Venice is an arcade-style action puzzle game that takes some of the best elements of Peggle and Breakout and combines them into something new (and utterly fascinating). You control a ship floating on the waters of Venice. Various items appear atop your vessel, such as stars, coins, jars and hearts, and it's your job to fire them into the empty slots hovering above. Fill all the gaps in the objects to cause them to vanish and continue your quest to save the sinking city.

Just like any successful casual game, Venice is extremely simple to play. Move your craft back and forth using the mouse and fire items by pressing the left mouse button. You can use curved and angled obstacles to ricochet items and fill out-of-the-way holes lingering at the top of the screen. If you miss, however, the object will fall back to the water and you'll lose a life. Catch falling items in order to keep your ship afloat!

The key to activating power-ups and getting a good score in Venice lies in chain reactions. The empty spaces placed on movable objects are all over the screen, but if you manage to fill a gap near the top, a chain reaction is born. For example, fire a star piece and fill a hole at the top of the screen and it topples down, filling multiple star gaps below. Doing this often sends power-ups leaping out (such as Cupid who helpfully places items high on the screen) which can make your game a lot easier.

Analysis: Venice has its fair share of magic to dispense to hungry casual gamers, but it falls just short of that special something that compels you to never stop playing. It's an immediately captivating game that, unfortunately, hits a slight gameplay lull after half an hour of playtime. It isn't until 15 or 20 levels into the game that the challenge picks up. At that point the level design suddenly gets very creative, things get really interesting, and Venice pulls you in like quicksand on a cheesy Western.

The backdrops of old Venice are gorgeous, but the game's effects could use a little more spice. Compare, for example, the dramatic music and zooming effects of Peggle. And while the ricocheting and object-spinning keeps things active, Venice comes off as a bit stiff at times and could use a little dynamism in the visual department.

Although Venice isn't as outrageously addictive as some recent PopCap releases, it still has that magic that pulls you in and won't let go.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Not available. Use Boot Camp or Parallels.

Venice is available to download from these affiliates:

Travelogue 360: Rome is the second in a series of 3D hidden-object games by Big Fish Games (the first was set in Paris), and it is a great introduction to the genre. If you're already a hidden-object expert, you may find the search a tad easy, but the visuals are exceptional and worth the virtual trip to Rome.

The basic gameplay is simple: Find objects in a screen crowded with images. The names of the objects can be a bit vague, so "mouse" could refer to the mammal or the computer peripheral, which is all part of the fun. What makes the Travelogue games a bit more challenging (and unique!) is the amazing 360 degree view—you are positioned at the centre of an image and, using your preferred navigation method (keyboard, on-screen pointers or on-screen compass), can look up, down and behind you for the requested object, and even zoom in to identify items. This particular game immerses you within some of Rome's most impressive palaces, hotels and even cosy old antique shops and delicatessens. If the 3-dimensional search intimidates you a bit, you can turn off "Expert Challenge" when you're creating a profile—it will cause the list of objects to highlight the names of items that are in your current field of view. Unlike the Hidden Expedition games, the list wraps, so be sure to scroll down to make sure you're not missing anything.

Travelogue 360: Rome - The Curse of the Necklace is held together by a mystery plot. You must find letters and news items related to the disappearance of an entire family—related vaguely to terrorism, insanity and the search for eternal youth. This is the weakest part of the game since you will always find the requested objects. There is, therefore, little challenge to solving the 'mystery'. In addition, the plot doesn't really make that much sense and isn't tremendously compelling. Fortunately, I'm here for the gorgeous visuals, not the plot, and it doesn't really disturb the gameplay—it just doesn't add anything to it.

As you solve each different location, it is added to your travelogue, allowing you to go back and look at the scene without the hidden objects added. When you complete each scene, you'll be rewarded with a Fun Fact about Italian life and history. In between scenes, you have to complete a mini-game, which may be a jigsaw puzzle, card game, spot the difference, word search or object-find by silhouette.

One limitation to the game is that there is limited ability to make it easier or harder. In response to complaints about the highlighting in the word search list, Big Fish has introduced the "Expert Challenge" feature where you can turn highlighting on or off. But even in timed mode, the countdown is nowhere near as challenging as it is in games like the Hidden Expedition series. I am also less than thrilled by the mini-games—I do like Spot the Difference, and the Italian solitaire game is an interesting way to keep with the theme, but I find the jigsaw puzzle too easy and the silhouette game is not very difficult when similarly shaped objects are two millimetres wider than each other.

Hidden object games can be a bit generic in their offerings, but if you've never played one or you're a total addict, Travelogue 360: Rome - The Curse of the Necklace is a gorgeous place to start.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Travelogue 360: Rome is available to download from these affiliates:

There are three words in the English language that end with the letters "gry." They are "hungry," "angry," and I forget the last one, but worrying about that isn't really the best way to make friends at a tennis court. Just take my word on this one.

• Up Beat - No, this isn't a game where you get back at the school bully. (Think about it.) It's like DDR, but for your fingers. Unfortunately, you probably can't lose weight with this one.
• F-18 - Airplanes are fun. Missions are funner. Dogfights are funnerer. Wheeeeee!
• Warbears: Puzzle Mission - Speaking of missions, the latest Warbears mission is a puzzle game and a departure from what we've come to expect from them. Is it review worthy? You decide.
• Nodes - Ever have one of those days where you just can't drag those nodes so the beams light up all of those little circles? If you have, this puzzle might bring back sour memories.
• Mixed Memories - From the fine(?) people at RRRRThats5Rs.com, a simple memory game. Except it's from the people at RRRRThats5Rs.com. Twist ahoy...
• Shirt Fold - Okay, now THIS is a surefire way to make friends at a tennis court.

Try these games out and tell us what you think! In the meantime, we'll resume our game-playing scavengry.

Marcel Volmaro's Flashxed, while centered around a basic match-three (well, two) formula, manages to breathe a little life into the familiar puzzle theme with a new mechanic: block dragging. You're presented with a set of bricks with colored orbs sparkling inside. Using the mouse, drag blocks left or right one at a time, keeping in mind that gravity tugs them down at the earliest possible chance. If two or more blocks of the same color touch, they smash and crumble away. The challenge comes from knowing when to keep blocks around to serve as place holders to slide stranded colors to their peers. It's extraordinarily perplexing at times, but that challenge is what makes it so fun.

At the bottom of the screen are a few buttons you'll become familiar with very quickly. You have a limited number of moves to solve each puzzle; this is displayed on the far right. Exceeding the limit results in a lower score. The Undo button takes back your last move, allowing you to use a little trial and error without resetting the entire board. An interesting addition is the Solve option that, strangely enough, solves the puzzle right before your eyes. You'll lose points, of course, but get to keep your sanity, which is infinitely more valuable.

Flashxed has a simple mechanic, visceral sound effects that make you feel the block dragging deep in your gut, and a polished presentation. There are literally hundreds of puzzles to complete as well, giving you plenty of reasons to scratch your head in bewilderment. And best of all: it's a very forgiving game that lets you play and experiment without any real penalty. It's just about everything you could want in a simple, casual puzzler. Play Flashxed.

Cheers to John for sending this one in.

About the dialog box that pops up when loading the game: This information taken directly from Adobe's website explaining how Flash games and movies store data on your computer:

"By default, Flash Player allows each site to store only 100KB of data in a local shared object on your computer. If a site needs more than that, you will see a dialog box requesting that you allow more space."

What the game is asking to do is completely harmless. Since the default is only 100KB, this particular game needs up to 1MB of space to store your saved data for all of its thousands of levels, and so that is why the dialog is coming up.

A lecturer at The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University in Software Development for Games, Jeff Wofford has been working in the games industry for over 10 years. He has also just released this addictive little Flash puzzle game that plays like a cross between a tangram and a sliding block puzzle.

The objective of Phit is to fit all the pieces of each puzzle into the lower yellow 'tray'. You do this by dragging each piece into place. The restriction is that there can be no other piece in the way. If there is, you'll have to move the other piece out of the way first.

This combination 'tangram meets Rush Hour' is an interesting hybrid game design that adds just enough to the sliding block genre to make this game a whole lot of fun. There are 100 levels to complete and Jeff has included easy access to all of them. Although the game will save your progress as you make your way through, you can also skip to any level you like from the main title screen. Also included is an unlimited Undo and Redo feature that may help if you get stuck in a tight spot.

A simple idea made into an addictive puzzle game with a great presentation, and enough levels to keep you busy for a very long time. Play Phit.

Cheers to Lee for the link! =)

Phit walkthrough now available!

Takahiro Miyazawa of SKT Products in Japan has created a brand new Flash action puzzler that offers a unique twist to the new generation of falling block games popularized by Q Entertainment's Lumines.

In Red White Yellow, the objective is to create groups of the same color in quantities of 6 or more by dropping the falling blocks into place. However, like its name suggests, Red White Yellow is also the order in which you must clear groups from play. If you create a group of the wrong color, the blocks will become shaded and will remain that way until you clear a group from the other color(s) first.

To help you keep track of what color you need to clear next, a small indicator at the top of the display will show the current color. The outline of the entire play field will change to the target color as well.

Control is customizable in the game. You may use the keyboard, the mouse, or a combination of both. I found it most intuitive to use the mouse to move the blocks left or right, the mouse button to rotate, and to press [space] to drop a block into place. Alternately, the arrow keys may be used instead, using [space] or [down] to drop. Use the options menu to further customize the controls to your liking.

Once you get going you will find that the game rewards you for combos, which are achieved by consecutively removing multiple sets from play, in order. There is a small pause once you clear a color before the next color gets activated, and while a short sound clip plays in reward of your accomplishment. Taking advantage of these short pauses allows you to rack up the combos quite nicely. You'll get a feel for doing this once you've played a game or two. The more familiar you get with the gameplay the more likely you will be able to get 'in the zone' with this title. It's really quite addictive.

One of the most engaging aspects of playing Lumines is that the background soundtrack is heavily influenced by the action of the game play. Red White Yellow offers a similar aural experience, and features, at present, 2 different 'sound packs' to choose from at the beginning of play. While it's not quite as seamless nor of the same depth and variety as Lumines, the sound implementation in the game is exceptional and I'm looking forward to even more sound packs to be added.

A very pleasant surprise find today. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Play Red White Yellow.

One of our favorite desktop tower defense games, Desktop TD by HandDrawnGames, has just received a substantial upgrade. Along with kicking the visuals and audio up a notch with new sounds and a better interface, Desktop Tower Defense 1.5 includes several new (and expanded) challenge modes to twist your brain in a knot and/or induce frustration. New towers, such as the Boost unit that increases damage nearby towers dish out, helping you combat new enemies such as the morph and dark creeps. The game is also available in five languages, including English, Spanish, German, French and Italian.

Great new additions to an already amazing game. Play Desktop Tower Defense.

If you're having trouble getting the game to load using the links above, you can also Play Desktop TD 1.5 at Kongregate.

From Hero Interactive comes a physics-based "hit the target" game, Light Sprites. Light Sprites also happens to be the happiest, most rainbowiest game ever made. It contains more dancing sheep/pandas/people per kilobyte than any Flash title ever created, including the ultra-cute Grow clone Poco Parco.

Gameplay in Light Sprites consists of tossing colored orbs from a cloud to hit matching targets on the landscape below. To throw an orb, click on it with the mouse and pull back to increase power, just like a slingshot. You can throw several orbs with one toss by gathering them with the cursor before you release. Hit targets as quickly as you can to score points. You earn bonus points for hitting every target on an object and for taking out several targets with one throw. If you hit a target with the wrong colored orb, bad things will happen in the form of ... lightning! On the other hand, when you get a match, happy dancing people/animals will appear, which is always better than lightning.

Analysis: Light Sprites is a simple hit the target game wrapped in a sugary sweet coating that makes it an absolute joy to play. After logging just a few minutes your brain will become enamored with the short sound bytes characters utter such as "I like rainbows.". Yes, it's that cute. You've been warned.

The most rewarding aspect of Light Sprites is the connection between hitting targets and the scenery. Background objects playfully spring from the bottom of the screen, each with a few targets on its surface. As you hit targets, dancing characters appear in their place. Hit every target on the object and something special will happen such as flowers growing on the ground or a barn appearing at the top of the hill. Forget getting a high score, just hit the targets to see what crazy things pop up on the screen.

Presentation aside, Light Sprites has a smooth and easy-to-learn control method that doesn't require much skill to master. Aiming isn't too sensitive and you really have to pull back on the orbs to give them any power. Most of the time you'll just pick and drop orbs like berries from the cloud. Not much challenge, but Light Sprites is made to be enjoyed, not conquered.

With its sugary sweet music and visuals, Light Sprites is an excellent diversion from your daily grind. Play Light Sprites

Those dirty rats! I'm referring to PixelJam, a group of highly skilled Flash game developers who have just released a sequel to their previously released Rat Maze game titled, not surprisingly, Rat Maze 2.

The scenario and objective remain the same: You are a mouse in a maze and you must collect all the pieces of cheese in the shortest time possible. Use the arrow keys for movement to zip around the maze. Running over a cheese is as good as eating it, so no time is wasted collecting them all.

While both games are similar, Rat Maze 2 offers the player a little more challenge and variety by introducing balls that must be rolled into place and letters of the game title to find. Getting the balls into place will open doors and grant access to a few choice morsels. Just bump into the balls when you find them to get them rolling, but you will also have to locate where they belong.

Tip: turn scroll "on" in the game options menu to have the background scroll as you move, keeping you in the center of the screen at all times. This helps by allowing you to see a bit more of the maze at a time, but not by much. Also in the options menu are switches for playing the original Rat Maze, as well as for changing the soundtrack or the appearance of the rat.

Analysis: I'll admit that I passed on the original Rat Maze when it was first released. There just wasn't enough there to compel me to play for very long. And to be honest, not a lot has changed with the sequel. Still, they are both well-made games with a few secrets to find along the way, and the addition of the balls to knock around and letters to find makes Rat Maze 2 a bit more engaging than its predecessor. Both games suffer from not being able to see more of the maze, though, and finding that last bite or two of cheese can become quite frustrating. If there were an indicator pointing in the direction of the nearest cheese then perhaps this game would be a classic. The simple, retro appearance and infectious soundtrack goes well with the gameplay, and offers a surprisingly realistic experience of being a rat trapped in a maze, if that's your thing. ;) Play Rat Maze 2.

The folks at PixelJam are also the creators of Gamma Bros., an amazingly good Flash arcade space shooter reviewed here almost exactly one year ago.

Rat Maze 2 walkthrough now available!

Game-Pure has released an update to their Oshidama series, this one is a collection of levels for the month of July. There are 6 fresh new levels to play and you can compare your relative success with them against others who have tried. As with the June collection, mousing-over each screenshot in the level select menu shows how many have tried the level ("challenger") and of those, how many were able to clear it.

More gaming goodness from the talented folks at Game-Pure. Play Oshidama Monthly (July).

Often we have to scour the Web to find engaging and compelling online Flash games to feature here, and sometimes you do that for us by using our handy online game suggestion form. The following game was submitted so many times during the past couple of days that it wasn't difficult for us to decide whether to feature a review for it. And after playing through the game, I have to concur that it is indeed an excellent new puzzle game.

Bloxorz is a simple idea for a puzzle game that is beautifully executed. The objective is to tumble a rectangular block through each stage and deposit it into the square hole at the end. Using a series of bridge-opening switches, teleporters, and block-splitting switches, solve the puzzle each stage presents to move on to the next of the game's 33 levels.

Use the arrow keys for control to tumble the block around the play field, but don't let it fall off the edges. The round switches can be just rolled over to trip, but the "X" switches require a little more weight, so you'll have to stand the block on end to trip them. The 3rd type, the "[ ]" switches, split the block in two, which can then be moved independently from one another. This introduces an interesting twist to the tactics you will need to employ to solve these later levels. To switch between block fragments, press [space].

Each level provides a password that allows you to resume a game by loading the game from that point. It would be nice if the game just saved your progress along the way, but a password system is welcome in absence of an easier interface for accessing levels. You will find a complete list of passwords in the comments, thanks to reapaninja, as well as a complete walkthrough for all of the levels, thanks to firenz.

From Damien Clarke of DX Interactive, the same developer responsible for the exceptional JetSpeed, Silversphere, and Missile Game 3D games. Bloxorz is addictive, compelling, and contains everything we love in an engaging Flash puzzle game. Play Bloxorz.

Cheers to Benoit, Regy, Martijn, Peter, Rhcpaul, Rick, Chakrit, Alexandre and Larry for suggesting the game. =)

Bloxorz walkthrough now available!

Sometime in the mid 19th century, scandal tore apart the great Baumeister chocolate empire. Tempers flared and factories closed, leaving the world desperate for a decent bite of chocolate. To paraphrase cocoa guru Benard Shintero, "nobody knew the truffles they'd seen."

But now the year is 1880, and with your help, hope and the chocolate supply can be restored. In Chocolatier, the latest career-simulation and strategy title from Playfirst, you play an apprentice chocolatier. With a little assistance from Evangeline Baumeister (either in the form of detailed instructions or a little starter cash and a few recipes) you can produce and sell delightful treats, beginning with the ever-popular chocolate bars.

Eventually, as you make your way around the world, buying ingredients, making trades, and collecting recipes, you can move on to fancier chocolates, including mouth-watering infusions and gourmet truffles. While giant steam-run machinery does most of the hard work for you, there isn't time to sit around and eat divine sweets. In order to make your way to all the corners of the globe, you'll have to restore the Baumeister reputation. To do that, you'll have to solve a mystery by collecting clues and making bribes (with what else? Chocolate, of course!)

Even when family squabbles are wrapped up, you may still find yourself looking to complete the magnificent recipe collection, or trying to attain the highest rank of Master Chocolatiers across the World Wide Web. (You can submit your score to the list at any point during the game by clicking "pause", but be forewarned: the competition is fierce.)

In the beginning, Chocolatier doesn't seem very challenging. As you are sent on quests to find new recipes or hints, you are given rather exact directions. Even the chocolate production seems like a breeze with only a few ingredients in each bar. Once you set the production rate with one round in a factory, that factory will continue to produce as long as you supply ingredients. At first, the lure of the next sweet concoction may be just enough to motivate you. If they could add a scratch-and-sniff, or better scratch-and-taste technology to the game, you'd never want to stop. Still, as the game progresses, even without tasty samples, you may find yourself wrapped up in the story as the clues become more elusive. You'll also find yourself juggling ingredients for a number of factories, filling special orders, and planning complex trips around the world. You may even find yourself bringing chocolates to the queen of England!

The smooth, detailed graphics give this game a wonderful atmosphere. The music changes as you travel around the world, adding a bit of spice and variety. Sometimes, the animations in ambient scenes may slow the game down a bit, which can be a little frustrating if you're trying to hurry on to the next destination. Time isn't a pressing issue, though, unless you are in the middle of factory production. The next week only arrives after you move to the next port, or make chocolates manually.

If you are both a chocoholic and a fan of career-simulation/strategy games, you won't want to miss the casual gaming delights of Chocolatier.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Chocolatier is available to download from these affiliates:

Puzzle fans rejoice! A sequel to the critically acclaimed action puzzler, Professor Fizzwizzle, is here and it's HOT! Just released by Grubby games, Professor Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery picks up where the first game leaves off and presents over 200 fresh new levels to sink your puzzle-loving teeth into.

Ryan, Matt and new addition to the Grubby Games team, Mike, have held true to what made the first game so enjoyable and added several new items that increase the possibilities and potential in level design exponentially. The result is a game that one-ups the original and rejuvenates the series.

In Molten Mystery you will find 3 unique sets of levels that differ by their relative difficulty: Kids levels, Normal levels, and Advanced levels. Woven through each of these sets is an optional story mode that slowly reveals the namesake molten mystery via comic strip story boards between levels. The story, however, is not the highlight here, for it's the gameplay in Professor Fizzwizzle that is the main attraction.

The level design in this iteration is just as devious as ever. This is not a game that you will rush through in an hour or two, as some levels may require more than that just to figure out a solution. If you get stumped on any level and want to move on, simply click the "Show Solution" button to have the game solve it for you.

New to this version of the game is a step counter that counts the number of steps you take to solve a level. Think you've solved a level in fewer steps than anyone else? You can now submit each of your level scores to a global high scores list. The game saves and remembers the number of steps for each level and you can even submit your overall score for each of the 3 difficulties.

And the level editor is back allowing you to create your own levels and share them with your friends. You can also upload them to the Grubby Games site and share them with other Profizzle wizzes. This ensures that you won't be finished with the game even after you have solved all 210 levels the game comes packed with.

There is just so much packed into this game, if you're a puzzle fan you owe it to yourself to check it out. Download the demo today for your operating system of choice: Mac, Linux, or Windows.

And to reward you for reading this far, Ryan sent along 5 codes to give away the full version of the game and we'd like to give you an opportunity to win one of them. All you have to do is download the demo and name one of the items you can use when designing your own levels, along with a comment about the game for the developers. There are 36 items in all, and try not to name one that's already been named (unless, of course, they all have been identified). We will pick 5 names from those who follow directions. Good luck and have fun playing!

Update: The contest is over. Congratulations to Ariel, Harry Lee, Divy, JoeMomma, and Mordecai for all winning full versions of the latest Professor Fizzwizzle game courtesy of Grubby Games. Thanks to everyone for participating!! =)

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Professor Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery is available to download from these affiliates:

Hey surfin' dudes and dudettes! Have you heard about that bodacious betty who has been bagging burgers over on Mount Tikikola beach? Patty Melton, the new owner of the fast food sensation, Burger Island, makes the most totally radical lunch on this side of the Pacific, and she needs your help!

In this new downloadable game from Sandlot Games (creators of tasty treats, such as Cake Mania and Westward) you can help Patty and her stuffy maitre d serve up delicious treats such as Hot Lava Fries and the Aloha Shake. But first, you'll need to learn the art of the basics, and fry up a hamburger and some fries. Don't delay, and don't forget the ketchup, because the residents of Tikikola beach are an impatient bunch.

When you first start, Patty's snobby maitre d will walk you through the steps of food preparation. (Do not burn ze fries!) Even if you choose to skip his instructions, it is easy to figure out what you need to do. As customers enter the restaurant, their orders appear across the top of the screen, with the necessary ingredients listed. Add the correct ingredients in order, and in time, and start racking up the cash.

When you've completed a round, you can take the money you've earned to buy new recipes from a masked Tiki chief. Eventually, you and Patty may earn enough money to remodel the restaurant. In the meantime, comic book-style pages describe Patty's story, offering entertaining breaks in between rounds of cooking.

Analysis: With the comic book theme and a catchy surf-rock tune playing in the background, Burger Island is clever and casually entertaining, ...for a while. As recipes become more complex, the customers also become more impatient. (The thermometer-shaped timers indicate how close they are to leaving. By the double digit levels, they aren't sticking around long.) As it becomes harder to keep track of the orders, the game quickly becomes more challenging. If you enjoy having your concentration skills pitted against the clock (and you would like a side of fries with that) be sure to check out Burger Island.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Not available. Use Boot Camp or Parallels.

Burger Island is available to download from these affiliates:

I fashion myself as a game show fanatic. I enjoy watching footage of gameshows past and present, and from here and abroad. So just imagine my giddy delight when a game show news blog announced the arrival of wedigtv.com, and its collection of broadband game show re-creations from England. The crew at WeDigTV spent hours contacting the original shows' hosts for recording sessions and digging up archive footage to bring you games that almost exactly reflect what appears on TV.

Countdown is based on one of the longest running game shows in the world. Currently hosted by Des O'Connor and assisted by Carol Vorderman, this show features two contestants battling it out in a game of letters, numbers, and "the crucial Countdown Conundrum." Each round is played against a giant 30-second clock, while the famous Countdown music plays. (Think "Jeopardy!" theme music.) In this version though, the clock is 45 seconds long, but that's not noticeable enough to deter from gameplay.

This broadband version lets you play two letters rounds, two numbers rounds, and the final conundrum round. In the letters rounds, you select nine letters, choosing between consonants and vowels. After the letters are presented, the timer starts. Type in or click on the letters to make as many words as you can find. Keep in mind that the goal is not to make more words, but to make the longest word that you can. After time is up, select one word you'd like to submit, and see how many points you'll earn, plus a suggestion for a longer word that could be made. More points are given for a longer word, and that elusive 9-letter word is worth double points. And don't forget British spelling... it's "colour," not "color!"

In the numbers rounds, you select six numbers from a board of 24 tiles. (The top four tiles in the diagram are the "big numbers," 25, 50, 75, and 100. The remaining three rows are two each of the numbers 1-10.) Your goal is to come as close to a randomly-selected number as possible, using the four basic operations (add, subtract, multiply, and divide). When inputting your solution, click the circle to cycle through the possible operations, then choose the two numbers to fill in the blanks. Remember that you do NOT need to use all of the numbers to reach the target. Once, I hit the target number 108 simply by adding 100 and 8.

The final round of play is the conundrum, which is a jumbled-up nine-letter word. Buzz in when you think you know what the unscrambled word is, and quickly input the solution. This round sounds simple, but plays a significant role in a close match-up.

On all of WeDigTV's games, the contestants are represented by pink or blue outlined figures. (You always play as pink.) The footage has been excellently re-edited to fit these colorful people in the game, but at points, the camera is left on them for too long, creating little awkward pauses.

To add to the awkwardness, the game also pauses for commercial breaks... and yes, there are real commercials. (Hey, ya gotta pay the bills somehow.) As of yet, there are only a few companies sponsoring ad time, but the commercials all include an interactive bit to them to keep you interested. Take note though, on rare occasions, the game has been known to "hang" coming into or going out of these commercial breaks, so you may need to restart your game.

Five other interactive game shows are available on WeDigTV, including British versions of "The Price is Right," "Family Feud," and others. If you register with the website, you can have your scores entered into a high scores list, and be eligible for some prizes. (Note: I have not checked on the availability of prizes, so the offers may not be available to American players.)

Important note: These games heavily rely on video footage to present the action. Therefore, a broadband connection is recommended (if not required) to play all of these games.

Of course, to end this review, I think it's only appropriate to say (sing it along with me), "Da-da, da-da, da-da-da-da! (BOOOM!)" Play Countdown.

Update: It appears that the above link for the Countdown link still works, but going to wedigtv's new homepage leads you to a new beta version of the site, combining all of the games in a more TV-like atmosphere, with each game on its own channel. There are still some glitches to work out (such as the game hanging in the middle of play), but these kinks should be worked out eventually. Also, be sure and check out the two newest game shows, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and "Deal or No Deal!"

Ring Pass Not is an original new puzzle game by indie game developer, Sandhill Games.

The objective: fill the magic circle with tiles by matching adjacent tiles by their color or symbol. Score bonus tools and power-ups by completing special combos of tiles. Collecting these tools will help you advance further in the game with its 30 unique levels of increasing difficulty.

Two modes offer different styles of play depending on whether you want a quick game against the clock, or a more casual game without time limits. The production values of this beautiful game are top notch with the developer even composing the music for it as well. My only complaints were the use of a Flash custom cursor that makes moving tiles feel as if dragging them through honey; and there is presently no way to save your game midway through. Play Ring Pass Not.

You may also play the game at the developer's website.

Ring Pass Not walkthrough now available!

RGB is another great-looking room escape game by Japanese developer neutral, author of the previously reviewed Sphere. Not only is this game great looking, it plays exceptionally well with several puzzles that will perplex and confound you, though that won't take you long to solve.

Use logic to solve the mysteries that await you in this room of RGB that includes a standard point-and-click interface with inventory, as well as two different ways to escape. Like its predecessor, the graphics really pull you into the game and give special meaning to "graphic adventure," a classic description for games of this type.

Unfortunately, as the name implies, color perception is required for a couple of puzzles in this game, so you may experience difficulty getting out of the room if you experience colorblindness. An integrated save feature allows you to pick up the game later if you cannot finish in one sittting, and there are both English and Japanese versions available to play. Play RGB.

Ricochet shooting stars across the sky to light the heavens and unlock levels in this dazzling new action puzzler by Jared Riley and Eric Ottati of Hero Interactive.

Starshine is a game of rays and angles in which the objective is to light all of the stars to advance to the next level. You have but a single shooting star in your arsenal to fire from anywhere along the outer edge of the circular field of play. The path your shooting star will take depends on the type of stars it comes in contact with.

Control is easy and intuitive. Moving the mouse will move a small white dot constrained to a circle surrounding each level. Position the dot where you wish to fire from, inward toward the center. Click the mouse to shoot the star and watch the result.

As you position the cursor while aiming, small arrow cues may be available to help you become acquainted with the behavior of each type of star, and the resulting angle(s) of deflection; but they will not appear in all circumstances. Think of them as hints, and nothing more.

Once successful in lighting all stars of a level, the next level is unlocked and your progress is saved automatically for you. There are no time limits nor lives to lose, and there are 50 levels to complete in the game.

Analysis: While there will likely be the obvious comparison to one of Ferry's Orisinal games, the similarities are only skin deep. Starshine is an original puzzle game that is a bit deceiving at first. What appears to be a simple game of angles of deflection reveals additional complexity with each new type of star that's introduced. Soon the player is immersed in intricate and divergent paths as stars split into shards like fireworks in the sky. Keeping track and making sense of all those paths soon becomes difficult, and the challenge of completing a level looms large.

While playing I wished for more and better cues to help me know where the stars would hit and deflect to. Jared tells me that it's part of the game to learn the different types of stars and the effect they will have. Maybe it's just me, but I got lost easily with all those stars lying about and it was rather difficult for me to gauge where all the bits would travel. Instead of being able to predict the best angle to fire from, I resorted to trial and error to solve a level more than once. Your experience may be different.

All things considered, Starshine is a wonderful and unique new puzzle game to conquer, with enough challenge to sharpen your mind and brighten your day with. Play Starshine.

The game is also available to play at Armor Games.

Update: A new version is now up that addresses some of the issues we noted. Specifically, additional arrows provide better clues as to the path of the star; and pressing [space] will activate 'retry' to help expedite the process. The main menu and more games buttons were also moved to the bottom of the screen.

Starshine walkthrough now available!

Many people have written in to ask why we haven't featured Gaby Vanhegan's entry into the recent onslaught of tower defense games. The fact of the matter is we had heard that development of the game was continuing and that a new version was soon to come. And since there has been no dearth of games in this genre of late, we decided to wait patiently and feature the new version when it was released.

That day has come. Onslaught 2 is now here.

Okay, so you're thinking "Oh no, not another tower defense game. What makes this one any different from the rest?" One word: Combos.

As with other tower defense games, you earn cash by obliterating the attackers that creep their way around any one of several maps available to play. With the cash you can purchase additional turrets or upgrade existing ones. But it is the Combos that add a level of depth to this tower defense game not present in other games like it. The combinations are many, and the resulting strategy becomes deep.

Some have said this is the best tower defense game of all those to come before. What do you think? Sound off about the game or about your strategy for success with it in the comments. Play Onslaught 2.

Cheers to John, Alek, Capuchin, Timothy, Ch00k, Cameron, Brent, Mike, Malcolm, Chipicha, and Max for suggesting the game, and to Gutspiller for word about the latest release. =)