The mere mention of the word "Bejeweled" sends hundreds of hunched, bleary-eyed office workers running. If you are one of the sleep deprived masses that have been hooked before, stop reading because the folks at Avocadolite Farm have smothered the Bejeweled formula in oh-so cuteness in their most successful time killer, Farm Hustle.

The formula is one you've seen before (if not, say good-bye to your loved ones now), the basic idea is to align three of the same type of animal by moving one into an adjacent square, either directly up and down or left and right of its position. The basic story is they all need to be in their pens and each square needs to have an animal hustled off of it. This means that along with making combos and so on, you also need to use each square on the grid at least once.

This addition makes for increased tension in the game play as the often luck based near random skill set frequently present in other games is all but thrown out the window. The targets of your elimination are very specific and contorting around to remove these squares is often very tough and require forethought. Fortunately the animals in the squares are non-specific and you can quite easily remove the offending square by inserting another animal in its place.

To aid you in your difficult but irresistible task of herding these cute animals off to sleep within the time limit, you are awarded with the occasional bomb which can be used to blast a few animals off into their nice warm bed.

Analysis: The classic Bejeweled formula has gotten a very cosy remake with these irresistibly gorgeous graphics. However, many of the icons are repeated, save for different colours. These changes as they appeared to me, a sufferer of mild colour blindness, rendered some animal matching very difficult. The occurrences of this did not dampen the overall aesthetic qualities of the game, or its addictive qualities.

Unfortunately lack of either online or locally saved scores prevent this particular version from becoming the Goliath it should be, when all's said and done, Farm Hustle is a beautiful and fun game worthy of play and should be enjoyed for far too long by a lot of people with far more important things to do. Click.

Yet another excellent free shmup from the inimitable Kenta Cho, Titanion (Windows) is a new take on the classic arcade game Galaga. Cho has seriously sped up the pace and intensity, but was considerate enough to leave the player a gift: the dreaded tractor beam is now in your hands.

Similar to Galaga, the action takes place entirely on one screen, with endless waves of enemies descending towards your ship. Press Z to attack, and press X to appropriate to up to ten enemy ships with your tractor beam for added defense and firepower. After using the tractor beam you'll need to refill the power meter by destroying enemies before you can use it again. The speed at which the meter fills is dependent on how many ships you currently control, which means that the meter will fill quickly when you need it the most.

Analysis: Titanion is simple and familiar, but one of the most impressive offerings from ABA Games yet. Even Cho's trademark techno soundtrack is a little more diverse than usual. I especially appreciated the buffer zones on either side of the screen, which makes hanging on to your captured ships a lot easier than in TUMIKI Fighters, an earlier ABA Game. Download (Windows) and enjoy!

Most everyone has a means of escape from the daily grind of work or other activities that keep our lives moving forward and productive. Some pick up a book to read, others an interactive story. And if you're a regular visitor here, it's probably safe to assume that your escape involves some form of casual gameplay.

But what if your daily chores include playing and reviewing games? Would you still wish to pick up a game to relax and unwind? The answer, at least for me, is a resounding, "yes!"

When I need to escape from the daily grind, the games I usually turn to are dominoes and poker, two quintessential casual games. For dominoes, I play Clubhouse Games on my Nintendo DS, an irresistibly good collection of 42 all-time classic card, board, and parlor games that I find myself coming back to time and time again. For poker, my latest addiction is Triple Jack.

Triple Jack Poker is similar to other browser-based, free-money poker sites with a few extras that set it apart from the rest. If you were a fan of last year's Last Call Poker, you will find that Triple Jack contains a lot of the excitement that made Last Call so popular and addictive.

Registration is totally free and sets up an account that you can play with right away. A quick and painless email validation and then it's time to hit the tables.

There are two main lounges available on the Triple Jack site: a newbie lounge ("Triple Jack Newbies") where the stakes are smaller and the play is slower, and a regular lounge ("The Zen of Poker") where most of the action happens. What's really cool is they even allow you to create your own private lounge if you have your own website, forum, or group of people that like to play together. By using the login screen to the right, you will have access to a special "Jayisgames" private lounge, in addition to the two public lounges, which can only be reached when logging in through this site.

Once inside you can choose to play a cash game or play tournament style at any of the tables already created. Or you can create your own. You are given $500 in chips to start with, but you can always get more if you lose it all. When you do lose everything, a "Rebuy" button will appear that will restock your account with $500. You can only rebuy once every 5-minutes, however.

Since money is free at Triple Jack, what you're really playing for is score, or rank. The points you earn are based on your average rate of profit. So, it's not about how much money you have won, it's about how fast you are able to earn it. Your score is always displayed above your avatar while you're playing so you can watch your score change in real time with every hand. It's really quite remarkable. I've watched mine grow from 0-396 points in just two days of playing.

You can choose from a wide assortment of cute little avatars to be represented by, and even change the color of it at will. After winning a hand you earn a "bomb" that can be sent to any other player at the table. Pies, anvils, balloons, and tomatoes, are all sent as cute animations that bombard the target player's avatar for a brief period of time. It's a fun way to work off some frustration when someone just nudges you out of a sweet pot with a higher kicker. There are also medals to earn that will appear next to your avatar when certain conditions or achievements are met, such as a crown if you happen to get a royal flush in a Texas Hold'em game.

And if you really take a liking to the game, as I have, you can become a "power player" and earn additional abilities and benefits such as the eligibility to win prizes. Becoming a power player costs about $5.95 per month, but it is not a requirement to have fun at Triple Jack.

Analysis: If you enjoy Texas Hold'em poker, Triple Jack is one of the finest free-money sites I have seen. The background graphics, animations, sound effects and avatars are all highly appealing and the Flash-based site runs quick and smooth, even on my pokey little PowerPC-based Mac laptop.

In terms of criticisms, the betting interface could stand a little tweaking as it may take some people a bit to get used to. For example, at first I found myself clicking "Fold" when I really wanted to call, and vice versa; and I still sometimes call a large raise not knowing that someone just increased the stakes significantly. Perhaps a higher constrasting sound effect would help when someone raises, but the current bet indicator is just too small for my liking; it gets lost amongst the various other clutter in the game. Thankfully there are buttons that allow you to make your choice ahead of your turn, and there is even an advanced auto-betting mode available in the options that will really help speed things along once you're familiar with the game.

All things considered, Triple Jack is great multiplayer fun for most anyone that enjoys Texas Hold'em style poker. Add to that the potential to win prizes with a paid subscription to the game and what you have is a unique new offering that may be highly addictive, so be careful. =)

Cheers (and curses) go out to Patlents for introducing me to Triple Jack!

Ever wanted to fight a revolutionary struggle against tyrannical chickens by lining up eggs and firing away? If you answered no, you haven't played the downloadable Egg Vs. Chicken for Windows and Mac. A charmingly original action/puzzle game from the luminaries at gameLab (whose other excellent titles, such as Plantasia and Arcadia, have been reviewed here), Egg Vs. Chicken puts you in the role of time-traveling Eggs trying to free the un-hatched from a history of oppression.

Each level of the game holes you up in a differently shaped fortress with Chicken guerillas enclosing from every side. To hold off their attack, you have to line up colored eggs along the walls, and then fire away. The core of the game involves sliding the eggs around and organizing them for the fight. The catch is that an egg will move in a straight line until it collides with something. You simply click on an egg and gently flick the mouse to move it in one of four directions, but the process can become hectic, especially with the beaks of belligerence tapping on your walls. Theres nothing more satisfying, however, than lining up a deep stack on a corner and yoking out your foes from two sides at once.

Innovative stuff like this can't really be done justice in words, the only way to really appreciate Egg Vs. Chicken is to grab the game and start playing.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Nobuyuki Forces 3 takes the quarter munching duck-and-fire frenzy of Time Crisis out of the arcade and drops it into your browser. Mr. Nobuyuki has retired from politics, yet he still uses his military power to influence the political world. You play a lone secret agent who sets out to stop him by mowing down hordes of anonymous masked soldiers. It's a long and intense game with tons of unlockables and extra features that make it extraordinarily satisfying.

Your operative takes cover by default, so you have to hold space to step out, take aim and fire. When you run out of ammo, resume cover and click to reload. Keep your eye out for items and dawdling soldiers during the transition clips. Clicking on these will up your stats, RPG style.

Nobuyuki Forces 3 pours on the panache in visuals and overall presentation. The graphics are 2D comic book-style with several 3D interludes and some impressive looking artistic backdrops. A smooth jazz electronica soundtrack compliments the gameplay, giving its spy theme a nice ambience.

As you kill enemies and rack up hits against bosses, a bullet indicator at the bottom-right of the screen fills with green. Once full, it will turn yellow and the next time you reload you'll get a random weapon power-up to help you out. Some of the items include a Machine Gun, Shotgun, and Double/Triple shot weapons. And then, of course, there's the extra health, life-ups, and bullet-ups scattered around the complex.

In the end, what makes this game so good is the replay factor. There are several difficulty levels and a ranking system appears after beating the game that allows you to gauge just how good you are. Also, the more ranks you obtain, the more accessories and outfits will be unlocked. Click.

Thanks to Saviour-v for sending this one in and contributing to the review!

Lateral thinking is not something I have always excelled at. Some would even say you could remove "lateral" from the previous sentence and it would remain just as true. I have noticed in fact a general decline in my reasoning prowess, and I'm choosing to blame the lack of sleep as a result of having a baby... 14 months ago.

To fight my general stupidification I've been flexing my lateral thinking muscles lately with Riddles of Riddles 100. These lateral thinking web games are the work of one apparently psychotic mind, Mark Lautman. They aren't as slick or polished as God Tower or Dumb: The Game, but what they lack in graphics they make up for in deviousness and variety. In the first 16 puzzles alone, I came across binary code, a crossword puzzle, a word scramble, and a quote from... nevermind, that would give the answer away.

When you discover the answer to a puzzle you enter it directly in the URL in your browser's address bar. I was originally a little annoyed at that, but the manual entry actually sets Mark up to hand you some pretty clever wordplay based on the address bar itself. There are also occasional hints in the source code of the document itself.

Shoot, I hope that didn't spoil anything. It's so hard reviewing these kinds of games without giving too much away.

In any event, if you like feeling stupid for not finding the answer that's right in front of your nose, get ready to enjoy. Click.

Be sure to check out the other flavors of the Riddles of Riddles games as well. Thanks to Xyz for sending this one in!

Whatever it is you celebrate this time of year (even if it's nothing at all), may your days be filled with peace and love, good times and many soulful moments, now and throughout the coming new year.

Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you!!

Ever wondered how you'd look in an elf hat, green tunic, and striped pants doing a crazy dance? No?? For some extreme holiday silliness, I recommend Elf Yourself. It's not a game, but it's festive and has great potential for amusement (and embarrassment). The principle is simple: find a photo of yourself (or you partner, boss, enemy, etc); select the facial area in the photo (there is a neat web-based tool to help you scale and rotate your chosen shot) and submit the result. You even get an option to record a voice message to go with it (although disappointingly, this is through a phone line rather than via your PC).

Once completed, you can preview the result or email it to a friend. Personally, I am a little wary of the potential for spam as the site's Privacy Policy allows the hosting site (Office Max) to use the submitted email address for promotional purposes. However, (at least using my Windows XP/Outlook combination) you can enter a dummy address which will automatically generate an Outlook message with a direct URL to your creation which you can then save and send to anybody you like.

Release your inner elf! Click.

Mix fun game play, plenty of action and retro graphics and the name Brent Silby may come to mind. Authour of the previously reviewed Swarm, DNA and Replicator, this offering, titled Flatland, follows the same pattern of enjoyment.

In Flatland, it is your mission to destroy wave after wave of... things. You get points. OK, the idea isn't completely original, but the design is quite interesting. At first you start off in a tiny ship which has next to no armour and a miniscule weapon. With this weapon you are intent on destroying your anonymous foes. When you do so, they will explode in an array of large blocky pixels, the collection of which upgrades your ship. The interesting bit is that collecting an odd number of them gives you an odd shaped ship until you gather more and regain composure. Think of it like snapping Lego bricks onto your craft to grow big and strong.

After the first few "practice" levels you will more than have the hang of the very simple gameplay and will also have an understanding of the upgrade system. By this time the enemies will be coming in faster and you will find your ship rapidly inflating and deflating as damage/repairs are obtained in quick and often hilarious succession.

Although the game claims to run better in Internet Explorer, I actually found myself with more problems—such as jerky animation—in IE as opposed to Firefox, though with the latter I had no music. An incidental matter which in no way hampers an enjoyable game. It's still a bundle of retro goodness, no matter the browser. Click.

The nominations for this year's Best of 2006 awards are now up and the virtual voting booths have officially opened!

We'll be taking your votes for the next several days up until the dawning of the new year when we present the very best in casual gameplay that we enjoyed throughout 2006. Play along or just browse through the nominations and relive those cherished moments from the year.

You'll see we are doing things a bit differently this year. This being our third annual best of the year awards, we wanted to dig a little deeper than our previous efforts. We hope you will be pleased with what we have in store. Click.

• Valo - Draw a line to pop blocks, but don't draw too fast. It sounds quite simple, but is quite an engaging little game with it's light feel and sound. It won 3rd place in the Mousebreaker competition.
• Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack! - There must be something about platformers that attracts stereotypical Italians. Carry pizzas while fending off pizzas to save people...from pizzas. It really makes sense...really!
• Phetch - The latest game from the creators of Peekaboom! Not only do you get to have some multiplayer fun, it actually serves a meaningful purpose - it's helping to create a more accessible web. The goal of the game is to describe an image so the other players can find it in a search. Do well and increase your points and rank.
• QuestForTheRest - An exploratory point-and-click that seems to be by the creator of Samorost. That's enough to sell me. It should be the same for you.
• Inner Play - A cute platformer where you play a bubble headed boy. Cute sounds, looks cute, cute game!
• Pianolina - I've found an orange and its name is Pianolina. It's a little sound toy which lets you make music from tossing blocks around. It doesn't have the best controls but it is quite neat. I haven't had as much fun throwing things around since playing Elebits.

In February, Jay comprehensively reviewed a finalist in the 2006 Independent Games Festival (IGF). The demo form of Dodge That Anvil walked away with the AdultSwim.com award and has now been further developed into an enjoyable downloadable game for both PC and Mac OS X platforms (no mention thus far of a Linux release).

As well as lots of new levels ("over 40"), the full version features a save function and allows players to unlock new playing modes as they progress. It also allows you to enjoy the game in full-screen mode rather than playing in a browser window.

Graphically, there is little to differentiate between the full application and the browser version (which—as Jay indicated—is a stunning use of Shockwave 3D). The online Shockwave demo levels are still available and you can also run the download in demo mode before you part with your cash.

Go harvest some carrots! Download for Windows and Mac or play the online Shockwave version.

The irresistible webtoy Line Rider has returned, now in a delicious "beta 2" flavor! The update fixes a few rough spots in the interface and adds some much-needed tools to the mix. Those of you already hooked on Line Rider will appreciate how much easier it is to create a masterpiece with the new additions, and first-time players will see just what all the fuss is about.

Line Rider was originally created by Bostjan Cadez (aka FSK) as a project for an illustration class. Since its release in September 2006, so many people have become captivated by its simple, creative charm. All you do is draw lines for a character on a sled to slide down. There's no scoring, no set objectives, and no levels to complete. Just start playing and see where your imagination takes you!

A few of the notable additions to the second beta are as follows:

Pen - I hear it's mightier than the sword. It's your basic tool for creating floors and ceilings. Hold shift while starting a new line to switch between the two.

Line - Create straight lines with ease.

Swatches - Three line-types are available to use, each represented by a colored swatch. Blue lines are normal floors/ceilings, but red lines will give your rider a speed boost. Green lines are for decoration and have no affect on where the rider goes.

Eraser - Wipe out whole sections or tiny portions of your masterpiece.

Magnifying Glass - Zoom in to fine-tune your creation or zoom out to take in the view.

Flag - Lets you save the rider's current speed and position. The next time you click "play", the rider will take off from there.

And the good news doesn't stop there. The California-based software company inXile Entertainment has obtained the publishing rights to Line Rider. The company plans to release versions of the game on both the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii in the spring of 2007. Each version will feature the same captivating drawing concept but with a few new bonuses.

If you haven't tried Line Rider, it's definitely time to discover what the fuss is all about. Tens of thousands of people are expressing their creativity with this fun webtoy, so give it a try and see what strange things you can create. Click.

For some reason, at some point in history, someone decided to merge the wholesome and honest activity of playing games with that other thing… what’s it called? Oh yeah, learning. Fun and getting smart at the same time never really worked out, but one designer named Alex Colket brings us about as close as we can get with his offering, BrainBall.

There are ten short games appearing on his site each day which are designed to activate a different part of your brain. These games vary from memory tasks and concentration games to logic puzzles and so on. Using your brain, you are to complete the task as best you can in the given time and thusly be rewarded with… more… smartness. Also you get a score.

The way it works is each day there are ten games; these are the same for everyone who plays them during that day. The game types are the same the next day but the content is different, leveling out the playing field for everyone who plays. Each month the games themselves are changed and the whole thing starts again with new challenges.

Not only do you get a score for each individual game, you also get a score for your overall performance on the days’ games. Returning to the site over the course of the month will give you a seasonal score. Your scores for everything are stored and compared to everyone else who plays, so that learning finally gets what its always needed: healthy competition.

Analysis: BrainBall is, seemingly, very shallow but the mechanics of it are very deep. I found myself returning over again, basically because the games are so simply designed and for the most part intuitive that the game feels more like a rewarding snack than something larger and meatier that you need to commit to.

The ease with which BrainBall can be picked up and consumed without any other external forces or adherence to traditional game play structure makes this nothing more than addictive gaming. Even if it’s only for a few minutes of play each day, just to keep on the high score board. If you’re up for a bit of mental stimulation, Click.

More of a word game fan? Try the BrainBall spin-off WordBall!

SissyFight 2000 is a free online multiplayer shockwave game that lets you take part in a good old fashion schoolyard tease-fest. Take your slandering skills to the playground and whittle down the self-esteem of the other girls by using scratches, grabs, teases, tattles and more. The game plays out in a series of rounds and works a lot like a complex version of rock-paper-scissors. The only difference is the loser of this game runs off crying.

After setting a few options and customizing your sissy, the game begins. Each round has a timer that ticks at the bottom while everyone chooses their moves. Click on another sissy to attack her, or click on yourself to initiate one of several defensive moves. When the time limit is up, the fighting begins. If a sissy's self-esteem points reach zero she runs away in tears, leaving the rest of the pack to fight for themselves. The last two sissies standing win the game.

Here's a quick rundown of the moves and their strengths/weaknesses:

Cower - A defensive move uses to avoid attacks. Do it needlessly twice in a row and you will be penalized 1 esteem point.

Lick Lolly - Rejuvenates 2 esteem points if done successfully. (Only available twice per game.)

Tattle - Takes 3 esteem points from everybody who misbehaves during the round. If you fail, however, you lose esteem points.

Grab - Paralyzes your opponent for the round. If 2 or more sissies grab the same girl, the grabbed girl will take damage. This is also a good defensive move if you are about to be teased.

Scratch - Diminishes the sissies esteem points by 1 point if successful. If executed while the girl is licking her lollypop, she chokes and takes significant damage.

Tease - Only works when two or more sissies gang up on some poor slouch.

SissyFight 2000 is really simple and hilarious take on schoolyard teasing. Let the tattling begin! Click.

A version of SissyFight is also available as a printable card game, perfect for getting friends together for old-school-style multiplayer gaming.

Introducing the HELP SQUAD! You'll find a new menu option on every page titled "Help Squad" that when clicked will slide open a portion of the page where the 20 most recent comments posted to the site will be displayed. My hope is that people will enlist themselves and offer to help those strugging with a game by checking the comments posted to the Help Squad frequently.

There is a lot of community activity that happens here, and you may be surprised to find that a large number of comments are posted for games that have long since scrolled off the main page. Now, you can rest assured that your recent comment posted to that game from back in 2004 is receiving much greater exposure.

At the very least, it's a quick and easy way to keep up with what's happening here at a glance. Feedback is welcome and encouraged. Cheers! =)

Update: Now with LIVE update!

Screenshot is from Nintendo's Japanese release of Ouendan for the DS, which was released here in the US as Elite Beat Agents. Great game! Highly recommended. \o/

Welcome, to the end of another week and the beginning of a sweet, sweet weekend. Here at the JIG Studios you may know us for our handy game submission suggestion form. It's easy, it's convenient, and it doesn't work with Netscape (and who does?). What you may not know is how we sort through all your nasty little submissions to find the shining gems of casual gameplay goodness.

So how do we do it? Through the Máquina del Plátano 61000! It reads each and every game submission and encodes the data along with the game in a banana, which is then released down a chute into a rather large cardboard box. Our team of reviewer monkeys swarm the box peeling and nibbling to select the best fruit of the crop. Unfortunately, due to a monkey form of avian flu, our reviewer monkeys are out of commission. So we need your help! What follows is a list of possible review subjects. Check these out at your convenience (we're timing you) and help us select the ones worthy of a quality JIG review.

Oh, and before I forget, Welcome to LINK DUMP FRIDAYS!

• Riddles of Riddles 100! - It's one of those God Tower/Not Pr0n type riddle puzzles. Figure out the clues from images, words, source code, and handy dandy mirrors. I personally don't like them because they make me feel dumb. It starts off all fun and happy and then suddenly I'm back to 1st grade trying to pull open the door that says "push." Oh yeah, and there are 100 riddles so make your brain cry and go play.
• Reindeer Tipping by Enigma Interactive - How would our holidays be filled with joy, love, and kindness to our fellow man if it weren't for reindeer tipping? Play as the subtly named Ebenigma Scrooge as he goes on a reindeer tipping rampage against incredible odds (aka penguins, pudding, and Santa). Unfortunately the music is annoying as sin, luckily tipping reindeer is a sin so it all fits together.
• Chaos on the Piste by Chaos - Fun little downhill ski racing game. Did I mention the groovy title music and
  dancing snowmen? Short, quick and fun.


• Nobuyuki Forces 3 - A 'you versus the military' shoot-out game with surprisingly simple controls, just use the spacebar and mouse. It also has some neat music that isn't quite standard for the genre. It does take a moment or two to load, though.
• NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!
• Xtreme Xmas Shopping - the latest from Persuasive Games. Have flashbacks of Black Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Today with a holiday shopping game that has you rushing to get the year's "hottest items" by any means necessary. Unfortunately it runs as slow as a PS3-toting old lady on my computer so I'll have to depend on you to check it out. I, by the way, am quite enjoying my Wii, thanks for asking.
• Big Spaceship Holiday Card Creator - We found an orange! Here's a submission that's not a game but worth noting. This let make of you funny holiday card. You subtitle make for video. It quite humors. Plese check me out. Funny joke here.

Thanks for your help, the monkeys thank you!

Jay notes: Just so you know, please never take Harukio seriously, he is only here because I pity him. Also, I didn't write this note.

It's story time! Perfect for the impending holiday season, It's a Wonderful Internet is an interactive narrated storybook by nurun|antfarm. Take in some soothing music as you listen to a classic holiday tale (tongue-in-cheek style) about a geek whose life is a little too dependant on the Internet. Flip through the pages and interact with the scenery, and when the narration ends move your cursor around the pictures for some nice surprises.

George spends a little too much time playing video games on the Internet. His latest gaming session doesn't go quite so well, prompting him to scream out in anger "I wish the Internet had never been born!". And, well, he gets his wish. As George tries to go about his day he realizes just how integrated the World Wide Web has become in his daily life.

It's a Wonderful Internet is a charming holiday-themed storybook with a spry sense of humor. Kind of makes you remember why the Internet is a really good thing. Click.

Cheers to Bigbosssnk for sending this one in!

Note: Although it seems very kid-friendly, there is an instance of some not-so-child-safe language in It's a Wonderful Internet.

If you've been sitting on the fence wondering if you should buy Eets, this should push you right over the top. Klei Entertainment has announced they're cutting the price of the refreshingly unique puzzle game Eets in half. How does $9.95 sound for a game that was named "Casual Game of the Year" by GameTunnel? There's no shortage of praise for the game that has been described as Lemmings meets The Incredible Machine. Our own Eets review goes mushy over its unique visuals and winning concept, not to mention the active community and bundled editor that lets you create your own levels. Now that the price is uncommonly low, it's the perfect excuse to walk around eating marshmallows and having mood swings.

Grab the demo or buy the full version.

Façade is an interactive drama, download-able for Windows and Mac, that puts you in the role of a dinner guest catching up with your old college friends, a married couple named Grace and Trip. Using the mouse and keyboard, you're able to move around their apartment and manipulate objects inside. But Facade is no escape-the-room adventure game, most of the interaction involves, get this, talking to Grace and Trip.

Using a keyboard that allows expressions of about twenty-five characters—it also enforces a brief delay between expressions—you can say anything you like to the couple; and, if it's on-topic, their AI will make some sense of what you're saying and react, as if everyone was an improvisational actor. Initially everything is calm and good, catching-up, ice-skating on pleasantries, we've all been there. It doesn't take long before the facade slips and the ugly truth of Grace and Trip rears its ugly head. Unlike any game to ever come before, Facade forces you to think about social issues with no clear solution and deal with them as you feel appropriate, it challenges you with a dramatic, and most importantly human dilemma.

All this fancy drama has got me using a lot of italics.

Facade isn't without its faults. The use of a language-based interface was a bold way to go, and the game's creators, Micheal Mateas and Andrew Stern, succeed admirably at a problem that has haunted AI researchers for decades. When I say "admirably" I mean, if you type in-character, instead of dropping non sequiturs like "so Trip, I was abducted by aliens last night," then you'll get a dramatically appropriate response about 80% of the time, and the other 20% the time the system will fail gracefully. For instance, if you say something ludicrous, the couple is likely to look at you like you're a bit deranged, awkwardly shrugging it off with an "uh... yeah," and then jumping back into the previous topic. There are times when you feel like you aren't being heard, and this can be frustrating, but you can always chalk it up to Grace and Trip being self-absorbed yuppies you never really liked anyway, and then just keep playing in-character. The joys of typing in something clever and having a moment of repartee with a virtual actor, while rarely pure, do spring up from play to play, and those moments satisfy unlike any other play experience you've ever had.

I was present at a June 2005 conference where the final release version was demonstrated, it was a major moment, seeing someone type casually and get a response, but since then Mateas and Stern have kept busy tweaking the language processing. Playing Facade recently on a Mac, I can confirm the experience has been smoothed out immensely. Currently the two are seeking financing for "The Party", a spiritual successor to Facade that will offer ten fully-realized characters in a party situation. Just downloading the game, but even more so, donating a buck or two through PayPal, will help demonstrate to their potential investors that there's a strong market for this sort of play. In the meantime, Click.

As a casual gamer, you have certainly come across titles that fall into the defend-your-castle category. BowMaster Prelude, by Jason Reinsvold of LostVectors, fits that description as well, but certain aspects elevate it above other candidates.

Unlike most other games of the genre, the player doesn't aim at attackers directly by clicking on them. Instead, the mouse cursor is used to shoot an arrow from your castle, applying force and angle by clicking and dragging intuitively. Always leaving the marks from the last shot behind, the game provides a convenient way to refine your shots as you continue to fire.

Between levels you get to upgrade your arsenal of arrows or you can buy the possibility to recruit troops during a stage. And here comes another twist that separates BowMaster Prelude from similar games. You earn experience and gold for successfully hitting an enemy soldier with the basic arrow. However, if you have recruited troops be aware that they get drafted out of the general populace. And they cost gold. If you wage a full-scale war it's a drain on your people, leaving you with precious little XP/gold to earn between stages (more people = more XP bonus/gold = more gold bonus). Thus it is imperative to find a good balance between recruiting troops and keeping the economy alive.

If you have bought a recruitment upgrade, troops will be recruited endlessly, unless you disable it. That's done by clicking the green bar above the unit's icon. There is also a variety of arrows to choose from. Some will do continuous damage to a soldier once you hit them, others will just slow them down. Some arrows can hurt multiple soldiers, others would do more damage to an individual.

And finally, your hero, the guy shooting the arrows, can also leave the castle. The A/D keys move him left/right. If you're close to your castle, pressing the W key will bring him back to safety.

Analysis: All in all, BowMaster Prelude is a surprisingly addictive game, given that I don't enjoy any other game of that variety. The Help system explains all functions in detail, including other means of aiming your arrows, which other players might find more handy than the standard control. It's still the classic castle defense game, but then again, it isn't. Click.

Cheers to Vaidas for being the first to suggest the game. =)

Remember that amazingly good platformer, Mission in Snowdriftland, we mentioned last week? The one that was organized like an advent calendar and sponsored by Nintendo? (If you didn't you should play it immediately after reading this) Well, Casual Gameplay contributing author, Thomas, had a chance to catch up with the developers of the game, extra toxic, as both he and the company are located in Germany. Here is a translation of what Christiane had to say of the company and their work:

Thomas (Casual Gameplay): How big is your company? Do you have any employees additional to the three founders [Christiane Fritsch, Steve Welz, Bogac Sariaydin] yet?

Christiane (extra toxic): No, we are (as of yet) three people, which works quite well due to shared tasks (design, programming, project management).

In your portfolio there are projects for Nintendo (among other big names). What role did Nintendo play in the creation of Mission in Snowdriftland? Was it commissioned by Nintendo, or did they 'merely' sponsor it? How much creative room did you have for game design?

Nintendo just sponsored, i.e. bought ad space for the featured games. Idea, concept, implementation, the whole project is extra toxic's brain child. Thus we had as much room for creativity as we wanted.

In your portfolio, all previous projects date early 2006. How old is extra toxic?

Our company was founded July 2005.

Have you developed other titles that would fit into the casual games category?

Not as extra toxic, but the three of us know each other for several years now, and we worked together in a marketing agency as employees. There we have developed several flash games, all of which—just like the advent calendar—have been developed from scratch, including the game idea, layout, avatars, etc.

That's very important for us. If someone commissions a game, they won't get the 15486 clone of Moorhuhn [explanation: Moorhuhn is a point&shoot arcade game, that created quite the craze in Germany a couple of years ago. It might still lower productivity in some offices. I don't know if it had a similar impact internationally.] from us, but instead a high-quality, individually designed game with lots of creativity and passion.

Experience the magic and exceptional talent these folks bring to the art of casual gameplay. Click.

I hesitate to ask how many of you remember Sniglets. I'm still a fairly young guy, but I'm always afraid of how any pop culture question will date me. The early eighties was not a great time for me, and I was only like 9 years old.

Sniglets are words that should be in the dictionary but aren't. If that sounds interesting, and you enjoy wordplay and word games then you'll love Verbotomy. Each day you're presented with a definition and must come up with an original word to match. If you verbin and become a verbotomist, you can save your words and build up points towards each round of play. You can also vote on your favorite entries and subscribe to an RSS feed so you can know immediately when a new verboticism is ready and waiting.

This is obviously a very casual game, requiring only a few minutes of your time each day. More fun for me than creating a new word was viewing and voting on other words. For instance I came up with a word I was rather proud of, "blamefuscate," for a definition last week, but was even more impressed with some of the other words. "Culpitize" and "whomeopathy" were great, and I still laugh when I read "stinkerise" purely for its scatalogical value. Some other favorites of mine are "flatterchatter", "memorafeeblia", and of course the utterly nonsensical "potatobomb".

This is a game with a lot of those "Now why didn't I think of that?" moments. In fact, that's a great definition in need of a word. What would you call that feeling that you should of thought of, say, the simply brilliant "namenesia" instead of your own stunningly dull "resnub"?

If you like word games and subtle word humor, then go forth and verbotomize! Click.

Get Hostile is a DHTML-based, abstract, multiplayer strategy game based on the board game Acquire. Like most great strategy games of its kind, Get Hostile packs an enormous amount of complexity into surprisingly few rules. The object is simple: finish with the most money. However, as discussed in the analysis of the game, there are many ways to do this, and not every strategy fits every game.

Get Hostile is a no-frills implementation of the original board game—there are no avatars or even any real graphics, and the only sound offered is an optional beep to let you know when it is your turn. And why should there be? This is a purist’s strategy game. Essentially, the game consists of a blank grid, onto which can be placed tiles. When two tiles connect, a company is formed and the founder gets one bonus stock in the company. When two companies are connected by a tile, they merge and the larger company takes over the smaller one. The stockholders of the smaller company have the option to sell their stock, trade it in 2 for 1 for stock in the parent company, or keep it in case the company is reformed in the future. As companies grow in size, their stock becomes worth more.

However, the real meat of the strategy doesn’t come in the form of “buy low, sell high.” When a company is taken over, its top two stockholders receive cash bonuses equal to 5 and 10 times the current price of stock. Thus it is often more lucrative to put yourself in position to get these bonuses, especially if it only takes a few stock to become the top holder.

The rules are few but can sometimes be complex. They are available to peruse on the website—just click HELP. Also available on the help page is a movie walkthrough which explains all of the essential plays of the game, as well as a few basic strategies. Once you’ve watched that, you’re ready to play. I recommend starting with the tutorial—it’s essentially the real thing, except you get some helpful hints. Once you’ve mastered the basics (and it really isn’t that hard) you can register or login as a guest and join a game or start your own.

Analysis: As mentioned before, the bonuses for the top two shareholders really drive the strategy of Get Hostile. A small investment in a company that is about to be taken over can pay large returns. However, all companies are liquidated at the end of the game, so being the top dog in the largest company will pay off in the long run. Your strategy will change depending on what sort of growth the companies go through—a game in which one giant company just swallows up all of its competitors will be very different than a game in which several medium-sized companies duke it out.

Once you play a few games, you’ll start to realize that a major part of the strategy is whether to place your money in stocks or keep it in cash. For the most part, it’s best to buy as much stock as possible—the price never decreases, so you’ll always at least gain back what you invested. However, sometimes you can get stuck with all of your money tied up in stock, with no freedom to maneuver yourself into one of those coveted top positions. It will take you a few games to see how the system really works—this can be done easily by playing a game or five against just computer players. Even then, it will probably take many more games to become reasonably skilled.

The website itself can be a bit confusing at times. The HELP screen goes a long way in explaining things that are non-intuitive, but some things—such as where each of your playable tiles are—you’ll just have to get used to. Also, t