We interrupt this game review to bring you this special news bulletin. Police are on the lookout for a burglar that's been stealing gold coins all across the city. Police describe the robber as small, green, slimy, and capable of turning your world upside down to get what he wants. He's Swindler, and he's climbin' in your sewers and grabbin' all your coins in this tricky gravity-based navigation game from Nitrome.

You take the role of the notorious Swindler, a green blob that can dangle himself from a fixed point. Your task is to reach the treasure chest at the end of each level (possibly grabbing some star swag along the way). You can use the [down] and [up] [arrow] keys to lengthen and shorten your dangle appendage, but you can generally only dangle straight down. To get around corners, you can use the [left] and [right] keys to rotate everything around you, allowing you to exploit gravity to take you through new passages. In later levels, you might be required to carry an object to aid your heist; use the [space] bar to pick it up and drop it.

As you progress through the many rooms to be plundered, new enemies and traps, such as floating slimes that can bump you against walls and jumping slimes that can absorb you with one touch. These enemies might be a bit too powerful, such as the orange spiky blocks that provide a free sample of insta-death with a single touch, whether by Swindler himself or his dangling rope. However, perhaps these strict requirements are there to emphasize that this is somewhat of a stealth game at heart, where planning and patience are required to perpetrate the perfect payday. Dangle with caution, because danger lurks around every corner for the world's slyest slimeball!

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Since the dawn of modern science one question has continued to elude mankind's search for answers: magnets... how do they work? It's a good thing we've got Magnet Kid, a puzzle platformer by Strange Studios to help us muddle through the magnetic mystery. As the titular polarity-switching robot, it's your job to search for some arms, avoid spikes and maybe learn a little about magnets on the way. Like certain other games about robots, however, Magnet Kid won't reveal its secrets without inflicting a little pain.

Run around with the [arrow] keys, press [A] to jump and press [S] to switch between red and blue polarities. Magnet Kid is attracted to objects of the opposite polarity and repelled by objects of the same polarity. These concepts are used in a variety of ways; for example, deadly lasers aren't so deadly if you're the same polarity as they are, while you can hitch a ride on a moving platform by changing to the opposite polarity and sticking to it. Your goal is typically to reach the exit portal at the end of each level, though sometimes you'll need to drag a key along with you by sticking it to yourself.

Make no mistake: Magnet Kid is tough. Neither polarity will save you from the killer spikes and mines strewn about the levels. Even these hazards can become the least of your worries as the game bombards you with polarity-switching madness. One early puzzle involves coordinating polarity swaps to perform high jumps over obstacles while ensuring you don't jump too high into the spiked ceiling, and that's really one of the easier levels in the big picture. There's infinite lives, thankfully. You'll be using quite a few.

All of this is tied together by a hyperactive presentation reminiscent of an Adult Swim game. Those brave souls who face the toughest gaming's got to offer and smile defiantly will love Magnet Kid; while it's not quite as tough as some other frustration platformers it's still got some bite. Besides, everyone knows that magnets are miracles. We may not understand how magnets work, but a miracle just might keep Magnet Kid alive.

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There is a new kind of soldier in the world. One who drops bombs by remote control half a world away, then goes home to their family. Some call it a cowardly, robotic way of fighting war. Others call it technology like any other, and one that keeps solider out of danger. However, even if the greatest threat of injury is from a tired hand guiding shaving blade, there will still be conflict, even if its pushed deep inside. Unmanned, a piece of interactive art by Molleindustria and Jim Munroe, lets you step into the world of one of these soldiers, a UAV pilot. More than that though, it lets you step into the world of a husband and a father and a human.

Unmanned is played entirely with the mouse. The game is displayed on a split-screen, and, as Unmanned continues, different movements will cause different actions. Dialogue choices are a large part of the game, and will affect in small, but meaningful ways how the story progresses. Clicking and dragging the mouse is required in some sections, so be sure to try everything. There are also badges to be unlocked, but they're odd and seem kinda arbitrary. Really, it's not that kind of game.

Analysis: Whether it was intentional on the part of the developers or not, Unmanned serves as an interesting counterpoint to the earlier, quite-beloved Every Day The Same Dream. The difference is that while Every Day The Same Dream had you empathize with the pains of a faceless man working in a non-descript office, living out a non-specific life, Unmanned does exactly the opposite. Here, the protagonist's bursts with color and personality, and you experience his very specific life and deal with his very specific problems. Even with this, Unmanned taps into emotions so universal that it cannot help but affect on a personal level.

Though it is definitely a work open to interpretation, the overall themes of Unmanned seems to be that of anomie: the feeling that one is so pulled apart by one's conflicting roles in life and society that one becomes fragmented, isolated, alienated (...dare we say, "Un-Manned"?). One man may, in his time, play many parts, but it is only rarely that they do not step upon the others' cues. Can you maintain your individual sense of self while still connecting to the community around you? Is it possible to remain a moral individual, while serving your country in a job where anonymous violence is an everyday occurrence? When your child asks you a question with no easy answers, how do you know when to be a teacher or when to protect them from harsh truths? Certainly it is possible to force yourself not to think about it. Many don't, and Unmanned certainly offers you the option to be a selfish jerk with absolutely no self-reflection. The bliss of ignorance is, of course, overrated, but it cannot be denied that should the unexamined life be not worth living, the examined life is not much easier. Unmanned doesn't try to answer the questions it raises, but then again, that's something the player will have to do for themselves.

It would be nice if Unmanned's play mechanics equaled its writing and philosophy, but they're a mixed bag. The dual-screen is a neat idea that plays well into the metaphor of inner-conflict, but its implementation is faulty. Too often one screen is only used for dialogue-clicking that will cause the game to stall if ignored, while the other will randomly cause a game over if not given the proper vigilance. Likewise, this is a game that could have used more instruction to its non-standard controls. Silly as it sounds to write out, browser gamers are trained to think something cannot be clicked unless the arrow has become a pointer finger, and, that if a developer's logo is on-screen, clicking it will pop up a website, not start the game. Finally, the loading times between sections are kind of a pain, though the already-available download version shows that the developers were thinking ahead on the issue.

Unmanned doesn't really challenge the stereotypes of artistic games. It's beautiful, intriguing, confusing, and a little uncomfortable. It gladly sacrifices technical accuracy of its subject matter to serve a philosophical point of view. Some will find it brilliant and amazing and others will find it pretentious and plodding. No matter what category you fall in, though, Unmanned will certainly be provocative. What else can an artist hope for?

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Hey there, blimpy boy, flying through the sky so fancy free... Ah, the life of the balloon! So calm and idyllic! Float around, rub up against something or another balloon making mildly inappropriate sqrrrrrk noises, get used for hilarious YouTube videos involving static and beleaguered cats... and, of course, the physics puzzles! Rocanten's easy but adorable Ballooner is packed with the titular stuff; balloon facts, balloons to be freed, balloons to be popped, and so forth.

Click to remove certain materials and try to let your balloons fly free into the wild blue yonder. While the difficulty scale is decidedly lite, there are different types of balloons with different conditions for victory and obstacles to avoid or use to your advantage to keep it interesting. Seasoned physics puzzlers with formidable skills will probably find this one a bit simple (you great big, strong, brute of a player, you), but the charming presentation, mostly reliable physics, and surprisingly interesting balloon factoids between each level makes this a perfect coffee break sort of game. Or if you're just looking for that easy, quick Seasame Street easy satisfaction of a job well done with bright colours. I won't judge.

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For those who are room escape aficionados, the cravings can hit any time of the day or night; the gnawing sensation of wanting just a nibble, something to satisfy the yearning for a tasty and delicious puzzle. Well, hanker no more for Robamimi is back, and that fabulous designer of some of the best room escapes available has brought a nutritious treat in the form of Hungry, an amusing little point-and-click room adventure that will satisfy one craving while substituting another.

Yes, food is the theme this time around and it is on display in this sparse yet beautiful little room just waiting for someone to come along and take a bite. Or several bites, because there's more than one consumable present. Everything we've come to expect from Robamimi is here: elegant puzzles and solutions, mellow music, an easy inventory, and even a save function. All you have to do is use the arrows on the sides of the screen to wander around and taste the challenge (and the food) as you try to solve your way out, using both the amazing built-in hint feature, the changing cursor (to indicate hot-spots worth investigating), and your own imagination. This is one of Robamimi's smaller efforts, but welcome nonetheless as a perfect snack.

Feeling a bit peckish? Want to sate the late-night cravings? Hungry is definitely the way to satisfy your hunger for a fun, logical room escape. Just be warned, though, because while Hungry may conquer your escaping hunger, it may also cause a bad case of the munchies for something more substantial than instant cup-o-noodles. Time to take a bite!

Note: The game comes in two languages, Japanese and English. To play the English version, make sure it says "Japanese" on the title screen when you begin, and vice versa. Also, if you have trouble connecting you can also try the alternate site.

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If you know Jonas Kyratzes, then you know his talent for crafting meaningful narratives in strange, surreal, and otherworldly settings. The short point-and-click adventure The Fabulous Screech, which takes you back to Oddness Standing from The Book of Living Magic, features more of his trademark magic, whimsy, and unexpected heart. You return to the tiny village of Oddness Standing, where the Fabulous Screech has arrived with his travelling show, and the secrets and wonders you'll encounter within might not be of the sort you were expecting. (Rated "Y" for some mildly suggestive text, incidentally.)

Just click to interact, exhausting conversation topics with people to find out more, and use the green arrows in the bottom-right box to move around or advance text. It's a short game, and will probably take most people less than ten minutes to breeze through, but that's not the point of it. It's almost more interactive-art than anything else, and the point isn't to rush through it to the end but to take your time and explore, clicking everywhere and absorbing the little jokes, references, and oddities. I will say, however, that The Fabulous Screech is probably the first game I have ever played that made me honestly put my face in my hands and cry very hard for some very personal reasons. My reaction may not be shared with yours, but this heartfelt little game is a wonderful piece of perspective and surrealism that definitely should not be missed. Give it a play, and then give someone a hug.

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Being a little kid is hard. The adults control the television remote, you don't get to pick your bedtimes, your parents think they're being clever when they force you to wear cute shirts proclaiming how kooky they are... and, of course, nobody lets you take part in the really cool pillaging and slaying because they think you're too small. Viking Quest is a point-and-click puzzle adventure created by Denis Mordvintsev and Konstantin Timofeev about a little Viking girl who just wants to prove she's every bit as capable as her father. Easier said than done when he won't let her come along. Geez, did you ever hear of Take Your Daughter Maraudying day buddy? I bet Erik, Baleog and Olaf never had to put up with this.

Just click around the environment and try to find a way to help her get closer to her goal. The cursor will change to a grabbing hand when you can interact, you can drag items from your inventory to a place onscreen to use them, and moving the cursor to the left or right edges of the screen will give you a green arrow if you can move to a new area. (Man, do these ancient Vikings have some sophisticated integrated UI tools or what? I just have to rely on my stupid old eyes.)

The artwork by Tani Zelensova is both adorable and beautiful, with imaginative, friendly character designs. But while it's the sort of game you can happily enjoy for its great presentation and charm, some minor annoyances keep it from being a home run. Having to wait for the little victory/failure animations to play out can get frustrating, especially when you're using items everywhere to find out what to do next... which can be fairly frequently since the lack of item descriptions in your inventory can both make it hard to identify them and lead to some obscure uses. But hey; are you going to let something like that stand in the way of capturing a beast and eternal glory? Viking Quest is cute, family-friendly fun for everyone, even if you don't have a magnificent beard to call your own.

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Shakespeare forgot a few things when he penned his woeful tale of starcrossed lovers. Things that only tiny people living and frolicking amongst the forest greenery would know, such as: when your parental figure doesn't like your boyfriend, there's nothing like a heroic gesture to turn the tide. Follow along as Little Romeo and Juliet's love is tried and tested in this super sweet spot-the-difference game by Difference Games.

In each of the eight story pages, find and click on the differences between the two nearly identical pictures—the quicker you are, the higher your score. You can play more than once, choosing between three levels of difficulty: easy (5 differences), medium (6 differences) or hard (9 differences). Should you get stuck, a slowly charging hint button will help you out with either a slight shake or an outright reveal. Not lengthy or overly-challenging, Little Romeo and Juliet is a sugary bite of cuteness when you have only a moment to pause for play.

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When you want serious casual gaming, you want something with chutzpah. You need to harness the power of anger and boulder tossing and hamburger grilling and car repair and taking out the garbage. You need something manly, and thus have we provided you with three ultra-manly games from our well-stocked archives. What's more manly than fishing? Explodey science? Robots? Nothing, we tell you. Nothing!

• Andrew the Droid - Bam! Robot time! ooPixel's neat-o platform game features finely-tuned puzzles that pass on just the right amount of challenge. It also incorporates lots of danger (manly!), upgrade chips to increase Andrew's abilities (manlier!), and the familiar screen rotation mechanic to move through levels (manliest?).
• Potion Panic - Potions are boss. They're all liquidey and colorful, and when you mix them together, cool things happen. And those cool things usually involve explosions or awesome chemical reactions! It's no wonder Ninja Kiwi adapted the manly science to a defense game, allowing you to tug on chains to fill a cannon with various mixtures of potions to fire out different types of weaponry. Want explosions? Add more blue. Want acid? Keep blue in moderation. Need the flaming fires of Hades to come to your aid? Mix everything equally and watch the retribution! Fantastic fun, and quite the brainy experience, too, once you start upgrading and tweaking your strategies.
• Fishing Girl - Oh yeah, fishing! Manly smells, invincible waterproof clothing, and capturing your own food using your wits, a fine smattering of patience, worms, and sharp pointy hooks. In Fishing Girl, you turn your serious powers to the task of rescuing someone trapped on an island. You get there by fishing for bigger and bigger fish, upgrading your lures, and casting farther and farther away, exploring new sea territory each time. It's a game up persistence and upgrades, and rescuing is a very manly pursuit. Just ask any superhero!

While we welcome any comments about this weekly feature here, we do ask that if you need any help with the individual games, please post your questions on that game's review page. Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and rediscover some awesome!

A Tale by Alex from Digital Dreams is a side-scrolling platform adventure told in three areas at the same time. You control Alex in three worlds simultaneously, jumping, attacking, and collecting coins like synchronized swimmers gone to ground. The bottom level is Alex's real self, but up above is the fantasy realm conjured by his imagination. Evil goldfish, a dark forest, and turtles the size of a Buick? Hey, if he can dream it, it can take form and attack his imaginary avatars!

The bottom world is the only place where Alex is safe. Here, he can walk through enemies and there's nothing to squish or stab him. In the middle, things start to get a bit crazier, as Alex's imagination starts to turn ordinary objects into dangerous objects. At the top of the screen is Sir Alex, knight extraordinaire. The toughest enemies and the biggest obstacles are packed here, so naturally you'll want to put a little more attention on the knight than the other versions of Alex.

Control Alex using the [arrow] keys and tap [Z] for a melee attack. Melee has a very short range, so don't rush into things before you've assessed the situation. When you have a long range weapon, you can fire it using the [X] key. Keep an eye on your ammo, though, because Alex can't carry an infinite supply of rubber bands around!

When one of the upper characters dies, you still have control of real Alex and the surviving avatar. Keep pressing ahead and you can often resurrect the fallen character by passing a certain point in the stage. If both top characters die, your game ends. Fear not, though, for A Tale by Alex includes an in-game shop you can use to purchase items between rounds. Gather coins and points, meet your inevitable doom, then buy better weapons, armor, and keys to unlock treasure chests at the shop. Then, saddle up and do it again!

Analysis: A Tale by Alex employs an increasingly familiar mechanic of controlling multiple characters with the same key strokes. Games like Jack in the Box use the same sort of design, though in Alex's case, the multiple screens/characters plays a much more important and artistic style of role.

Controlling Alex is simple, but minding two or three versions of him is anything but. Most of the obstacles are similar or identical between the worlds, but you can't count on symmetry to get you through the day. Keeping the characters lined up and watching their actions across the screen takes some getting used to. Even when you've got that down, you'll find yourself staring at the game over screen on many occasions. The nature of A Tale by Alex is focused on replays, and the more you play, the more stuff you can buy in the store, making your in-game time much easier.

While a lot of players may find the voice acting endearing, I found it a bit on the excessive side, giving speech to Alex far too frequently for my taste. The sense of wonder and imagination is unique, however, and since this is a tale by a child, you can expect an appropriate sense of fun, even when a goldfish drowns you with water.

A Tale by Alex is charming no matter how you cut it, and the divided screen makes for an interesting gaming experience. It's challenging to get used to splitting your attention, but when you get it, it's a much smoother game than you might imagine!

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Captain Commander: Defender of the Galaxy! Crash-landed on an alien planet, it's up to him and the trusty blaster at his side, to run, jump, shoot, drive and fly across the landscape, decimating the population and rescuing his comrades from their probe-happy captors. A fine retro run-and-gun action game from Pixeljam and Adult Swim, there'll be much havoc to wreak, and a score of green things to insult before the mission is over.

Though the game features different variations of action, generally the controls remain the same: [WASD] to run, jump and duck, or to steer your vehicle, and the mouse or [numberpad] to fire your weapon. Power-ups will improve your rate of fire or give a boost to your health, and rescuing captives grant you bonus points. Watch out though: some levels feature surveillance cameras, and getting in their line of sight will call forth some furious reinforcements. You and the Captain make it happen!

The folks at Pixeljam are masters of excellent retro-styled games that feel like they should have been, even if they never were. Captain Commander is no different. Gameplay is as simple as "aim at the alien to make them go boom", true, but, as a game, it does simple well. Its variety of levels draws from a host of early arcade inspirations: a driving level straight out of Moon Patrol, interior sections with a Bonanza Bros. feel to them, and a climax that owes a debt to Defender. The quips that the Captain and his foes trade is often chuckle-worthy, and, since it draws from a fairly large pool of text, new banter constantly pops up. The landscapes and creatures have the colorful pallete and imaginative designs that could be exactly what a Spaceman Spiff game for the Atari would look like. One drawback is the implementation of the shooting system: limiting shooting to eight directions is apropos to the retro aesthetic, but detrimental to gameplay. Also, does anyone really like gun-overheating mechanics? Have the words "Boy, I sure enjoy being minced by enemy lasers until a flashing bar arbitrarily decides to let me shoot again!" ever been spoken aloud? Doubtful. Having said this, Captain Commander is a short but sweet blast from the pixelated past, and well worth the nostalgia trip.

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Word games everywhere! Word games galore! Except, there's just one word game, but it's really fun, so let's pretend! There's also crazy RPG running game and a game with cherries and a guy with really long legs. And if you thought "hey, I know what long legs are!", you're probably wrong, because this guy's legs are really long.

Mr. Legs - Would you just look at those magnificent legs! They're stunning! So are those cherries floating around the screen! Tap and slide to make Mr. Legs grow taller or shorter, depending on where he needs to be to avoid enemies or nom some fruits. The longer his legs, the faster he walks, but the faster he walks, the more difficult it will be to disarm traps and stay away from the bad guys flying around. A simple but phenomenally fun game that will trap you with its visual style right from the start!

Word Train - Tailor-made for a casual crowd with a great visual package and perfectly tuned difficulty, Word Train combines quiz-like elements with a little word creation, similar to 7 Little Words (iOS/Android). The train stops at a series of stations, each with a particular theme (cars, countries, foods, etc.). While there, you are given a handful of clues and a pocketful of train carts, each with two letters on its side. Using the clues, or your own awesome spelling skills, tap letter pairs to form words and send the train off on its merry way. A smartly-designed game with new puzzles every day. Hard to say no to that!

Trigger Knight - The browser version of this one button running/survival/RPG game from MINTSPHERE was mentioned back in December, but now with a strong mobile port, you can take the same dash-n-slash action everywhere you go! The basic premise is this: you are a knight running across a field. Every so often you encounter an enemy and automatically do battle. You also pass armor, weapon, and healing shops that can upgrade your gear or refill your hit points. You don't participate in the battles, you just decide where to spend the gold, creating a fabulous one-way adventure that only ends when you run out of health. Also available for iPhone and Kindle Fire.

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. Games have been confirmed to run on an Android 2.2 device as well as any applicable tablet devices.