It was a city like any other; grimy, crowded, teeming with life. A city of balls, each going about their daily business as only a ball can. But evil lurked in the shadows, the evil of... red! What are ordinary balls to do when red stalks the city? They call upon a special type of ball. A ball that, under the right circumstances, can become something other than itself. A ball that can transform into something that can take on the red menace and make life safe for everyone else. These special balls can transform into boxes you see, and when evil strikes they launch to the rescue. There are a million stories in the naked city, and this is the story of...WereBox!

Okay, so the inner Raymond Chandler sucks. WereBox is a cute little physics puzzle designed by Vogd that is based on a simple premise: these particular balls and boxes can transform back and forth from one form to the other. All the heroic werebox (or wereboxes, depending on the level) must do is rid the area of the evil red balls (and/or squares) by transforming back and forth and pushing the red menace over the edge. Simple in theory. In execution? Not so much.

The player begins with one or more balls or boxes perched on ledges. Changing a ball or box is simple; just click on it to change the form. It is up to you, the gamer, to determine which action will help rid the ledges of the red menace using physics and gravity. There's only one catch: all the other balls and boxes must remain safe. That's right, no suicide missions allowed. As the levels progress there will be more than one good guy and more than one bad guy, so a little forethought and planning is required to rid the sky of all the red balls and boxes without losing any of the others. Timing can be critical, especially in the upper levels, so think before you click.

Analysis: WereBox is a cute yet tough little phuzzle. The graphics are flat, bright, and familiarly cartoon-like. Dramatic music and cute sound effects round out the enjoyable casual gameplay. There are some downsides, though. In some of the higher levels the timing is both extremely tricky and some of the solutions are so complex that the player can end up trying something a dozen times or more before getting it just right. And at 20 levels, the game is a little on the short side.

Gameplay is reminiscent of Red Remover in the simple dynamic of getting rid of anything red while saving everything else with one critical difference: there is no neutral ground in the world of WereBox. There is only good and evil, and none of the good can be sacrificed to remove the evil (aka red). Clicking on a ball will change it into a box, and vice versa. You may have to effect this change more than once to achieve the desired goal of getting rid of the evil reds. In fact, you can also transform the reds back and forth as well, or, at least, some of them. Some of the reds are so evil they resist transformation, making them even trickier to remove.

WereBox is a fun little challenge that will brighten your day. Lurking in the darkness, transforming to save the day, be the hero and vanquish the wicked reds so that life in the city can return to normal. Well, normal for balls anyway.

Play WereBox.

The Bell Brothers, who brought us Echo Genesis a few years ago, have a nifty little experimental game where you use the scroll wheel on your mouse to complete various tasks. Record Tripping is short, pretty, and a clever demonstration of a new sort of mechanic.

Yes, the game is unplayable without some means of tactile scrolling, but I did find that you can play it with a touchpad that allows for two-finger scrolling, a feature on many laptop computers. More people have the tech to play this game than who might realize it at first. The gameplay analogy, as shown in the practice level, is of a spinning record, which you can move forward by scrolling up and move back or rewind by scrolling down. Clicking and holding the mouse button slows motion down, like playing a record at the wrong speed. Despite the practice level and the game's title, nothing of the actual game involves spinning records. Instead, you use this record-spinning vocabulary to move barrels, windmills, and assembly lines; open safes, and even control the flow of time itself.

The levels are grouped into chapters, with each chapter featuring a different mini-game-like task. These mini-games are very short, and the whole game doesn't take very long to finish, so the project feels more like a proof-of-concept than a full-length game. As it happens, though, it's a very attractively presented proof-of-concept. The art direction and animation are superb, with cute little animals cavorting subtly about over colorful photo-realistic backdrops. The sound and music are great too, featuring pleasant, thematic music loops, some of which you may recognize; and a nice storybook reading of Alice in Wonderland, which reacts as an LP recording would to your mouse-scrolling, record-tripping machinations. The whole package is a cool little showcase of a neat idea with lovely trappings, well worth the short time it takes to complete.

Play Record Tripping.

Thanks to Duane, Alex and Chiktionary for sending this one in!

Oh boy.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

Have I got a treat for you, faceless yet beloved reader. It's Robot Unicorn Attack from Adult Swim, the game where you race a magical robotic unicorn across a purple landscape and smash stars before they can smash you.

The game does all the running for you. All your hooves have to do is tap [Z] to jump, tap it again to double-jump, and tap [X] to perform a dash attack that will break through stars. While in mid-air, you can actually hold [Z] after you've jumped to glide majestically for a bit. Avoid running into obstacles, and falling into the fathomless pit that is the magical robot unicorn realm, and collect floating... fairy... things for points. You've got three lives, or "wishes" in this case, and at the end your score is tallied up. You can then use said score to brag to all your friends about how good you are at racing pretty unicorns while remaining blissfully ignorant of their glazed expressions. That's... pretty much it. There's no real pay-off for your glorious stampede other than increasingly bigger numbers and the knowledge that you've just spent minutes you'll never get back listening to Erasure. Ridiculous? Absolutely. But since when did you need to take yourself seriously to have fun?

Alright, so it's essentially Canabalt with a robot unicorn, and sometimes a robot dolphin. But while it's just as addictive as Canabalt, it's not quite as polished. There are far too many leaps of faith the further you get into the game, and it's also desperately in need of some variation in the scenery department. I don't know about you, but I've always envisioned the realm of the robot unicorns to look a bit more magical than that. Or at least not quite so empty and boring.

It's a bright, colourful, cotton-candy puff of a game, and while it's hardly the most substantial offering out there, it's easily one of the most unique. Forget that it's a game so frilly and sparkly even a six-year-old girl might raise an eyebrow at it. Forget that I'm going to be making fun of you for singing along. Instead, just let go, feel the wind in your glorious mane... and believe.

Play Robot Unicorn Attack.

One secret fact about iPhone games is that they can make you do weird things. Tilting the device to steer a car, for example, seems innocent enough, but when you're operating a flying taxi cab or flinging enemies up into the virtual sky, it's easy to get carried away. But you know what? Who cares if you look like a weirdo. You're having fun, and that guy making fun of you is not.

Castle Frenzy - An arcade defense game along the lines of Defend Your Castle. Wave after wave of goblins, trolls, warlocks, boars and other baddies come streaming in from the right. Using your finger, flick them into the air or smash them against the ground to send each foe packing. Upgrades include a pet hydra that eats enemies, a griffin statue that can squash entire groups of baddies, and several spells that use the touch interface quite well. A simple but extraordinarily well-made defense game you'll have a hard time putting down.

Trundle - A platform puzzle game that bears a striking resemblance to an upcoming project by Nifflas. Move through each screen by tilting the iPhone to roll the little character back and forth. Move objects by bumping into them, and arrange things by building speed and crashing into them to get them in the right place. Some of the puzzles are trickier than they should be and require more luck than skill, but on the whole, the game is a superb blend of platforming and puzzle genres.

Plushed - A moderately open-ended platform game that's both charming and gorgeous. You play a rabbit wandering through a fairy tale land collecting golden ladybugs and shaking slices of pizza out of trees. What? I said it was a fairy tale land... To help the various creatures of the game, you'll have to use items and food to coax other creatures (both big and small) into doing your bidding. Most of your time is spent exploring, as there are only a few dangerous obstacles in this world. But boss battles are something to behold, as they require actual thought and skill instead of luck or blind reflexes. Don't let the first few levels of this game fool you, it's a brilliant iPhone platformer!

Cabby - Gamers raised on the classics such as Space Taxi will immediately recognize the setup in this game. Cabby puts you in control of a flying taxi cab with the task of picking up passengers and dropping them off at various numbered destinations. It's surprisingly easy to crash your car, as one nudge too many and the thing will blow into pieces. Take things slow and easy, save the crazy antics for another time. If you can resist, that is. The free Cabby 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.

Strange, uncharted jungle islands, where would hidden object/adventure hybrids be without them? Short of stories, is where. So yet another mysterious island in the pacific is the setting for the new hybrid, Sarah Maribu and the Lost World. Created by ERS G-Studio, Sarah Maribu is an adventure to one of those lush, mysterious places.

Our story begins with Sarah and her husband Michael being flown to the aforementioned island by dear Uncle John — who rather resembles Frank, the helicopter pilot from Lost. They are flying to the island on information from Sarah's grandfather, in search of adventure. As they are flying into the teeth of an erupting volcano, it looks like they're going to find it. Once Sarah and Michael set off, trouble soon finds them (doesn't it always?). Before you know it, Michael is kidnapped and Sarah must find her way around an island with strange, hostile natives and lots of dinosaurs. Yep, dinosaurs. Animated, living, breathing dinosaurs. Guess Grandpa was right about that, too.

The bulk of the gameplay is hidden object-oriented, and there's a lot of it about. At the beginning of each scene pictures of the objects to be found appear at the left of the screen, along with a running count of how many objects need to be found. As you're working with pictures rather than lists, only a certain number of the objects are revealed at one time. Some of the items will go into the tool box for use later in opening or manipulating various places in the scene.

A handy changing cursor and the occasional sparkle indicate areas of interest, places that can be investigated more closely, objects that can be manipulated, or mini-games. Most scenes take place in one fixed area, but there are a few where the gamer will have to navigate back and forth between two different locations to find all the items needed to move on. A handy map in-between the hidden object scenes lets the player know where they are on the island, and how much is left to go.

Clicking on an "area of interest" will often get you a clue as to what needs to be done there, and of course there's a refilling hint timer when the hidden objects are a little too well-hidden. Mini-games are on a skip timer as well, wait long enough and you will be able to move on if you have problems solving. There's nothing new in the mini-games, you've probably seen them all before, but they are beautifully presented in some unique ways, such as a basic jumping peg puzzle involving colorful, feathered, flying dinosaurs.

Analysis: ERS G-Studio, creator of games like Murders in the Rue Morgue, and PuppetShow: The Mystery of Joyville, have a reputation for beautiful games, and Sarah Maribu is no exception. The backgrounds are stunningly beautiful, the animated dinosaurs and other creatures are very life-like (or, in the case of the dinosaurs, as life-like as we can guess they looked).

There's really not much of a story in Sarah Maribu. We never find out why Sarah and Michael came to the island in the first place, and most of the game is simply Sarah trying to find Michael. This seems a bit of a let-down considering that Murders and PuppetShow were very story-heavy. The music is also a bit incongruous, short, repetitive loops that have a lot of upbeat calypso rhythms involved. The mini-games, although beautifully presented, are extremely easy as well.

Perhaps we shouldn't compare Sarah Maribu to the other hidden object games produced by ERS, but to one of their contributions to the time management/village sim field, Many Years Ago, which played like both a village sim and a parody of a village sim at the same time. Sarah Maribu and the Lost World also seems to walk that strange line. Despite the obvious flaws there's something seriously enjoyable about playing a hidden object game that is this much goofy fun. Idiot husband (seriously, he gets kidnapped in like the first 5 minutes)? Check. Hostile natives who worship both dinosaurs and statues of Sleestaks (that's the original Land of the Lost, not the odious movie remake)? Check. Uncle John (who looks like Jimmy Buffet after a 3-day bender) being sacrificed to the dinosaurs by the hostile natives? Check. Having to find 20 hidden items before you can find the water that will put out the fire that poor Uncle John is being roasted over? Check. It's all silly, over the top entertainment.

This is not, perhaps, the game for serious adventure enthusiasts. It's more of an hidden object/adventure hybrid light, casual gameplay that the younger set might appreciate (cool dinosaurs!); novices to the genre might find nice as an introduction; and the older generation perhaps appreciating the calm, non-timed and beautiful ride. Who needs a story, anyway, since you're too busy brewing herbal concoctions that will knock out the native guards, feeding helpful dinosaurs to open gates, or rescuing all the idiot menfolk before everyone is caught by the natives, the dinosaurs, or both?

Despite the flaws there's a lot of hidden object fun to be had with Sarah Maribu and the Lost World. Just sit back and enjoy the wild, illogical, yet dazzling adventure through the island of misfit dinosaurs. Just tell them Grandpa sent you.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

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

Ah, the Galapagos Islands, remote, mysterious, home to some of the world's most rare and intriguing species, the Galapagos are... okay, look, let's just get this out of the way right now. We are in no way shape or form promoting the "environmentalist propaganda" agenda here, it's just that Paradise Quest, by I-play, is one gorgeous match 3 game with a cool new dynamic that is wicked fun to play.

Paradise Quest is the story of Dr. Evan Finch, a biologist who travels to Isabela Island, the largest of the Galapagos chain. Once there he finds that the island, through a chain of natural disasters (typhoon, earthquake, volcano, etc.), has been completely denuded of all life. The intrepid Dr. Finch must then gather resources and discover habitats by playing match-3 games. Once a habitat is unlocked he can use the resources gathered to buy an environment upgrade, consisting of landscapes, trees, plants, or other things that will lure back some of the species native to the Galapagos. Dr. Finch must continue to gather resources, unlock habitats, and bring back plants and animals to repopulate Isabela, all the while gathering mysterious pieces of an artifact that may point to human habitation long before the Spanish discovered the islands in 1535. In the latter quest he is aided by his funny and sharp-tongued archeologist friend, Professor Katherine Fitzroy, whom he calls in cut-scenes in-between finding resources and habitat.

Gameplay is simple if you've ever played a match-3 before. Simply click on an icon in the grid to move it so that it makes a row or column of three (or more) and they will disappear, being replaced by more icons. Some icons represent the materials to be gathered (wood, water, and food) and others simply represent native flora and fauna of the islands. Pieces of habitat or of artifacts are surrounded by stone tiles, which must be broken to release them. There are also tiles covered in sand. Breaking the sand tiles (or "digging" in the sand) can release a spate of cool power ups and other goodies to help you along the way. Once you have enough pieces of habitat they can be fitted together in jigsaw fashion to unlock a new area of the island, allowing room for more species to inhabit. And once new species move in, you can go to the area and photograph the animals, insects, birds, and fish as they move around their magnificent environments.

So far it sounds like the average match-3, correct? Well, here's where a fun dynamic comes in. The match-3 grids get progressively larger, too large for the screen in fact. These grids "float" above a picture of one of the habitats, and in order to reach all the areas you must make matches near the sides of the screen where you wish to travel, making the grid move. A handy map feature will appear in the lower left of the screen showing the area uncovered and giving the player an idea of where to go to uncover more. Making matches doesn't just gather resources and free power ups, though. It also helps a vine grow at the bottom of the screen. When the vine is full-grown the player can then use the vine to "swing" to a different area of the map, without the sometimes tedious process of making continual matches in a certain direction. Tarzan yell while using the vine is, of course, optional. Occasionally, the player will also end up in a night scene and must find torches to light the way as they make their way about the grid.

Analysis: With its mixed terrain and odd collection of wildlife, Isabela Island makes for a gorgeous backdrop to this amusing piece of match 3 fun. Paradise Quest is undeniably gorgeous to look at, from the rocky cliffs to the limpid blue pools of the lagoon, from the gorgeous plants to the unique, animated animal population. A lot of effort has gone into recreating the actual landscape and species endemic to this UNESCO world heritage site. Adding to the experience is the lovely music, a mix of native drums and other rhythms that fit the game perfectly.

With both a timed and an untimed mode, Paradise Quest is casual gameplay for the entire family, from those who like it frantic and fast to those who would like to take their time and enjoy the scenery, and everyone in-between. The match-3 madness is broken up by the cut-scenes, puzzles, and the task of photographing all the returning species for the player's photo album. Once a habitat is completely repopulated, a snapshot of it will be created in the player's pictures folder (in Windows) that can be used as lovely desktop wallpaper.

There is a ton of gameplay to be had here. The game is open ended, so even after you unlock the 6 habitats, 32 environment upgrades, find all the pieces of the artifact, and photograph a stunning 75 returning species, you can continue to play as you like or start over again with a new identity. Just making it through to the "end" can take days, especially if you take a break every now and then.

The only complaint about Paradise Quest might be that in the upper levels in timed mode it can get very tricky to finish before the timer runs out. And after about 50 levels or so the game can get a bit repetitive. However, these are minor quibbles in what is otherwise quite an enjoyable game.

Gorgeous to look at, easy on the ears and with a fun new twist to the old match 3 dynamic, Paradise Quest is tons and tons of match 3 fun, with enough side tasks to break up the gameplay and keep it feeling fresh. Entertaining, educational, and fun for the entire family.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

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

Sometimes you don't want an epic story or 80 hours of gameplay out of your game. Sometimes you just want to mess around, experience something quirky, and call it a day. All of the games below are extremely short. They're "just 'cause" games, because the only reason you play them is just because you can!

War and Peace (Windows, 2.4MB, free) - With absolutely nothing to do with the Tolstoy tome, War and Peace is more accurately described as "one-button Civilization". Each game takes about two minutes to complete, and all you have to do is tap a key to switch between war and peace modes, the former useful for taking out other civilizations while the latter is great for expansion. Technologies are constantly being researched, but they vary depending on your mode. Victory can be obtained through conquest, domination, or achieving space flight. The game packs a surprisingly strong Civilization flavor into such a short and simple package.

Strangers (Windows, 5.3MB, free) - You land an an alien planet with a blaster and a dog hopping around behind you. Alien thingies are bouncing all around. And, of course, you start walking to the right. Only then, you meet the big mother alien thing. What happens next? You really should play this one and find out. It might just tell you something about mankind and how we seem to deal with problems.

A very brief story (Windows, 1.36MB, free) - A tiny, five minute adventure with quite a bit of charm. A young woman goes on a quest. A quest to the four corners of the globe to find the four crystals. Ten screens and a few rudimentary puzzles later, she has them and everybody's happy. Oops, spoiler alert!

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!

I'm starting to think we need to be a bit more careful with our mad scientists. Those that don't become menaces to society and need to be rounded up by Spider-Man generally end up messing things up one way or another anyway. Such is the case with Grandpa Clumsy (there's a red flag), whose time-traveling antics wind up setting modern history back. Way back. So it's up to his granddaughter Helen (and you!) to set things right in The Clumsys 2: Butterfly Effect, a hidden-object game about cause and effect. Or about squished butterflies and history lessons. Which are practically the same things anyway.

Like any other HOG, the game is played with the mouse. Helen will move throughout history, taking you from one hidden object scene to another. Items yet to be found are displayed at the top of the screen in blue, while undiscovered items that are black are hidden from view somehow. If your cursor turns to gears when you move past a location, that means you can click on it for a closer look.

Typically, you're trying to make sure history happens the way it should. It turns out that one dead butterfly can lead to a whole lot of missed chances. So while history's greatest minds are off presumably being wise and making big decisions, you and Helen will sneak around behind the scenes scraping mold out of their fridge or rummaging through their sock drawer. For science, of course. The puzzles are mostly limited to knowing where to use a particular item, and luckily for you, The Clumsys went to the school of logic and decided to make those solutions very straightforward. You know, in case you were sick of using a frog to churn butter or something.

Analysis: The Clumsys 2 is rather loosely based on Ray Bradbury's short story classic, "The Sound of Thunder", only with somewhat less illiteracy and doom, and a big heaping helping of good ol' fashioned edutainment. (Good for what ails ya.) It's a very friendly, colourful game with accessible gameplay, designed more to entertain than to challenge. While the hidden object scenes tend to be well done, with items all pertaining to the area and time period for once, it's unlikely that you'll ever find yourself stymied, and then not for long. The game doesn't punish for mis-clicks, and the hint timer refills very quickly.

What sets Clumsys 2 apart from many other HOGs on the market these days is a direct infusion of logic. Rather than hunting down six pinwheels, a rubber chicken, and a garden gnome to progress, you'll be hunting down the proper implements throughout history to make sure certain scenes and discoveries happen the way they should. Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, this will also occasionally make modern day objects appear that you'll need to hunt down before Ben Franklin freaks out over some ray-bans or something. You're hardly going to come out of this game ready to take on Trivial Pursuit with the best of them, but its still nice to come across a game that at least makes an effort to stimulate our oft underused gray matter.

While I never felt particularly challenged by the game, I did enjoy it, the same way I remember enjoying programs like The Magic Schoolbus or (his lordship) Bill Nye The Science Guy. Younger kids will probably get the biggest kick out of it, but it might not pack enough flash for older gamers. The only real downside other than its simplicity, which could have you whizzing through it, is that the gameplay is mostly identical to the original. Adding some different puzzles would have gone a long way towards making it feel more fresh and distinct. If you're looking for something nice and casual to take up an afternoon, The Clumsys 2: Butterfly Effect will serve that need nicely. And reminder folks; time travel is serious business and should only be attempted if you have a teenage granddaughter willing to clean up all your time-altering messes.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Ah, the trucker. Ah, the penguin. Two of nature's most noble beasts, and yet rarely do the two ever meet. At least, until now. That's right, kids, it's Zoo Transport from Tanoku, the physics game where you use your flippers to load your big red truck up with animals set for delivery to the nearest zoo. Oh, and I wouldn't give that penguin any lip if I were you. He doesn't look like he's slept in days. It's a lonely road, that of the trucker penguin. I think Willie Nelson wrote a song about it.

Stack your crates on the truck bed with the mouse, and use the [arrow] keys to drive forward and back. The goal is to transport all crated beasties safely to the zoo entrance; if any of them fall off due to uneven terrain or bad driving, you'll need to go back to the loading docks and pick them up again. Getting the animals from point A to point B is a bigger challenge for some than for others, since certain animals are in bigger or smaller crates, or have certain requirements for the method of transport. You can see the required number of crates you have to deliver at the top of the screen. Unfortunately, you can't drop off more troublesome creatures and then go back for the others; it's all or nothing, baby, and arriving at the gates without all your animals will cause you to fail the level.

Analysis: Who transports live animals these days without some bungee cords to tie the containers down anyway? Moreover, who decided penguins were safe behind the wheel? Everyone knows koalas score the highest on driver safety tests. Unfortunately, Zoo Transport's physics obey a cruel and fickle mistress of fate, and stacking your deliverables is often more finicky than it needs to be. The game winds up moving at a glacial pace more often than not as you slowly inch forward over hazardous terrain; more than once a crate that was only hanging on to the truck with a wish and a prayer tipped off inches from the finish line, forcing me to go all the way back for it.

Still, it's an interesting take on the physics puzzle. The different animals, each with their own criteria for movement, present different challenges and keep you from just blasting over the terrain, General Lee style, and it's all presented with bright, cheerful visuals. More than a steady hand, Zoo Transport requires patience. If you like a challenge, Zoo Transport may be for you. Just remember to keep one foot on the brakes, and one eye on the monkeys at all times. Oh, and can you pick me up a crate of tigers while you're out? I'm almost out.

Play Zoo Transport.

Newgrounds.com, like many large web communities, has a labyrinthian body of insider lore and mythology. One such mythological creature is M-Bot, feared adversary of spambots and griefers, friend to the little guy, hero to the everyman forum poster! At least I think that's what he is. Folklore can be a bit opaque to outsiders like myself. At any rate, it was inevitable that M-Bot get his own game, and two Newgrounds denizens who go by Mindchamber and FrostedMuffins have risen to the task with aplomb. M-Bot: The Game is a gorgeous, shiny, frenetic gem of a 2.5D shooter with style to spare, where you pilot M-Bot through the urban ruins of the Newgrounds community to disable spambots and make the world safe for friendly posters everywhere.

The first thing you will notice is the control selection screen, rendered cleverly in 8-bit style, to play off the more polished look of the actual game. You can choose between using the mouse to move and fire, or using the [arrow] keys to move and [S] to fire. The [spacebar], or [D] if you prefer, makes M-Bot jump, and [Z] executes the "Special Attack" when the opportunity arises. Not to boss you around or anything, but you should really choose the keyboard controls. Trust me. The mouse control feels pretty slick, but you will inevitably scroll off the playing field and lose control of M-Bot.

This is not a relaxing game. The core gameplay lies in collecting shields for points, which also represent your health; and in shooting the yellow spambots, who also yield shields. Shooting the same spambot multiple times yields more shields, and even power-ups which improve your weaponry and give you your special attack. Numerous other challenges spice up the gameplay, like avoidance tasks, a mini-boss, and a very clever boss fight. The rapid pace of these events, coupled with clever animation and sound design, makes for a very intense experience, such that I actually gasped when the final boss started throwing...well, I'll leave it a surprise.

Analysis: The first thing you will notice is that the game takes a long time to load, considering that the playing field is so tiny (the loading bar on the right becomes the play button when the game fully loads, by the way). The second thing you will notice, once the game loads and you get to playing, is that the loading time is worth it. It's a colorful sensory extravaganza, and the amazing look explains the cost in file size. Filters, lighting effects, particle effects, and the scrolling 3-D background: These don't come cheap, but golly, do they ever make the game look pretty. Mindchamber claims the game takes its inspiration from an old isometric shooter called Zaxxon, but I thought of the more recent Viewtiful Joe. That game was widely praised for its visual style, and to achieve that kind of look in Flash is remarkable. Even the control selection screen is rendered cleverly in 8-bit style, to play off the more polished look of the actual game.

The best presentation won't mask a lousy game, of course, and M-Bot doesn't disappoint, though there is a catch. Even with the keyboard controls, it can take a moment or two to get a sense of how to orient yourself in the pseudo-3D playing field. Moving M-Bot left and right is not a problem, but motion upstage and downstage can be a bit tricky to determine at first. Thankfully the developers give you many visual cues, not least of which is the bright red line projecting horizontally from the protagonist, to help you judge your position in space. I adjusted fairly quickly, and given the visual style and fast-paced gameplay, I actually don't think they could have done a better job of this than they did.

Mindchamber admits that this is an unusually resource-intensive game, and calls it an experiment not likely to be repeated. Not everyone will get past the extensive load time or the processing requirements. But it's a grand foray towards the bleeding edge of what Flash gaming can do, and a successful experiment at that.

Play M-Bot: The Game.

It's been a while since we've aggressively worked to saturate your brain with as many bright colours and as much bizarre cute imagery as the human brain can possibly withstand before exploding into a big puff of cotton-candy bunny rabbits and rainbows. Therefore, this week's Link Dump Friday features nothing but the brightest, the cutest, and the weirdest games the internet has to offer. That's right, I scoured the web (not true), looked at hundreds of sites (like, three or four, really), and spent hours carefully hand-picking each and every title (basically, I'm a liar). So manly men, avert your eyes. Girly girls, hold my hand and step into the rainbow. Manly men pretending not to be interested are also allowed, but have to drink things with their pinkies extended for the duration.

• Gluey - Do you play match-3 games but wish they had more physics and eerily attentive tiny black eyes like the sort that probably peer out from your closet while you sleep? Well, wish no more! Gluey is a game about removing globs of coloured liquid from a vat by clicking on them when they combine to become large enough. It's bright, it's cheerful, and fun in small bites before it becomes too repetitive.
• Banana Foot - You can't turn around these days without tripping over a physics puzzle. But how many of them are hosted by flying... chihuahua... thingies? Banna Foot Fox-Dog is your guide to shooting eyes into portals using your toolbox full of strangeness. You've probably seen similar ideas before, but probably not executed with such a cheerful sense of weirdness. I look forward to the sequel, Apple Tonsils.
• Turtillion Island - Hey, idealistic fourteen-year-old girls! Love animals? Sick of wildlife conservationists chasing you away from digging up sea turtle eggs because you know you would be super good at caring for an endangered species? Then we've got a game for you! This time management game is probably too slow and straightforward to entice everyone, but for those of you who just want a dose of cute casual gameplay in between doodling unicorns on your notebooks and giggling about cute boys, Turtillion Island will deliver.
• Them Coconuts - While the gameplay is straightforward in this shooter/defense title from Spelgrim, it's the oddball presentation that will make you wonder if there was something off about that bowl of cereal you had your breakfast this morning. Wizards, warriors, and, uh, police cars waggle about with shooting gallery aesthetic as they approach your castle gates to a strange soundtrack. As defense games go, it's actually fairly standard; well made, if unremarkable and slow gameplay. But for its weird and wonderful sense of style, I... I think I love it a little.
• Choco Valentine 2 - You can't have a weird and cute Link Dump Friday without mentioning Minoto, creator of such loveable insanity as Beard of Santa. It features a snot-nosed yeti, an enormous fluffy dog, and a snowman playing volleyball. Among other things, all of which are also awesome. Plus, it serves as a timely reminder that a certain holiday is coming up soon, to remind you to get your shopping done. (Pssst! I like tulips!)

A custom casual gameplay comic created exclusively for JIG by Babylon Sticks creator, James Francis.