From Digital Seed Entertainment comes Tactics Arena Online (TAO), a turn based strategy game the likes of Final Fantasy. By commanding an army of characters on a battlefield, your goal is to decimate your opponents team in a battle of weapons and abilities.

Your team starts out in a formation that you plan out for them in the settings before the game begins. When the game starts, select which character to utilize. You have the options of attacking from your current position, moving it and then attacking, or moving it and wave your attack option. There's also the option to skip your turn entirely. Only one character is allowed to be moved per turn. The same character can only be used again after they've been through their turn recovery. For example, if a character has a five turn recovery, it cannot be used for 5 turns. A two turn recovery character can be used after 2 turns, etc...

Get to know your characters. Find out what they do, how they move, how strong their attacks are. From there you can learn how to setup your starting formation in a way that works best for you. Always try to keep the offensive in the game, never giving your opponent the chance to get the upper hand.

This game is beautifully drawn and animated, following in the footsteps of Final Fantasy and Warcraft. It plays much like a game of chess, in that you have to try to plan out your attacks ahead of time, and try to outwit your opponent.

Because this is an online game, you must setup an account. The account setup however is relatively painless. It asks you for a name and a password, and that's all. If you want to try the game by yourself first, and not battle against anybody online, the author has created a demo of the game called Tactics Core. It's the exact same as the online version except you don't get to choose your character setup, and they are all chosen at random. If you need more detailed instructions on how to play, there is a detailed online guide available to help you out. There is also a very active player community in the game forums.

If you enjoy games that challenge your intellect and ability to think ahead, then here's your game. Giving you the look and feel of a console game, but nicely packed into a casual flash game.

TAO also has the option to create a gold account with additional features, which is $5.00 USD a month.

My Diamond Baby is another single-room point-and-click game, this one was created by Project C-Time! and Haruo Seto.

You start off as someone on a motorcycle on his way to give an engagement ring to his girlfriend. On his way he is involved in a motorcycle accident. When he regains consciousness he finds himself locked in a room without the engagement ring.

This game is unique in that there are multiple challenging puzzles within the game, that you have to solve in order to progress further. At least one of the puzzles changes each time you play.

This is by far the most challenging point-and-click game I have ever played. Imagine Crimson Room, Viridian Room, and the Blue Chamber all rolled up into one. One thing that makes this game more difficult than others is the very tiny areas you need to find and click on in order to progress. Some areas only giving you a few pixels.

My Diamond Baby is definitely for the point-and-click gaming pro's. It will test your wit and intelligence, and ability to think "outside the box". It's definitely not for those who get frustrated with the easier point-and-click games such as Escape the Room.

This game was just recently translated into English, making it a little easier to play... but not much. When I first played it, it was still in Japanese.

The ending to this game is, in my opinion, one of the better endings to many point-and-click games. I know it's hard to create a good ending to these type of games, but I think My Diamond Baby does a good job, especially if you watch all the way through the credits until the end.

Play My Diamond Baby