Super Duck Powers

The most entertaining part of the shop is the collection of super duck powers. Some of our favourites:

• Boomerang Shot fires a boomerang straight ahead.
• Sting flies out to attack and then returns to guard you.
• Uproot Dance bobs up and down in front of your duck, blocking harmful objects.
• Jumping Whale clears everything off the screen in one huge splash.
• A coin-magnet power pulls nearby coins toward you, which pairs beautifully with luck training.

Life in the Duck Town

Between expeditions you hang around a busy little town that has been flooded with treasure seekers. The residents have plenty to say: one dreams of starting a new life in Duck City once the treasure is found, another swears they saw a UFO when the volcano erupted, a grumpy local complains that adventurers are crowding the streets, and someone is stuck on a roof and very much wants to get down. Their lines are short and silly, but they give the world a personality that a plain upgrade menu never could.

The town is also where every shop lives - the gadget shop for shields and powers, the fashion store and hairdresser for your look, and your camp, where items sometimes appear on their own thanks to a lucky upgrade. Checking in after each run quickly becomes a rewarding routine.

Controls

• Mouse click / tap - fly with the jetpack, choose menus and buy upgrades.
• Everything else, from shopping to customising, is point-and-click.

On the very first screen you choose a language and a graphics setting (fast, average or slow). If your computer is older, choosing the lighter option keeps the cave runs smooth.

Tips for Treasure Hunters

• Spend early money on fuel capacity - longer flights mean longer, richer runs.
• Do not ignore health training. A couple of extra hits is the difference between bailing out early and reaching the deeper, more valuable sections.
• Combine luck with the coin-value upgrade for much faster earnings.
• Talk to the townsfolk. Their chatter is funny and occasionally hints at what is waiting further in.

If you grew up with the series, Duck Life 4 is also on the site with its classic racing and training. For a different kind of flying challenge, try Apple Worm or the bouncy Drift Boss.