It's more Flo and more of the finely-tuned time management action we've come to love in Hotel Dash: Suite Success! Flo's friend Quinn is expanding her wedding business by offering honeymoon packages, but the hotel she's booked is a bit of a lemon. Enter Flo and her uncanny ability to turn any business from failure to success in the course of one casual game!

Running a hotel can be, in the world of video games, boiled down to a simple chain of events. First, patrons will enter and wait for you at the desk. Drag and drop them onto a room to get them settled in, then bring up their luggage. Guests usually want something to eat shortly after that, sending you off to the kitchen to fetch some food. Some customers will have other needs, such as fresh towels for trips to the pool or wake-up calls, but otherwise all you need to do is gather payment, take out the dirty laundry and you're good to go!

Guests come in a number of different varieties, including large parties which must be matched to bigger rooms. They also have unique personalities which have to be taken into consideration. Some customers have lower patience levels than others, forcing you to tend to their needs first, while others make frequent visits to the pool or bring along several suitcases you'll have to carry to their room. Guests also wear colored clothing that can be matched to room colors for an extra bonus. Who said the service industry was easy?

Upgrades play a more important role in Hotel Dash than most other time management games. You can beef-up the usual suspects in the hotel lobby, such as buying better carpet or improving the scenery to keep customers happy. Now, though, you can add stars to individual rooms which will earn you a star buck each time someone stays there. This special cash is used to upgrade the honeymoon suite, which, if you'll recall, is the reason you're playing this game in the first place!

Analysis: It's hard to overlook the enormous success of the Dash series and the impact it's had on casual gaming. Where would the time management genre be without Flo and her various outings? Somehow each game finds that sweet spot between retreading old material and introducing something unique. Hotel Dash: Suite Success is no different, tweaking that time management formula just enough to draw you in for level after level of fun.

Colorful customers are another staple of the series, and Hotel Dash doesn't skimp on the character. They may not have the outlandish charm of the people in Ice Cream Dee Lites, but you'll grow to loathe the fashionista, the ghost, and the business people for their own unique quirks all the same.

The chief drawback to Hotel Dash: Suite Success, other than its lack of originality, is the low-level of difficulty. You can charge through the story mode in a long afternoon, scoring "expert" on nearly every level without breaking a sweat. Endless mode, available from the main menu, offers a challenge if you're craving one, but otherwise its calm waters from level one all the way to the end.

It may be short-ish experience, but Hotel Dash: Suite Success scratches that time management itch you have with style. It looks great, it plays smooth, and it dials up the complexity ever so gradually, compelling you to keep playing even when you have to, you know, work or go to school or something.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Hotel Dash: Suite Success is available to download from these affiliates:

It's dismantling time again! Yes, gam.ebb.jp has brought us something new to tear apart in a frenzy of violence! Or, you know, just to calmly pull to pieces layer by layer. Welcome to Dismantlement: Tea Canister, another great point-and-click puzzle game where you can have fun reducing something to its basic components. Mind you, there's usually not much to dismantle when it comes to a tea canister. Open the lid and find tea, that's what usually happens. But if you happen to find a strange sort of device? Well, that can't be good news. Never mind that it's a bomb. Surely it's not that dangerous.

As the instructions so lovingly point out at the beginning of the game: you only have a screwdriver. Good thing you have one, otherwise this game would be more like Stare at Things: Your Lunch. Simply click on screws to remove them, and click on other things to manipulate them. You'll figure it out, you're a smart gamer, you.

Like its predecessor, Dismantlement: Radio, Dismantlement: Tea Canister is an exercise in patient deconstruction and puzzle solving. There's no moving around from front to back in this one, instead you are proceeding layer by cautious layer through the cylinder of the canister. Trickier puzzles await the intrepid explorer as they work their way towards the bottom. Can you get there without blowing up? Only time will tell.

Analysis: Oh happy day, a sequel! For all those gear heads who had fun the first time around, taking apart a tea canister is just as intriguing as a radio. This one's a bit trickier than the original, and once you hit a certain point, you're working against a timer, so be ready to work fast. Fortunately, if you blow yourself up, you don't have to restart the game, just the countdown.

Dismantlement: Tea Canister isn't without a few flaws, though. The music puzzle, for example, requires both sound and a keen ear, making it rather inaccessible to those hard of hearing. Some of the puzzles also require some dexterity, so if you're working with a touchpad, you might have a rough time with this one.

Still, it's nice to tear things apart without getting into trouble, so go for it. Take a break from the everyday and start dismantling! Just try not to blow up so much, okay?

Play Dismantlement: Tea Canister!

Surprise! It's Link Dump Friday!... what do you mean, you weren't surprised? Well, okay, sure we do this every week, but would it have killed you to look excited? Sheesh. And after we went through all the trouble of renting the acrobatic ponies. Oh well, at least we're together, and that's what counts! We missed you, did you miss us?... well, now, that's just rude. Lucky for you, we've already got these games ready, and we're too bloated on Thanksgiving leftovers to take them back.

• Ononmin - Although it sounds like someone trying to read a LOLcat caption with a mouthful of peanut-butter, Ononmin is the latest from Tonypa. You've got sixty seconds to rack up as many points you can using nothing but the awesome power of your ricochet. You know, like He-Man, but less running around bare chested. Unless that's how you like to play. I don't judge. I merely stare in chilly disapproval.
• Magic Factory - I shouldn't even have to tell you why you should play this spot-the-difference-meets-jigsaw-puzzle game. Just listen to that music. Listen to it. It is wonderful and whimsical and you are going to enjoy it and be delighted or so help you. Any similarities to factories manned by small green-haired, orange-skinned men are purely coincidental. Probably.
• Shapely - I'm a simple girl. I like bright colours, sparkly things, addictive gameplay, and heavy weaponry. Three of those things are in this puzzle game that lets you play at your own pace to reach the objectives. While the difficulty curve is non-existent and the game runs out of new things to show you moments after hitting the start button, it's a well made and relaxing puzzle to fill your afternoon with.
• Revert to Growth - Robots and plants are normally natural enemies, like yours truly and carob cookies. However, in this pleasant but easy puzzle platformer, machine and mulch have learned to come together for a common goal. Assembling a space ship. Admittedly, plants from outer-space have a bad reputation, but then not all of them are quite so lovely to look at as the visuals offered here, Seymour.
• Glow Cut - Essentially Tetris by way of fast-paced knife skills and a detour through Nervous Breakdowntown, Glow Cut sees you slashing swiftly falling shapes down to a more manageable size. Or else. While it does sport a few different mechanics to keep you on your toes, it doesn't have quite enough meat to it to be anything more than an afternoon fling. But oh, what a passionate and tempestuous romance it will be while it lasts, mon petit chou.

Day after day we deliver recommendations for worthwhile casual gameplay experiences—and while we don't always hit a home run, we do get it right most of the time—and the directional flow of all this goodness is predominantly from us to you. You Are Games is our attempt to balance that equation, to put you into the role of producer and challenge you to create for us.

For this week's You Are Games, we want you to put on your green leotards and level design tin foil hats and dial them to "R-I-D-D-L-E". Then sit back and let your eyes roll around to the back of your head to see the mental images that your brain displays across its high definition widescreen display. We want every brilliant idea that you see, so be sure to take notes! We don't want to miss even one usable puzzle.

If you're unsure of what we mean by a "riddle game", just take a look through other riddle games we have featured here at JIG. Some are better than others, so be careful what examples you allow to inspire you. Many of you have already played riddle games and know the kinds of things that don't work very well. There are plenty of examples of those. In fact, we featured a riddle game recently that started out pretty good, but soon diverged into the Territory of the Obscure. We want to avoid that territory, instead keeping to the Domain of the Universally Understood.

What we are looking for are one-panel riddle puzzles that yield a solution that can be typed in with standard ASCII printable characters on a keyboard (case insensitive—all solutions will be converted to lowercase before being checked). We have even provided a few examples in the prototype below to help you envision how things may work once we get all the ideas compiled:

Once you have your idea(s) jotted down (images, sketches, text explanation, or even a FLA file if you're talented with Flash), send them to the address on the right with the subject "JIG Community Riddle". Sign your entry with your JIG handle, or, if you don't have one, with the name you'd like to be listed in the credits inside the game if we use your riddle(s). The deadline for puzzle ideas is Wednesday evening, the 2nd of December, at midnight Eastern Standard Time.

We also have 25 prizes to give away in the form of coupons good for free games and even some t-shirts, too. If we receive more than 25 usable ideas, then we will draw names at random. Please include a statement that you're at least 13 years of age or older if you wish to win a prize. Offer void where prohibited. T-shirts will be shipped to US residents only.

If you have any questions at all, fire away and we'll try to address anything that comes up. Let the brainstorming begin!

There's something deeply disquieting about a snow storm. The muffled sounds, the diffuse light, the eerie stillness... beautiful, yet silently deadly. It's in the midst of one such raging storm that you will find yourself in Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove, the much-anticipated follow-up to Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst. Once again Mystery Case Files has produced a stunning adventure/hidden object hybrid that will send shivers of cold up and down your spine.

This is, as you might expect, a sequel to all of the previous Mystery Case Files games in which the player plays the role of the Mystery Case Files detective. Dire Grove picks up as you are driving home from the events that transpired during Return to Ravenhearst. And although it continues the over arching story line, Dire Grove is a standalone game that incorporates little shout-outs to the titles that came before it. The story begins as you, the anonymous detective, find yourself traveling through an unexpected and unseasonal snow storm. You come across the small hamlet of Dire Grove, closed for the season, and a mysteriously abandoned car. Cue spooky music...

A quick search of the car reveals no living person, only a handy video recorder and a deeply disturbing note. Continue your explorations and you will begin to come across video tapes scattered in various places, each tape a short vignette into the story of four college students and their trip to Dire Grove. What happened here? Where are the students? Where are all the people? Why is it so darned cold? Perhaps you'd better explore further.

Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove, like its predecessor, is built around three things: point and click exploring, puzzle solving, and the classic hidden objects scenes the MCF series is known for. Navigation is simple, just move your mouse cursor around and directional arrows will appear. The cursor changes to a magnifying glass when something needs to be looked at closer, or a hand-shaped cursor if you've passed over something that can be taken or manipulated. Objects or places of interest will catch the eye with a brief single sparkle, and hidden object scenes are denoted by a shower of sparklies.

Upon entering a hidden object scene, you will be confronted with a list of items to find, one of which will end up in your inventory and be useful later. It can be surprising, sometimes, which objects end up in the inventory. Some items you will find a use for pretty quickly, and some you will be toting around for quite a while before you discover their purpose.

And, of course, there is always the handy Detective's Casebook, which jots down information as you come across it, remembering everything that you might not. The hint system works with a refilling timer in your mystery crime computer. Use them to find hidden objects or to skip certain puzzles. Some puzzles involving found objects or information cannot be skipped, so be warned.

Analysis: Yes, after a long wait, the newest Mystery Case Files is finally here! How does it stack up against its predecessors? Well, let's start with the visuals. The developers have gone all out to make the look and feel of Dire Grove something to behold. The locations, the hidden object scenes, the puzzles, everything is flat-out gorgeous. Bright, vivid, and three dimensional, Dire Grove even manages to capture that eerie diffuse light you get during a snow storm. And boy, is it snowing. The video tapes, incidental sounds, and musical score that ranges from plaintive to creepy to dramatic, all heighten the immersive factor of the game. Play Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove for very long and you will begin to feel the cold creeping in.

The hidden object scenes, like everything else, are sharp and clear, reducing the graininess and clutter of scenes from previous Mystery Case Files games. Those with older eyes will appreciate the clarity which will reduce eye-strain significantly. The story hangs together well, told in dribs and drabs by the video tapes, correspondence, journals, and other found items as you make your way in and around the town. Yes, it's all a bit Blair Witch Project, but compelling nonetheless. Although the story is original to the game, you can still find slight shout-outs and references to previous Mystery Case Files adventures, especially the return of the lovely mysterious, morphing objects from Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate. See if you can find all of them hidden in the scenery as sort of a bonus side quest.

The puzzles... well, here's where Dire Grove perhaps fails to meet expectations. The Mystery Case Files series have long been known for their tricky, original, elaborate puzzles. Although there are some nice brain-teasers here, much of it is pretty familiar. Perfectly enjoyable, mind you, but if you've played a lot of hidden object games, you won't encounter a lot of original puzzle designs. A small off note in what is otherwise an excellent game.

Although Dire Grove is perhaps not as long as Return to Ravenhearst, it still manages to buck the current trend of ever-shrinking gameplay time now seen in most adventure/hidden object hybrids. Between the exploration, the hidden object scenes, and the puzzles you are looking at hours of fantastic casual gameplay.

Why are you still reading this? Go play Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove!

Note: BigFishGames is releasing Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove in two versions: the regularly-priced basic version with a demo, and an early Collector's Edition that comes with a strategy guide and "extra content" for Big Fish Game Club Members. This is a review of the basic version, which will be available to purchase in early December. The Collector's Edition, just released on BigFishGames, was not available to review at press time.

Windows:
No demo version is available.
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.buck

Well, it's almost holiday time. Time for overeating until you burst; time for family; time for that creepy uncle to get sloshed again; time for grandmother to tell that same story one more time. In short, it is a time for stress. Major stress. So this week's room escape will be something calm, soothing, simple, a relief from all of the family "fun" that is to come. Welcome to The Water Well by no1game, the solution to all your holiday troubles. Well, perhaps not to all your troubles (hi cousin Marge!), but certainly an oasis of calm in an otherwise frantic holiday season.

Escape from this quiet little room depends more on use of found objects and simple puzzle solving than anything else. No math here! Just quiet little puzzles and a mysterious well. Navigation is accomplished by arrows at the sides and bottom of the screen. There's even a handy changing cursor to help eliminate all that pesky pixel hunting. There's a surprising amount to find and do in what is essentially a basic four-walled room with minimal furnishings.

Done up in a simple 3D style, The Water Well soothes with its gentle pastel color palette. Nothing sharp edged or shiny here. The style is slightly reminiscent of Robamimi's work, but less "plastic" in feel. Although there are sound effects there is no music to jar you or make you tense, thereby adding to the Zen feeling of the space. Inventory control is very simple with nice gray question marks on inventory items controlling the close ups.

Analysis: This may be one of the easiest escapes ever featured on Weekday Escape, but hey, who needs more stress and head banging at this time of year? Simple it may be, but it is also quite fun and very relaxing at the same time. Experienced escapers should be out in less than 10 minutes, hopefully with a lighter heart and able to face the holiday with a little more equanimity.

There's a lot of combining found objects involved, so those who disdain "construction" puzzles for pure mental effort might find the game a little lacking. And since much of the central puzzle depends on color the game is not very accessible for those with color blindness. Although it is a Japanese game, there is an English version, so no worries there. There's also a way to turn off the sound, but both settings for mute and English must be set before you begin the game, so if you miss it you will have to reload and start again as there are no controls inside the body of the game.

The Water Well is perfect mid-week casual gameplay. When you finish you will be treated to some lovely music and a nice animated scene that is sure to put a smile on your face and enable you to face the holiday ordeal to come. Just remember, good things come to those who wait. Kick back, relax, and take time to plumb the mysterious depths of The Water Well.

Explore The Water Well.

Fantasy of the Sord is a classically styled adventure game and a finalist in our 6th Casual Gameplay Design Competition. In answer to the call of the competition, Klint Honeychurch has taken the theme of "exploration" and given us a sweet little nugget that harkens back to the early days of console gaming; a time when a flurry of pixels was as well-designed as the high-polygon count, 3D models of today.

The story behind Fantasy of the Sord is a simple and familiar one: the gods have selected you as their champion to rid the land of an evil that has come over it. No questionable motives or complex character development, just good versus evil. Begin your quest by selecting a character, the choice of which is inconsequential and purely for aesthetics. Use the [arrow] keys for movement, [X] to use your equipped weapon, [Z] to cast the selected spell, and [S] for the in-game menu. The menu is where you can select your weapon, select the spell you want to use, or save the game's progress.

Traversing the world is achieved in a standard platform style. You'll have to negotiate ladders, jumps, moving platforms and other hazards that will hinder your progress through the game. You will face creepy-crawlies such as spiders in the trees, bats, and big bugs. Luckily, a couple of swipes with your weapon, and they're history.

A variety of weapons are sprinkled throughout the land that you will find. Some that will deal great damage and recover slowly, others that are quick to use but deal only a small amount of damage. Learn to know which is the right tool for the job at hand. Spells are much more elusive, though, becoming available only after defeating one of the boss creatures in the game. Some spells will allow you to heal from damage and even teleport from one part of the screen to another. These spells are a nice addition to the game, and you will have to learn to use them well if you are to be able to collect all the different weapons in the game.

Analysis: Those who might turn their noses up at the retro appearance of the game will miss out on an extremely enjoyable adventure that embraces the theme of "explore" with all its might. The design affords the player some freedom of choice where to explore, and yet does a good job to nudge in the direction necessary to complete goals. Fantasy of the Sord so perfectly emulates classic adventure games in both graphics and gameplay that it will feel nostalgic to anyone familiar with them. This game could have fit in very well with other adventure games on the consoles of the 80s.

The creatures follow predictable paths, there is no complex AI hiding underneath the surface. Spiders move down out of the trees when you hit a certain point on the screen. Bats slowly come down to your level and follow you. Bugs simply scurry back and forth along their platforms. Everything you find is true to its classical heritage and serves to create the illusion of a true retro-fantasy displaced in time.

Aside from a couple of grammar issues, the only real criticism I have is the choice to hide the relative strength of each weapon from the player. With such a large number of available weapons, some visual indication of the characteristics of each weapon is needed, even if it was apparent only after the weapon was collected. While some of the fun may be to try different weapons out on the various denizens of the world around you, some sort of damage scale would have been nice.

For an excellent exploration experience and a flash back to a simpler time, look no further than Fantasy of the Sord. The retro-styling, excellent game design, and spot-on controls really make this game shine bright.

Play Fantasy of the Sord.

Chris and Jeremiah, the talented guys behind Atomic Cicada, are back with a follow-up to Grid, the puzzler that first launched them onto the casual gaming radar. Gridz features 40 levels of the glyph-turning, energy-channeling goodness you've come to expect from the original, without falling into the classic Hollywood bungle of rehashery.

The basic premise of the original remains: you need to turn a jumbled mess of pipe segments into a complete closed system, flowing with energy. Clicking a circular glyph will rotate it, but only if it's connected to an energy source, a condition that sets the games apart from the plethora of related pipe-style games. Where Gridz diverges from the original is in the introduction of two colors of energy — a glyph can hold either color, but the two energies must never be combined, lest an apocalyptically bad movie be summoned from the bowels of Some Picture Studios. We don't want that to happen again, right?

With the dual colors comes new glyphs designed to channel multiple streams without having them ever cross. These glyphs can be turned even if some channels are not powered, as long as there is energy flowing through at least one part. Neat!

Analysis: Often, sequels to puzzle games turn out to be nothing more than new level sets with a graphical face-lift. Sometimes this is a good thing — messing with a successful formula rarely yields positive results. When I first heard about Gridz, I knew such a strategy would not find much success. Not to take anything away from the original, but you could tell by the end of 40 levels that the base mechanic had run its course in terms of level design.

Sure enough, after a brief tutorial, the game introduced the pink and blue streams and multi-channeled glyphs, setting the stage for a gameplay experience that builds off the original while becoming its own entity altogether. It's a subtle, yet undeniable shift: where the original sometimes felt like trying to clean up after an octopus mosh pit, Gridz has a distinct puzzle air about it. There's still a fair amount of fiddling around, but the new elements provide more points of attack into the tangled mess of pipe.

The guidance offered by these new elements serves to make the game accessible to a wider audience by reducing the potential for frustration. Now, if you get stuck working on one stream you can simply switch to the other one for a while. Also, though the multi-channeled glyphs seem imposing at first, they're really one of your best tools, since they allow you to change the flow of the streams without much risk of cutting yourself off. Oh, and that face-lift I mentioned earlier? It's another welcome ally in the fight against frustration: it's a lot easier to tell which way you're turning a glyph, and that dizzying churn of a background has been replaced by a microbial Coruscant.

The scoring system remains the same as the original (-1 point per move and -2 per undo) with the exception of a 5 point penalty for restarting the level. One could argue about the necessity of this new penalty, but I'm more surprised they even kept the scoring system at all. Playing towards the objective of a high score takes away from the flowing, exploratory style that suits Grid so well and replaces it with extensive forethought and mental gymnastics. Thus, it's doubtful that many actually pay attention to the score anyway, instead playing toward that shining moment of accomplishment when the grid is complete and elegantly self-contained. Unfortunately, Gridz doesn't give you much time to sit back and admire your handiwork, which is disappointing, but ultimately easily excused.

So if you liked anything at all about the first Grid, give the sequel a try! It successfully merges the qualities that made the original a success with just enough fresh ideas to satisfy old fans while attracting new ones.

Play Gridz.

Ready to bend your brain a little? How about your fingers? The Forest Temple, from Oslo Albet, is a platformer with a twist. Join the aptly-named Water Girl and Fire Boy as they plumb the depths of the Forest Temple for... diamonds, apparently? Because... well, honestly, when have you ever needed a reason to get diamonds? Now you're just being difficult.

Instead of one hero, in The Forest Temple you've got two, and you'll need to use them both to get through the levels. Control Water Girl with the [wasd] keys, and direct Fire Boy with the [arrow] keys. At the same time. You'll be collecting diamonds as you make your way to the exit in each level; blue diamonds can only be grabbed by Water Girl, and red ones are reserved for Fire Boy. You'll need to get them both safely to their exit doors if you want to progress, which is easier said than done. Both characters are vulnerable to their opposing elements, such as pools of water or lava, and green pools are deadly to both of them. One wrong move and you'll have to restart the level. (Or click the green button at the bottom of the screen to restart manually if you get stuck.)

But there's more than just running and leaping over watery/fiery/green-y death. You'll have to utilize some gold ol' fashioned teamwork, using one character to hold down switches or platforms to open the way for the other, and then finding a way to reunite them both at the end. Some levels simply want you to make your way through as fast as you can. Others will require you to move both heroes simultaneously. And still others need you to collect special items before you can leave. At the end of each, you'll be graded on your performance. (Or lack thereof.) If you like, you can go back and replay older levels to improve your rating, or practice your water and fire skills.

Of course, you could simply conscript someone else into manning the other side of the keyboard for you, but there's probably no quicker way to fall out with someone than to put them in charge of your potential success... or failure. I say this as your friend, dear reader; you wouldn't want me playing this with you. I can do no greater damage to you than when I am trying to help you. Unless you have someone who you think is a good enough friend to put up with being blamed for everything that goes wrong, you'll have to warm up your fingers and get to work.

Analysis: If using both hands to do different tasks at the same time is a challenge for you, you'll probably find The Forest Temple more frustrating than fun. Considering that putting a wrong foot forward could force you to restart the entire level, accidentally nudging Fire Boy into a pool of water when you meant to move your watery heroine instead is... displeasing. Admittedly, the game rarely feels as though it's calling on you to do two unreasonably different things at the same time, but still. Years of mindless one-button pushing have rendered by brain a simple pile of mush that responds to bright colours and cheerful music. You're sort of asking a lot for me to be responsible for two characters at once when they both need to be controlled independently.

But is that a failure on my part, or on the game's design? It winds up feeling like a little of both. For the most part, the levels are fairly simple in their design, and the difficulty level winds up coming down to how well your right hand gets along with the left. And of course, people without a QWERTY keyboard are probably going to find this much more difficult than most. Stripping back this mechanic, however, you'll find an enjoyable, if standard, platforming experience. Timing and reflexes are key, and there are a lot of levels to refine your skills on.

If you have the patience and dexterity required to master The Forest Temple's controls, it offers a large number of levels for you to leap, grab, sizzle or fizzle your way through. Whip your hands into finely polished platforming machines, or grab a friend to man the controls with you. While the Forest Temple doesn't offer much new beyond its unusual control scheme, it's a cute and enjoyable experience... when you're not yelling at the screen, that is. Not that I do that. Now, don't you have some diamonds to gather?

Play The Forest Temple.

I have to admit, I've never before played a game that so candidly displayed my sentiments on the preloader before. And for someone who's had the occasional introverted streak every now and again (such as myself), it won't be the last moment where a thought you've had is displayed on the screen. This is no run-of-the-mill puzzle game. No, this is a thoroughly psychological romp, equal parts replay-themed platformer and character study. This is The Company of Myself, from Eli Piilonen (Spewer) with artwork by Luka Marcetic and music by David Carney.

It all starts with a thought-provoking little monologue, fleshing out the protagonist and his mentality. Shortly afterwards, you're dropped into the game itself, where the controls are familiar to anyone remotely acquainted with the platform genre. Arrow keys get you from place to place, with [Up] for jumping and the [A] key for flipping switches. [P] or [Esc] will pause your game, and [R] will restart the current level, an action you'll get to know quite intimately before you're done. And then there's [Space], which starts out as the button that gets you through the green door at each level's end. However, a couple of challenges in, [Space] becomes a bit more interesting.

All of your actions (right up until you hit [Space]) are being recorded, as though by an invisible video camera. As soon as you reset the clock, the level starts anew, except now there's a phantasmal double of yourself scurrying about, re-enacting your first playthrough move for move. Press [Space] again, and add another one to the mix, this one also moving according to the steps you laid out. Some levels will place a restriction on the number of ghostly doppelgangers you can conjure, and these are the levels where you'll have to see just how adeptly you can work with...well, yourself.

Analysis: The first thing you'll notice is that a lot of this game is in the narrative. Ethereal white words coalesce in the background frequently, portraying the character's self-reflective musings. Much is said on the subjects of loneliness and how people cope, all framed within one man's story. I wasn't a tremendous fan of the ending, which puts things in perspective, but the character had me enticed throughout.

Oh, and the gameplay! We've all seen games in this vibe before (coulda sworn there was even a competition about it...), but this adventure does a great job of coming up with puzzles where you're truly forced to team up with your past incarnations. The funny moments are the ones where your timing wasn't split-second-perfect on your first run, and as your past self mistimes a switch-flip that sends you plummeting to your doom, you'll find yourself becoming quickly frustrated at...yourself? It's an odd sensation, but it's certainly in line with the themes of the game.

In terms of overall game length, it's not particularly long, and none of the levels (with a couple of near end-game toughies) ought to put up too much of a fight against your powerful, puzzle-trained mind. But if you were to get stuck on any level for too long, I'd think that would impede the monologue that reads alongside the entire affair, and that's against what the game designers would have wanted. It's a mighty fine platformer, a well-told story, and a fantastic distraction when you've got some time to enjoy the company of yourself for just a little while.

Play The Company of Myself.

Oh, happy day! It's a bunch of games I get to play! From bombs to swords to ghosts in a maze. Now its time to sit and be laze. Er, lazy. Lazey. Laz— oh, forget it.

Implode! - Physics puzzle games shouldn't be allowed to be this fun. Working in a visual environment that looks like an architect's blueprint, your job is to bring down the frame structures using a few well-placed pieces of dynamite. Take out support beams, weaken critical areas to reduce the carefully-crafted structure to a pile of twigs hovering below the target line. Loads of levels, three difficulty settings, and a personal favorite feature, lefty mode, make Implode! one of the best physics puzzle games on the iPhone.

RPG Quest: Minimæ - Like RPGs but hate all that reading, questing, item management stuff? Minimæ is here to save the day! With retro-style pixel art and chiptune-like music, venture through the kingdom searching for hidden stashes of gold as you try and locate eight missing rings for the king. Minimæ is a straightforward grind fest where you balance combat and damage with earning gold and buying new, more accurate weapons. Surprisingly fulfilling for such a simple concept.

Haunted Mirror Maze - Here's a puzzle game that will take you a while to wrap your brain around. Zombies, ghosts and vampires inhabit a maze. Using number clues around the perimeter of the grid, you must determine where each spook is located. The catch is there are mirrors that affect what you can see, and to top it off, ghosts can only be seen if reflected by a mirror, and vampires are invisible to mirrors. Make sense? Once you see the game, you'll have a better idea what's going on. Mastering the concept is challenging, but a wealth of levels ensures you have plenty of room to practice. The free Haunted Mirror Maze Lite is also available.

NOTE: Games listed may not be available outside of North America. Prices are subject to change and are therefore unlisted. Please see the individual game pages for purchasing info.

Still can't get enough Machinarium? Me neither! Amanita Design, creator of our favorite little tin can robot, has just done everyone a wonderful (and free) favor. Now available for your listening pleasure: five previously unreleased MP3 tracks from the Machinarium soundtrack! In addition to being one of the most visually impressive games around, Machinarium has a great musical score crafted by the talented Tomáš Dvořák. Add these five pieces to your collection, and if you haven't played (or beaten) Machinarium yet, head over to our review and get crackin'!

Listen to and download Machinarium Bonus EP.