The Pretender: Part One, is a fantastic new platform based puzzle game by Tim Knauf and Tristan Clark of Launching Pad Games, with very pleasing art work by Vin Rowe. Although the developers have just released the game as part of a game competition, and still consider it a work in progress, we think it's quite spiffy already and ready for some exposure.

You are a Victorian era magician. Your act had been growing a bit stale, so you were given a magical book to spice it up. Unfortunately, the book's magic is real and far beyond your parlor tricks. During the show, a door to another dimension opens up and sucks the entire audience into it. You must travel through this world and guide each poor ghostly figure back to the magic door on each level so they can get back to their Earthly life.

There are three different forms you can take to help you on your quest: your corporeal magician form; an airy figure that floats and that can manipulate wind; and a hideous earthen monster that can smash and move rock. By using a combination of forms you must figure out which routes to take, and which obstacles to destroy or move, to solve the puzzle of getting each audience member to the door. The tricky part is that ghosties can only follow you one at a time.

Use the mouse to access menus. Use [arrow] keys to move around. Press [spacebar] to use powers or to click through the dialogue of story mode.

There are four sets of levels of increasing difficulty, and you need to get only four levels correct in each set to unlock the next set. There are optional story levels that you can skip if you just want to puzzle, or you may play through to see the short story unfold.

Analysis: Launching Pad Games have paid significant attention to making The Pretender a joy to play and navigate through. Most of the levels aren't too difficult to figure out, and you may reset a level at any time to try again if you get stuck. Luckily you can skip a level here or there if you get really stuck by clicking on the map. Not having to complete every level in order to progress is an option that really helps avoid frustration. You can always go back later and solve the levels you skipped. The game also saves automatically so you can play at your leisure. Each level has a name, like chapter headings, which is useful when asking for help with a hint. Even making the story levels optional was a choice that had the player in mind.

The story is simple but gives the puzzles a mysterious feel, and the puzzle design and characters are all nicely integrated. The sparse sounds and bits of dialogue from the ghosts are a nice touch, and the intro music also fits the mood well.

Occasionally the game gets a bit persnickety when you are trying to move from a ladder to a platform, and you may have to move up and down a bit to find just the right spot to allow you to move sideways. Also, it was a bit confusing that the magician's wand makes a spark but doesn't have any powers unless you are in airy form. The air wand power with the sail boats is fantastic, but it would have also been nice to have a minor power when you are just in magician form.

If you choose to play through the story levels the game ends on a cliff hanger (thus the Part One in the title). So for those interested in the story, you'll have to wait for the saga to continue. But the puzzles are the main attraction here, smart and elegant brain teasers that get increasingly more complicated as the levels progress. Altogether a fun and challenging new puzzle game from a promising new group of Flash game developers from New Zealand.

Play The Pretender: Part One!

Pew Pew Pew Thwak. Thwap Thwup Splat, Wheeee! The review of Platypus could end there, but in the interest of, you know, explaining things, I'll continue. Platypus is a wonderfully unique side scrolling shooter created by Anthony Flack. Everything in the game — from the enemies to the backgrounds and even the weapons fire — is made from plasticine. This playable claymation shooter is filled with action and quirky design choices that have made it an instant cult-classic.

Platypus drops you in the action as soon as you fire up the game, leaving the backstory either to your imagination or to read elsewhere. The Collosatropolians are attacking your home of Mungola, and as the last of the Platypus fleet, it's your job to take them down. You have an array of weapons to use, ranging from spread shots to rockets and even lasers! Defeating whole squadrons of enemies can produce a power-up star, a crucial item that grants you 20 seconds of using the above-listed weapons. Shoot the star to select your gun, then touch it to start kicking some plasticine tailwings.

Platypus is very easy to learn but gets more challenging the further in you get. Getting your hands on the right ammo and power-ups is key. There are occasional bonus crates that float up on balloons which contain additional goodies (such as orbiting guns, which are niiiice) or points. Make sure you hit the crate and not the balloon, otherwise you'll curse Zeus and Poseidon as the box falls to the sea. Enemies also leave behind fruits that grant bonus points. Fruit you ask? Makes as much sense as the name Platypus, just go with it.

You have the option of playing with the mouse, arrow keys ([spacebar] to fire), or joystick to control your ship, and you can play with 2 players at a time (or three players in the sequel). Playing in co-operative mode is pretty sweet!

Analysis: Platypus isn't a new game. It was released a few years ago, and the story behind the game's development is a bit of a sad one. After being paid a pittance and signing away the rights based on a demo, it took creator Anthony Flack over two years to finish making the game. A fire in Anthony's home destroyed everything he owned save the clothes on his back. Fortunately a copy of Platypus' code and assets had recently been made and were residing at a friend's house. Plasticine was hard to come by in New Zealand at the time, so he ended up going to a local toy shop and buying all the little rainbow packets of modeling clay they had. He mushed it all into one big gray lump and made everything by reusing the same clay over and over. Color was later added digitally. For those interested in the process, there are some great pictures of the models for the enemy ship in Flack's next game, Cletus Clay, which is very similar to the ships in the Platypus games.

When looking at Platypus for a potential review, we had a hard time deciding which game to feature, the original or Platypus II. While the first game was older, it had so much more charm than the somewhat sterilized sequel. More blood, sweat and tears were poured into the animations, leaving the second game to feel rushed and recycled by comparison. The action heats up faster in the sequel and the power-ups appear much earlier, but in the end, something about the original game is much more addicting. Perhaps the fact that it seems more difficult, and you cherish the achievement of making it through a level or discovering the precious power ups. It makes you want to hunker down and keep playing. The music in the original builds nicely and changes the mood of the levels, adding to the driving feeling that makes you want to keep going.

These games may not be for the hardcore shooter fan, but will appeal to the casual game fan, and may even convert some that aren't fans of shooters. They really embody the qualities of a good casual game, not too grueling, not too long. And the style of the games really draws you in and make these really fun to play. Once you've played a level it is unlocked, so the replay value is decent, you can start back at the beginning to improve your score, or just select your favorite level and pew pew pew thwaka wacka away.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version

The Legend of Crystal Valley is a mini-epic adventure game with an eclectic mix of fantasy and sci-fi elements. Gather items, solve both environmental and inventory puzzles, and examine everything you see as you travel through over 150 locations, each just as extraordinary as the last.

The main character, Eve, receives a note from her father asking her to visit his estate. After exploring the old farmhouse she discovers a portal that takes her to a fantasy realm known as Crystal Valley. A number of strange worlds collide here, leaving creatures such as dragons, witches, aliens and robots stranded in the most unusual of cirsumstances. Even more unusual is the fact that everyone seems to know her father! You'll run across a number of portals through space and time, magic spells and other oddities as you search for Eve's father and a way out of this strange world.

The gameplay sticks closely to traditional adventure fare. The mouse is your weapon of choice and allows you to take and use items, examine objects, and travel between scenes. The cursor changes color depending on which action you can perform, which is a nice user-friendly touch. Most of the gameplay consists of carrying out tasks and favors for characters in order to collect objects that solve the level. Eve has a knack for fixing an assortment of machines and you'll use this talent to solve several mini-puzzles along the way.

Analysis: While many games don't change much beyond what the demo showcases, The Legend of Crystal Valley isn't afraid to take you on a wild ride. You would never expect the many varied locations and bizarre characters you encounter given the modest starting location. The game has an ambitious storyline that works both for and against it. Mixing science fiction and fantasy is one thing, but to also include Eastern European mythology as well as references to the modern world is a little over-the-top, and the plot suffers from a lack of cohesion, especially at the end. However, the broad, complex scope motivates you to keep playing to see what will happen next, and the variety of worlds you visit makes you feel as if anything could happen.

The locations are quite compelling and beautifully rendered. The backgrounds, lighting and shadows are filled with detail. Traveling through impressive environments is what makes this game fun to play. Adventure fans will feel a bit disappointed with the slightly rough look and feel, as character animations are choppy and imprecise and Eve's default movement speed is agonizingly slow (hold the [spacebar] and she'll get a little spring in her step). Seeing as this was an self-financed indie effort, we can cut them some slack. There is no spoken dialogue (and a bit too much written dialogue), but it was originally intended for English speaking audience, so everything reads smoothly.

Although parts of its presentation could use a little polish and shine, The Legend of Crystal Valley delivers a wonderfully deep storyline and a great variety of locations that make playing from beginning to end an experience worth absorbing.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

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

Legend of Crystal Valley is available to download from these affiliates:

If you celebrate Arbor Day and always thought a logic puzzle was just what the holiday needed, then Grace Avery's Leaf Blight is for you. We're posting early in case anyone goes by the Belgian tree-planting day in Flanders, which is a month earlier than Arbor Day in the US. So get out those pruning shears and prepare to think.

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to snip off the dying leaves to keep your trees healthy and strong. You only get a limited amount of moves to remove the leaves in the right order. Clipping off some will have an effect on the others, so you need to follow a simple set of logic rules.

Red leaves will randomly sicken other leaves on the branch by turning them yellow. Yellow leaves will sicken their neighboring leaves, and an orange dot is a warning sign they are about to turn red. Purple leaves will randomly infect leaves every four moves, and will get an orange dot when they are about to strike. Brown leaves are dead and will need to be removed but they will not spread to the next leaves.

Analysis: This relaxing logic puzzle starts out fairly easy, but does get more vexing as the levels progress. There is a tutorial and a nice slow paced learning curve to let you pick up all the rules. Leaf Blight lets you take your time, and gives you unlimited chances to resolve a level. For those craving competitive leaf cutting, there is a countdown timer, which will give you bonus points for solving levels under the time limit.

The graphics look a bit primitive, but they nicely evoke the feeling of woodcarving art. Small animated flourishes, such as a bird passing by or the moon waxing overhead, give the artwork some warm touches. The music is pleasant and adds to the overall relaxing feel of the game.

In the option menu you can turn off music and or sound effects, and there is a colorblind option, which adds symbols to the colors. If you'd rather create than solve logic problems, there is a level editor as well.

A series of bendy trees, mellow music and 60 levels of leaf picking madness await you!

Play Leaf Blight.

Blush is a unique and beautiful, 3D rendered, underwater physics-based arcade game by Flashbang Studios, in which you play a betentacled creature fighting your way through the ocean deep.

You have just 4 minutes to fight off a variety of sea creatures, such as jellyfish, squid, crabs and sea serpents, by finding their weakness and then exploiting it. When you destroy creatures, collect the eggs they leave behind with your tentacles and bring them to the brightly glowing orbs. Doing so will increase your speed and extend the length of your tentacles. Spin your tentacles with the mouse to collect eggs and to attack other creatures. The more you grow the faster and farther your attacks will reach. The faster you deliver eggs to the collectors, the more formidable your enemies will become in return. And while you may occasionally lose tentacles in a fight, they will be restored when you bring eggs back to the orbs.

Unlock a series of achievements and race against the clock to meet more intense enemies and to greatly increase your score. Make sure to explore the bottom of the sea floor, as there are some additional challenging foes down there as well.

Analysis: The 3D rendered graphics and underwater environment in Blush are gorgeous, the lighting is brilliant, and the music calm and soothing. In contrast, the gameplay, with its 4-minute window and the circling and swinging motions required with the mouse, is frenetic and addictive. Combined these qualities simultaneously give the game a relaxing vibe like Flow, and the frantic pace of a shooter game. The undersea world the designers have created is stunning and the lighting effects give it a surreal and compelling quality that really draws the player in.

However, a non-timed version is sorely needed for all of us casual gamers, since you are presently limited to just four minutes of play in arcade scoring style. It would be so very nice to be able to advance through the game in levels, and at your own pace, and to play for an extended period of time.

Blush started out at TIGJam, where it was called Squiddy, and in 8 weeks the developers from Flashbang Studios have made a gorgeous game that is a joy to play. The game design is so well done for such a short time frame, although they were developing the idea for quite some time before the 8 week production. Here is some behind the scenes footage of the game. The footage shows a zoomed-out view of the entire ocean (spoiler!), but viewing it will also help you get your bearings.

You will need to download the Unity browser plug-in to play the game, if you don't have it already installed. It is a fast and painless installation, and so very worth it.

There is a special achievement for playing during today's launch, so get it while you still can.

Play Blush!

The Wizard's Pen is a fun, breezy twist on the hidden object genre by Pop Cap, maker of Peggle and Bejewled Twist.The Wizard is missing and, with the help of his magical pen, you must conjure up all that is hidden to find him!

Your main task is to go through the Wizard's books, filled with blank pages and, with as few strokes of the magic pen as possible, guess the image that starts to materialize. The fewer clicks you use to guess the more stars you get, advancing you faster through the game. Collect enough stars and you will unlock the wizard's special sketchbooks. After each completed book, you search around the wizard's tower through cluttered rooms that appear as standard hidden object puzzles. Your real task is to find the bits of the objects that are missing and magically restore objects with the wizard's pen.

There are many books to get through, each with its own hidden theme. There are a handful of variations of visual puzzles to keep things interesting, so you won't always just click to reveal portions of the image. There are several special challenge puzzles like scrambled mosaics that become more organized, zoom-outs, abstracts and untwisting of the pictures to bring the objects into focus. One challenge erases the previous guess, so you have to remember what you saw. The number of chances you get on each page of the book is indicated by the burning candle. You must make the correct guess before the candle is snuffed out!

As you advance, you will unlock magic spell potions that are used as different types of hints to help you through the books, like the power of perception which will let you see much larger blocks of the pages, or a crystal ball spell that will reveal a jumbled vision of the next few images you have to guess. You get to select up to three potions for each book. New potions become available as you go along. Each potion is only for a single use, but you can select the same potion again for a later book if you find it useful. Mouse over each potion to read what it does.

Analysis: You can always count on Pop Cap to have strong production quality and enjoyable gameplay. The graphics, art and sound were all quite good. The twist of finding the missing objects makes this game stand out from the endless sea of hidden object games. It can be a bit repetitive, and in particular it would have been good to have more locations for finding objects. The mini challenges do a good job of breaking up the repetitiveness of the sketchbook puzzles.

The game has a high tolerance for how you enter your guesses in the book puzzles. For instance, if the object is sunglasses, and you write glasses, your answer will be accepted. Misspellings and synonyms for the objects work too, which is pretty impressive and keeps the game moving quickly, as you don't get stuck having to be too exact. Things can get a little tricky when you are trying to figure out what's missing in a location, because the word clues provided can be cryptic. Especially if you don't know the names for the items that you can't see to begin with! Some of the clues have clever multiple meanings as well. You might need a hint or two in these sections.

This game may feel too easy for some, but the frustration factor is low, so most of you who like the normal hidden object games will get a kick out of The Wizard's Pen.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

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

The Wizard's Pen is available to download from these affiliates:

Masters of Mystery: Crime of Fashion combines the standard hidden object game with a detective story and forensic tools, in the vein of the CSI games or Women's Murder Club.

You are Detective Carrie Chase whose new assignment is to solve the murder of an up-and-coming fashion designer, Neil Lane. Accompanied by your cranky boss, you must search the city for clues. You travel into the world of supermodels, photographers, plastic surgeons and talent agents, questioning various acquaintances of the victim. When the suspects start turning up dead, your quest becomes more serious. Hunt for clues in both the upscale and sleazy parts of town, from nightclubs, photo studios, and the marina, to rummaging through run-down apartments and dumpster diving in an alley. Analyze the evidence and figure out who the killer is before more bodies start to drop.

The use of the forensic tools as part of revealing the objects is what sets this apart from the usual hidden object game. As you sift through lists of items you'll uncover a set of useful tools that are stowed in your inventory, such as a blacklight, magnifying glass, fingerprint duster and flashlight. There are interspersed mini-games that are a welcome break for your eyeballs, including several spot the difference games with blood evidence, anagrams, jigsaw puzzles, and fingerprint matching.

Some scenes have close up spots you have to hit: a purse, a trunk, a file drawer. A question mark will pop up if you mouse over an object you can inspect closer. Each forensic tool will be added to your inventory as you find it. In later levels you will need items like a key or crowbar to open the close up areas.

There are a couple of twists in gameplay and story to keep things interesting, along with good photorealistic locations, making object identification easier. Each item you collect is treated as evidence with a snapshot taken of each one. The evidence you gather progresses the story along by giving you clues that lead you to the next location. They all fit nicely into the detective story.

Analysis: The detective elements in Masters of Mystery: Crime of Fashion really enhance the hidden object part of the game, though they aren't quite as strong as some other games of a similar ilk. The addition of the forensic tools really makes this more interesting than the average hidden object games out there.

The density of objects and effort finding them was pretty easy for the first half of the game, it gets more challenging as the second half of the story progresses. You can glide through the first chapter in the demo, which may feel too easy. It does get harder, although never so difficult that you run out of time and have to start a level over.

The hint system was good, which is always a welcome addition. It's used like a power up, where you have to wait for a recharge before you can use it again. There were a few spots when it really comes in handy, especially if you've just dusted every inch of the scene looking for prints.

Late in the story there is a very brief animated scene which is well done and I would have loved to see more moments like that. Most games seem to front load the more ambitious production moments and peter out towards the end, this game had its higher production value in the latter half. Some of the story and dialogue was a little cheesy, but overall since those elements were short, it worked pretty well.

The levels and story are strictly linear, which is a downside for the detective part of the game. It would have been nice to be able to choose between locations when you find a clue, or jump into a mini-game, rather than have to finish a locale before moving on. The fact that your path through the game is forced reduces the sense of satisfaction in actively figuring out the crime. Although there is a clever use of a spot the difference game that you do use to solve the final clue leading to the conclusion.

But this is first and foremost a hidden object game, and the addition of the detective elements makes it a better one. The designers at Big Blue Bubble have given a purpose to the hunt, with sparse but effective story details and mini-games that really move it along.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

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

Masters of Mystery is available to download from these affiliates:

Cuarentazo, by Ecuadorian multimedia artist Ronald Jaramillo, is a Flash translation of Cuarenta (Forty), a popular card game in Ecuador. You can play solo against the computer, or multiplayer against one opponent or in teams. Click "Juega" to play, or click on "Multijugador" above the game screen to get to the multiplayer lobby. Select "English" to read through the instructions. The rules are a bit complicated, but after playing a few times it becomes fairly simple.

There are 40 cards in the deck and you must make 40 points to win by capturing the most cards and scoring points during play. You can take any card from the table that matches a card in your hand by rank or that add up to the rank in your hand. For example, a 6 in your hand can capture a 6 on the table, or a 4 plus a 2.

You gain two extra points when you capture the card your opponent just put down, called a caída (a fall) or if you clear the table you get a limpia (clean). The most complicated part is capturing a sequence of cards. If a 2, 3 and 4 are on the table, and you have a 2 in your hand, you can capture them all in sequence. The 8, 9 and 10 cards are removed from the deck, so a 7 and Jack are in sequence. You can't add up cards to match the rank of face cards, and you can't take two of the same rank like a 3 and a 3 to make 6.

So the killer move is to combine an addition capture and a sequence capture. If, for example, the table is (2, 3, 6, 7, J), you can play a 5, claiming the 2 and the 3 together, and the 6, 7, J in sequence. That's all in one play.

Once you learn the basics, you can turn your attention to the most interesting part of the game where strategy comes into play, figuring out what you can set up in advance, or guessing which cards might be safe to play without your opponent scoring extra points against you.

The cards are dealt five at a time until the whole deck is used, and then there is a re-deal if necessary. Whoever has captured more cards before the re-deal gets extra points depending on how far ahead they are, and the game ends when one of you reaches 40 points. If you want to learn more about the game, including some of the rarer scoring rules, here is a link to the full rules to the original card game, Cuarenta.

Analysis: The sound in this game is what really sells it. Every time you win or lose a point, a choir of excited voices yell at you! They cheer and jeer you, which will make you want to play more. You won't have any clue what's going on at first but it sure will sound exciting!

The graphics are fairly rudimentary, and not entirely intuitive—selecting cards takes some getting used to. You double click to lay one of your cards on the table. If you want to take cards from the table you should first click on the cards on the table that you want and then double click the card in your hand to capture. You can't unclick a card in your hand, it will act as a double click and finalize a decision. If you did not select cards on the table and you accidentally double click your card, it will just be put on the table. So just select another card in your hand instead.

The gameplay AI seems pretty good, although sometimes it makes a mistake and gets yelled at, to mimic a real opponent. When this occurs against the computer, one of its cards will be brought partially forward as a penalty, and you must click on it to place it on the table.

It's always a joy to learn card games from different countries, and now with so many game designers around the world, we can learn more and more of them.

Play/Juega Cuarentazo!

If you have ever had a cat, you surely asked yourself at some point "How did the cat suddenly appear there?" Well this game may explain it, as you play a cat who has control over space and time!

Time 4 Cat is a new mouse avoidance game, by Megadev, in which your movements also control the enemy, so you can make everyone stop and start, or go faster or slower. Your goal is to hustle through the big city and scoop up all the food that is dropped. Each piece of food has a count-down timer on it, the faster you collect the food the higher your score. There is an occasional white sphere for a bonus power up, which gives you control over the immediate crowd by left clicking the mouse, allowing you to push all the people out of the way with a force field. Each sphere collected is single use and you can only keep three at time. The obstacles become more daunting as the density of people increase and there are bicyclists to contend with. Adding an extra dimension to the problem are shadows of passing clouds obscuring your view a bit, and eventually the people start to materialize and dematerialize creating quite a challenge.

Analysis: This game is elegant. The art work is simple and hip. The music adds to the enjoyment of the game — it starts out as ambient music then begins to syncopate and subtly build over the course of the game, adding some tension when things escalate. There are some nice sound effects thrown in; if you listen close you can hear the cat purring when it catches the food. But you don't want to hear the cat meow when it runs into a pedestrian, as that ends the game.

The game is easy to play in a short time frame, and fun to replay and try for the highest score by concentrating on speed, or slowing down for accuracy. You could even cha cha cha to the beat. Unlike most mouse avoider games, where it can get so frantic that you can barely see what you're doing, the thing that makes this game stand out is the fact that you can slow everything down and go at your own pace. It remains challenging while being relaxing.

Play Time 4 Cat!

Thanks to Spector17 for sending this one in!

Take the simple kid's game Concentration, disguise it as something even easier and more kid friendly, then make it much more challenging and evil with each passing level.

"This looks too easy, but hey, it's kind of cute. Oh now that's clever… oh wait… what? Damn, I lost." Restart. Get back up to where you were, and then suddenly there's a Three-Card-Monty game thrown in to confuserize you. And just when you think it can't get any more evil, yet another eye-popping complication is added. That is the joy of Flipped Out: discovering that happy little pictures and the voices of cheering children can crush you utterly.

Instead of looking for just any pair, you must match the set provided on the bottom right. Keep a close eye on the layout of cards. On most levels, you will have to remember the placement of all of them. Once you have three correct answers in each five-level section, you will qualify for the next batch. There is also a practice mode that focuses on visual tracking, memory, and image subtlety.

Analysis: Flipped out is a super-polished and all around entertaining twist on an overly familiar game mechanic. It's impressive how such a simple game can be so entertaining, as each new test makes you laugh and curse at the same time. The game's author, Nick Harper, challenges your brain and visual dexterity with thoughtful design. It feels completely fresh.

But oh, what I would give for a level select option! It's pretty frustrating, having to keep starting back at the beginning. Brain fatigue sets in and you start to get diminishing returns on your mental investment. The ability to solve levels must depend on a sleep/caffeine ratio—sometimes your lightning-fast visual skills are working on all cylinders, and then later you just can't match your monkeys.

One more usability suggestion for the developer: include a Back To Menu or a Play Game button when the player is in practice mode (there is a Back button when you enter the practice screen but not while you're playing).

Play Flipped Out.

Auditorium is a fantastic new puzzle game of music and light, by Dain Saint and William Stallwood of Cipher Prime. Currently it's a comprehensive demo of a work in progress. There are about 15 levels in the demo, so it already makes for a great game.

Solve each level by manipulating the flow of light to create the perfect balance of music. The streams of light represent sound particles that you bend toward boxes until the audio levels are full. When the flow is correct, the audio levels fill up with the proper color and all the parts of the music will play.

The controls are very intuitive, but the main thing you need to know is you can expand and contract each direction button by clicking and dragging the edges. You start off with a directional arrow or two to guide the streams of light toward the audio level boxes. The navigation buttons become more tricky on later levels with the addition of the attractor control (the other controls mentioned in the instructions aren't available yet). You'll also have multiple colors to contend with, where you must guide the streams of light through rings of color to match the correct audio boxes.

If your computer is older you might want to take the game out of full screen mode—just press [ESC]. You can also right-click to change the graphics setting lower.

Analysis: Often puzzles that involve directing a beam of light to an object are very rigid and there's only one answer. One of the best things about this game is there are many ways to solve each puzzle, which makes taking your time to experiment and have fun with the flow just as satisfying as finding the solutions. The last couple of levels, however, test the free form philosophy of the game makers, as they seem so complicated and so placement-specific that it's hard to imagine that there truly are multiple solutions. The last level especially requires you to place things just right, which can be a little frustrating. But for the most part, the game certainly delivers on the idea. Hopefully they will continue to develop with some higher tolerances built in.

The demo is presented in three "Acts," with a short teaser ending showing some of the controls and obstacles that will be added in the final game. The teaser is a bit of a let down, as you barely get time to look at it before it ends. It would have been better to end with the triumphant completion of the final puzzle. The game could also use a better title, nit-picky but true.

Linux users: If you experienced trouble playing the game before, please try again. The game authors have made a small change to the embedding code on the game page that may help with playing the game on Linux.

The music, digitally composed by Dain, is integral to the design of the game. It has enough variety from one level to the next that it doesn't get too repetitive (unless you get really stuck on a puzzle). It is fairly soothing for the most part.

Auditorium is very impressive in that each section you start to fill complements the musical piece until you hear the entire orchestration, and each part separately sounds just as good. Even more impressive, the visuals are dynamic and work on their own, even without sound.

Creative and challenging, this game has truly exceptional design and is a lot of fun to play.

Play Auditorium!

Lions and Hippos and Bears, oh my! In Rovio Mobile's Totomi, build stacks of animals into totems as high as you can. Combine identical animals along with their favorite food and they begin to breed, multiplying their number and pushing your totem even higher. Each animal interacts differently with others, so learning their relationships is key to creating massive stacks of animals.

The game starts out extremely simple: stack some zebras and feed them some leaves. Before long the list of animals grows and their interactions become more complicated. What happens when a lion meets a beaver? Will an elephant eat fish? What's the relationship between wood and a zebra? You'll eventually have to track these relationships on a massive scale!

Detailed instructions are provided before the game begins, telling you about each combination or interaction, which animals breed, which are friends, and a corresponding visual symbol for each to help you organize your totems. Signs like hearts stand for friends, baby bottles for breeding, knife and fork for food, and a plus sign for a non-matching animal that can capture your stack for points. Simply drag and hold animals over a column to see how they'll interact with what's already there. The totems will start to shake when your time for the level is running out, so capture a stack to keep going!

Analysis: This game has an odd combination of being very simple and complicated at the same time. But this might be the key to its playability. It takes a while to pick up what all the different symbols mean, but once you get that down and have up to 12 animals to manage it gets more challenging and fun. Totomi has a snazzy soundtrack, smooth and polished gameplay and cute visuals. When you capture a really big stack there is a visual circus on the screen. Make sure to give it a chance past the first couple of levels, as once you get into the swing of things the fun really kicks in.

Play Totomi!

Thanks to Irina for suggesting it! :)

The National Gallery of Art has an extensive online interactive art exhibit which is geared towards kids, but is fun for all ages. A few of the applications available stand out and include themes such as Jungle, Still Life, and especially the great interactive Dutch Dollhouse.

Mashing up the art of several Dutch painters, they have created a fantastic art webtoy that is entertaining and really holds your interest. Even going back to it several times you can always find some charming new detail. They go for the play factor here, rather than using it as an art lesson, which is a great way to lead someone to learn more on their own. It has a wonderful whimsical quality that puts just a smidge of Monty Python silliness into this artistic setting.

To start, click on the brick front of the house and explore the three levels inside. There's also a courtyard which you shouldn't miss (it's a bit tricky to get to, click just left of the house on the ground level). The menu button on the lower left gives you access to the elements you can add or change, anything with a pencil icon is customizable. Either play for a few minutes, or delve into the intricacies of designing your own patterns in the floor, tile, rug, even the lace one woman is sewing. You can design your own dinner plates, or just try smashing the plates on the floor. Feed a pig, set a bird flying, make a baby laugh, or have a guy blow bubbles. You can even mimic the lighting that the old Dutch Masters used in their paintings by adjusting the slide bars on the side (or click the sky in the courtyard).

On the art studio level you can click the canvas on the easel and use the painter's palette to create your own art work. Then click on the framed canvas on the wall so you can toggle the art to the three different locations in the room.

There's a snapshot feature which is endlessly fun (access through the menu, or the canvas in the art studio). On the lower floors, you can take a picture of the room, and it will be displayed on the wall in one of the frames. In the studio you can expand the use of this tool, as you have several canvases and control over where you take the snapshot. Those familiar with the "Droste Effect" will have fun with this one.

There are some funny sounds, surprises and lots of hidden facets to explore. Make sure to move any doors in the background to see into the rooms behind them.

As in the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, this webtoy captures the affection for detail in everyday objects, and captures the imagination. We highly recommend spending some time in the Dutch Dollhouse.

A hilariously macabre action platformer with great design and story, Orphan Feast was created by Robox Studios for Adult Swim.

You are the gruesome Creaky Tom who has been given the odious task by Oliver Twisted to snatch up children so they can be ground up into pies for greed and "culinary perversion." You must clobber or jump onto the orphans to stun them and shove them into your bag. Once the bag gets full, grab an umbrella to shoot up into the air and deposit your prey into a holding cell. Throw objects or use your cane to fight off cops, waiters, factory thugs, and watch out for the love crazed portly lady.

Once you start capturing orphans, the heavier bag can be used as a more hefty weapon. You will also run into your competition the Artful Dodger. Prepare for a tough fight when you reach his lair. Here the story takes a surprising turn and you head off through the factory and work your way up the gear works. In the last chapter you must battle your way through the swanky restaurant and kitchen, then figure out how to reach the private bakery for the big boss fight with Oliver Twisted.

Analysis: What sets this game apart from most browser platform games is the really fantastic character design and the economical yet strong story elements. The fighting keeps the action moving, and having to struggle to get the kids is a funny challenge, certainly more intriguing than coin collecting in average platformers.

Storytelling in games seems to always be in a state of growing pains, and often misses the mark. Many games rely on elaborate backstory that you have to stop and read, or long boring cut scenes to convey story. This game borrowed some storytelling techniques from animated shorts. It utilized character, set pieces, action and level design to tell the story. There was sparse exposition and the one short cut scene used mainly character expression to punctuate emotion and convey story.

Another reviewer here at JIG felt that for a platform game it was somewhat clumsy, the fighting chaotic, and the screen was too small for the size of the characters. Well, since I pretty much suck at platform games, take his word on that. But being closer to the action did achieved two things: It brought you closer in to the point of view of the character so you're more part of the action and story, and it provided an additional puzzle challenge of trying to figure out which path to take. This in effect was like being in an unrevealed maze and was especially tricky during the factory sequence.

Robox has managed to maintain the tone and design down to the last detail. The health indicator is a beating anatomical heart that shrivels, the instruction page uses teeth and bones to represent the keys you press. The character design is fantastic. If you just let the main character rest onscreen he will laugh menacingly or might grab a kid out of the bag and take a bite. He even dies funny. An excellent score also fit the period and added perfectly to the tone.

Although the theme is dark, it is handled with humor and the game never gets gory, but some background images are disturbing and are not appropriate for younger kids.

Perhaps it's just me, since I like the "grim" in Grimms' Fairy tales, but who wouldn't want to be a ghoulish Victorian pie-throwing cannibal!?? Eat em' up and Play Orphan Feast!

Aether, the latest from Armor Games, a collaboration between Edmund McMillen (Gish, Triachnid, Coil) and Tyler Glaiel (Magnetism, Paths), is a gloriously imaginative puzzle game where you swing through the stars to reach the planets.

You start on Earth, with the visit of a creature that takes you on a strange odyssey. Using the [ASWD] keys for direction, you click on the left mouse button to launch the tongue of the creature up into the clouds. Swing from cloud to cloud to go higher up until you reach space, then swing from star to star to launch yourself toward one of four other planets and solve a puzzle for each one. Once you're above the clouds and you have enough speed, you can also just hurtle through space without being attached to any stars. There are different colored navigation indicators pointing you towards each planet that look like butterflies.

Two-key combinations can also help you gain momentum, for instance pressing up and left at the same time can help you can gain enough swing to go completely around in a circle.

Each planet's puzzle has a different type of solution. When you successfully solve each one you see a flash of light. After you complete all four puzzles, head back to blue earth to complete the game.

Analysis: Surely influenced by The Little Prince, the game seems to take place within the imagination of a child. On each planet you encounter creatures with some kind of complaint or anxiety, each trouble is symbolically released through creative puzzles.

A few things about the game were a bit wonky. On some of the planets, solving the puzzle didn't solve the creatures' problems, which was confusing. The somewhat clumsy physics of the tongue while swinging makes it difficult at times to build momentum. Combined with the gravity of a planet or moon, this makes it awkward to leave a planet, so starting off is the hardest part to get used to. It was also difficult to tell where the planets were as you were approaching because the navigation indicator would disappear.

But those are small quibbles in an otherwise amazing game. The designers have made a truly compelling experience with excellent atmosphere. It's a fantastic artistic endeavor with delightful physics-based game play and creative puzzles. You can also just spend some time flying through space or the clouds, the music and movement are so relaxing. Play Aether!

There is something about Sid Woo's Bounceroid 2000 that makes it so completely JIG-like. Elegantly simple in design, modern, stylish and enjoyable.

The goal is easy to understand. Use the semi circle paddle on the bottom to bounce the balls into the side walls. Try to score as many points as you can by getting the balls to hit the middle of the wall. You must get the green balls on the green side and the blue ones on the blue side. Gray balls can go towards either wall. If any of these balls miss the paddle, or you don't match the color of the ball with the wall, you lose a life.

There are two modes of play. Beginner mode is a 25 level challenge that slowly introduces you to the mechanics and bonus features. Advanced mode is free play in which all features are unlocked at the start, and you can just go for a high score.

The beginner level introduces each new feature one at a time. Early on you can left-click the mouse to add power to the paddle, helping to bounce balls higher. If you bounce a ball multiple times on the paddle before hitting the wall, it multiplies your score up to 5x, and you can use the spacebar to slow the balls down. On later levels you gain access to the Beam by pressing [X], which pushes the ball up, and the Magnet by pressing [C]. These power-ups can only be used for a short time, and can be recharged if you catch a corresponding bonus ball. There's also a heart bonus ball to gain a new life, and a polka-dotted ball which releases a batch of red balls like confetti. Hit as many of these as you can for extra points, they don't count against you if they fall. A helpful counter on the top shows how many balls are left to fall on each level.

Analysis: At first glance this game might seem a bit too simple. Your first task is to merely hit a ball into one of the side walls—what's so interesting about that? But once you get further on in the levels and you begin to utilize more features, or begin doing multiple bounces, the subtle complexities will hook you. The game is very clever and the ball physics are very nicely implemented. Although the paddle only moves left right along the bottom, it has a nice feel when you are trying to put some curve on the ball. I liked that there was an option to turn off the sounds, although I liked both the music and the sound effects. The minimalist sounds worked really well with the graphic design elements.

Bouncing balls against paddles have come a long way, and gone through all sorts of fancy incarnations. This game is back to the basics and has an original take that makes it unique. Play Bounceroid 2000!

Cheers to Tonypa and Andreas for suggesting this one! =)