What happens when infatuation becomes complacency? Or dependence? You take on the role of a young man having doubts about his current relationship, and whether it really is what he wants out of his life. Air Pressure, a short visual novel by Bento Smile, might be a simple story about falling out of love... or something else entirely.

It's not exactly a cheery game by any means. In fact, it's barely even a game at all. While it lacks the outright morbid feel present in, say, Every Day The Same Dream, if you draw certain conclusions about the subtext present in the game it starts to feel more and more like you're peering uncomfortably through a window into a particularly rocky chapter in someone else's life. You play by clicking to advance text on the screen, and clicking to choose from one of two responses or actions whenever the opportunity arises. There are three endings possible depending on your interactions with the female lead, and telling which one is "good" and which is "bad" isn't quite as obvious as it might seem.

Do yourself a favour and play this game without reading the impressions of other players first. Once you know what's happening, making the connections is fairly easy, but it's interesting to play the game with a clear perspective and see if you draw the same conclusions others seem to be making about the scant plot. From a purely technical standpoint, Air Pressure is a competent, if relatively unremarkable, example of the visual novel genre; the pixellated look along with the limited interaction puts you in mind of the days of monochrome, handheld gaming. It's well written, but the problem is that gamers looking for something "just" entertaining will probably be dissatisfied with the short, simple presentation and heavy symbolism. It's an abstract little bit of work hiding underneath a very light appearance.

Introspective narratives in gameplay are becoming more and more popular as a form of expression, and you either like them or you don't. Air Pressure is quite a bit less open to interpretation than some, and serves as a snapshot of life and choices that may hold more meaning for some people than others.

Note: The unspoken themes in this game will probably go right over the heads of most kids, and the content taken at face value is very tame, but it's been given a slightly higher rating just to be on the safe side.

Play Air Pressure

We here at Jay is Games love us some match-3 action. We also just so happen to love the works of prolific developer, Tonypa. So what happens when you throw the two together? A heaven made pairing not unlike the greats such as Eminem and 50 cent, Goose and Maverick, and anchovies and blueberry jam.

In Turnellio, Tonypa manages to apply his own twist to the well-explored genre in order to breathe some life and individuality into it. In standard match-3 games, you change the location of tiles that themselves never really change. Here, you don't change the location, but the tiles themselves. Each tile can face in one of four directions (up, down, left, and right), and you can rotate each tile ninety degrees clockwise by simply clicking your mouse on it. Get three or more tiles lined up in the same direction horizontally or vertically, and they disappear giving you points and progressing you to the next level. Easy, right?

Well, there are a few obstacles to contend with as you go along. For one, gaps will develop in the grid across which matches can't be made. The only way to get rid of these nuisances is to drop them to clear out the tiles beneath them, effectively dropping the gaps out of play.

Also, by now I'm sure it has occurred to some of you that much of the challenge in the game can be removed you just keep rotating tiles until something happens. Yes, you can do this, but every time you turn a tile without making a match, another tile gets locked and can't be rotated. Lock up all the tiles on screen, and your game is over.

Analysis: Turnellio is match-3 the way only Tonypa could do it. All of the trademarks are there, from the exotic title to the simple but attractive graphics to the infectious back track all of which surrounding engrossing gameplay.

The brilliance of Tonypa's continued works is that he conceives simple yet original gameplay ideas and instead of overexposing them, under using them, or misusing them, he distills games around them so that they are allowed to meet their full potential. In this most important aspect is Turnellio like the rest of its developer's games.

The twist at work here, rotating the tiles instead of relocating them, is one of those ideas that is so simple it's almost unbelievable it hasn't been explored up until now. And while the adjustment seems rather small, it's just big enough to rekindle an ebbing interest in match-3 games. Like Zerosum, Turnellio's departure from the match-3 standard gives it the capacity to get you hooked on it all over again. Even more interesting is that Turnellio offers compelling gameplay without the gaudy power-ups and special moves that modern match-3 games often resort to. Yes, you can build some impressive combos, but don't look for the special attack button that lets you clear half a board; you don't get one, and really, the game doesn't need it.

Turnellio is also not the most challenging game ever conceived, which is a double edged sword. The game is not timed, meaning you never have to think fast, and while the locking of tiles does act as a punishment for randomly clicking on tiles, I don't think it is a fast enough acting punishment. Gaps and locked tiles are the only real obstacles you have to face in Turnellio, and they don't really accrue so quickly that you can't cope with them. Because Turnellio isn't all that difficult, it definitely makes it more readily accessible to gamers of all types and abilities, but those looking for a good challenge may be disappointed.

Outside of that, there's little to jeer, and much to cheer about Tonypa's take on a casual gaming staple. With beat poet like coolness (okay, maybe the finger snapping sound effect is sticking with me too much), he offers up his own twists and garnishes them with his penchant for quiet elegance. The result is a game that keeps the heart and inherent fun of match-3 games while experimenting with new and intriguing territory.

Play Turnellio

Dragondot, Dragondot, does things that a Dragondot does; slashes goblins, and some ghosts, fights some worgs, and something else that has context and rhymes with "ghosts".

Hey there! Here comes that Dragondot!

Aren't you sick of games that have things like complex plots and cutting edge visuals? Sure you are. That's why Dragondot is here to sweep you off your feet and into its... um... arms, presumably... with a hack-and-slash-esque java game about defending your adoring kobolds and your territory from invaders. What sorts of invaders? Well, everything from goblins to ghosts to ninjas, obviously, and some are stronger than others with different abilities to watch out for. Use the arrow keys to move, [Z] to jump, and [X] to attack, but keep an eye on your health in the upper left corner. The more enemies you slay, the stronger you'll get, with bonuses given for saving kobolds from attackers. When enemies drop them, pick up gold coins for score increases, and pink dots to heal your health.

Dragondot is about as minimalist as you can get, and it's also completely adorable. Despite consisting primarily of circles of various sizes and colours, the creatures still manage to feel distinct from one another. Ninja zip from place to place, hobgoblins pound the area with clubs, and your kobolds shower you with tiny pink hearts. The whole thing won't take you that long to finish, since it's mostly just a matter of figuring out the proper order to complete the areas in so you don't get slaughtered, but the whole thing is the perfect bite-sized bit of quirky action to fit into your morning. There's not a whole lot of replay value to be had once you've cleared the land of menace, but should you ever feel the need for the sort of blind, unassuming love that only a mass of circular kobold followers can deliver, Dragondot is right here.

Waiting.

<3

Play Dragondot

Meet Mark Lilly, defender of the strangers in a strange land, roommate to a brain eater, and currently handcuffed to a bed. Step into Ugly Americans: Citizen Ugly, the latest point-and-click adventure game from ClickShake Games (the artists formerly known as Zeebarf and Steve Castro).

Welcome to New York City, the traditional landing port for foreigners eager to build their own American dream. It is Mark's job, as an employee at the Department of Integration, to help these newcomers out with jobs and make sure they do not get deported because of some technicality. Such as losing their immigration papers or eating gray matter at the Brain Depository. Yes, it's going to be one of those games. Use your mouse to interact with objects on the screen, combining items in your inventory to help you succeed in important tasks... like freeing yourself from the aforementioned handcuffs.

Strange is a fitting place to start describing Citizen Ugly. After helping him escape from his bedroom bondage, you discover that the ten cases Mark needs to check up on are not of the garden variety immigration stuff (though his roommate's choice of take-out food - and for that matter his Luciferian girlfriend - should have been clues). Then again, in this city it is very normal to see a zombie next to the convenience store. Mark's cases cover the likes of double-headed creatures, a giant chicken, two characters with a fish head and fish hook for their respective heads, not to mention a Croatian Man. Mark has to check up on them, all of whom have some kind of problem that could lead to their expulsion from the country.

Using guile, ingenuity and at least one cocktail of blood, Mark sets about to save the day. Who knows - he might even get his girlfriend back!

Analysis: Citizen Ugly first appeared on the Comedy Central site, but it is fair to say it would have fit comfortably with the Adult Swim crowd (though it is a game for an upcoming show of the same name on CC). The content of this adventure game is not all-out adult, but the themes and dialogue does border on the mature. Mixing this up with a sense of humor that is both subtle and absurd makes it an outright winner in the writing department. The devil is in the detail and Citizen Ugly has its share of Mephistophelesic action.

Making the humor resonate even more is the excellent voice acting, which is surprisingly top-notch. This does not feel like the developers sat in their lounge and read stuff off paper into a headphone mic. The artwork is equally endearing, in its own creepy way, at both times gleaming of quality and yet feeling like the rough-shod material you tend to see on Adult Swim. In other words, it fits perfectly with the kind of humor and mature themes it juggles. But in all fairness this is based on a Comedy Central show, so if the sound and art design were not good, it wouldn't have seen the light at all.

So the art and sound were (almost) a given. Where Citizen Ugly could have fallen apart was in its gameplay. But ClickShake has crafted a decent adventure game. Not a particularly taxing one: whenever you get a clue that relates directly to a case, that specific dossier updates itself. The tricky part comes in finding and combining objects. Most scenes have at least one thing you can pick up and chatting to the characters will often unlock a new location. Let's just say Citizen Ugly is not particularly lateral and if you get really stuck, you can simply try all the objects you have collected on a scene to see if anything works.

The dynamic part of the game comes in the object combinations, which is a well-loved staple of the genre since Monkey Island debuted it. You can combine two items to make a new one - some are pretty obvious and one or two less so. Still, these won't have you stumped for very long. Citizen Ugly is what could be called a pitch perfect adventure game: it has style, it has charm, it has humor and it has just enough puzzle elements to keep you from racing through it. Throw in some zombies, chickens, squids, werewolves, a questionable use for an orphanage and it's the perfect way to spend a day in a Big Apple overrun by the paranormal.

Note: Ugly Americans is currently region locked on Comedy Central. Those in Canada can play the game here (thanks, Smoothfonzo), and those outside the US and Canada may have to use our mirror site to play.

Play Ugly Americans: Citizen Ugly

How does your mind symbolize heat? A roaring fire, perhaps? Expand it out a little. What else is there? Smoke? How about visualizing pressure, mass, or form? Enter into the experience of visualizing visualizing (whoa, meta!) in the CGDC7 award-winning interactive fiction title Dual Transform by Andrew Plotkin. Take on the role of a virtual engineer, of sorts, feeling the pressure of really making this project something to remember... something that really feels real.

Dual Transform is a game about a metasemanticity—so I guess this review makes me a metametasemantician. Your character designs virtual workspaces of some kind, and you've got a deadline to meet, but you've hit something of a block. You've got to think outside the box by going inside the box, or the cube, to be more precise. Like most works of interactive fiction, you use a text parser to interact with the game. Use your keyboard to input text commands, such as l/look, x/examine, get, drop, i/inv/inventory, and so on.

The game is a bit more abstract than your typical "west of house" interactive fiction title, however. Because of the nature of your work as the lead character, you'll have to be a bit more clever with your actions. Make sure to examine your environment and pay close attention to the way the game describes objects; often, the game will nudge you through its descriptions towards the actions you'll need to perform. Collect bits of data, for example, and, once they've been compiled, place the icons into your workspace to see what evolves from them. Dual Transform is anything but standard in concept, and figuring out what it wants from you can be a bit of a challenge at first.

Analysis: Dual Transform would not be the best introductory game for someone new to IF. Not only is there no tutorial, there isn't a help menu, nor does the game contain any hints about puzzle solving. You need to already be familiar with IF logic, in which you must scan the paragraphs of text for clues as to which aspects of the scene are important and how to interact with them. As you progress, your environment changes around you, forcing you to keep examining new things... especially your inventory.

The best part of the game is in exploring your environment. You'll really cheat yourself if you just try to solve everything as quickly as possible. Take the time to look at everything. This isn't one of those IF games where the description says "You enter the room. The grass is covered with flowers. Wow, so many flowers. You can't stop looking at the beautiful, magnificent, amazing flowers," yet when you try "examine flowers" you get the response "There's nothing like that here." If Dual Transform mentions something, you can look at it, and the evocative descriptions make that worthwhile. The parser is also excellent. You don't have to hold its hand and type "drop the Mr. Key's House Of Keys key on the key chomping device." You can be precise if you want to, of course, but the game is smart enough to figure out what you want from some pretty terse commands.

The connection with the "escape" theme is a bit of a stretch, but I can't really go into that further without ruining the surprise of the ending. Let's just say that what goes on in the game could deal with some interpretation, and I'd love to hear yours in the comments. Whatever conclusions you draw, Dual Transform is a cleverly written piece of interactive fiction that challenges you to be creative with your environment to succeed.

Play Dual Transform

Ah, zere you are. Come, sit with me by zee riverside and eat zees baguette and smelly cheese while we wear black-and-white striped shirts. Here, put on zees beret. Do you know, mon ami, that there is one perfect expression of love in zee world? Eet ees zee way a robot endures retro platforming danger, all for his furry friend! Eet ees lovely, no? Zees, jeannot, eez... Robot Wants Kitty. Ah, c'est l'amour!

Like all great love stories, this one begins with the [arrow] keys. Left and right, to be specific, which controls the direction your devoted little robot trundles in. Initially, this is all you can do, which means you're going to spend a lot of time in the beginning fleeing from enemies. Find yourself painfully disintegrating in one too many pits of green acid? Ceiling-mounted, death-spitting aliens got you down? No problem; as you explore the area, you'll discover a number of power ups designed to make the journey for feline companionship a bit easier. From double-jumps to rockets to deadly lasers, er, lazorz, robot has a veritable mechanical arsenal out there if you can find it all.

The goal, of course, is to reach the kitty as fast as possible. Which sounds easy, right? I mean, it's right there where you start the game. But the way to kitty is paved with aliens, locked doors, acid pits, and more. You'll have to be ever vigilant, since a single hit will send your robot back to the start of the game (although you'll retain all your keys and abilities).

Analysis: Is there anything cuter than a tiny pixel robot, arms outstretched for feline friendship? Robot Wants Kitty is full of an old-school charm, from its deceptively simple gameplay to its adorable, retro graphics. The presentation is extremely minimalistic, and yet it still manages to tickle that part of your brain that finds pixels charming and engaging. That is, assuming you're over twenty years old and aren't confused and alarmed at the concept of anything that isn't fully rendered in 3D.

What isn't quite so charming is the instant warp-to-starting-point that occurs whenever you get damaged. It doesn't take long for it to wear out its welcome, veering rapidly from "mild inconvenience" to "it appears my laptop has caught on fire and become lodged within the neighbour's front lawn". Sure the enemies don't reset, but that's not the point. Having to trudge all the way back to where you were an instant ago just because you accidentally dipped a wheel into some corrosive green spit isn't fun, it's work. (Well, not my work. Robot work. Robot work sucks, apparently.) It makes you think the game would have been better off as a succession of progressively more elaborate levels rather than one enormous one.

But the game's biggest oversight is the complete lack of a save feature. Face it; rage quits happen. Or maybe you just don't have the time to complete the game within a single sitting. Whatever the case, the game doesn't allow you the option to pick up where you left off if you close the browser, so bear this in mind when beginning your steel journey. Despite this, the gameplay is simple to pick up, but just challenging enough to provide a nourishing snack. Why, exactly, does Robot Want Kitty? Who wouldn't! Doesn't that stiff, jutting, pixel fur look warm and inviting to you? Just remember; "Beep, boop" is Robot for "LET ME REND YOUR NUBILE FLESH WITH MY STEEL PINCERS".

... uh, I mean... "I love you!"

Play Robot Wants Kitty

One of the darling developers on the iTunes App Store, NimbleBit, has released yet another simple but crazy fun game. Sometimes I wonder if those guys stay up at night thinking of ways to make me stare at my iPod for hours on end. Between Text/Fishtropolis and Dizzypad, I'm going to have a hard time putting that little device away for long periods of time...

Dizzypad - From NimbleBit, creator of Textropolis, Fishtropolis, and several other games, comes a simple one-switch game involving a frog, some lily pads, and a little timing. Jump from lily pad to lily pad by tapping the frog at just the right moment. Each pad rotates when you're sitting on it, so you have to gauge distance and time your jumps just right. Land in the water and you lose a life, leap over a lily pad and you gain a life. See how that can lend itself to nigh-infinite playtime?!

Doodle Bomb - We all know bombs play an important role in puzzle games. In Doodle Bomb, all you do is lob bombs out of a hole in the background. Hit switches that open the exit door to escape, but obviously that's never as easy as it sounds. Moving platforms, treacherous ledges, and tons of other obstacles stand between you and sweet freedom. Adjust the power of your throw, and don't be afraid to try, try again. The free Doodle Bomb Lite is also available.

Comet Racer - This is one of those games that's so wacky, you can't help but love it. An arcade racing game at its heart, Comet Racer puts you in control of a little rocket with the power to blast forward and adjust course left and right. In order to complete each stage, you must race through the 2D asteroid cavern as quickly as you can, often repeating your solo races until you beat the qualifying time. Not a game for those who give up easily, but definitely a game for anyone who likes a wild gaming experience.

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.

Last year we featured an amazing little game called Caster in our Weekend Download lineup, although we might have jumped the gun... in retrospect, some of us here at JiG totally fell in love with this independently-developed 3D action-shooter, vowing to give it the full review it deserved when the second episode eventually came out. Last week, game developer Mike D. Smith of Elecorn unveiled Caster Episode 2; the second in an ongoing series of free content updates for the original game. Episode 2 is more than just a handful of new levels, though; Smith added new art and visual effects, revved-up the performance and introduced a variety of new gameplay elements (including a level editor and support for community mods). More than a year after its original release, Caster Episode 2 offers the perfect opportunity for players to check out one of the best indie games of 2009 that might have flown under their radar.

Caster is a third-person action-shooter with distinct influences from the glory days of console gaming; it cooks up some of the most-enticing features of high-energy, super-powered shooter action and serves it up on a silver platter. The story and premise are pretty much dwarfed by Caster's hyper gameplay, vivid graphics and thumping soundtrack... something about an insectoid race called the Flanx posing a threat to the ecosystem? After the first few levels, it won't really matter; you'll be having too much fun running up the walls—literally—and blasting bad guys to remember.

Caster isn't completely about running-and-gunning, though; there's a specific task in each level that needs to be completed before you can move on to the next. Most of the time you'll have the simple task of clearing enemies or collecting a certain number of glowing orbs, but some missions are a bit more devious and require a little puzzle-solving logic to complete. For example, the landscape in Caster is deformable; two of your weapons have the ability to destroy and create terrain, which allow for some interesting scenarios when you can't directly access an object or destroy an enemy by conventional means.

Our hero is packing an old-school, multi-purpose arm canon; players begin with a basic laser blaster and gain new weapons and functions in later levels. Default movement is controlled with the familiar [WASD] setup, and combat is equally as simple; use the mouse aim and click the left button to fire. To switch weapon types, you can either use the scroll wheel or click the right mouse button, which will pause the action and allow you to select from a cursor menu. As you'll learn in the first tutorial stage, running and jumping is an important—and undeniably fun—part of Caster's gameplay. Double-tap the directional keys (or hit the [shift] key) to start the "dash" ability, which allows you to scale vertical inclines, run across water and other nifty acrobatic maneuvers. While dashing, hit [space] to perform a super jump, or you can activate the power by double-jumping from a standstill.

Both your "super" abilities and weapons can be upgraded between levels using the points earned by defeating enemies and collecting orbs. The super jump, for example, can be upgraded to such an extent that by the time it's maxed-out, you'll almost be able to traverse the entire length of some maps in a single jump. Weapons you pick up along the way can be upgraded to enhance their performance; upgrading the blaster will increase its damage, while other weapons will benefit in unique ways, like larger area-of-effects or additional projectiles. Part of the fun is discovering each weapon and learning how to use it, so we won't spoil it by describing them all. But remember that versatility is important; some of the enemies in Caster react uniquely to different weapons and strategies, especially in the newest campaign introduced in Episode 2.

Analysis: When I send an email to my friends about Caster, I usually end up writing something like, "You gotta check this game out—it'll make you feel like a super-hero." Caster is often praised for its exceptional ability to make you feel powerful; it sheds the potential weight of indulgent, convoluted gameplay mechanics and glorifies the player instead. Whether you're even paying attention to your current objective or not, there's something inherently fun about zipping across the landscape at blurring speeds, leaping over mountains and using your weapons as a God-like paintbrush of destruction. Caster also has plenty style; just when you're starting to feel comfortable, the surreal level design, eccentric plot and quirky enemies offer new surprises until the very end. The puzzle aspects help relieve "shooter fatigue" and the boss fights introduce satisfying challenges at just the right moments.

Most action and shooter fans will find the control mechanics fairly intuitive; nonetheless, players have the ability to create a custom layout instead (gamepad support is also included). For a game of its small size, Caster's graphics and animation are surprisingly vivid and polished, and the engine seems to be more optimized and scalable than most indie developments. The recent Caster Episode 2 features seven new missions, a new female character, new graphics, art and music. The latest version also introduced some new gameplay mechanics, added a level editor, community mod support and addressed several performance and control issues. The original Caster is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and even the iPhone. So far, Episode 2 is only available for Windows, but the remaining platforms will be available soon. Players can download and play the Caster demo for free, or purchase the full game for $4.99, which includes future updates and episodes.

Note: Caster Episode 2 is currently only available for Windows, though Mac/Linux ports are coming soon. Caster Episode 1 is already available for Mac, Linux, and iPhone!

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

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

When will headstrong adventurers realize you can't go on a trip through the tropics without getting stranded on a mysterious piece of land? Secret Mission: The Forgotten Island begins with researcher Chanel Flores finding herself on an island that doesn't really exist. And, when she discovers strange crystals and an unusual tree, she discovers it's not so deserted, either.

Secret Mission: The Forgotten Island is a hybrid hidden object/adventure game with a slight leaning towards the latter. That's no surprise, really, as the game was created by Frogwares, veteran adventure game studio that also crafted Secret Missions: Mata Hari and the Kaiser's Submarines. Explore the island one still screen at a time, gathering items, poking your nose in every corner, and assembling things in your inventory to help you uncover more secrets on this strange tropical paradise.

You'll notice each area features a number of items scattered on the ground along with a few sparkling spots you can click. Grab what you can and stash it in your inventory, you'll need it to solve one of the puzzles close by. Each area features a small handful of explorable scenes, and you'll need to track back and forth between them to find things you need to complete the location. Hidden object scenes in Secret Mission are short, relatively easy, and function as puzzles to supply key items you need in the main game. Even if you have the puzzle solving sense of a tub of molasses, with a little exploration you can easily work your way through this game.

No modern casual game would be complete without mini-games, and Secret Mission doesn't buck convention. The battery of games isn't all that unique, but they're very well-integrated into the story and are usually quick and easy to complete. Even if you hate the puzzle you're talked into completing!

Analysis: Great visual package, simple gameplay, non-complex puzzles, good mini-games, and a standard storyline, Secret Mission walks the safe path in hidden object gaming. It never tries to create anything fantastically new for the genre, but sometimes you don't need to innovate to create an entertaining experience. When it comes down to it, Secret Mission is just enjoyable. Not groundbreaking, just fun.

Secret Mission is designed for the most casualest of casual players. From the beginning, you have the option of two difficulty levels: easy and normal. The only real difference is the hint timer in easy mode refills at a much faster rate, not that it's really necessary in the super-simple hidden object scenes. The rest of the game tends to hold your hand a bit too much, spelling everything out in front of your face and leaving the puzzle solving to trial-and-error clicking. Please, Secret Mission, leave me alone to figure out things for myself. I'm sure my big fancy brain can figure out that the conveniently-placed rope with a hook on it is used to reel in the box from the water.

Secret Mission: The Forgotten Island doesn't tread new ground in the hidden object/adventure hybrid field, but it does everything it promises quite well. You won't be floored by any particular aspect of the game, but in the end, you'll have a pleasantly fun time solving its puzzles.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

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

Another day, another National Geographic cover for the appropriately-named treasure seeker Eden Hunt. She's getting a bit bored, so when she receives a challenge in the mail to go to a mysterious island and find a treasure, she's game. "Game" turns out to be the operative word, because she's going to have to puzzle her way past her competitors if she wants to come out on top in Eden's Quest: the Hunt for Akua.

Eden's Quest will take you back to the days when your parents would give you books with titles like Jumbo Book of Puzzles or One Hundred and One Amazing Brain Teasers. The game is essentially a collection of dozens and dozens of puzzles from all kinda of genres, most notably the brain teaser variety. As you search the land for clues, traveling from one point-and-click location to another, you'll encounter loads of these mini-games that range wildly in style, complexity, and difficulty.

Contrary to the game's description, there is not a single hidden object scene to be found (picking up pieces of paper does not count as a hidden object scene!), although the setup does resemble the skeleton of some hidden object titles out there. If you're sniffing around this game for some item finding fun, get ready to discover something else entirely. It plays a bit like last year's Big Brain Wolf, though notably without the hilarious storyline and stronger exploration elements.

Analysis: Eden's Quest: The Hunt for Akua was made by Ouat Entertainment, creator of Pure Hidden. If you played Pure Hidden, you'll know exactly the kind of style to expect with Eden's Quest: light-hearted, casually entertaining, the perfect level of challenge, and a presentation that's easy on the eyes.

Despite a premise that could genuinely be exciting, the script saps all the energy. I found myself clicking through dialogue as fast as I could just to get to the next set of puzzles. I was genuinely surprised by some of the plot twists, but then I realized it was because the characters were flatter than flounders and comparable to them in terms of human motivation too. In fact, that ought to be a brain teaser for the next game: if the entire cast were replaced with flounders opening and closing their mouths in dull surprise, how much more interesting would this script be?

While that's certainly an area that could be improved, the five plus hours of gameplay I racked up in story mode were spent on the puzzles, and the game there is a lot of fun. While there are a few puzzle genres represented that I dislike (slider puzzles! *shakes fist at heavens*), and doubtless a few that you will dislike as well, the sheer variety means that you're on to the next thing before you get too frustrated. My favorite by far was the recurring mini-game YoX, a fast-playing two player strategy game where one player moves horizontally, the other vertically. That game was so well-done, I played it every chance I got, and would love to see it released as a standalone title.

If you're in the mood for puzzles, mini-games and brain teasers, Eden's Quest will scratch that itch for sure. I'll hop along for the ride next time Eden sets out — flounder or no flounder.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

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

Why spend all of your time toiling away on one game when you can make a ton of them? The 529-in-1 Klik & Play Pirate Kart II: Kart Harder is all about that, and the games featured below are from this recent event. 102 people contributed a total of 529 games over the weekend, each made in under two hours. It's quantity over quality, so don't expect the next Sprout, but do expect a lot of wacky ideas, one-trick games, and maybe even a few things that, once seen, can never be unseen. Check out a random selection of the 529 games, and don't be afraid to download and play many more!

Wolf, Goat, and Cabbage (Windows, <1MB, free) - A wolf, a goat, and a head of cabbage are trying to cross the river to get away from a crazy farmer. While you could assume this is the old puzzle about who to put on the boat together, you'd be quite a bit wrong. Instead, Wolf, Goat and Cabbage is a short adventure-type game where... well, where some crazy stuff happens. Just try it and you'll see what I mean.

Six-Chamber Champion (Mac/Win/Linux, 1.1MB, free) - A one room piece of interactive fiction by C.E.J. Pacian, Six-Chamber Champion is, as the game page suggest, the "best ever all-text game about shooting yourself in the head". And it's true! Thrill as you order yourself to pick up the gun. Watch in shock as your opponent does the same. Will the barrel click empty, or is this turn your last? O noes teh suspensse! (Note: Definitely not one for the kids, and Mac/Linux users will need to download the .t3 file and run it in an interpreter in order to play.)

Watch Ducks (Windows, 1.3MB, free) - A game with limitless "replay" value. A game with infinite possibilities. A game... about sitting on a bench staring at ducks. Press the [up] arrow key to stand, [down] to sit. Make sure you're sitting down, as you can't really watch ducks while standing. The longer you watch, the more points you get. Sometimes the magical gold duck will swim by, scoring you a nice bonus. Otherwise, see how many points you can get... by sitting!

Animal Control (Windows, <1MB, free) - Too many critters are wobbling around the field, but fortunately you've got a nice pair of guns to take care of them all. Oh, what's that? You forgot to load them? That's fine, we, the players, can handle it! Move the guns up and down using the [arrow] keys, and keep them loaded by pressing the [left] mouse button when near the ammo crate. Quite a bit crazier than you might think.

Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows Vista and are virus-free. Mac users should try Boot Camp, Parallels, or CrossOver Games to play Windows titles, Linux users can use Wine. If you know of a great game we should feature, use the Submit link above to send it in!

The life of a forest wizard is a tough one. You must spend all day luring fairies with fireflies, stuffing the happy ones into little Chinese lanterns for later use. Then, all night you must fight the forces of evil, protecting fairied from evil witches, trolls and goblins while releasing some of them to protect the townsfolk. No wonder, after a thousand years of this constant work, you want to retire to that big cabana in the sky. Now all you have to do is train your successor. This is the basic premise of Youda Fairy, the new, whimsical time management game from Youda Games, which places you firmly in the driver's seat as the successor to this poor overworked wizard.

Gameplay is... well, it starts out simple, anyway. Somewhere in a magical swamp you must use a pretty flower to grab and collect similar colored fireflies. Collect enough fireflies and you get a fairy. Stuff the poor fairy into the lantern and set about collecting more fireflies until you have filled your quota. It sounds pretty simple, but there will soon be natural obstacles to the collecting, things that will disable your flower or block your access to the fireflies. Fortunately, there are other fireflies which drop power-ups to aid you in your quest. The round is over when you have collected enough fairies to move onto the next. After four rounds you will learn how to release the fairies within the town, brightening up the day (or rather, night) for the poor beleaguered townsfolk.

Eventually you will work your way up to trying to catch seven different colors of fireflies with seven different flowers. Working against you are nasty flying insects, hopping frogs, greedy salamanders, and nasty hungry toads who want to steal your fireflies. To aid you in your quest are a host of power-ups that banish the toads, protect the lily pads the flowers sit on, and a host of other things. Also helping out are some friendly spiders which can catch the fireflies in their sticky webs. When in the town, you will be parceling out fairies while trying to fight off wicked witches, trolls, goblins, and a whole host of nasties trying to block the fairies from their appointed rounds. Finish of the round perfectly and you are awarded a pretty constellation in the sky.

All of this is on a timer, of course, and you gain points and "stardust" from finishing the round quickly. Use your stardust to upgrade your fairy castle, which in turn helps you against an ever increasing horde of enemies. Crystal bonuses are awarded depending on how fast you finish a round against the clock. Eventually you will reach the point where you can gather fairies and fight of the bad guys well enough for the poor, tired forest wizard to take his much-deserved retirement.

Analysis: Youda Fairy is a bit of a departure for Youda. Well known for its more realistic time management games, like Youda Marina and Youda Farmer, Youda has gone in a wacky new direction with this game, launching you into a world of wizards and witches, goblins and fairies, trolls, fireflies, lots of other magical creatures. Casual gameplay that is fun, frantic, whimsical, and completely out of this world.

Despite its kiddy look and appeal, this is a time management game that can challenge the most hardcore of time management junkies. The action quickly becomes fast and frantic, necessitating a massive amount of multi-tasking as the levels progress. Youda really knows how to do time management right, even if it is wrapped up in enchanted fairy dust.

There are a few minor problems with Youda Fairy, though. When in the swamp scenes it can be difficult to switch from one flower to another rapidly, and even more difficult to piece together the scattered pieces of some power-ups. And there is a minor glitch in the game: if a salamander is jumping on or off one of your lily pads when you hit the "time freeze" power up, it can become stuck there for the rest of the round, making gameplay a bit difficult. A minor bug, but one that can be annoying.

Still, there's lots of time management fun to be had with Youda Fairy. Fast, frantic, cute, and satisfying to play, Youda Fairy, while a bit of a departure from the Youda norm, is still grand fun.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version