May 2012 Archives

The Endless Plains may seem unremarkable from the distance, with nigh nothing but grass for as far as the eye can see. Yet look into the clouds and you might find great wisdom, as some say you'll see the thoughts of gods. Myosotis, the witty heroine of the Rudowski brothers' (Marek and Marcin) A Grain of Truth, isn't too sure of that, but as she journeys onward to meet with the Wiseman and hear his stories, she encounters the Cloud Catchers and begins to see the grain of truth in the fairytales of old. You are invited to join her journey, embarking on a marvelous adventure filled with fantastic creatures, breathtaking scenery, and, of course, captivating stories.

Continuing along the same vein as Bell's Heart, the first in the Big Old Tree that Dreams series, point and click your way through the landscape, solving small puzzles and gathering objects that will aid your passage. Watch your cursor; the leaf turns from green to orange when hovering over interactive areas. Clicking will then provide options that vary according to context, including "go to," "examine," "take," and "talk." To be sure you haven't missed one of these areas, click on the eyeball icon to spot more. Reading and paying attention to the dialogue is necessary; not only should you click on blue-highlighted words to delve deeper in the conversations, each word you click on is collected to gain more stories.

At the center of A Grain of Truth is a lyrical and entertaining narrative just as you would expect from this series. Departing from the affability of Bell's Heart, though, A Grain of Truth's puzzles have been ramped up in challenge. You'll explore, gather and make sense of items plus enjoy a mind-boggling game of mahjong or arrange a complex tile puzzle. There's little assistance given in game for completing these tasks, calling on you to do the mental footwork in the true spirit of adventuring. That also makes A Grain of Truth longer and more involved than its predecessor. Even so, after completing the map making mini-game, you'll have a smart map to travel by, adding greatly to the ease of navigation; just click where you want to go, provided you've been there already.

This installment is created in HTML5 and makes extensive use of Javascript and jQuery for smooth transitions and effects. You won't be caught up with intrusive mechanics, even the inventory takes you to the back of Myosotis' wagon rather than jar you out of the moment. It's a remarkable implementation for a truly lovely game.

Play all the Big Old Tree that Dreams games:

While you may find yourself stumped and baffled at times, it's well worth pushing through as the quest for answers has never been known to be easy. A Grain of Truth is an overall amazing creation that merges the talent of the storyteller with the art of good gaming. Whether you'll find wisdom or god-like dreams from the experience will depend much on your perspective; either way, the journey is anything but unremarkable.

Play A Grain of Truth

The story you're about to hear is a fib, but it's short. The names are made up, but the problems are real. Stickville is like many other towns. It has churches, two car washes, three movie theaters, bike paths, sparkling beaches, a synagogue, fishing spots, and the best darn doughnut shop in the tri-state area. However, scratch off a little of the MS Paint, and you'll discover its seedy underbelly: murders, drownings, corpses, arson, manslaughter. When a crime happens, the town's innocents may rest assured that the Stickville Police Department will stop at nothing to bring the perpetrators to justice. You're a homicide detective, working the day watch at the SPD. Right now, the inbox has five open cases to solve in Stickman Murder Mysteries, a series of point-and-click mystery adventures by Norm and Company.

Apart from the first chapter, which has been remade into flash, the Stickman Murder Mysteries are done entirely in HTML, though they run fine on modern machines. Use the mouse to click on objects to examine them, doors to travel to them and, when on the map screen, buildings to travel to that location. There will be times where you will be prompted to enter addresses or other information to continue your investigation, so be sure to take notes. If you're stuck, taking a nap or checking around the precinct might help you head in the right direction. Once you have collected all the evidence, go to Da Chief's office, and he'll ask you a series of question to make certain that you have the correct culprit. Good luck, detective!

Analysis: By the standards of the internet, the five Stickman Murder Mysteries are old. Like, more than ten years old, and from a time when people thought the ability to display a .gif of a dancing rodent was the height of web design. It's certain that its relative primitiveness will turn some away. Those who stick with it, however, will be glad they did, because this is a fun little collection that every lover of mystery games (and Scene of the Crime in particular) should appreciate.

The graphics may be crude, and the programming kludgey by modern standards, but where Stickman Murder Mysteries shine is in its plotting. Chapter 1 starts with a relatively straightforward case of murder, but as the series goes on, the crimes get ever more devious, and the investigations ever more complex. Don't let those smiley stick-people fool you! These are some serious crimes being investigated, with criminals that mean business. The content may not be to the level of Law and Order: SVU, but it definitely reaches Law and Order classic (CHUNG CHUNG). That said, a sense of old-school internet wackiness is present throughout, which keeps the tone light. There are a ton of little touches, easter eggs, and red herrings to find, for no other reason than to be goofy, and will keep a pleasant half-smile on your face as you play.

Besides the overall MS Paint-iness, some downsides are worth mentioning. The few times that you must type an answer in are generally forgiving, but there are quite a few things to keep track of. Clever investigators might want to open up Notepad before heading on in. Likewise, the medical examiner sections where you use the CDX machine is a little unintuitive to work with, which is a shame since it is often necessary to discover a vital clue. Finally, it's worth noting the site from which we have hosted the games had some ads and links to questionable content, so, in the words of Sergeant Esterhaus, let's be careful out there.

The five chapters of Stickman Murder Mysteries will keep you puzzled and entertained for quite a bit, and saddened that the promised sixth chapter never quite materialized. Still, while they are oldies, they are definite goodies. So play through them, and earn your place in the Stickville PD hall of fame!

Play Stickman Murder Mysteries Chapter 1 - Murder in Stickville

Play Stickman Murder Mysteries Chapter 2 - Drowning at Stickville

Play Stickman Murder Mysteries Chapter 3 - Cadaver at Stickville Dump

Play Stickman Murder Mysteries Chapter 4 - Arson in Stickville

Play Stickman Murder Mysteries Chapter 5 - Manslaughter in Stickville

Roshan Gamage's popular shooter gets an extreme makeover in Enigmata: Stellar War, a flashy new tower defense action game with more enemies, bigger bosses, more skills and explosions, and more lasers than you can shake an Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator at. The story?... uh... something about... a guy... who's angry... and some dudes... with... hair? Maybe it's a war for hair product? Look, that's not important. What matters is that this is your chance to single-handedly destroy an enemy interstellar army!... well... single-handedly apart from all the many, many, many ships you'll deploy that will be destroyed in the process. They might help too. A bit.

Your goal is to protect the Core from a continuous onslaught of enemy fighters and eventually bosses by building ships of your own with varying types of fire and abilities. Just click on a ship's icon in the sidebar, and then anywhere onscreen within the Core's radius to place it. Building ships is free, limited only by your unit cap, and by spending the gold you acquire from defeated baddies you can unlock even more varieties with bigger bangs for your bucks. Additionally, if you click on a deployed ship, you'll get access to a bunch of upgrades you can purchase for it to make it even better. Ships will attack anything that comes within range automatically, and you can freely drag the ones you've placed around the map to better deal with threats as they appear. If things are moving too slowly for you, click the little arrow icon beneath the lock button on your sidebar and then find some Benny Hill music on Spotify to play in the background.

If you want to get a little hands-on, click anywhere on the map to open a menu that will allow you to deploy some fancy special attacks with cool-down times that can seriously turn the odds in your favour... especially if you spend the cash to buy new ones or upgrade! Perform well, and you'll be able to get special upgrade options between levels, though sadly the option to "play Ride of the Valkyries while you recline in an enormous leather armchair and watch the carnage" doesn't yet seem to exist. The upgrades you purchase and the ships you deploy persist between levels, so don't be afraid to put a little strategy into your spending.

Considering the shooty arcade roots of the series, Stellar War's defensive gameplay comes as a bit of a surprise. For the most part, it's a good one. Though shooter fans are going to be doing a little lower-lip-quiver over this, tower defense fans will be thrilled to welcome another title into the fold, especially one as shiny and slick looking as this. The design is simply beautiful, with detailed little ships zipping around and lasers in particular having some gorgeous visual effects. On the downside, gameplay can sometimes leave you fumbling, with clicking through numerous different ships to apply upgrades one at a time getting tedious in later levels. Fans of more orderly defense titles might also find this one a bit too chaotic with so much going on in so many different directions. With a gorgeous visual style and an easy to master control scheme, Enigmata: Stellar War is still a clever spin on the tower-defense genre that's well worth losing a few explosions to.

Play Enigmata: Stellar War

One of the great challenges of a classic four-wall one-room escape game is to keep the puzzles fresh and interesting while working within such a confined format. Designers can rise to the challenge in a number of ways, from creating a themed room to inventing new types of puzzles. Or they could just do what Tomatea does with their latest room escape, Clueless, and simply cheat by folding seven rooms into one.

The first thing you might notice while navigating around Tomatea's usual beautifully decorated room is the presence of so many doors. Seven doors, in fact, and only one of them is the actual way out. Although navigation in the main room (or foyer, really) is the usual bars on the sides of the screen, which changes when you finally solve your way into one of the six "side" rooms. Each of these rooms is a simple face-on scene, no navigation necessary. Tomatea's usual gently glowing changing cursor indicates areas of interest and once again puzzles cannot be solved unless the clues to them have been discovered, preventing you from "cracking" a code by random chance. It's all done up with Tomatea's usual lovely visual style with soft colors to match the gentle background music.

Clueless provides an easygoing escape challenge that is sure to appeal to anyone who loves the genre. Logical, pretty, and challenging, here's a bonus escape for those who love solving their way out of locked rooms. Or, in this case, into six locked rooms and out of a seventh.

Play Clueless

One of the favorite all time room escape designers here at Weekday Escape is the inimitable Tesshi-e, and one of the favorite things they like to do is hide a "lucky coin" inside a room to offer a second, alternative escape scenario to most of their games. Once in a blue moon, however, Tesshi-e likes to change things up and give us room escapers a bonus and an overabundance of riches by making the escape less about getting out of a room and more about finding as many lucky coins as we can. That means that Tesshi-e has favored us with a sequel to The Happy Escape and produced The Happy Escape 2 just in time for the mid-week break.

Join us, will you, for one of Tesshi-e's classic strange scenarios. "He" has invited you to visit and has offered coffee and cake, but in order to get the treats you must scour the locked room for happy coins, and of course you end up not only solving your way out (hopefully), but you end up being the one who provides the treats as well. It makes you think that the designer has had some bad experiences somewhere down the line, because what kind of host makes you provide your own food to escape? Yes, in a nod back to Escape from the Hexagonal Room you simply cannot get out until you brew the coffee and plate up the cake. Hey, at least this time you don't have to make a full breakfast.

There is only one escape scenario in this little charmer that features the standard gorgeous Tesshi-e visuals and a jazzy little tune to help pass the time while solving a nice selection of logical puzzles. Once again the wobbly picture puzzle is back and once again the designer has thought up yet another new solution, so even that shouldn't cause many complaints. The usual stellar controls and competent English translation round out the perfect mid-week Tesshi-e experience complete with a lovely treat at the end. Time to get happy!

Play The Happy Escape 2

Many great browser games lack a thought-provoking or even coherent story, and you sort of shrug your shoulders and overlook it because everything else works so well. But then an interactive fiction game like Gamer Mom, by Mordechai Buckman and Kyler Kelly, comes along and you see what you've been missing all this time.

The goal of the game is to bring your family closer together by convincing them to play World of Warcraft with you. But it won't be easy; your daughter hates you and only wants to text on her cellphone all day and your husband is a workaholic who doesn't want to spend anytime as a family. Each scene gives you a few dialog options to try and every choice takes you down different avenues that will surprise you with each replay. The most interesting aspect of Gamer Mom is the way the Mom character reflects back on you. You can't help but think of yourself when you're making choices. Your first reaction will likely fit your personality type, whether it's a cautious "wait and see" or a go-in-with-all-guns-blazing approach, and the realization can be startling or even uncomfortable at first. Buckman is clearly a close observer of people's personalities and, while many similar games give you interesting choices to pursue, few are so perceptive and well thought out as this one.

Gamer Mom is also quite hard and it will seem that it's some kind of postmodern, everything-is-relative game at first, but it isn't. There is a clear path to get your family to spend time together, but the game doesn't end there and you might be surprised at what happens next. Gamer Mom is a short, but lasting, experience that manages to be sad, poignant, and even funny... just like real life.

Play Gamer Mom

When everything you once loved and cherished is scattered across your archipelago homeland by war and greed, your only course of action as the once proud leader of a indomitable tribe is ... Reprisal. In homage to EA's classic strategy game, Populous, Reprisal is a Flash-based real time strategy game where you gather your prized totems and tribesmen to use against the fools who arrogantly cast them asunder. The totems allow you to manipulate the elements of earth, wind, and fire to shape, burn, and drown the earth. It's kind of like a kid playing god to an anthill, but the ants have their own water hose and magnifying glass to retaliate with. Reclaim your tribe's history through sweet, sweet revenge.

The developers across the pond at Electrolyte Games made the control scheme simple so any person, no matter their RTS prowess, could play. The mouse and the left-click button are used for all game input like selecting places on the map, changing totems, or placing totem powers. Selecting earth squares with the Terraform totem by left-clicking, for example, will raise the earth into mountains or lower them if you are pressing the [SHIFT] key and clicking. The number keys [1], [2], and [3] can also be used to toggle between the various totem power types you have if clicking on them is too bothersome. The [arrow] keys or [WASD] keys change the game camera's map view point so you can move around the island and get a better view of the crafty AI plotting their next move.

As you move along the islands in each level, your NPC tribesmen will follow three simple commands. They will make settlements to increase your army's fighting strength/size and mana regeneration rate, move to waypoints you set, and look for fights by invading the enemy territory. You will also see a fourth button with rest of them at the top of the screen, but it only locates the position of your leader unit, which is created once a NPC reaches a waypoint you create. The mana regeneration mentioned before is needed to cast all the totem powers you have so expand quickly if you like spamming your godly powers. Timing your totemic magic and army's invasion is part and parcel of demolishing your foes when their time is nigh.

Destruction and recovery are your main objectives in this game so the levels switch in between them as your journey of redemption treks on. The size of each tribe in a level is shown by the meter around the tribe's symbol in the top left corner of the screen. The only way to lower influence is to capture their buildings, burn the earth so settlement is impossible for a short period of time, or change the earth around them. A building needs a lot of open, even ground around it to grow and become powerful so damaging the land or altering it makes it significantly easier to capture. Also, larger buildings require more soldiers to capture it so keep that in mind unless your almighty totem-enhanced Hero is ready to crush some evil.

Analysis: Despite its lack of varied units and building types, Reprisal really shines with its isometric grid level layout, tons of game changing powers, and a retro pixel art style that gamers find so attractive these days. The game's progression does well to teach you the ropes of elemental strategy warfare so everyone is lax at your progressive rise to full strength and becomes more aggressive to quell it. The AI lulls you into a false sense of security early, letting you take over like its is nothing, and the WHAM, they harass you until there isn't a camp left. This AI can leave most casual players in the dust if they don't adapt to different play styles quickly enough. Sadly enough, there isn't choice in the difficulty if the going gets too rough.

Although there isn't a multiplayer component to the game, choice of difficulty, or level editor like most RTS games out there, Reprisal will keep the player invested in protecting his pixel peons from danger and battle for glory with an innovative environment-centric combat. The earth is both your weapon and defense so the focus of gameplay is on building up the terrain around you. The game's settlement building mechanic is remarkably dynamic in calculating the size and open land to determine what buildings can and should be built. It takes less grey matter to micro manage your tribe so fighting and totem power usage is easier for those newbie RTS players.

The visuals make this 8-bit isometric world enticing, but the choice between an artistic mode and basic mode makes it even sweeter. The artistic mode adds better textures to the world, a depth of view filter, and extra little effects that push more pixels to the screen while basic does not. It showcases Electrolyte Game's dedication and strive to put the best quality work into their games so the solid gameplay is matched with high quality graphics. It is understandable that some might not appreciate depth texturing with artistic mode so basic mode is there to keep the game fun and prevent squinting to see if those blurs are enemies or trees.

A polished, well-developed game made for long-timer players to the genre, but accessible to anyone willing to learn. Plenty of button shortcuts and a clearly defined UI to increase your APM (or actions per minute) while dedicating enough screen space to the real time action. It is sure to become one of those go-to time wasters that you won't feel bad about putting off your household chores to play.

Play Reprisal

Some games fit into nice, easy categories, others are just...bizarre. Case in point: Peter Javidpour's surreal puzzle game, Rambo: Last Blood. Cryptic much? That's because the less you know of the story behind Last Blood, the more fun you'll have.

To move Rambo use the left and right [arrow] keys, and [spacebar] to interact with characters and objects. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to brush up on your 80's pop culture knowledge. Rambo: Last Blood is another in a series of games based on tweets by Peter Molydeux, and, like many of the others, is funny and even a little poignant. Let's hope this is a trend.

Play Rambo: Last Blood

The game is afoot! Or rather... akeyboard? I guess? Is that like a thing?... whatever! Not important. The point is, this week we're filing aboard the Mystery Machine for some of our favourite sleuthing escapades. While sadly not as popular as anything involving zombies or ponies or tears, mysteries still provide a remarkably robust experience for the would-be gamer gumshoe. Maybe after playing a few of these titles, you'll be able to solve the Mystery of the Missing Free Time. As if we didn't know.

• Alice is Dead - Mike Morin and Hyptosis unleashed a fantastically twisted and bizarre interpretation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale with this point-and-click adventure series. Waking up as a faceless mystery protagonist in a locked room with a very familiar corpse, it's up to you to follow the trail of macabre clues and discover the truth of what's rotting in Wonderland. Mixing a swank sense of off-kilter style, clever puzzles, and memorable characters and situations, Alice is Dead delivered an engrossing, creepy, and top-notch mystery that's still well worth checking out today if you don't mind having your rose-coloured childhood altered a little.
• Cyberpunk - Straight from our very first Casual Gameplay Design Competition, Ray Gazu manages to make you feel like a bonafide cyber detective in this clever little hacking game. You're trying to retrieve a "datacore", and you'll have to summon up your inner decker to get into the system. Blending subtle and clever puzzles with an authentic looking interface, Cyberpunk isn't necessarily a mystery in the traditional sense, but the way it forces you to figure out each step of the process with minimal instruction makes it a great tool for you to build up your powers of deduction. Plus, now you're fully qualified to be a hacker on a primetime television cop drama. THEY'RE HACKING YOUR MAINFRAMES AND EXTINGUISHING ALL YOUR FIREWALLS WITH THEIR VIRUS NODELETTES.
• The Scene of the Crime - Pastel Games has always been great at telling stories with imagery, and this sleuthing point-and-click adventure pulls it off again with a sleek noir atmosphere that will have you tugging your imaginary fedora down over your eyes. You're solving a murder this time by slinking around an ominous apartment, trying to find all the pieces of evidence needed for a conviction as you make use of the various tools at your disposal. Aided by Kamil Kochansky's heavy, ominous style of design and a fantastic soundtrack, this one is short but simple and provides a great little exercise for your fledgling forensic abilities. You'll be ready to solve such crimes as "The Mystery of the Vanishing Crueller" and "The Case of the Smell In the Gas Station Bathroom"... just as an f.y.i. though, there is no happy ending for that last one.

While we welcome any comments about this weekly feature here, we do ask that if you need any help with the individual games, please post your questions on that game's review page. Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and rediscover some awesome!

Gently wafting down from the world of Wii Ware games, LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias is an iOS port of the 2009 sequel to LostWinds, a game that also recently made its way from console to mobile marketplace. Frontier Development has created a fantastic sequel to an adorable and easily lovable game, translating the same sense of awe and wonder that made the original such a pleasure while adding new elements (literally) to toy around with. It's a platform adventure ("metroidvania") like few others, and once you get a taste of the richly animated world LostWinds2 has to offer, you'll sit down and absorb the entire game without hesitation.

LostWinds2 controls surprisingly well for being on a device that lacks physical buttons. You can choose between a virtual d-pad for movement or stick with the tap-to-go method the game defaults to. The former is much more precise than the latter, and as such we recommend you switch to it right away. But, you know, follow your bliss! Toku hops up small ledges on his own, but for bigger gaps, you'll need to break out some wind power. Swiping the screen activates gusts of air courtesy of Enril the Wind Spirit. You can use these gusts to manipulate things in the environment, both for fun and for profit, or to toss Toku around like a paper bag in the wind.

In addition to using the wind as a glorified springboard, you also have a few special abilities you can activate. Pinching the screen captures objects in mid-air, allowing you to hold them in place so you can send them flying with a big gust of air. In areas where snow falls, you can even craft snowballs in mid-air, using them for breaking ice barriers or just making heaps of snow on the ground. And finally, the wind vortex plays a strong part in the game, allowing you to funnel other elements like fire and water around the screen so you can use them to, say, light torches, burn flammable objects, make plants grow, or deal with enemies.

This is just a small sampling of the things you can do in LostWinds2. The list of environmental interactions keeps growing the longer you play (like being able to switch between seasons), and no matter what you're trying to accomplish, you'll always be convinced there's more than one way to do it, whether it be a creative wind ride over a ledge or a series of vortices that just manages to melt a block of ice. LostWinds2 gives you a lot of freedom, both in terms of what you do and where you go, as the level design is open and encourages backtracking once you get new abilities. Metroidvania to the core!

Analysis: For those of us who first came to LostWinds2 on the Wii Ware platform, the first question to ask when eyeing the iOS release is this: how well does it control without physical buttons? The answer is "quite well", though purists will still narrow an eye from time to time when little hiccups in the game would have been prevented with solid controls in your hand. Still, for the generation that didn't grow up with joysticks and NES controllers in their hands, nothing will feel amiss in this smartly-built port.

While the story isn't anything to speak of, the level and puzzle design is definitely a high point of the game. The world is filled with high ledges, secret tunnels, and non-essential items hiding just out of sight or just out of reach. To collect everything, you'll need to do some backtracking, picking up new abilities and returning to earlier areas play clean up. But since moving around in this game is so much fun, you won't be frustrated in the least by going backwards to go forwards. And with intricate, creative visuals like these, there's always something lovely to look at.

There's a lot to do and a lot to experience in LostWinds2. It's a big, gorgeous game created with luxuriously imaginative visuals that often look like they were taken from an animated feature film. The sense of wonder you'll feel while exploring the game's world and using various elements to interact with the environment is priceless, a feeling so few games manage to convey these days. LostWinds2 is easily one of the best platform adventure games on the iOS market, no matter the player's preferences or skill level.

LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on an iPad. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

The Sandbox is a creative elemental puzzle game for iOS by Pixowl. It mixes puzzles and challenges with good old fashioned elemental interactions, exactly the kind you would find in classic browser games like Sand Sand Sand or Powder Game 7. Guiding the all-powerful element dropping utility that is your finger, you can mix dozens of unique elements to create fantastic reactions, functioning machines, crazy Rube Goldberg-like devices, or just paint pretty pictures on your screen. There's plenty of room for creativity, but also a fair amount of thoughtful challenge as well!

In The Sandbox, you play a god-like character with the power to paint with the elements. By dragging your finger across the screen, you can drop stones, bits of earth, water, even create batteries, lava, heating elements, and more. Not only that, you can also toy with the lighting, weather, and temperature settings, creating conditions ripe for just about anything your brain can cook up.

Starting with the game's story mode, you'll gradually unlock new elements as you progress through a series of challenges. They're pretty simple puzzles to start with, but as you progress, they get more and more intricate and require actual thought to complete. Hints are always available, so if you get stuck, you can easily get un-stuck! You earn new elements by completing challenges, but in order to actually use them, you'll have to spend mana points to unlock them.

After capping off some of the two dozen story mode levels, you can head over to free mode where you get to play with the elements however you see fit. There are challenges to unlock here as well, but the real focus is just messing about with an empty environment, old school style. Once you have the full arsenal of elements and climate controls at your disposal, you can settle down and do some real creating.

Analysis: The Sandbox does a great job translating the intricate, elemental reaction-heavy environment seasoned browser gamers have been toying around with for years to modern devices for modern gamers. It isn't quite as stark as games like Hell of Sand, though, and even in free mode you always get the feeling there's more going on than just a blank screen and your penchant for mucking about with elements. In other words, The Sandbox has a hidden motive, and while most of that is simply the interface and the puzzle challenges you can complete, another portion is the broken in-app purchasing system.

The Sandbox may say it's free on the surface, but it gives you ample opportunity to spend real cash, usually to purchase mana points so you can unlock necessary elements. In fact, it's almost required after a dozen or so levels, as the mana you earn over the course of the game doesn't add up to what you need to unlock everything. Many players insist you can get by without dropping real cash, you just have to be extra creative. That may be the case, but The Sandbox feels like it's true purpose is to be a mobile elements/extras shop, not a creative sandbox. The developers crossed that delicate line between in-app purchases for fun, and in-app purchases as an in-your-face annoyance. Not enough to ruin the game, but enough to make you raise an eyebrow.

Apart from its awkward IAP takeover, The Sandbox does play like a well-tuned game of elemental shenanigans. You can even use it as a pixel art creation kit! The visuals have a distinct style that looks great no matter what you've got burning/melting/boiling. In some ways, it's an evolved modern version of classic browser-based sandbox webtoys, and for that alone, it's worth giving a shot!

Play The Sandbox (browser)

Bushes and huts, grass and trees, churches and gravestones, and bears. Dangerous, dangerous bears. Triple Town from Spry Fox (yep, the SteamBirds team) is the kind of mobile game you'll love to carry around with you at all times, firing it up for a few quick rounds and putting it away when you're satisfied with your progress. It combines city building with a good ole match-3 puzzle game in a manner you're probably not used to seeing, allowing you to work with individual elements to build a great empire, one match at a time.

Triple Town works thusly: tap the grid to place the set piece you're handed at the beginning of each turn. By placing three or more pieces next to each other, they combine and form a new piece, something more complex and ostensibly better. Tufts of grass morph into bushes, bushes into trees, trees into huts, and so on. You can even set up combos by forming a new item with a match that, in turn, settles into yet another match with pre-transformed pieces nearby. Your goal is to create the most advanced grid town you can, all by making matches and chains with these unassuming little tiles.

Oh, and then there's the stuff that gets in the way. Namely, bears. Bears appear just like other set pieces, but instead of building more complex/cool things, they just take up space. By blocking them in, however, they transform into gravestones. Three gravestones morph into a church, three churches to a cathedral, so bears aren't just a nuisance, they can be made useful like everything else in the game. Just wait until you get the wild card crystals, bots and ninja bears, then the fun really begins!

Moves in Triple Town require strategy, otherwise you'll be staring at a frustratingly full grid that will end before you get to anything really entertaining. The game does feature an in-app purchasing system, allowing you to spend real money for in-game items as well as additional turns. You're given a generous amount of coins to spend the first time you play, and since you have hundreds of turns, there's no real pressure to pay until the game gets you irrevocably hooked. Which it just might, as Triple Town is a volatile mix of short-term strategy, long term success, and instant gratification rolled into a neat, visually adorable package!

Triple Town

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Triple Town

(Android)

Triple Town

(Kindle 2/Kindle 3)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on an iPod Touch. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

Your life in London is unremarkable, right up until the day a letter from an old friend leads you to the discovery that the world is a far darker and more mysterious place you could ever imagine. Murder, disappearances, strange sigils, and stranger occurrences combine to pull you into a horrific supernatural Lovecraftian mystery in Jimmy Maher's enormous interactive fiction title, The King of Shreds and Patches. Available both as a free download and as an enhanced edition for Kindle Fire or even (my personal choice), Kindle Keyboard (or Kindle Touch), it'll take a keen eye for detail, perseverance, and the ability to pilot a sinking rowboat to get to the bottom of things. But at a whopping 12 to 15 hours of play, don't expect to finish this novel length adventure in a single sitting unless you have buttocks of steel to match your nerves.

If you've never played an interactive fiction title before, dry those sweaty palms since the game boasts an extremely thorough tutorial that walks you through the basics quite nicely. (The general mechanics may change depending on what you're playing the game on.) Standard commands such as "look at", "pick up" and "inventory" persist, as well as shortcuts if you don't feel up to the arduous task of writing each word out. The game takes place in what the author assures us is a historically accurate London circa 1603, and what you need to know is that means big. Really, really big. There are a lot of places you'll need to go, but you won't be without direction. Provided you're in a place our hero, Robert, is familiar with, you can type "map" to get a large map showing all your available destinations, and then "go to placename" to start heading in that direction. Not sure where to go next? Just type in "think" and the game will clue you in on what you should be looking into. (Sadly, the option to "call authorities and ignore all this ghastly occult business I'm vastly underqualified to handle" doesn't seem to be available. Maybe in an expansion?)

Explore, but don't dawdle. The King of Shreds and Patches is as close to a living, breathing world as you can get. Time passes, characters will make requests of you, and, of course, murder is afoot. You can be in very literal danger, and it's important to save frequently and in different slots by typing "save" whenever you get the moment. In addition to conversing with a varied cast of characters with their own hidden agendas, you'll find yourself faced with a huge variety of challenges, some simpler than others, and even some situations that call for action. If you're really stuck, there's an in-game hint system you can access at any time... just type "hint", select the area you're stuck on, and typing "H" will reveal more and more explicit details about that scenario until you're given plain directions.

Analysis: Adapted from a scenario written by Justin Tynes for the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG, The King of Shreds and patches looks and feels like the massive labour of love it is. It's huge and labyrinthian, packed with memorable characters who look, feel, and act distinct in ways that help engage you in the plot. Interactive fiction has always been better at this than other genres, but the cast here feels far less like actors and NPCs and more like allies and enemies than many other titles ever pull off. The amount of detail and freedom can be a little overwhelming at first. Fish markets! Jugglers! Street urchins! Unspeakable murders and ancient symbols! Ale!

Where the game slips up lies in the way it's structured. Most interactive-fiction fans are used to a format that goes something like, "The room is smelly and dark. There is a trout on the radiator. The exits are south and southwest." Description, items of interest, points of entry or exit. While Shreds and Patches occasionally follows this formula, more often it simply lumps everything together in a descriptive paragraph that allows the game to retain its story feel perhaps more effectively, but can make it more difficult to extract important information from your surroundings in a pinch. You also really do need to save frequently, and in multiple spots, and the complexity and challenge might be off-putting to casual fans or newcomers even with the magnificent tutorial. It really is a game you need to relax and think about, really let yourself sink into the way the story wants you to, in order to absorb all the details.

The parser is one of those things that feels smart until it doesn't. By and large you can go a while before you encounter any hiccups, as long as you don't get too fancy with your language. (Apparently trying to "launch" rather than "push" a boat is putting on airs.) You will probably wish the game was a bit smarter, since having it rather snootily inform you that "use" isn't specific enough when the use for the item in question is extremely obvious can be frustrating. Seriously, what did you think I wanted the knife to do to the rope... coo sweet nothings into its fibers? But by virtue of a rapidly moving story that never leaves you without a lot to do and a variety of clever puzzles, Shreds and Patches will still manage to keep most players hooked. After a while, you'll come to know what the game will accept, and commands will become second nature.

I played it on a Kindle Keyboard and was extremely impressed at what a natural fit it was; through the device's modest capabilities do demand you type slowly, the numerous shortcuts soon feel like second nature. Combined with the generous hint and navigational systems, it really feels like Shreds and Patches is going out of its way to be as accessible as possible, and fans of the genre looking for a huge, meaty beast to sink their fangs into will definitely appreciate it. The culmination of more than two years of work, The King of Shreds and Patches is an imposing and challenging but captivating adventure that's more than worth checking out. Standing head and shoulders above many other titles by sheer bulk alone, it delivers an eerie mystery told with style and flair that players with the time to invest will love to meet head on.

Windows:
Get the full free version

Mac OS X:
Get the full free version

Linux:
Get the full free version

The King of Shreds and Patches (Enhanced)

(Kindle Fire/Android)

The King of Shreds and Patches (Enhanced)

(Kindle Keyboard/Kindle Touch)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on a Kindle Keyboard. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

One part physics-based slinging game, one part RPG, and one part tactics, Squids from The Game Bakers is a many-layered game that gracefully passes gameplay elements back and forth, creating a dynamic but cohesive experience. While it starts out with a little Sling-like action, it ends up playing more like Ogre Battle, all without adding too much complexity or foregoing its casual roots. To top it off, Squids looks as good as it plays, featuring top-notch visual design and a storyline and characters that are legitimately fun to engage with!

The basic mechanic of Squids: click one of your party members, pull back on their rubbery tentacles, then release to send them flying. The farther back you pull, the more ground (er, water?) the squid will cover. Slinging characters around is how you move through each level, how you attack enemies, and how you loot stages for all sorts of treasure. It's a solid, well-implemented mechanic that's both exciting and tactical, as it's great to see what happens when you ricochet off of three walls, but at the same time, you can't just go flinging these guys anywhere due to pits and other dangers.

Once you get this down, which takes all of a few seconds, you get to see what Squids really offers in terms of lasting gameplay. For starters, each character in your team has certain abilities, so choosing which order they make their moves requires some thought. Each level also has different goals and missions to work towards, from gathering stars to defeating enemies to just making it to the exit alive. Not all missions are a requirement, but the better you do, the more you'll have to work with when it comes to power-ups and team bonuses.

Analysis: Squids oozes entertainment from the very start, introducing three characters and showcasing their unique personalities. The story is genuinely interesting, something most games put little focus on in the modern market of fast-paced game development. The graphics are simply stunning, and even if you opt for the smaller-screen mobile version of the game, your eyes will love what they're seeing.

Squids features an in-game store that lets you purchase everything from new items to new squids, all by using pearl currency you pick up through adventuring. Characters also level-up and get stronger with more experience. The mobile versions of Squids play a little more naturally than the mouse-based Windows and Mac versions, owing to the more hands-on approach touch screens take to controls. The desktop versions look much better, though, as this is definitely a game to experience on a large screen.

Squids is a game that displays its creators' dedication to a fun, meaningful experience conveyed through a combination of instant gratification gameplay and slow learning-style strategy. It covers just about every base you could want it to cover, all while looking fantastic and keeping you smiling along the way!

Windows:
Get the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo Get the full version

Hey, you person with that sexy little mobile device! Uh... how... how are you? Oh gosh, we didn't prepare anything beyond that slick opening line. Time to bail? Or maybe it's time for another TACTICAL MISDIRECTION?!!!! *flashes a laser pointer and runs away*

Fieldrunners runs again - One of the early mega-hits on the iOS platform was Fieldrunners, a luscious tower defense game that got everything absolutely right. Updates have kept the game alive for a few years, but in June, Subatomic Studios has announced Fieldrunners 2 will hit iPhone/iPod Touch, with the iPad version shortly afterwards. Expect more of the same formula that made the original game such a cross-platform hit. Check out a few screenshots on the official page, and hope more information is released soon!

Bag It! bags big update - Hidden Variable Studio's Bag It! is one of those delightful puzzle games you never want to stop playing. It's got fun characters, it's got challenging puzzles, it's got food items, and it's essentially a training simulator for bagging groceries in real life! The latest update introduces a new character, Fizzy the exploding soda bottle, along with 16 new levels, new achievements, and three revamped endless modes! To make things even neater, the game is on sale for a limited time, so do yourself a favor and check out one of our favorite mobile puzzle games. Do it!

3D puzzle game, with airships! - Mobile game developer Firedroid has released details about its upcoming game, Kings Can Fly for Android devices. This lovely-looking title utilizes wind-based puzzles to push airships around 3D rendered stages, using fans to affect the current and watching out for spiked gates, mountain ranges, and other environmental obstacles. The first peek looks fantastic, and with more than 50 levels to complete upon launch, this is one we're going to keep a close eye on!

Free game, every week! - And finally, anyone interested in weekly free games? Apple seems to think so, and last week it started the Free App of the Week promotion, giving away a different iOS game for free every single week. The inaugural game is Cut the Rope Experiments, setting the bar pretty high for future giveaways! Time to fill your phone with more stuff!

Got some delicious info on an upcoming mobile release, current event, or other tasty news tidbit? We want to know! Send an e-mail with "Mobile Monday" in the subject line to johnb AT casualgameplay DOT com. We'll sift through the submissions and feature our favorites on a Mobile Monday article! Keen!

Can you foreclose on a cave? It seems the goons who invaded Underhome, domain of the Mysterious Druid in the Lands of Dream, think so. With Underhome, itself a living, thinking thing, in chaos and the druid Niamh missing, it falls to a stranger from another land to help set things right... you! In The Sea Will Claim Everything, the latest story-driven adventure from Jonas and Vera Kyratzes, go on a surreal introspective journey packed with magic and memorable characters as you strike out to save the biotechnological dwelling of Underhome on the Fortunate Isles.

To play, just click. Everywhere. Nearly every object in the game has a little something to say and the best way to enjoy the game is just to explore and let it all wash over you. You can navigate around by clicking on doorways, or by using the big green arrows in the top-right corner of the user interface. Below that is the stone tablet that lets you, save, load, or Weird Sound. The map will let you travel to other locations once you're out of Underhome. The scroll keeps track of all your current objectives. Lastly, but not leastly, the backpack contains your inventory where you can better examine things you're carrying with the typical adventure game commands like Touch, Smell, Taste, and Mouse. When you're talking to someone, you can click on the list of topics that appear in the top-right corner of the screen to find out more about that particular subject.

It goes without saying that your quest to restore and save Underhome from foreclosure is going to be anything but straightforward. Just finding your way outside its walls is going to take some clever thinking. The Lands of Dream, it seems, aren't exactly the lands of plenty these days... at least not for everyone. There's some political unrest simmering as economic problems begin to spread across the land... and naturally nobody can find the guano or potions of Jellification they want either. You'll have to grease a few palms and sail around the sea to get to the bottom of things, and maybe even think a little bit about the things that are important in life in the process.

Analysis: The Sea Will Claim Everything will appeal to you if you prefer something you can sink into a lose yourself in for a long time, like a hot bubble bath with a good book. It's that rare sort of story that pulls on its own rich mythology as much as it does your own imagination, and weaves a captivating experience that can be hard to step away from. It's chock full of humour both subtle and silly, and a whole bucketful of references to all things nerdy, but more than that, it's also packed with the same heart, thought, and emotion you've come to expect from Kyratzes' titles. Rarely has a fantasy locale been so aptly named as Kyratzes' enchanting and baffling Lands of Dream. I don't know about you, but my dreams are rarely logical or coherent, and the strange but inviting world Jonas has created with the help of his wife Vera's gorgeous illustrations perfectly mimics that sense of surreal displacement and overload of odd details.

In fact, for some people, that's going to be the downside as well. If you're an impatient or simply logical player, then the sleepy rhythm and outright odd puzzles and plots in this game might be a bit much. With so many things made clickable, and so many puzzles simply revolving around fetch-quests, it's easy for the mood to take a detour into the frustrating when you're not sure if you're missing an item. There's just so much to see, and so many tiny details that unless you really take your time you can get a bit lost. What? What am I missing? Was it that spider? He's just a Bob fanboy! Did I forget to combine the Poo with the Essence of Derek? Is it the mushrooms? Which one? The jocular one? The subtle one? The one pondering the rights to freedom and ownership as they relate to the kingdom?! What do you want from me?!

The other issues that make this dream occasionally bumpy are largely technical ones such as a clunky and cumbersome user interface that makes inventory management and the like a little obnoxious. It also would have been nice if crafting ingredients in the labs displayed their named before you clicked on them, or let you swap one out if you made a mistake instead of automatically adding it. From a literary standpoint, there are also some times when it feels like the message being conveyed isn't quite as subtle as you might like, occasionally soap boxing a bit in contrast with the story's more deft, cleverly woven notes of emotion and thought that crop up throughout.

Those, however, are minor problems, and if you love Kyratzes' earlier adventures in the Lands of Dream, or even if you just want a rich storytelling experience, you're going to love this one too. Best enjoyed sunk as low in your chair as you can get with a glass of your favourite beverage and no hurry whatsoever, The Sea Will Claim Everything is the best possible way to enjoy an evening. With a variety of unusual settings you'll want to spend your time exploring and a cast of characters memorable for more than just their strange designs. There are times when it really feels like everything from the setting to the dialogue is speaking directly to you, and for those brief windows the Lands of Dream becomes as tangible as the world outside your window. Highly recommended.

Windows:
Get the full version

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

When a loved one is in trouble, drugged and held captive by a crazed, vengeful extortionist, there is only one thing to do. Call the police? No. The FBI? Nope. The Navy SEALs then? Pfft. Why would you when you are aptly skilled at decoding enigmatic riddles, deftly spying shrewdly concealed objects and piecing together a multitude of clues thereby overcoming every obstacle contrived to prevent your rescuing him? That's the way it works in the world of hidden object adventure games. Of course it's logical to drive through a thunderstorm to a secluded mansion-slash-movie studio upon learning your father is dead and your brother has gone missing; you'd never blink an eye to see every door barred by elaborate locks or threatening notes from an unseen antagonist.

And so, here you are, giddily sleuthing through Eipix Entertainment's Final Cut: Death on the Silver Screen, seemingly in the grasp of a lunatic who has watched one too many murder mysteries without learning smart villains should never confess their nefarious plans. Is all this fun? You bet! Roll up your sleeves and jump right in to mini-games galore, hidden objects everywhere, Art Deco designs, over-the-top characters and B-movie antics. You're tasked with finding all the pieces of your father's physics-defying, army-coveted secret invention—and reassemble it—before the kidnapper goes even more berserk and offs your bro.

To help you along, the cursor changes to indicate items to grab or puzzles to interact with. When you pick something up, it lands in a very well-designed pop up inventory bar which quickly disappears to not obstruct your view of the superb scenery. It's not long before you're packing around oodles of tools, trinkets and pieces while making sense of a multitude of puzzles—you'll need a very organized mind or somewhere to store all this information. Lucky for me, then, there's an interactive diary to store clues and a map of the spacious premises. In the relatively few search scenes, you're presented with the standard list of objects: some easily spotted, others more obscure, and a few to be reconstructed before pick-up. Those sensitive to flashing lights should avoid the mis-click penalty; only a rapid succession of willy nilly clicking seems to activate it, though. Regular or expert game modes determine the presence of sparkles, the refill speed of hint/skip timers, and whether tasks are highlighted on the map.

Along with large assortment of mini-games, plenty of detective work awaits you outside of the standard hidden object searches. Earn achievements by finding and turning on all the lights (not as simple as it sounds) or collect all of your father's cards (no changing cursor will help you there). There's even an achievement for finishing the game in less than five hours yet that task might mean non-experts will skip through some puzzles (thus losing other achievements) to do it.

Analysis: As you watch the credits roll, a grin still spread across your face after that cheeseball ending, what you suspected is confirmed: the creative team at Eipix Entertainment not only has a great sense of humor, they had a blast making this game, which helps account for why it's such a blast to play. But, if you start playing Final Cut: Death on the Silver Screen without checking your Detective Charlie Chan stoicism and are unwilling to rifle through piles of movie props, eschewing that handy telephone (which has a perfectly working "9" and "1" on the dial) in order to grab a makeshift lockpick, then you're coming at it all wrong! Here is a hidden object adventure that is all about having fun, especially when your idea of a good time is hours of solving clever puzzles and exploring a labyrinth of imaginative settings. Despite some of the strangeness involved, the effect is amusement not creeps, although I couldn't help jumping a little each and every time I walked into Father's study (you'll see what I mean).

Are there cliché plot devices and the usual story twists? Yes and yes. Tongue is firmly planted in cheek and corniness ensues, but it's a riot to not only watch but be a part of this awkward suspense dramedy. Perhaps the production would not stand up to George Lucas' standard, but it's not meant to. The graphics show skillful artistry and a keen eye for design but too much seamless polishing in the story scenes would spoil the B-movie effect. Quality emanates everywhere it counts here: the puzzles are fun, not all too mentally taxing but quite a few will make you work for your reward; there's a wide variety of locales to explore to stave off boredom; plus, all the gameplay mechanics (even an overly-springy inventory bar) function intuitively so you can stay engaged with the adventure and not with fumbling controls.

You'll know before you begin how it's all going to turn out, yet Final Cut: Death on the Silver Screen will have you happily strung along, engaged in a battle of wits against a certifiable nutcase—more than enough to keep you on your toes. With all this set before you, it's no wonder you wouldn't want to turn over the glory to the authorities. Ready to get your hidden-object-finding, puzzle-solving and loved-one-rescuing game on? Then your walk-on role in Final Cut: Death on the Silver Screen is just a little ways down this winding, rain-slicked road.

A Collector's Edition is also available. It contains bonus content not found in the Standard Edition. Remember that Big Fish Game Club Members pay only $13.99 for Collector's Editions (or 2 club credits), and collector's editions count 3 card punches of 6 total needed for a free game.

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version Also available: Collector's Edition

Mac OS X:
Download the demo Get the full version Also available: Collector's Edition

Though the reach and convenience of the internet has rendered them obsolete in all areas but the nostalgic, it's hard not to miss the jam-packed shareware CDs of old. Each one was filled to bursting with demos, previews, and the First-Of-Four-Episodes-The-Rest-Of-Which-Can-Be-Yours-For-The-Low-Price-of-$19.99. Considering Circuit City would sell them in the $3 range, that was a heck of a deal. When it came to shareware publishing, one company was king: Epic Games (alternately known as Epic, Epic MegaGames, Potomac Computer Systems, and The Warehouse Where Tim Sweeney Kept All Those Old ZZT Discs). Sure, nowadays they're best known for Unreal and Gears of War. But for my Check Or Money Order, they were at their peak in the shareware age with such games as Jazz Jackrabbit, One Must Fall: 2097, and, of course, the game we are here to discuss today, Eclipse Productions' Tyrian 2000.

Let's not mince words. Tyrian 2000 was the best PC shoot-em-up of the 90s, and it still holds up remarkably well today. Players star as Trent Hawkins, ace terraforming pilot working under the command of shady multi-global corporation MicroSol. While scouting the planet of Tyrian, you and a friend come across a deposit of a newly-discovered mineral, Gravitium. You don't get long to enjoy your discovery, however. The next day your friend is shot in the back by a MicroSol hoverdroid. In his dying message, he reveals how MicroSol has begun to hunt down anyone with knowledge of the strange mineral... a mineral that will allow them to construct a nigh-unstoppable fleet of warships. Realizing you will soon be targeted, you secure a small fighter and head off to safety, a reluctant entanglement in the anti-MicroSol rebellion, and the battle that could decide the fate of the entire galaxy.

Tyrian's gameplay should be familiar to anyone who's plunked a quarter into a vertical-scrolling arcade game: use the [arrow] keys or the mouse to move. The game is happy to let you designate your own keys, but you can always revert to the standard [crtl] or clicking to shoot, and the [spacebar] to change firing modes. Destroy everything in your path, collect credits to upgrade your ship between levels, data-cubes to move the story along, power-ups to give your ship that little bit more of awesomeness, and always be on the look out for secret paths and easter eggs.

Analysis: Really, it's not what Tyrian 2000 does that makes it special, but how it does it. The amount of customization you can put into your ship, with its front and rear weapons, left and right sidekicks, shields, generators, and engines to choose from, is truly impressive. The difficulty is forgiving for beginners on Easy, and Touhou-like for those experts who dare to unlock Lord Of The Game mode. The levels are gorgeous VGA set pieces, with a wide variety of mooks to blast, and end bosses that are truly terrifying. The writing is hilariously snarky, but with a satirical edge wielded with a clear love for the genre. Throw in the gorgeous soundtrack, the hidden Scorched Earth mini-game, and the old-school ASCII order screen displayed upon quitting, and you have a classic of PC Gaming.

Tyrian 2000 (which, for the record, is an expansion, not a sequel to the original Tyrian) has been released as freeware by its authors, and is available for download from GOG along with the soundtrack in MP3 form (which is about ten times larger than the game itself!). Considering that it's going for for the low, low, price of "Two Minutes Fiddling With DOSBox", every fan of space shooters owes it to themselves to lose a couple hours to Tyrian 2000's charms.

Windows:
Download the free full version

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

When you think about it, art galleries can be pretty creepy places. They're quiet, they're filled with unusual visions, and after all, one person's art is another person's nightmare. In Ib, a free horror adventure made by Kouri and translated by vgperson, a little girl out on a day trip with her parents suddenly finds herself trapped in the gallery after dark. Which might be spooky enough, if not for the fact that it's a most unusual darkness, and it happened all at once and seemed to take all the other people away with the light. With no choice but to follow a strange message begging her to come come come, Ib ventures deep into the gallery and tumbles into a surreal world where art, humanity, and safety are largely open to interpretation.

Though Ib was made with RPG Maker 2000, you won't find any battles here. Use the [arrow] keys to move around, [Z] to interact with things, and [X] to open your inventory. You can save your game at writing desks, which you should do frequently since it turns out art galleries are unfriendly places when the lights go out. Shortly after the game begins, Ib finds a red rose that represents her health and is always displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen. As Ib takes damage, petals fall away and the rose begins to wilt. Luckily, you can restore your rose (... or anyone else's... ) by placing them in water vases found throughout the game. Just stop and think a little about the decisions you can make and the responses you can give... Ib may need to forge a bond if you want the best ending, and, well, let's just say the gallery reacts poorly to people who break the rules.

Analysis: Ib is kind of an odd duck. Though the visuals can occasionally make it hard to tell what you're looking at, the game still packs some surprisingly scary moments for its visual style. Jump scares? Sure, but some really effective subtle creep-outs like a ball slowly bouncing down the stairs towards you or increasingly irate messages scrawled on the wall as you go do wonders for the mood. There's also one extremely tense scene with a room full of dolls that... ugh! What makes Ib stand out is this decision to go for the more surreal scares and strangeness rather than relying on gore or ultra violence. There are a lot of unsettling scenes that creep you out far more than a lot of other games manage with a lot more blood and guts, and Ib manages to be more memorable as a result.

There are good endings and bad endings to get depending on your choices throughout the game and Ib's bond with the people she meets, and a playthrough will probably take a few hours if you take your time. Ib isn't a particularly difficult game, apart from a few "chase" sequences, since the developer intended it to be able to be finished by players of any skill level, and most of the puzzles are actually pretty solid. Weird, but solid. Since you're always moving forward, backtracking is kept to a bare minimum over each new area, and figuring out what you need to do is just a matter of remembering to investigate everything... multiple times. Ib has her flaws, but with a fantastically freaky sense of fright and design combined with likable characters an unreal environments, this is one great little free horror adventure that is far and away creepier and more effective at times than its big budget peers. Highly recommended.

Windows:
Download the free full version

Mac OS X:
Download the free full version

Thanks to Noodle for sending this one in!

Recluse is a short, cute, and creative metroidvania-style platform adventure game from chambers that tied for eighth place in the most recent Ludum Dare compo. Centered around the "tiny world" theme, you play a snail who has never left its shell and is now ready to emerge into the world. While much of the gameplay is standard platform fare, there is a unique mechanic that makes Recluse worth experiencing: screen shoving!

Wrapped up in the vaguely spiral world of the shell, you begin in a tiny room where you learn your first few moves, including simple walking and jumping. Then, you notice there's a little open spot on the right side of the wall. You don't seem to be able to walk through it, though. If you push against the edge of the game window for a brief moment, you'll actually resize the window from within the game. Not only can you enlarge the window by pushing it horizontally, you'll also use your noggin' to expand it higher and smash down to expand it below. It's simple, but it's pretty neat in practice, and it totally makes the game more interesting than your standard platform adventure!

In addition to the window shoving mechanic, Recluse also stashes a few powers around the shell, including things like a ground pound and double jump. There are enemies, save points and hearts to collect, too, but you'll be so focused on where to go and which part of the window to move next you won't pay as much attention to these as you would in a similar game. Apart from the items and abilities mentioned, there isn't much more to Recluse. It's a short and very sweet experience, good for a distraction and a few smiles!

Windows:
Download the free full version

Mac OS X:
Download the free full version

Linux:
Download the free full version

Indie developers and story tricksters Cyanide Tea continue to make a name for themselves with their newest free visual novel, The Elevator. In the (fairly) distant future, David Carmichael is a taciturn, middle-aged private detective who can't forget the worst case of his former career as a cop... in spite of the memory modifier implanted in his skull. Elena Cormack is a bright-eyed and inquisitive young woman working for a travel agency. The only thing they have in common is a long elevator ride each morning to their respective jobs in a massive old building. Well... and problems, of course. Everyone's got issues, right? But some troubles go deeper than others. Secrets, too.

To play, just read the text and choose the option that sounds best to you. There is no real "right" option, but the game has a two endings that depend on the choices you make, and one of them is more enlightening than the other. Luckily for you, you've got the digital equivalent of keeping your finger on the page of a Choose Your Own Adventure novel... the freedom to save anytime, anywhere. Just right-click to open the save menu and make use of the save slots however you like.

Like Cyanide Tea's previous title Ristorante Amore, The Elevator is a bit light in the interactivity department. The handful of choices you can make have a big impact on the ending, but are very far apart. On the short side, it's a game you can expect to finish inside twenty minutes or so depending on your reading speed, and you'll definitely enjoy the time you spent with it. It's a beautifully written game that manages to switch from eerie and tense to even a little touching at the flip of a switch, and David makes for an extremely empathetic protagonist. The design is great as well, with beautiful expressive artwork and a soundtrack that perfectly fits whatever mood the scene calls for. On the down side, most players will probably see the twist of the "true" ending coming, and will be a bit disappointed at how little real closure there is. It just feels like the story drops a bomb and then goes, and as such The Elevator winds up feeling more like a prelude to something than a full title in its own write. Still, as a free visual novel, it's a beautifully designed and cleverly executed little break from your day, and fans of mystery thrillers will definitely want to give this one a look.

Windows:
Download the free full version

Mac OS X:
Download the free full version

Linux:
Download the free full version

The life of a box is a rough one with all that being carried around, having things put in you to hold, being made into forts for screaming children. It's no wonder the beloved Mr. Box is still giving Sleeping Beauty a run for her money. Unfortunately, he may not get to enjoy that peaceful slumber for much longer since Eugene Karataev and artist Artem Popov have returned the lethargic Box to us in the physics puzzle game Wake Up The Box 4! And in this new Box installment you get to prove your artistic prowess by drawing anything from circles to ramps.

To draw hold down the left click and draw a shape; however only within the striped area can your creations come to wooden existence. To make a perfect circle hold the [space] bar while left-click and dragging in any direction. Drawing around the small bearings will make whatever you draw rotate one way or the other depending on which side is heavier. If your crafted item doesn't work you can double click on it to have it disappear.

Play all the Wake Up! games:

This new addition in the Wake Up The Box series is a breath of fresh air after three previous games that had you simply place an item in the correct spot. While some of the levels will put your brain in a metaphorical headlock that's part of the allure. Yes, there will be shapes that you need to draw that you may never have considered a shape and the old see saw mechanism may be a bit rusty but those aren't drawbacks so much as challenges that even Barney Stinson would accept and suit up for. Plus, after years of being the one abruptly woken up isn't it nice to finally exact your terrible revenge? Yeah, I thought so.

Play Wake Up The Box 4

We thought we had seen the last of Being One. But here he is again puzzling his was through another mysterious space station. Here though, the stakes are higher: It's a race against time to cure himself of the disease he's been infected with, battle the station's other inhabitants, and move one step closer to his revenge. But nothing is as it seems in Being One: Episode 5 - Infection, the newest in Psionic's series of horror adventure games.

As in previous installments, Being One: Episode Five is very much a cross genre work. The framework is point and click adventure, where you use the mouse to examine and pick up items from around the station. Your inventory, accessible in the upper-right corner of the screen, has a number of tools you'll use in your investigation: a microscope for examining biological samples, an autohacker used to access terminals around the station, a multi-tool for disassembling mechanical devices, and, of course, a gun for use on any hostile creatures. These tools will often prompt minigames of all different kinds: shooter, arcade, puzzle, and so forth, all controlled with the mouse. The story is told through datapads and evidence collected hidden-object style around the station, and the plot is sure to leave you twisted.

Play the entire Being One series:

Franchises that release new installments several years after a supposed finale are usually met with skepticism. We're looking at you, Indiana Jones. Fortunately, Being One had enough dangling plot lines and questions that the transition to a new episodic is relatively seamless. It may be a little convenient that the first place Being One goes to after his escape is another atmospheric space station, but let's face it, it's good atmosphere, and it'd be weird if this game took place on a farm or something. The graphics are as gorily beautiful as ever, with some CGI bits that are almost aggressive in their "check out what our animators can do!" awesomeness. The game could have used a little more hand-holding, especially in the use of your new inventory devices. There is a logic behind all of them that is satisfying to discover for yourself, but it's hard to do that when bullets start flying. Also, the game ends rather suddenly, which is good in the sense that an Episode 6 must certainly be in development, but man, let's hope we don't have to wait another three years. All in all, though, fans of the series and of scifi horror in general will be happy to spend a little more time in the skin of Being One, and will definitely be eager for more.

Play Being One: Chapter Five - Infection

Finding a good cup cup of coffee, late at night, is difficult enough for us mammals. For this here frog, it's an epic adventure! Cappuccino Under The Leaves, a point and click puzzler from Japanese developer Karabina-7, shows how the desire for a caffeine fix will drive even the smallest of amphibians through the most devious of obstacles. Just click around to solve puzzles. Your cursor will change when you place it over an interactive area. Cappuccino Under The Leaves is kind of a bizarre experience, but its puzzles are logical and are very satisfying to plow through. As a whole, the work is an interesting spin on the "player character figuring out alien machines" theme so often found in the escape genre: here, the machines are just human enough to be recognizable, but, when seen through the eyes of a frog, seems like things those trapped in the Submachine probably have to put up with whenever they want a little java. In short, Cappuccino Under The Leaves's cuteness and challenge forms an excellent blend that's good to the last drop.

Play Cappuccino Under The Leaves

What do you get if you cross a rainbow with an overhead shooter? Now we know... it's Score Rush, bursting through your monitor in a glorious avalanche of colour and sound. Xona Games describe their game as a retro 'shmup', but a better name for the genre, at least based on this evidence, would be 'Bullet Candy'.

As is customary for overhead shooters on the PC, you navigate with the [WASD] keys, and aim and fire with the mouse. Eight bosses, plus minions, are out to destroy your little spaceship... or maybe you're out to destroy them. Either way, your sole aim is to blaze a path through the lot, using only your gun, 3 lives, and a limited selection of screen clearing bombs. Power-ups regularly appear to add to the torrent of bullets you can fire, and once maxed out, subsequent pickups trigger a small shockwave that clears bullets around you, giving you a much needed moment of respite. But that description doesn't do justice to the colorful assault on the senses that defines Score Rush. As the action intensifies, it feels more like a playable light show, accompanied by a fittingly guitar-heavy sound track, although you get barely a split second to take it all in before brightly coloured bullets begin raining down at you.

Score Rush requires registration before you can play, which may seem like an unnecessary frustration. It's also missing a preloader, so expect a blank screen here and there before the game starts. But it's a free port of a game that costs real money on the Xbox, and it's worth playing for the sights and sounds if nothing else. Shooter fans will find that behind the dazzling spectacle of the graphics there's a smooth, solid, and very playable game as well.

Play Score Rush

You thought it was all in your head, just a horribly grotesque dream, but the horde of fiendish, floating octopi from your recent slumber are closing in and are still out for your life! As the Nightmare Runner, you sprint and jump through this hellish, two color landscape in a run and jump action game from Clockwork Monster. If you want don't want your blood staining the ground, you will kill any enemies in your path with your trusty machine gun to escape the bowels of hell. Like a bat out of said hell with a heavy trigger finger, aim your gun with the mouse and jump (double jump when available) with either a left mouse click, [spacebar], [W], or the up [arrow] key. Running into power-ups along the way will help to increase your score and make surviving the unholy masses less taxing and even more enjoyable.

Nightmare Runner is far from the typical run and jump Flash titles out there and shows through its level-based upgrade system, in-game power ups, shooting mechanics, and entrancing background music. While some player mights prefer an upgrade store after a trip down a bottomless hole, the system implemented works well and adds more emphasis on building a high score through constant collection of power orbs to level. The acquisition of these orbs and aiming your ridiculous super repeater at the demented demons makes paying attention to the jumping aspect much more challenging for those who cannot multi task. Whether you want a casual game dodging hell spawns or ramp up the danger with Hardcore mode, Nightmare Runner might be what you were dreaming of.

Play Nightmare Runner

Nightmare Runner

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Nightmare Runner

(Android)

Wallets everywhere are quivering in fear of the big sales going on this week. It seems like indie developers are gunning for your free time with a vengeance, and if you take advantage of all these deals as well as the upcoming titles planned for release this year, you're not going to have much time for the basic necessities like work, sleep, cleaning, and seeing the Avengers again. (Which Avenger was your favourite? TRICK QUESTION. They all are!) So kiss your productivity good-bye this week, but after indulging in some of these games, we bet you're not going to miss it that much anyway.

The Prize is Tears Freebird Games' powerhouse of indie story-telling To The Moon is one of the finest experiences you can have on your computer. The game follows two doctors with equipment able to alter memories, who visit a dying man who wishes to have his mind changed so that he falsely remembers having accomplished his life's wish... to go to the moon. Naturally, however, the job proves more complicated than that, and the journey you'll go on to discover the truth is by turns frightening, funny, and emotionally potent. So we're giving you a chance to win one of three free copies! To enter, just leave a comment here telling us what your personal favourite story in an indie game is. Winners will be chosen at random and receive an e-mail alerting them when they are selected. Contest rules: Entries must be submitted by May 31st, 11:59 p.m. EST (GMT-5). Winners will be announced shortly thereafter. One entry per person only. You must be at least 13 years of age or older to enter. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Bring your own tissues and epiphanies.

Adventure for a Song Indie developers love you. If the consistently high-quality and complex games that they put out isn't proof enough for you, you also have things like the new Bundle in a Box, whose debut Adventure Bundle allows you to get up to seven stellar adventure games for a low minimum price. In addition to the latest game by Jonas Kyratzes, you can also snag Gemini Rue, Ben There, Dan That!, Time Gentlemen, Please!, and more. All of them are exceptionally high quality titles you should be proud to pour into your entertainment feeding trough, and if you do snag this bundle, we encourage you to consider the value of the games and the time, effort, and money the developers put into making them for you when setting your price.

The Newest Indie Gaming Holiday is Apparently Maymas Look at you, with that wallet all burdened with that disgusting... cash. Let's do something about it, shall we? From May 24th to June 1st, you can pick up a huge amount of fantastic indie titles on the cheap. The Because We May sale event organised by Ron Carmel offers up games from a staggering 180 developers who have agreed to discount their titles. In addition to PC/Mac releases, there are even a ton of games for iOS and Android on sale as well, with the option to purchase direct from the developer or on Steam for many titles! With games like Defender's Quest, World of Goo, Dark Scavenger, Costume Quest, and many, many more, this is one sale that is seriously gunning for your free time and spare cash, and you should definitely check it out. If you're a developer who wants to join the promotion, it's not too late! Just hit up this page for more information.

Feather-Brained He Ain't, But Feather-Headed... Ever have one of those moments where someone produces something of such amazing beauty and creativity that you know you need to eat their brains to gain their powers for yourself?... no?... uh, no reason. If you're into action-adventure games at all, then you seriously need to check out DPad Studio's upcoming Owlboy, which puts you in the shoes of a little owl lad named Otus who sets out to defend his village from sky pirates and gets wrapped up in something even bigger. The game is due out this year, and the trailer should get you excited enough as it is. BUT WAIT! There's more! Windows users can even download a playable demo to check out the gameplay! This one looks like it's going to be something special, so be sure and keep your eye on it.

Teamwork, Spelunking, Ron Gilbert, and Dragons Ron Gilbert knows what you need, and what you need is side-scrolling, puzzle-solving adventure in the upcoming Sega-published title, The Cave. (No official site as of this writing.) The game follows a bunch of playable characters searching for treasure in the titular location... which also serves as narrator for the whole experience. That's right... the Cave talks to you. Each different character class has different abilities, and you'll need to utilize them to get around different hazards and solve puzzles with teamwork. The official announcement trailer is absolutely gorgeous, and should more than get you excited for the game when it hits in early 2013. Come on, caves are fun! Nothing terrible ever happened to anyone in a cave! It'll be fine.

Kids Today, Savin' the World and Whatnot Admit it. You've always wanted to go on a really big adventure and discover something amazing, but unfortunately, unless you're rich and backed by a huge research grant (or willing to risk some fun infectious jungle diseases on your own) there's not too much opportunity for that on a grand scale these days. New indie developers Pixel Cows want to change all that with The Journey of Eko, an upcoming 2D action RPG about a young boy in a huge open world packed with dangers, treasures, quests, and a whole lot more. It's extremely ambitious to say the least, but it looks and sounds great. Check out an alpha demo video here, or the developer's 3rd place winning Ludum Dare entry Tiny Shards which is billed as "some kind of miniature version of The Journey of Eko".

30 Days of Lunatic Absurdity Hey, game developers! You're big. You're bad. You're talented! And now's your chance to feel the crunch of a deadline with the debut of NaGaDeMo! In the spirit of National Novel Writing Month, June has been declared as National Game Development Month and the challenge has been laid at your feet. Can you create one finished game in a month? If you're willing to throw your hat in the ring, you have from June 1st to June 30th to give it a shot, and the official website is there to help you with a great community, resources, and more. Unity 3D has even offered free licences to participants, so make sure to register if you want to take part. A month might not seem like a lot of time, but judging from the jaw-dropping awesomeness that Ludum Dare has birthed in the past, we might just see some really amazing stuff come from this one.

Do you know an upcoming indie project or some community gaming related news you think deserves some attention? Send me an e-mail with LINK DUMP FRIDAY in the subject line at dora AT casualgameplay DOT com with the info, and we'll judge it with the all-seeing glare of our own self-importance for inclusion in a future Link Dump Friday article!

Elizabeth Hughes is a photographer, and she's good at it, too. There's something else she's good at, as she discovers the day Duchess Daffington accuses her fiancé of stealing. Naturally, Elizabeth sets right out to clear her beloved Nicolas of the crime—by climbing through second story windows, rifling through wardrobes and other, um, means of obtaining evidence of his law-abiding nature. She's very skilled at it such things you see. As it turns out, these are just the skills to earn the savvy female protagonist a very prestigious invitation—the offer to join Snark Busters: High Society.

Lucky for you, you get to tag along for the soaring third installment in Alawar's unconventional hidden object puzzle adventure series. Catching the Snark is nice but catching Olivia Daffington in her lie is even nicer. To do so, travel through backwards worlds and interesting locales to get the picture that proves Nicolas did not steal that vile vixen's silly locket.

Navigation is a snap: follow the arrows to exit one scene and enter the next. It's not all about searching, though. There's the fun of adventuring, discovering and a balanced mix of mini-games—sometimes easy, sometimes tricky—to keep gameplay dynamic. Interactive areas will glimmer only after you discover them the first time. Or, select the "expert" level to forgo sparkles and to slow down the hint/skip timer significantly. Outside of the photo focusing puzzle, all mini-games have a skip function. A user friendly hint button will nudge you where you need to go if you get stuck and the true widescreen—both in full screen and windowed modes—lets you better delight in all the sights.

Because the Snark is such a mischievous little bugger, dashing around disassembling all that he touches, there's plenty to search for here just as in the first and second Snark Busters games. Yet this time, except for an occasional broken mirror or frayed rope, the sought after objects are whole and in good condition. When you pick one up—or when you click on an interactive area—a circlet will open up displaying the objects needed before such somethings as a doorway or useful tool is completed. Most of the five chapters involve separate subplots about various spirits of Snark Busters past; do a ghost a favor and he'll help you out, too. These side stories make each chapter more purposeful and lengthy, to result in about 5½ hours of game time.

Analysis: If you're looking for a game that's bright, cheerful and a heck of a lot of fun, you're in for a special treat! In an industry that is glutted with the same ol' same ol' time and time again, Snark Busters: High Society happily brings unique to the table. I know, loved ones in trouble is an oft-used plot device, hidden object games are fertile breeding grounds for ghosts, and the "circlet" form of search, while not common, has appeared already in games such as The Mystery of the Crystal Portal series and Depths of Betrayal.

What is unique is the way Snark Busters: High Society keeps the story upbeat, engaging and smart without dropping into inanity or triteness. It doesn't second guess its players' intelligence by pretending we don't already know the secret to this mystery or by offering up artificially contrived plot twists. Instead, characters are well-rounded and likeable (you'll even like disliking the villainess), and the story is kept fresh by a new subplot in each of the five chapters. The task of finding objects never feels arduous or strained because it fits naturally into the adventuring element of the game.

Fresh does mean change, though. While I was glad to forgo the eyestrain of seeking barely recognizable fragments, I'll admit some might be disappointed in the change from little pieces to whole objects. The crisp, clear details of every scene made the switch necessary: odd-shaped fragments would stand out too much against the lovely backgrounds. Then, because no fragments means a bottom-of-the-screen display of pieced objects is impractical, the circlets allow for a wide array of items to seek without fumbling through a cumbersome side-scrolling inventory bar.

All this fabulousity is tinged by two tiny flaws. One is Elizabeth's disconcerting yet chuckle inducing Milli Vanilli moments. It's a good thing, then, that all of the voice-overs are marvelous listens, paced perfectly and sprinkled with snarky witticisms (Newscaster Jessica Marrey, for example, is spot on hilarious!) A pricklier thorn is a photo development puzzle that begins the first chapter; the red lines are misleading and the controls are not explained well enough. Confusing at first, once you figure out the trick (or take a peek at our walkthrough), this puzzle is enjoyable and much easier the next go around.

Snark Busters: High Society emanates high quality and superb design down to the smallest detail. Love gorgeous aesthetics in your games? You'll love the visual artistry of the steampunk-esque fantasy environments. It starts off with a couple blemishes but soon develops into an entertaining, casually challenging and smirk-filled experience. The colorful worlds and humorous story provide a much needed departure from the standard fare's woeful tales of gruesomeness. So give it the chance to win you over. It's easier to catch a Snark by its tail than to be not beguiled by this fanciful seek-and-find romp.

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo Get the full version

One of the cornerstones of indie game development is, if you'll allow us a moment on our soapbox, freedom. The freedom to make the game you want exactly how you want to make it. While this doesn't always pan out to be as glamorous as it may seem, creating and releasing indie games is an art mixed with a science tempered by the cold hard realities of business. And in a world where distributing your game across multiple platforms is commonplace, there's some very real competition to tangle with out there.

Enter Because We May, an indie game anti-sale dreamed up by Ron Carmel that celebrates developer freedom. Freedom that includes the ability to promote and price your game as you see fit. Not every distribution platform allows this, but for the several hundred games featured on Because We May, you will see serious price slashes right alongside price increases. Why? Because we may, that's why!

Yes, it's an anti-sale with a price increase or two. With so many bundles and pay-what-you-want schemes choking the intertubes every week, the speed at which game prices are racing to the bottom threatens to devalue the honest work indie game developers put into their products. So, why not charge 300% extra for your game this week? This is how some people pay rent!

Because We May runs from May 24 through June 1 and features several hundred games for Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and Mac, sold either directly or through distribution portals like Steam, Desura, and Indievania. Most games are actually on sale for a lower price, but either way, all games are made by indie developers who have the pleasure (and the responsibility) of selling and promoting their own games. It's one of the best ways to support the people that make the things that make you happy!

Here are just a few of the games you'll find on Because We May, many of which are available on multiple platforms:

• Avadon: The Black Fortress
• BIT.TRIP RUNNER
• Braid
• Cave Story
• Costume Quest
• Dinos in Space
• EDGE
• Night Sky
• Osmos
• Swift Stitch
• The Clockwork Man (review)
• Whale Trail
• World of Goo (review)

If you're like us you've played many a platform game and word puzzle games, but what about one that brings them together for some high-scoring vocabulary action? Mabel and the Alphamites combines these two challenging and brain-teasing genres of casual game into an experimental one that gets you grabbing letters from the air or on top of the platforms to make words and turn them into more platforms. Who would have thought that all those grade school vocabulary classes would come in handy for saving your life in a flash game like this? Not me.

You get scored for each word you make based on the letters used, if any letters were combo multipliers, and how long the words are. Mabel will keep jumping and stringing words together as long as you do not fall off your bottom platform or get blown up by a pesky 'letterbomb' (which are apparent due to a timer above them). A casual word puzzle/platform game that gets you thinking not only about the words you create, but also where to place platforms sound like a recipe for an addicting and mind-stimulating good time that gets your brain working twice as hard. The controls are easy to learn so they won't hinder your word crafting while the oddly charming Mabel and alphamites are pleasant to watch as they scuttle hither and thither along your word platforms. Whether you open it up for an hour at home or during a snack break at work, make sure you have a dictionary at hand to help you out when you can't think of enough words to spell out.

Play Mabel and the Alphamites

He jumps! He climbs walls! He... makes copies? In Games Northwest's high difficulty platformer, Temp Ninja, you control the daring and acrobatic office worker whose only goal is to attain the elusive report through each of the 20 levels. Move around using [WASD] or [arrow] keys, with [spacebar] as an alternate jump command. Sprinkled through the levels are gravity defying coffee cups which help unlock other characters you can play.

Along with the 8-bit music and graphics, between each set of levels you'll get to watch a fun cutscene à la Ninja Gaiden. Temp Ninja offers a meaty, nostalgic distraction from whatever work you should be doing. And while deaths are to be had, the short length of the levels helps deter you from rage quitting. This is an experience worth going through, after all, how often do you get to spend time in an office with the threat of spikes around every corner?

Play Temp Ninja

Like gems? Yeah, well so do the big bad uglies coming up the garden path. And, not to point fingers, but someone forgot to close the gate. Luckily, in Keeper of the Grove, a ferociously cute new tower defense game from Booblyc, you'll have a whole cornucopia of plants, rocks, and water elementals to throw at 'em.

You have three choices of base towers. Sprouts are cheap, but fast and can shoot far away. Aqua towers are more expensive, but worth every penny in upgrades to slow the creep onslaught. Most expensive and powerful are rock towers, but you'll have to wait awhile before you can upgrade these bad boys. After a few levels, you'll unlock the ability to research better towers, which you'll have to do again at each new map. Sounds simple, right? Not even close. From these three base towers you can research 9 more, creating a lot of strategic possibilities with a load of replay value. But, without a doubt, your best weapon is the [spacebar], which puts the game in slow-mo and gives your addled nerves a breather.

Don't be fooled by Keeper of the Grove's Sunday afternoon Candyland exterior; underneath all that cute lies a monster of a tower defense game that will keep you up at nights... unless you remember to choose Normal difficulty on the opening screen, which is what you'll want to do if you are just looking for a nice walk in the park.

Play Keeper of the Grove

The Podge's cute, cuddly, and ever-infernoey insect is back to set the world on fire yet again in Firebug 2, a puzzle platformer. As before, Firebug wants nothing more than to bounce about levels and add to his collection of yummy jelly beans. Sadly, his incendiary nature means that all the wooden platforms he touches will catch on fire and quickly disintegrate. This can be quite a problem considering the icy ocean lurking beneath. Of course, there are other creatures, switches, and actuators that will help (or hinder) you in your quest, but they seem pretty darn flammable too. You'll have to think quick and tread lightly if you hope to blaze a trail through all 33 levels.

Firebug 2 takes all the best aspects of its predecessor and builds on them. Though, like the first, speed is a larger element than in most puzzle platformers, here there is a greater emphasis on timing and careful fire placement. Firebug 2 isn't afraid to let you lose a level a few times, so you may discover its tricks. The first time you hit a switch, and realize it closed a door you really wanted to keep open, will have you cursing The Podge for his equal brilliance and apparent sadism. Some other refinements, like a more fluid double-jump and the larger number of hats and sprite skins just waiting to be unlocked, only add to the belief that this may be the definitive firebug experience. Whether already a fan or new to the series, Firebug 2 is a great way to burn through a coffee break.

Play Firebug 2

Aimlessly walking can lead to many discoveries as you wander down the byways of whatever city or town you happen to be in. Ambling without purpose you might find your feet leading you through a plain, bricked alleyway to a mysterious door as a plaintive tune tickles on the ivories of your mind. It was with one such imaginary journey four years ago Tesshi-e made their debut upon the room escape scene, and as the anniversary looms it is time once again to visit that strange alley and door in Mild Escape 5.

Every year that strange room that the door in Mild Escape leads to gets sparser and stranger. This time around Tesshi-e appears to have taken some design hints from other room escape mavens such as Robamimi with a set of puzzles that are more difficult and more elegant, including some items providing the solution to more than one puzzle and even an interesting new twist on the dinosaur of room escaping, the wobbly picture puzzle. The room in Mild Escape 5 has even less furniture, decorations, and clutter than usual, giving the gamer a space that while appearing empty is actually chock-full of mysteries. The usual two escape scenarios (featuring the happy coin, of course) give way not to a night on the town, or a nice meal, but heartfelt thanks from the designer to those of us who have hung on for the room escaping ride of a lifetime.

There's really nothing to complain about in Mild Escape 5. The puzzles are tricky and satisfying with some neat solutions, the construction is at a minimum, the English translations are terrific, the controls are top notch, and the color puzzles come with text making them solvable even for the colorblind. With more minimal decorations than usual there is virtually no pixel hunting to be found. Who needs a changing cursor, anyway? It's time to raise a toast in celebration of Tesshi-e's 73rd astonishing room escape efforts and once again enjoy the tricky, twisty, mistily nostalgic mind of Tesshi-e.

Play Mild Escape 5

Another day, another dollar, another forty units of butter to ship. Working can be hard, but at the offices of the Big-Time Butter Baron, there's no shortage of puzzle fun. In this Tetris-like action puzzle game by Megadev, you've got to arrange boxes of butter on the shipping room floor, covering as much space as you can.

Use the mouse to move the next buttery block around the grid and click to drop it in place. You can also click the arrows on the right-hand wall to rotate a piece, or dump it in the garbage bin on the left. In every level, your goal remains the same; you've got to place forty units of butter on the grid. The more butter you can plot, the better, because the level ends when you can't place the next block. Any open spaces are filled in with junk boxes that disappear over time, but don't count toward your quota.

How long can you keep building bold, buttery bases before being bombarded by a blow-out of blocks?

Play Big-Time Butter Baron

The king has lost his precious Golden Bottle, and you have just the team of mercenaries to retrieve it for him! Start your quest at the inn with Rune Raiders, an easy to pick up but hard to put down turn-based strategy game by Retro64. What begins as a simple quest for a bottle turns into a fight for the kingdom. You have what it takes to defeat the Dark Master, right?

You start with three heroes for hire and just enough money to recruit them all. Once you've selected your team you'll head to the playing field, an area packed with rows of tiles. Use the arrow buttons on the bottom of the screen to move the entire group in that direction. You can also order them to stand in place, or drag and drop each character to change their formation. Step forward and you'll run into a wide variety of enemies, each with unique abilities that will slow you down and, well, try to kill you. Solution: kill them first!

Luckily each of your characters, none of whom would be out of place in a Saturday morning cartoon series, has unique abilities as well. There are heavy armor creatures, who like to be up front to take the damage. There are long distance attackers, who deal death from afar. Each one has a different attack range and damage. Many can be upgraded with special abilities such as knocking an attacker back, or crushing walls that hinder your progress. Upgrades are essential as they also provide longer attack range, better armor, and more attack power. The key is to get the right mix of abilites that will allow you to easily dispatch the enemies in your way.

After each move, if an enemy is in range, your heroes will attack. This is followed by an enemy attack. Click an enemy before moving close to check its attack range. Note also that every time you move forward, your team regains a bit of health, even if you are playing without a healer. Despite this, occasionally a hero will fall in battle. If you think you can live without her or him, carry on. If, however they are essential to you finishing the level, you can use your accumulated cash to ressurect the fallen. Each enemy you kill drops a sack of money. Make sure you click on them all so you have enough gold to fund your next expedition!

Rune Raiders is also available as an iOS download. The iOS version features two additional heroes and five more levels, but otherwise plays the same. Both include survival mode which doesn't involve gold. Just select your team and fight until everyone is dead. The humor in the game will have you smiling all the way through, and each hero has a distinct personality which adds to the overall charm of the game. The soundtrack, while well made, gets repetitive after awhile, as do the sound effects. If they start to bother you, you can turn one or both off in the options menu. It would be nice to have some input into which monsters you attack when multiple ones are in range, but the game usually does a good job of judging what should be hit. With three difficulty levels, Rune Raiders is a well made game, with solid strategy elements, which is sure to please.

Play Rune Raiders

Whether you're rolling d20s, soloing a paragon Ancient Wyrm, or reminding Kefka just who's boss, you can't deny it; fantasy is just awesome. But it doesn't all have to be fair elven maidens, forth-with and prithee, or even involve a THACO table. After all, it may be easy to forget, but there are a lot of games out there that can let you get your fantasy fix and aren't RPGs. Shhh, we're a little scared too, but just take our hand and we'll crack open the Vault together this week for a batch of our favourite fantastical journeys.

• How to Raise a Dragon - You should already know Gregory Weir and his talent for weaving unusual narratives into even more unusual gameplay, but this simple adventure game managed to plug deep into the squealing twelve year old girl who has always wanted to be a dragon that lives inside all of us. (Yes, even you, Dudely Reader.) In this story that takes you from hatchling to mighty beast, the choices you make determine everything from what type of dragon you are, to whether you're feared or reviled, and even the ultimate outcome of the inevitable confrontation. But what sets this one apart is that the choices aren't simple "do you want to eat the orphanage Y/N" decisions, but rather circumstances that come about because of the way you play and treat the world around you. It's short, but smart, and a great way of allowing the player to have a much more honest hand in their character's destiny than a karma system.
• Knightfall - Take a puzzle and an RPG, then smoosh them together while making kissy noises, and you'll eventually get something like this gorgeous and clever little hybrid from Megadev. You play as a knight with a mighty drill lance in a world where the devil (yes, really) has stolen your princess and you must smash your way through a series of unique match-3 levels where you flip and rotate the board to bust through enemies and other hazards to collect treasure and do battle. It isn't quite as streamlined as it could be, with the lack of an in-game tutorial being a bit of a disappointment, but if you have the patience to get the hang of it, Knightfall is a vibrant and decidedly addictive little gem that will be hard for some players to put down.
• Barbarian Onslaught: The Secret of Steel - Turns out it's entirely possible to make mass murder and cartoon levels of violence adorable. Just check out this over-the-top hack-and-slash action game and prepare to squeal in macabre delight as your enemy's head and torso go pinwheeling in entirely different directions. Control one lone barbarian hero in a bloody, sidescrolling massacre against hordes of enemies, bosses, and barrels packed with meat. While it's true that the morbid spectacle of it all is a big factor in Barbarian Onslaught's appeal, the snappy, easy-to-grasp action and breakneck pace makes it the perfect choice for a little bit of midday mayhem.
• php Zork - While this incarnation of the cult classic interactive fiction title has a few dings and scratches from a somewhat unwieldy implementation, it's hard to deny that this '70s text adventure is iconic for a reason. You begin west of a house with little instruction, but a bit of poking around will soon reveal that the house is hiding some very big secrets... like treasure, danger, traps, and grues. If you've never experienced Zork before but are willing to put your thinking cap on, Zork is still well worth experiencing for a bit of challenging gaming history. Just remember not to go into the dark.

While we welcome any comments about this weekly feature here, we do ask that if you need any help with the individual games, please post your questions on that game's review page. Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and rediscover some awesome!

Monsters' Den Chronicles has come to save you from the grips of boredom and misfortune! Go, worthy knave, and crawl through some dungeon! The adventurous at heart will be thrilled to see Monstrum Games has released the sequel to their very popular Monsters' Den: Book of Dread, and this installment leads the dungeon crawler RPG turn-based strategy pack. If you're looking for a brief respite from your own waiting, for whatever it may be, I'd recommend taking a jaunt into this enchanting tale of heroes.

Starting a campaign requires you to choose four out of ten characters. There are five different classes and two separate specializations of that class. However you set up your party, navigation and adventuring is still a snap. Just click around on the various rooms to advance. If there is a room connected to the one you're, in it will be revealed and you'll discover some villainous group, gold, a treasure chest, or a much needed restoration shrine. But... probably monsters. It's not like the game is called "Accountant's Den" or "Bunny Rabbit Chronicles".

During battle you'll choose the placement of your four fighters, range being more proficient when in the back and melee being effective toward the front. Each player starts with three basic moves. Some are actual attacks, and others are defensive boosts to different powers. If your attack requires mana, you'll be glad to know it regenerates over time... faster depending on what you have equipped. Each character gets three different auras to choose from and the aura is available to be changed with each new turn. Pick wisely based on how many foes are on the field, what their health is, and which move you plan to use to defeat them. You can choose between four levels of difficulty and you even have the choice of choosing the penalty for losing a battle. Word to the wise, it's more convenient in the long run to lose items than it is to lose experience... especially when playing in any mode higher than beginner.

As you gain experience and level up, at the bottom right of your screen your characters will have small up arrows on their portraits. Click on these to bring up the three different spells you can choose from to add to their repertoire as well as adding points to talents like intellect or dexterity. At the bottom left of your screen you have character, inventory, emporium, achievement, and options buttons. Use the character button to view your players' armor and switch it out with that which you've acquired and stored in your inventory. In the emporium you can buy and sell items, though once you run out you have to spend your gold on research to restock items. This is especially necessary with potions.

Chronicles is refreshing in the fact that it's one of those sequels that doesn't conform to the idea that being exactly the same as the original is a good decision. While the game carries over many of the good qualities of the first game, it also improves itself with new features like fully viewed characters, more character options, sleeker dungeons, new spells and abilities, and even a more efficient inventory and store. If you're a good strategist and you've built your team with precision then you will have less issues defeating the enemy as you delve further into the dungeons, but it still won't be some simple task.

This game isn't a stroll in the forest where you're the monsters you encounter are little blobs to be knocked over in one hit. That's part of the greatest appeal of the game. You actually need to think and pay attention to the abilities your four champions bring to the table. Should you choose a cleric, a mage, a warrior, and a ranger? And if you do, which specializations of those should you pick to benefit your battle plans? Whether you're supposed to be doing something or you've got time to spare, you'll find yourself glued to your computer screen battling skeletal guards and trying to get proof of cultist activities. Go forth and, to put it simply, destroy!

Play Monsters' Den Chronicles

From long-time casual game creator Terry Paton, Waste is a simple but highly-polished puzzle game featuring every child's two favorite things: monsters and goopy green sewage! The undeniably cute release combines quick-action puzzle solving along with a little bit of old fashioned error-driven pressure, forcing you to make decisions that are not only efficient, but economical, too. It's an easy game to pick up and play, no matter what mood you're in or how long your "coffee break" happens to be!

Waste features a cistern at the top of the screen that contains a bit of sludge. Below is a 5x6 grid of pipes, each of which can be rotated with a simple tap. You can also drag rows and columns in any direction, adding another layer of complexity to the strategy. The goal is to line up the pipes so everything drains out the bottom of the screen. The catch is that each move you make causes the cistern to fill a bit more, forcing you to think before you start wildly flopping pipes all over the place!

Waste has a classic sort of feel to it, drawing design elements from arcade games and early browser games we fell for so many years ago. The simple dynamics play off each other brilliantly. You can't drain waste without making moves, but making moves creates sewage. The solution? Be smart, be thrifty, and make heavy use of the "bulging" pipes that hold more waste than regular pipes. By playing a steady game, you can keep the sewage at a minimum and the tiny monster at the top of the screen happy! A fantastic casual mobile game that's a perfect fit for any device.

Play Waste

Waste

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Waste

(NOOK Color/NOOK Tablet)

Waste

(Kindle Fire/Android)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on a NOOK Tablet. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

Ladybugs and gentle-mites! Bring your larvae and hatchlings to see the spectacular Buzz and his friends become stunt rider legends in Stunt Bugs! Ride and flip across 48 high flying levels to collect star balloons and coins to hire new trick performing dreamers in this bike-riding physics adventure game. This bunch of feat performing pests have special moves to wow their fans and make grabbing extra points so much easier. It is a cutesy game with a wonderful cartoon visual style that the whole family can enjoy on most major mobile devices. Maybe these little critters' antics will keep those young, impressionable children from being dare-devils themselves. No promises, though.

No handlebar peripheral needed to control these airtime enthusiasts; just tap and hold the virtual throttle button on the device's bottom right corner to start moving. The star button in the screen's bottom left corner activates the bug's particular stunt move and is quite handy for grabbing those out-of-reach balloons and coins. As you jump and soar through the air, you can tilt the device to rotate your rider for sweet flips or direct their flight if they are floating on air currents. Your goal is to hit the big time at Bugopolis, but you need to pass each level with at least one star to hit your next action venue. Everything you run into gets the player points, but coins are only for employing new stunt bugs and the balloons are for increasing your star rating for the level. Its got the high score beating fun of Angry Birds with a child-like charm that makes reminisce of the classic cartoons of old.

Stunt Bugs takes the combo-scoring stunt games away from the norm and puts loads of thoughtful game assets that these games typically lack. The standard Hero's Journey plot structure, if a bit overused, gives Buzz and the gang a reason to achieve their dreams and they look good doing it with the delightful game art for all the riders and environment. Random House Digital made a quirky casual title that will put a smile on your face with its mild difficulty and adorable little insect friends to cruise around with.

The game has some great riding tunes for each different area that ranges from a barnyard hoedown to some city-slicker rock 'n' roll. I still wait at the main menu just to hear the buzzing theme song every time I open up the app. Can you reach the legendary status of Weevil McNeevil and become the next big star of Bugopolis? It will take a few friends and a lot of determination to figure it out.

Stunt Bugs

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Stunt Bugs

(Android)

Stunt Bugs

(NOOK Color/NOOK Tablet)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on a iPod Touch 3rd Generation. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

Ports galore! Mobile markets are a great breeding ground for new and interesting game ideas. They're also ripe for ports and remakes, since almost everybody loves taking their favorite games with them wherever they roam.

realMyst for iOS - Myst for iPhone has already happened, as well as Riven for iPhone. With iPad support for both games still in some sort of strange lymbo, CyanWorlds has released a teaser video for realMyst, the fully-3D remake of the original Myst game (read: no still screens, you can actually walk around). realMyst has been around for a while, but the mobile port should spark some renewed interest in the classic series. The release date is still listed as "spring 2012", so, you know, that could be any time now!

Trainyard does Android - Fans of the phenomenal iOS logic puzzle game Trainyard by Matt Rix have had a monopoly for long enough! Just a few days ago, Trainyard was released for Android, sporting 100 levels and half as many extra-difficult bonus puzzles. The game features a draw-your-own-solution puzzle mix where you guide trains from spawn points to stations, mixing colors and switching directions as they pass. It's a brilliantly-designed game from top to bottom, sporting a hefty level of challenge and a robust community of users who are just as stumped over certain puzzles as you are!

Linux Tycoon mobile bound - Fans of Linux are everywhere, as are fans of tycoon sims. Combine the two and you get Linux Tycoon, the "premier Linux Distro Building Simulator game". If you've ever wanted to design and release your own version of Linux, maintain it, streamline it, and get the world to download it, but were too afraid to, you know, actually do it, this is the game for you. It's already out for Windows, Mac and Linux, but Android and iOS versions are also in the works, which is a pretty geeky and exciting thing to look forward to!

Fans of Metroidvania style games, rejoice, and put on your virtual sneakers! SubMu Entertainment's latest release, Blockstachio, incorporates quirky, blocky graphics, and a soundtrack that solidly consolidates retro bleeps and bangs over the top of the heroic theme music that will drive you towards your goal. More importantly, it also packs enough platform action to keep you happily satisfied, while running and jumping your way through each level, in your pursuit to save the world.

Use the [WASD] or [arrow] keys to maneuver around and jump on the heads of your enemies, and to avoid the obstacles and traps that you will encounter, and [spacebar] to fire once you obtain the ability. Keep your eye out for upgrades and powerups, as some will allow you to explore new areas, and others will toughen up your character, to turn you into a more finely-tuned killing machine. Expect to encounter bosses along the way that are tough, but not unbeatable, especially as you refine your strategy while you play. Finish the standard game to unlock the impossible level, or store your progress at one of the many in-game save points, and attempt the challenge level, if you are feeling particularly ambitious.

With its perky graphics and easy to conquer style of gameplay, this is pure platform fun. The world needs saving, and it is up to you and your cubic hero to do it. Are you up to the challenge?

Play Blockstachio

Let me tell you. You might not be ready for this Jelly Escape, a puzzle-platformer by Taw Studio... but you'll have a lot of fun with it. The goal is as simple as moving and jumping your jelly through each level with [WASD] or [arrow] keys, collecting bonuses, and avoiding death either by flame, or, more insidiously, your rival jellies. You'll find many of the standard platforming elements herein: springboard to hurtle you through the air, triggers that will shift the gravity, lasers that will destroy blocks of the appropriate color, screen edges that will transport you to the other side, unstable blocks that will crumble once you've landed on them, portals to teleport you around the levels, and so forth. It sounds like a lot to take it, but each new concept is presented quite naturally.

Games about anthropomorphic blobs making their way through dangerous obstacle-laden settings are nothing new, but Jelly Escape is a quality interpretation, with a fluid progression of 60 levels, a comprehensive checkpoint system that allows the game to be challenging without ever feeling too tough, and a hilariously whimsical sense of humor. The Pro-Jelly propaganda posters that are displayed between levels is a great touch, as is the unexpected cameos from other flash gaming Blobs. It's not perfect: the pace your Jelly moves at feels quite sluggish, especially when hit with CPU-lag. It can be really frustrating when you can see all the moves you're supposed to make, but have to wait for your Jelly to catch up with your mind. Even if it doesn't quite break the mold, Jelly Escape is a nice slow-paced time-waster. U Jelly?

Play Jelly Escape

Dinos in Space is, apart from being a very cool thing to draw in your notebook while ignoring the math lecture going on in your class, a cerebral flow-based logic puzzle game from John Saba. Using arrows, switches and teleporters, your goal is to send dinosaurs from their dispensers into the appropriately colored satellite elsewhere on the grid. Sure, it sounds simple on the surface, but get your head wrapped in this game, and when you take a break, you'll still be solving puzzles in your brain.

Everything is laid out nicely on a grid, with mouse-based controls and keyboard shortcuts to make everything flow as smoothly as possible. Levels begin with the dinosaurs safely in their hold and you staring at your inventory of colored arrows and other items, wondering where to put things to get the dinosaurs where they need to go. Use [Z] to cycle through your inventory, the mouse to place and rotate tiles, and tap the [spacebar] when you're ready to launch.

Different dinosaurs need to go different places, and they get there by different methods. Red dinosaurs, for example, need to make it to the red satellites and are the only ones who are affected by red directional arrows. Same goes for blue, yellow and green dinos with their respective tiles and goals. Gray items will affect all dinosaurs, meaning any dinosaur can trigger a gray switch or be guided by a gray arrow. In addition to sorting the dinosaurs into their respective satellites, many stages contain delicious snax that can be collected for the dinos when they get the munchies.

Analysis: Dinos in Space shares some similarities with a few other games, including the mega-challenging mobile puzzle game Trainyard and the underappreciated downloadable indie game Pragmatica. It has a distinctly more casual slant, though, presenting a streamlined interface and fewer inventory elements to worry about. Don't mistake "casual" for "easy", though. Some of the later levels are larger and wickedly complex, so if you're worried the difficulty has been scaled down, well... don't!

Here's a great bonus: a puzzle editor! Dinos in Space ships with a full-featured editor you can use to make levels just as complicated (or more so) than in the game. It doesn't take too long to get the basics down, and with a little planning you can pull of some great tricks. There's even support for playing user-made levels, which adds a nice bit of replayability to the 40+ level strong main game.

The interface in Dinos in Space is retro, to put it succinctly, and it almost feels like a classic C64 or DOS game from a few decades ago. It isn't clunky or awkward at any moment, though, so don't let the simple looks scare you. Even if you're frightened of keyboard shortcuts, everything in the game can be accomplished with the mouse.

A surprise puzzle game with a budget price, casual-friendly learning curve, internet-approved sense of humor, a beefy demo, and smartly-built levels. It's pretty much everything you could want from a logic puzzle game, including dinosaurs and snax!

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo Get the full version

Dealing with a hyper youngster all the time can really take the wind out of a parent's metaphorical sails, but when your kid wants to play, they REALLY want to play. Monsterland: Junior vs. Senior by Alma Games has you helping Monster Junior to reach his father's exhausted back and stir him from slumber. Sadly, there are mean monster blocks in the way, and the only means to get rid of them is by left-clicking on them. Junior will fall, roll, and slide in this tumble drop physics game so he can get the attention he wants and you have a fun time that you were craving.

The game captures the feel of child-like wonderment with its bubbly soundtrack and colorful monsters that never cease to ... *gulp*... stare right into your soul. Monsterland learned a few life lessons from its brother-from-another-mother, Red Remover, to bring physics puzzle gamers a quick, fun experience without adding anything really new to the tumble drop genre. You may find it familiar, but playtime with Junior and his papa will last 32 solid levels of moderate difficulty that any casual player can waste a half an hour on. After all his son's shenanigans, Monster Senior could use some relaxation away from Junior.

Play Monsterland: Junior vs. Senior

Why does negligent parenting get such a bad rap? If it wasn't for bum parents, we'd never have this lovely launch game, Billy The Pilot, from Erik Sombroek, about a little boy who just wants to fly, and who has a mom and dad that don't seem to notice he's building a launchpad in the backyard, right in the path of the family flower bed.

To control little latch-key Billy, just use your mouse to adjust his launch ramp and release to send him flying. [WASD] and arrow keys guide his flight, while the [spacebar] initiates booster rockets once you've bought them. The backgrounds and animations are impossibly cute and the upgrades a lot of fun, especially the ability to build a pet dragon! But the gameplay is repetitive and the in-flight controls are clunky. It also isn't very hard. Really, Billy the Pilot is just an excuse to explore a beautifully drawn and colorful Never Never Land where kids are kings and parents nowhere to be found... as it should be.

Play Billy the Pilot

Lexcavator is a wonderfully chirpy word-based puzzle game by Adam Parrish that combines elements of Dig Dug with spelling games like Bookworm. Your goal is to bash away letter tiles by spelling out words, clearing the way so the protagonist can hop further down the level. It requires a lot of careful thinking to prevent capturing yourself in a corner, so enter only if your vocabulary and tactical skills are up for a challenge!

You control a cute little @ as the main character in Lexcavator, moving with the [arrow] or [AD] keys and jumping with [W] or [up]. Use the mouse to click on letter tiles and spell words. The minimum length is three letters, but naturally your goal will be to snake your word chain around as wildly as you can. When you make a valid word, those tiles disappear, clearing space for @ to move around. Green tiles drop power-ups when cleared, adding a nice bit of oomph to the game with abilities like blast, erode, and alchemize. Be careful, though, as power-ups can leave you stranded if you don't use them carefully (just like everything else in the game!).

There's a careful sort of strategy involved with this curious hybrid game. On the one hand, you want to spell impressive words so you feel like a smarty pants. On the other, digging down is just as important as the words themselves, so you have to keep in mind the blocks that will be cleared with each word and where @ can move after each match. It's an unusual balance you have to strike between wild word creation and platform gaming, but it's one that works wonders once it finally clicks.

Lexcavator features a short tutorial to introduce the game's basics, as well as three modes of play that include time trials, arcade, and the timer-free quest mode which offers a series of challenging tasks you must complete in order to progress. There's something for just about every type of gamer, and its premise is just unusual enough that even casual fans of puzzle or word games should give it a shot!

(Note: Lexcavator is available as a pay what you want game, which includes paying nothing. If you really enjoy it, no one will be sad if you help the developer out by chipping in a coin or two!)

Windows:
Download the free full version

Mac OS X:
Download the free full version

Linux:
Download the free full version

Ever wanted to do something, found out how unbelievably overwhelming the task would be, then decided it'd be a better idea to stay home and have a sandwich? Our hapless knightly protagonist in Climb to the Top of the Castle knows that feeling all too well, only in his case, sandwiches probably haven't been invented yet, and he's got a king breathing down his neck pretty much forcing him to haul his armored rear to the top of the castle and save the princess. Did we say "castle"? Because really, it's pretty much a mountain!

A few simple controls are all you'll need in Climb to the Top of the Castle. Jump with [X] and slash your sword with [Z]. You can switch weapons with the [C] key once you get something other than your blade. You can jump from, grab on to, or walk on most of the surfaces in this vertically-oriented game, allowing you to hop up platforms, hang from ledges, grab onto corners, and just generally feel like your own modern-day Prince of Persia.

Climb to the Top of the Castle draws a lot of inspiration from classic platform adventures, but it's got a distinctly active and humorous style to it. You never really stop moving, as between sliding down chutes and dealing with mechanical spiders and rhinos you've got your work cut out for you. But the levels are tightly woven to create a clear path from one end to the other, and you'll usually have to deal with lots of enemies as well as a few levers, switches, and other creative modes of transportation in-between.

Now for the even funner bits: mini-games, hidden items, and challenges! Climb to the Top of the Castle has a strong arcade slant, stocking you with ten lives and giving you opportunities to earn more by completing level specific challenges, such as beating the stage without dying. When you do kick the bucket, you start again where you left off, so beyond the extreme retry limitation, it's actually a fairly forgiving game. You'll also want to pick up the junk you see while exploring the castle, as there's a market you can spend it in that has some nice unlockables. There's even a few booths that let you spend your "cash", like the 1UP machine or the in-game platformer mini-game.

And yes, there's that lovely hand-sketched visual style. It looks fantastic in still screenshots, and unsurprisingly it looks just as good in motion. The graphics in Climb to the Top of the Castle help push this charming platform game over the top, making it a sure-fire hit with anyone who wants to save a princess, investigate an unusual mechanical castle, and swipe a sword to destroy everything you see along the way!

(Note: Currently Climb to the Top of the Castle is available for free via Indievania. To download it, you will need to click the "buy" button, select the free option or choose a donation amount, then receive the download link via e-mail.)

Windows:
Download the demo Download the free full version

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

Yeah, the conservation of endangered animals is a worthy cause, but some interstellar vagrant is going the extra mile, or parsec in this case, to bring this crusade to a deteriorating avian planet as the Chain Champ. Since he can't run with his legs and these birds cannot fly with their wings, he feels a deep kinship with them and wants them saved. Due to his physical impairment, the heroic gentleman must grapple his way through various tunnels and caves to recover these vulnerable birds in true action adventure fashion.

With only a grappling hook arm at his disposal, aim shots with the mouse, fire by left-clicking, and left-click again to release Champ from the chain and jump. If your mouse control skills aren't too strong, you can switch the control scheme to use the [arrow] keys for aiming and the [Z] button for firing/releasing. The angle at which your mighty hook shot arm attaches to a surface determines how much Champ will swing and his momentum once you unshackle the chain. The farther the chain travels to hit a surface, the longer it will be for you to hang from and the more movement speed you will get. It takes a certain amount of finesse and timing to successfully maneuver this hapless hero across lakes of lava, grab a precarious zip-line block, and land safely so you can reclaim the fearful birdies. This green Samaritan won't stop until your grappling prowess is top notch or you, well, want to take a break from the plight of the flightless.

The dynamic duo of Todd Luke and Shelby Smith cranked out a top notch indie grapple adventure that mixes a noble theme with a retro pixelart art style you can't help but love. The eighteen small, pixel levels may seem a little lacking for most adventure platformers, but the slowly increasing difficulty will have you re-materializing because you couldn't stick that epic swing past the falling lava. Champ never really learned that you can fire your grapple in midair, but it adds another level of complexity some players will probably have mixed feelings over. The game makes sure to combine all the obstacles thoroughly as you progress so the gameplay never gets stale and fizzles out your immersion into the game. If you don't want to see these birds scorched like a rotisserie chicken, oil up that hook chain arm for some swinging casual excitement.

Windows:
Download the�free full version

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

Pop culture has taught us that caves are horrible places, literally packed to the brim with horrifying monsters, bat poop, and certain other hazards. Nitrome's first spelunking session was no walk in the park, and now things are getting even trickier with Cave Chaos 2, a platforming challenge where the hazards are bigger and the monsters are grosser.

Use the [WASD] or [arrow] keys to guide your furry little miner through a series of increasingly elaborate caverns chock full of explosives, beasts, minecarts, and crumbling platforms. As you move, new platforms will fly up for you, carried by helpful bats. Certain levels will tempt you with golden power-ups, like the double-jump, or a butt-bash that will allow you to crush enemies beneath your mighty hindquarters, or even the ability to "glide"... which should here be translated as "flail frantically around in the air with your feet like a Yoshi". Move with caution, but not with slowness, since the terrain will gradually crumble away to nothingness behind you. Most levels have at least one checkpoint you can activate, however, so even if your nice, shiny rocket-propelled minecart takes you on a nosedive into a cliff, you won't have to start the whole level over.

Cave Chaos 2 definitely lives up to its name, with frantic, chaotic levels that are packed full of action and surprises. There is a lot going on here, and all of it rendered absolutely beautifully. The downside is that there are times when the game expects you to take leaps of faith, and there are also times when it doesn't always seem like platforms trigger when they should which can lead to a few frustrating reloads. As a result, the game might require a bit too much trial-and-error for some players, but those of you with nerves of steel and twitchy fingers will prevail as long as you balance cautiousness with expediency. If you played the original, you'll definitely appreciate all the new hazards and elements here, from the addition of checkpoints to the new monsters and other environmental obstacles that overall makes it feel a lot more varied, but perhaps a lot slower, than its predecessor. So the only question remains... are you miner enough?!

Play Cave Chaos 2

You remember the little piggy who went to the market? Well, that pig had to walk while the piggy in Eliot Pace's anticipated physics puzzle game Pigs Will Fly could... you get the idea. The potion-guzzling pig is back for more time distorting fun as it needs your help to realize its dream of flying once again. It may need a liquid stimulant to get this slothful swine off the ground, but the challenges it faces to get the potion are more formidable than it has faced before.

For those familiar and unfamiliar with this high-flying ham, each level you need to get the pig to somehow reach the rainbow potion and it can get its wings (no, not with Redbull). You are given certain colored potions each level that, when left-clicked on, allow you to manipulate any object of the same color. It records any actions and movements made with that color and lets you enact different opreations with the next color potion you choose. The actions of each color will remain intact and animate as long as you do not select a color you have already used. The timing and synchronization of each color's actions is where the player's difficulties lie and is what really brings home the bacon in solving these puzzles.

Since April when Pigs Can Fly was reviewed here, Pace took what made it such an excellent casual hit and tweaked the problem areas some people might have found bothersome. The user interface loses its messy row of buttons and upgrades to a more pleasing pop-out menu, while the in-game art gets revamped with sharper sprites. The game screen is larger this time around so there is more room for large scale and complex puzzles that require precise commands. Although there are five less levels in this iteration, the improvement in challenge more than makes up for that, and the mobile (iOS) version has ten more levels than its browser counterpart. What isn't there to like about ten extra levels and the FREE price tag? The game claims that pigs WILL fly and it delivers, so get to work! The pig won't move itself you know!

Play Pigs Will Fly

Pigs Will Fly

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

In Sergio Alonso's shiny new
bulletheck shooter, Boss Slayer, Ten alien starships have entered the solar system and you have 12 days to destroy these bad boys before they make their final approach to Earth. Why would Earth trust their entire defense to one measly little ship, you ask? Well, stow it, soldier! The Homeworld's in danger and there's no time for logic!

You can control your ship with the mouse or the keyboard, using the [arrow] and [WASD] keys. Each boss you destroy will drop a ton of health and money which you can use for
upgrades after you've died. This is the real strength of the game; each upgrade is perfectly balanced, just the right cost, just the right effect. Each upgrade has a clear, immediate effect and it can be a lot of fun to watch your weak little ship transform so quickly into a beefy alien antagonizer. Of course, if you die, you'll keep the upgrades but will have to start all over on the bosses... you need to defeat them all in one go to save the world.

Boss Slayer isn't an innovative game, but it understands the genre perfectly and serves up a smooth, streamlined experience. There's not an ounce of fat on it, which is more than you're going to be able to say about yourself after the day you've spent playing this addictive little game. Just remember to hydrate, okay?

Play Boss Slayer

If you need a way to mellow out, what better way to de-stress than to be serenaded by So Far So Good's digital human beatbox? The musical webtoy Incredibox lets you drag and drop vocals, beats, and more onto a group of cartoon performers to arrange your own oh-so-funky compositions. It's simple, fun, and a stylish way for talentless schlubs like yours truly to live vicariously through more musically inclined individuals.

Originally created in 2009, So Far So Good's catchy little device has achieved web-wide recognition for its innovation, and also for being generally just cool as all get-out. There's not a tremendous amount of complexity to it, but Incredibox's style, vibe, and remarkable creativity make for a great way to kick back and relax with some hands-on musical ingenuity.

Play Incredibox

Created for the recent "Tiny World" themed Ludum Dare competition, Kumiho by Fedor Jutte and Christina Antoinette Neofotistou is an absolutely gorgeous little bullet hell shooter with an... unusual concept. According to the developers, a Goddess has transformed the world into a speck of dirt and all creatures into vicious machine entities and only your ship, originally a nine-tailed fox, is capable of stopping her. Use the [arrow] keys to steer, hold down [Z] to fire, and press and hold [X] to teleport a short distance in whatever direction you're hitting with the [arrow] keys. You'll want to use this Nightcrawler-esque BAMF! ability quite a bit, since enemies will use themselves and entire walls of projectiles to block you, and a single hit will kick you back to the last checkpoint you passed.

Kumiho is simple, but hard. The one-hit K-Os can wind up intensely frustrating later in the game as checkpoints come farther apart and some of the attack patterns require split-second mastery of your warping power to dodge. Fortunately, Kumiho is also exceedingly lovely, and has a rich, unique watercolour style that makes you wish the story and setting had been better expanded upon in the actual game so we could see more of it. If you're up to the challenge, it's a beautiful and fast-paced little shooter that we'd love to see developed further in the future.

Play Kumiho

Whoever said there are no new ideas clearly never crossed paths with an indie game developer. They're a crazy, rowdy, creative bunch, and they're delivering a whole bunch of amazing projects from towering robot centerfolds, to twenty second explosion defusing, and even time-travelling adorable (yet bloodthirsty) monsters. In addition, we've also got another giveaway for one of our favourite indie titles to help you stave off productivity a while longer, and even more great ones in the coming weeks. Why, it's almost as if we like you or something!

MacGuffin's Giveaway Brawsome's stellar off-kilter comedic sokoban-style puzzle adventure MacGuffin's Curse about a would-be thief stuck with a cursed transformation is definitely unique and definitely awesome. So we want you to get a chance to play it, too! We're giving away five digital copies of this great indie title for PC and Mac, and all you have to do for a chance to win one is to leave a comment on this entry telling us what you would use your werewolf powers for if you had Lucas's cursed Lupine Twine Amulet. Winners will be chosen at random and receive an e-mail alerting them when they are selected. Contest rules: Entries must be submitted by May 24th, 11:59 p.m. EST (GMT-5). Winners will be announced shortly thereafter. One entry per person only. You must be at least 13 years of age or older to enter. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.

I Love it Already Smudged Cat Games's platformer The Adventures of Shuggy is finally making the trip from XBLA to your PC on June 13th, and we couldn't be happier. Shuggy is the hero, an adorable vampire who discovers his newly inherited mansion is packed full of all manner of evil spirits he needs to defeat. With bosses, comic-book style cutscenes, over 100 levels, and optional co-op stages, it looks like a fantastic treat for fans of old school platformers. The Adventures of Shuggy will set you back a modest $8.00 USD if you buy it during its release sale on Steam, and $10.00 USD thereafter. Hit up the official site to learn more and check out the official trailer! Spike McFang is old news... Shuggy is now the adorable cartoon vampire of my heart.

More Like AWESOME Canal... Wait, is That Weird? Eerie Canal, will you be my Special Somepony? The developers have just released the first teaser trailer and information for their upcoming twisted RPG/real-time-strategy game Dreadline, and it's crazy, creepy, and even weirdly cute. I might be a little smitten. You control a group of blood-thirsty monsters who can travel through time to historic calamities and run amok with your freakishly adorable horde slaughtering those already doomed to die. If it sounds morbid, well... that's because it is, and it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but the oddly delightful art style and off-the-wall concept is sure to win a few admirers. Dreadline is scheduled to hit in the first half of 2013. Hit up the developer's site for more previews and a link to the mayhem-strewn teaser trailer.

20 Second Hero What can you accomplish in twenty seconds? Sos Sosowski's upcoming indie point-and-click puzzler is going to push your limits if you don't want to explode. McPixel, available this June for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and more, features over 100 levels where the titular hero has just twenty scant seconds to figure out how to keep things from blowing up using just the tools available. It'll also have free DLC, a level creator, and more! The official website has all the information you need, including a free browser demo of six bizarre levels to try to conquer. It's strange and more than a little twisted, but if you can think out of the box and under pressure, it might just be for you.

Jetpack, Meet Wish Fulfillment Officially winning for "best jetpack game title ever", Dejobaan Games's newest venture, Drunken Robot Pornography, is set to hit later this year for PC and Mac. The concept? You have a jet-pack, and you're trying to strike down multi-story robots called "Titans" while a crowd cheers you on. You can even build your own "robot pin-ups" to unleash on other players, from the finish right down to the fuel and the actuators that make the joints move. If that sounds good to you (of course it does), then head on over to the official site to browse the information, screenshots, and get ready for some chaotic but undeniably fascinating robot/laser/jetpack action.

Who Says Gardening Ain't Hardcore? Combining a multiplayer shooter with otherworldly farming and defense, the currently ALPHA version Farm Fortress by Pontus Lundvall and David Hagström might be weird, awesome, or just awesomely weird. Plant and harvest to earn cash and build defenses around your humble plot of dirt to keep out mutants or even other players... who you can help or sabotage. It's free to play, with the option to buy extra lives over the three you start with, although you will respawn automatically after 12 hours, and is something you should definitely check out if you're looking for a slightly more action-packed version of Farmville.

The Case of the Post-Apocalyptic Kickstarter Love Tex Murphy? Well don't count everyone's favourite hard-boiled post-apocalyptic P.I. out just yet. Big Finish Games knows he's still got a few cases to solve, and they've just launched a Kickstarter for the first Tex Murphy title in fourteen years, currently named Project Fedora. They're looking to get a whopping $450,000.00 USD to fund their project, and for just $15.00 USD you can help them along and get a downloadable copy of the adventure game when it's complete, estimated late this December. This is big news for fans of the last game, Overseer, which notoriously ended with a big fact cliffhanger, since Project Fedora promises to pick up right where that left off. For more information, head on over to the Kickstarter page and do some sleuthing of your own.

Between Two FernsIMEAN Gamers So what's your thought on the increasingly popular free-to-play gaming model? Once the domain of Facebook apps and iOS titles, it's begun creeping more and more into mainstream gaming as a whole. Gamesbrief's Nicholas Lovell and Positech Games's Cliff Harris have been talking about free-to-play and how they feel it helps or harms the industry, and the results may surprise you. A Debate on Free-to-Play is an interesting read as both Nicholas and Cliff have vastly differing opinions on the concept and are both considering a lot of different factors. As Nicholas points out, gaming is STILL a business, and "if it is hard or impossible to make a living from making games, fewer talented people will make fewer great games." Cliff argues "that the game is no longer a shared experience or level playing field. I can now be shot by someone with a gun I didn't buy, or outrun by a car with engines I haven't bought". As microtransactions start popping up everywhere, it's great to see two people with two different positions talk about this, and something you as the player and part of that equation should be thinking about too.

Do you know an upcoming indie project or some community gaming related news you think deserves some attention? Send me an e-mail with LINK DUMP FRIDAY in the subject line at dora AT casualgameplay DOT com with the info, and we'll judge it with the all-seeing glare of our own self-importance for inclusion in a future Link Dump Friday article!

I'll be honest. I don't know much about kids, and I tend to assume that if you just leave them a can of some meat paste, something to poop in, and a cardboard box to mess around in they'll be fine. (Or is that cats?... eh!) But it doesn't take a parental dynamo to recognise that Jimp and Gary Smith's utterly adorable kid-oriented game Teddy's Excellent Adventure is something children would presumably enjoy. Part platform, part puzzle, and even a little point-and-click adventure-sy, it tells the story of a teddy bear trying to find his way back home to the little girl who lost him. Use the [WASD] or [arrow] keys to move and jump, and the mouse to click and interact with certain objects. If Teddy falls off a platform, he'll have to start over at the last screen he entered, but you'll also have to solve little puzzles in different areas by figuring out what to click and in what order.

It goes without saying that this is, by and large, a fairly easy game. A few of the later areas require a smidgen of platforming skills, but by and large this is simply a quick, colourful game meant to engage the young or young at heart. A few of the areas have some scenes and action that might be a little intense for really little'uns, and bigguns might be mildly annoyed at the way you have to keep moving with moving platforms or they'll slip right out beneath you. But with its sweet story, gorgeous cartoon and fabric style, and accessible gameplay, Teddy's Excellent Adventure is a warm and cuddly little treat that is just the right size for itty-bitty gamers to grasp, and for bigger ones to relax with while it lasts.

Play Teddy's Excellent Adventure

In FazeCat's everything-but-the-kitchen sink strategic defense game, Paladog, Critterland has been invaded by zombies, witches, skeletons, and just about every evil little thing you can imagine, including television sets! It's up to you to fight them off, but are you dog enough to take them on? Move Paladog back and forth with the [WASD] and [arrow] keys, use your number keys to choose and build different units, and [J], [K], and [L] to use special attacks. Units cost food and special attacks cost mana, both of which are generated automatically, while money for upgrades comes from killing bad guys.

While you've probably seen most of the gameplay concepts before, the game does feature a ton of content, from nine different units to a whopping 120 levels, including special mini-games. Also, the artwork is great and the enemies so cute you almost don't want to bash their brains in with your mace...almost. It's such a hybrid, juggling so many elements that it takes on a little more than it can chew. Though many of the elements it tries on aren't as fleshed out as they could be, Paladog's sense of style and ambition helps keep it fresh in a way that other defense games might wind up as one-note. You'll find that the upgrades can be pretty expensive, but this is one puppy that spoils you for choice with tons of weapons and magic rings to liven things up. Paladog isn't quite perfect, but is a big, cuddly, newspaper-fetching machine, that brings back the Sunday paper... and slobbers all over the funnies. And you love it anyway.

Play Paladog

Paladog

(iPhone, iPod Touch)

Paladog Free

(iPhone, iPod Touch)

Paladog

(Android)

Paladog Free

(Android)

Hey, did you know that mini-golf games are, like, a thing? Yeah, me neither. But if there is one title that will warm you to this slice of gaming life, it's Putt More Base, a relaxing new addition to the genre by Jayc Santos.

Simply click the golf ball, then hold and glide your cursor up and down to adjust the force of your swing. There are direction arrows to let you know where your ball is headed and lots of creative bumpers and boosters that you can place most anywhere on the screen to achieve the perfect score. But you'll have to avoid some traps, of course, like sand and water, but also...mines! If you get into trouble, the reset button is never far away. The game will even remember where you placed your bumpers and leave them there for you to keep or change.

Putt More Base is much more streamlined and casual than its predecessor, making it a mellow rather than frustrating experience. It has its share of challenges, too, but isn't a hard game. If that sounds like your kind of thing, then, by all means, take a swing.

Play Putt More Base

Ever since Pac-Man first escaped off the right side of the screen to magically appear on the left, players have had a certain thing for games that skew traditional notions of spatiality. The Village Blacksmith offers another wonderful take on this kind of teleportation in Recursion, a cool little retro puzzle platformer. Having crash landed on an alien planet, you must make it to the flag in a series of single-screen levels. However, you had better be ready to start thinking with portals, as falling from bottom will drop you from the top, heading to the left will transport you to the right, and so forth. Throw in the enemies, the collectible stars, the flag activators, the bubbles and balloons to bounce off of, and some good old fashioned gravity manipulation, and you're in for some crazy fun.

Recursion's mechanics have the clever feel of a stripped down Continuity, and, for the most part, it never feels too simple or too overwhelming. New aspects of gameplay are introduced a little haphazardly, but they feel natural fits, and the game has a good challenge curve right up to the end. The overlay on the pixelated graphics does cause a strange sense of flatness, and yes, expect a little over-precision in the jumps you'll need to make. Still, Recursion is a fun time waster that, despite its name, never gets repetitive.

Play Recursion

Chikarou. Chikarou. Chikarou. Heh, the name of Chikarou 5 is fun to pronounce. Chikarou chikarou. Chika-chika-chika-rou-rou-rou. Rou-chika-chika-rou. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to tell you about the game, aren't I?

What Chikarou 5 is is a bite-sized escape puzzler from Dghgbakufu (a name that's a bit less fun to say), whom you may remember for Chikarou 3. The game drops you in the middle of a cross-shaped five-room dungeon and dares you to solve its puzzles and escape to the surface. Chikarou. (Chikarou is apparently Japanese for dungeon, by the way.)

Bakufu shies away from the complicated clichés like using screwdrivers to pry open panels and finding power cords to plug in computers. All the keys and doors are symbol-coded, and there's no pixel-hunting, either; what little challenge this developer's games contain—chikarou chikarou chikarou—lies in deciphering the simple yet clever little clues to open the safes, which is fine for someone wanting a quick and easy escape but not so much for a challenge-seeker.

Are you ready to escape from the dungeon? Go ahead; I'll stay here and keep saying "chikarou"...

Play Chikarou 5

In the mood for some good, old-fashioned, retro arcade fun without the need of a roll of quarters? Brandon Williamson's Forget-Me-Not, which was originally a popular mobile game, is now ported over to your browser! It takes the classic concept of Pac-Man, and adds a shooter to it.

Your little hero needs to find the exit on each increasingly difficult level, and in order to do that, you use the [WASD] or the [arrow] keys to navigate yourself towards the key, which will drag behind you when you get it. Collect all of the flowers, while enemies spawn randomly around each maze. If you can get enough shots into an enemy and kill them, then they will convert themselves into a cluster of food that you can chomp up for extra points. Additionally, you should be aware that your own bullets can hurt you, so be careful when using the lateral and vertical tunnels that take you from one side of the screen to the opposite, and try not to shoot yourself in the back. You've only got a finite amount of lives on hand, after which point you'll have to start all over, so caution is advised.

Strategically, you will want to attempt to collect as many flowers as possible in an unbroken string, in order to maximize your score. You can also "grind" against the wall in order to charge you up, increase the speed of your firing rate, and speed up your hero. Use the appropriate [arrow] key which is opposite one of the walls you are cruising down. In other words, if the wall is on your right, hold down the [left] arrow key. When you start to flash silver, you are fully charged, and you can then run right through your enemies and crush them. Be careful not to over charge yourself when your icon flashes red, because your hero will explode! There's also a huge ghost which will randomly appear on the screen. Avoid it, because it can instantly kill you, and put you in a tiny pixellated grave.

If you've ever thought to yourself that a game like Pac-Man could be conceptually improved with bullets, then this is your lucky day! Quickly addictive, and perfectly frustrating, Forget-Me-Not is old-school fun at its finest.

Play Forget-Me-Not

Forget-Me-Not

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Hey, wizard man, that's a pretty fancy wand you got going on there. So, it makes dummies, eh? Well, let's see what you can do with it, Fancy Wizard, in this eighteen-level puzzle platform game by Aizat Haibulin.

Show your stuff by magicking up dummies to do your bidding and use [WASD] or [arrow] keys to move them around. Stepping on buttons and lowering gates is just one of their useful purposes. A few clobber-happy golems and cantankerous warlocks pop up on occasion, so it won't be too easy, yet reaching the exit door is never a strenuous feat. Fans of the genre will enjoy elements similar to The Company of Myself and Pursuit of Hat, even if Fancy Wizard never quite conjures up the same innovative intricacy. That's hardly a drawback during your mellower spells, when a mild challenge and a charming design will suit your fancy just fine.

Play Fancy Wizard

Just one more turn. Just one more level. Just one more card battle. Just thirty more random encounters. We've all been there. We've all found that game that scratches our particular itch so we can't put it down, even when we have other things we really should be doing. Here are a few games we've found hard to walk away from over the years... I mean, except for me. I don't do game addiction. *elitist, condescending nerd snort* And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go wade through the tall grass another thirty or a hundred times until I get a shiny Meowth.

• Robot Unicorn Attack - We probably don't need to tell you that Adult Swim can be a little weird, but check out this glorious jump-and-run arcade game and you'll see they're more than a little wonderful. Combining a ridiculous premise with fast, snappy gameplay and the musical stylings of Erasure, it's as silly as it is sensational. You control a unicorn, that is a robot, racing across a fantasy landscape, and tap keys to jump and dash through obstacles for as long as you can. If you keep it up long enough, you get magical robot dolphins for accompaniment. It's since spawned several successful themed spin-offs, but you know what they say; you never forget your first.
• Phit - Phit! I do so love it when a game is as fun to say as it is to play, and Jeff Wofford's massive tangram/sliding block puzzle is definitely fun. All you have to do is find a way to slip and fit all the Tetris-style blocks at the top of the screen into the yellow space at the bottom... preferably in as few moves as possible. It sounds easy, and its fast moving, vibrant presentation is exactly the sort of devilish formula that draws in cocky can-do'ers and keeps them up late into the night. Phit is a perfect example of a simple concept taken and polished to a beautiful shine. And given a catchy name. Phit. Phit. Phitphitphitphit...
• BowMaster Prelude - LostVectors knows that deep inside each and every one of us is a glorious Legolas yearning to break free, and few games plugged into that urge as neatly as this action-packed defense game. You are an archer, tasked with defending a castle, and as you shoot down incoming enemies you gain gold and experience you can use to purchase upgrades to make your life a little easier. By packing in a variety of troops, enemies, and even arrow types to use, BowMaster gives you great incentive to keep playing, and while mastering the aiming will definitely take a little practice, by the time you've done so you'll be hard pressed to put the game down. So go ahead. Indulge your inner Orlando Bloom. The kingdom needs you.
• Kavalmaja - No discussion on addictive gaming is complete without mentioning the best secret Pokemon of them all; Tonypa. Kavalmaja is a tile-based exploration adventure that offers up puzzling maze gameplay but not a whole lot of hand-holding. You're simply dropped into an odd minimalist little world, and it's up to you to explore and figure out the rules. Figuring out why you died or how to get around an obstacle without much feedback may sound frustrating for some, but for others it represents another puzzle to crack, and it's definitely worth spending some time trying to suss out the mechanics on your own. If you die, you have to start all over, but for some players the curious mystery of this unassuming little game is going to be worth coming back to again and again to try to conquer.
• Craziest - Finally, a bonus... an animation about a lady who really knows something about game addiction. Specifically, Scrabble. Liz Dubelman delivers a bizarre narrative about a young woman obsessed with letters and numbers, and the lengths she goes to uncover their true meaning. By turns funny and freaky, it's a superbly well-told little tale with a hypnotic delivery and beat-poet style of narration to it that makes it worth watching. Just a little something to keep in mind the next time you get a little too excited about that triple-word-score.

While we welcome any comments about this weekly feature here, we do ask that if you need any help with the individual games, please post your questions on that game's review page. Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and rediscover some awesome!

As you pass by, the village elder's words of encouragement still ringing in your ears, a citizen calls after you, warning against the lower road. Who knows what malefic danger lurks there? Or anywhere else for that matter? With your majestic blue hair and green jerkin, you present quite a picture to your enemies (or so you might hope), but this is Swordigo, you are the hero, and nobody can kill the hero in his own game. Er... right?

Putting all worries aside, continue on your way in Touch Foo's nostalgia-inducing RPG platform adventure using the supremely handy and very well functioning on screen controls. As your left thumb adroitly negotiates left and right movements, employ your right to hack, slash, jump and cast spells. As you rise in level and acquire a wealth of soul shards—earned in battle or from cutting down grass (sound familiar?)—your character customization opportunities also increase. Health is monitored via red red hearts on top of the screen while a blue mana bar traces your magical abilities. If all this seems like homage to popular platformers of days gone by, it probably is!

Analysis: The road starts out mellow, yet soon dexterity and practiced maneuvers are called for. This multi-quest journey is long, more than ten hours to reach every corner of the complex map and richly varied landscapes, including a number of platforming puzzles. The deadly fail from a missed move is inevitable from time to time, but teleporting portals/checkpoints lessen the sting. Your efforts to trudge on are repaid with the delight of boss battles, treasure chests, weapon and armor upgrades, and spelunking through intricate caverns.

Responsive controls aid well-timed jump maneuvers through serpentine cave passages and spell-triggered switches give another way to burn off magic energy, something you'll want to conserve for boss battles. Sword combat with tougher baddies and bosses is less reliable. Combos are not an option and mobility is limited during melee fights. If you're looking for an easier battle, devote time to grinding and leveling up your magic ranks to best use all four spells.

Touch Foo, creators of the equally charming Soosiz, knows how to please with elements that matter most in a mobile game. Some games are all gorgeous retina displays but awkward controls. Swordigo's on screen button controls work very well, on the other hand. You may have occasion to slip up once or twice at first but soon the intuitive interface transports you back to an earlier time, happily playing Zelda on your Game Boy. Swordigo has beautiful environments to behold as well, especially when seen through the warm tide of nostalgia and the immense enjoyment of hack and slash platforming. It's the quintessential epic adventure. Can you, the hero, succeed in this quest? There's only one way to find out!

Swordigo

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on an iPhone 4S. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

A Long Way Home is an arcade physics puzzle game from Jonathan Mulcahy. Stranded 100 light years from Earth, you play an astronaut whose only companion is a wrist-mounted computer who offers bits of advice. Using a sharp eye and impeccable timing, trot around asteroids and planets and jump from their surface across the screen, the goal being to collect dark matter so you can open successive worm holes that get you closer to home. Along the way, you'll encounter exploding asteroids, comets, teleporting dark matter, and more. Not exactly a leisurely walk in space.

Although the description sounds like an action movie, A Long Way Home is more of a calm, thoughtful puzzle experience than a fast-riding explosion fest. That's not to say there's no excitement, but your navigating will be based on careful observation and obtained skill, not button tapping or mobile device shaking. Using a variety of control mechanisms (we prefer on-screen buttons), simply move around each spinning asteroid and jump when you line up with a piece of dark matter. Make sure you land on solid ground, though, as one false move and you'll be adrift for the rest of your life!

Later levels introduce new objects to contend with, but the basic premise remains the same. You'll dare countless long jumps, narrow misses, and lucky breaks, all while mastering the art of asteroid jumping. A Long Way Home is a very beautiful game, sticking to minimalist roots and providing a simple but incredibly enjoyable gameplay experience. It manages to evoke actual emotion, which can't be said for most action/physics games, though it's never sappy or emotional itself. In short, this is a fantastic casual mobile game that is slow enough and challenging enough to be entertaining while tugging at a few heart strings along the way. Grab it, kick back, soak in the soundtrack, and have a good time!

A Long Way Home Mini

(iPhone, iPod Touch)

A Long Way Home

(iPad)

A Long Way Home

(Android)

A Long Way Home

(NOOK Color/NOOK Tablet)

A Long Way Home

(Kindle Fire/Android)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on a NOOK Tablet. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

Oh no! The king of the realm needs you to save the princess from the evil clutches of the Dark Knight! Go figure, right? Wind-up Knight is a mobile run and jump adventure very similar to Canabalt HD except you get a fancy sword and armor to fight enemies while dodging traps to make your way to the princess. Convenient items in adventuring, yes, but it won't save you when the Dark Knight starts getting really serious about stopping you. A knight's mettle will never be more tested and neither shall your timing skills as pits, enemies, and environmental dangers stand in your way.

All your little toy knight's actions like shielding, jumping, rolling, etc. are activated by using the virtual buttons on your device's touch screen. Run through grabbing coins and finding hidden cards to get secret items and notes (a.k.a. money) to spend on new levels and items. The knight runs along the level automatically but needs to keep grabbing wind-up tools to continue chugging along, so the timing of your actions is important. The journey only gets harder as you complete more of the 52 levels, but fear not, for your reflexes and timing will be well trained to handle anything. Plus, you will repeat levels a lot because it is very easy to fail. Trust me.

Wind-up Knight improves upon the genre standard with more complex obstacles and added combat mechanics other similar games generally lack. The challenge level is also quite high, as you must collect almost all of the notes to unlock new levels. It's tempting to give into the in-app purchasing system just so you can see more of what the game has to offer. If you're serious about perfecting a great arcade game, or you just want a challenging distraction for the long bus ride, don't hesitate to grab Wind-up Knight so you, too, can show that Dark Knight who is boss. Just don't get burned, stabbed, bitten, drowned, impaled, scratched, or crushed in the process!

Wind-up Knight

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Wind-up Knight

(Android)

Wind-up Knight

(Kindle Fire)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on a iPod Touch. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

Everybody wants to rule the world, and zombies are no exception. In Brainsss, a wild sort of mobile game by Lonely Few, you get to help the zombies start their plot for world domination. Part strategy, part action, part brains, you must lead and grow your zombie horde to complete the goal for each level. Humans just don't get it. Life is so much simpler if all you need are brainsss.

Brainsss is divided into phases, each with several stages and the first serving as a tutorial. Each level starts out with a few zombies to get you going. Simply draw a circle around the number of zombies you'd like to control and they'll outline in red. If you've selected too many, or want to divide your group evenly, you can de-select half of the currently selected group with the tap of the button. Once you've chosen the number of undead you'd like to control, tap anywhere on the screen and your mob will shamble along, ready for brains!

Your objectives change depending on the level, but more often than not, your main goal will be to turn every human into a zombie, prevent humans from escaping a building, or stay alive until the timer reaches zero. The humans you have to catch are varied, ranging from super fast scientists to firemen who can stun you and chop you to bits with their axes. Examine the level, then plan your attack accordingly. You get to decide if it's better to split your forces and trap people or if there is safety in numbers.

When you clear a stage, you are awarded stars according to how well you did. Not only do stars unlock more phases, they also earn you coins to buy level specific power-ups if you get stuck. Don't worry, you'll always get at least one star for making it through alive (or dead, depending on how you look at it). One handy thing to know is how the rage meter in the upper corner works. When you convert humans to your side (and also as you destroy their desks, garbage cans, etc), the rage meter goes up. When it is full shake your device or tap the meter to give your zombies a boost in speed and attack power.

Even with rage activated, it can be difficult to overcome the humans who want you dead. This can be frustrating, as the only way you lose a level is if every last zombie dies. It can also be aggravating on the bigger maps to switch back and forth between groups if you've split up your horde. However, there is a nice, (almost too) happy, soundtrack to accompany you, along with funny quips from the humans as you chase them down. Add on the amusing comics that unlock between phases, and the promise of new levels coming soon and you've got a game that is nearly impossible not to enjoy. Now get out there and use your Brainsss to start making zombies!

Brainsss

(iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on an iPad. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

When you look at a word like 'infect', it brings to mind the Black Plague, zombie viruses, and a whole mess of disgusting things you would rather not think about. Just add another 'c' in there and you get the brain-training logic puzzle game infeCCt that affects you for the better. You must lead a growing vine through temple ruins so it covers every tile on the board without using the same one twice. Backed by research in cognitive and memory physiology, Handy Games put together 300 levels of mind stimulating challenges that will put your powers of foresight and creative problem solving to the test.

Vines aren't going to cover the floors of ancient dilapidated structures by themselves, so tap and draw lines on the screen and they'll follow right along. You might not have picked the right path in your puzzling quest, so you can delete previous moves by tapping on older sections of the vine. Be conscientious in your moves because you lose points if you undo steps. If you finish quickly, though, you'll earn extra. You only get one chance to get a good outcome (you can't redo stages for a better score), so just take a deep breath and concentrate, one move at a time.

The puzzles in infeCCt are well done and designed with scientific data behind them to be as thought intensive as possible. The timer, however, detracts from the experience by throwing anxious energy on the player to finish fast and precise. While the scoring does show your solving prowess to the world in online high scores, it is unnecessary when the main attractive point of the game is its lack of gimmicky puzzle mechanics and focus on pure logic solutions. These minor distractions do not detract enough from the game to the point where you will want to stop, however. The game is simple to understand, but so demanding that you won't quit until all 300 puzzles are accounted for. It is an ideal casual title for its pick-up-and-playability because you can work your brain out for a few minutes a day and save the rest for another time. Improving your intelligence has never been so much fun!

infeCCt

(iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)

infeCCt - Gold Version

(iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)

infeCCt

(Android)

infeCCt Free

(Android)

infeCCt

(NOOK Color/NOOK Tablet)

infeCCt

(Kindle Fire/Android)

infeCCt Free

(Kindle Fire/Android)

NOTE: This game was played on an iPod Touch. Game was available in North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

FlipPix Art is a series of picross logic puzzles created by GabySoft for mobile markets, including Android tablets, iPad, and NOOK Color/Tablet. The games are designed for ease of use while on the go, employing a rather unusual control mechanism that, surprisingly, makes mobile picross easier and less error-prone. On top of that, each of the games in the series features a different visual theme along with a large number of puzzles, making it one of the best ways to get a picross fix while on the go.

The idea is very simple: complete a series of pictures in sets of themed levels by solving grid-based picross puzzles. Using the number clues on the top and left sides of the screen, you can determine which blocks need to be filled in and which need to be removed. Simply tap and drag to mark individual squares or entire lines, then choose the paintbrush or the hammer icon on the right to mark or destroy tiles respectively. It's a little different than the usual "touch to act" controls most picross games utilize, but because your actions are only counted when you hit the side buttons, you're far less likely to make an error. It makes you solve puzzles in a different way than you might be used to, as it's more cumbersome to switch between marking styles on the fly, but the adjustment is a small one and won't affect your picross prowess in the end.

Each of the themed FlipPix Art games features a unique theme and its own set of puzzles. At the time of writing, GabySoft offers about half a dozen FlipPix Art games, including Zoo (nine puzzles), Model Plane (39 puzzles), Home (136 puzzles), Nature (over 50 puzzles), Castle (219 puzzles), and Kids (easy picross for the young ones). Prices vary between marketplaces and versions, but there are both paid and free games for every device, with a small download to initiate after you get the app.

FlipPix Art comes across as a bit inelegant in its visual design, but it's nothing that really detracts from the experience. The challenge level isn't too high, either, considering the small puzzle size (5x5, 10x10, 15x15) and relatively simple design of each grid. Still, despite not being the most perfect picross game around, the amount and variety of logic puzzles available makes any FlipPix Art game a great way to scratch the logic puzzle itch while you're out and about!

FlipPix Art: Castle

(iPad)

FlipPix Art: Zoo

(iPad)

FlipPix Art: Kids

(iPad)

FlipPix Art

(Android tablets)

FlipPix Art

(NOOK Color/NOOK Tablet)

FlipPix Art

(Kindle Fire/Android tablets)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on a NOOK Tablet. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

Though it's a scary (if distant) thought in real life, being stranded on an island where you have to fight for survival isn't high on anyone's to-do list. Place it in a casual game, though, and we're tripping over ourselves to start the download. Sahmon Games' simulation series The Island: Castaway has been perplexing players for a few years now with its superb blend of quest-based item hunting and character managing, spawning The Island: Castaway 2 not long after the original was released. Now there's the mobile version of The Island: Castaway, and it manages to bring every pixel of entertainment from its PC cousins to the portable touch screen. Be prepared for the addiction to begin all over again!

The Island: Castaway is sort of a mix between Virtual Villagers, Wandering Willows, and an RPG. You play the role of Tom who finds himself trapped on a tropical island. Other people are there, too, and the mystery of how everyone got there and how they're going to get home is a big one. By speaking to other characters, you'll embark upon missions that range from the small to the large, running around to find food, gather supplies, or help solve some of the many mysteries in the vicinity. There are tons of things to do apart from completing story missions, too, like working with recipes to build your own meals, hunting, fishing, planting things, finding new tools and much more. It seems like the discoveries never end!

The mobile version of The Island: Castaway is essentially the same as the PC/Mac version released in 2010. The biggest difference are the controls, as on portable devices everything must be handled with a touch screen. It's an absolutely flawless transition, though, and after a few minutes of running around you'll likely prefer touch controls over a mouse and keyboard set-up. It's more personal, and arguably more convenient. Also, a game as intricate as this plays better on a tablet device. The screen real estate makes for a much richer experience.

Whether you're curious about the series or you just want a portable addiction to carry with you on the bus, The Island: Castaway is a phenomenal release that will keep you busily scurrying around the island for hours on end. Seriously, it's dangerously captivating!

The Island: Castaway

(iPhone, iPod Touch)

The Island: Castaway (Full)

(iPhone, iPod Touch)

The Island: Castaway HD

(iPad)

The Island: Castaway HD (Full)

(iPad)

The Island: Castaway

(Android)

The Island: Castaway

(NOOK Color/NOOK Tablet)

The Island: Castaway

(Kindle Fire/Android)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on a NOOK Tablet. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

Bikini Bottom is covered with a noxious green ooze after a blinding light fills the sky, and everyone has gone missing!... well... except SpongeBob. He's around. *snicker* Get it?! A-round?!... forget you guys, he would love that! SpongeBob Marbles and Slides by Gilded Skull Games for your iOS or NOOK Tablet is that rare breed of tie-in game that gets almost everything right, from the all-important plinky-plonky soundtrack and beautiful style to the most important ingredient... fun. A physics puzzle game with pinball elements and its own quirky storyline, this is one top-notch casual mobile title fans of the series and the genre alone will want to check out.

Something weird is afoot (or aflipper) in SpongeBob's beloved hometown... everyone has turned into a marble, and a vast network of underground pipes has appeared. There's only one itty-bitty megalomaniacal genius that could have caused all this... but SpongeBob and crew are going to need a little help getting around if they want to get to the bottom of things and restore the town. In each level, your job is to guide all (or a specific number) of marbles safely to the drain leading to the next level. Draw paths on the screen with paint to direct the marbles as they roll, tilt your device to guide them along, and make use of other devices like time-stopping buttons, super-magnets, and more. If you lose your marbles (literally) by allowing them to fly offscreen or fall into the toxic goo, you'll have to restart the level. Sounds daunting, doesn't it? You can do it! Come on, say it with me... I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready...

Analysis: SpongeBob Marbles and Slides is one of those rare games that give you hope for affiliated titles as a whole. Despite its cartoon roots, it doesn't feel cheap, rushed out, or insultingly simple. It is, actually, pretty darn great. Loaded with the show's signature style from the visuals to the music and packed with creativity and charm, it manages to balance being both true to form while serving up something genuinely unexpected. The fact that they actually went ahead and wrote up an appropriately bizarre storyline to explain the game concept is great, and so is the chatter between the characters at the beginning of levels. (I appreciate you Squidward.) More importantly, however, the gameplay is unique, fun, quirky, and even a little challenging at times, though kids will certainly be able to master it with a bit of determination.

The different elements introduced across the many, many levels help keep things fresh and interesting as well, though you'll doubtless has a few you'd rather see more of, and even some you'd rather see a lot less of. The physics are, for the most part, reliable in a way that generally means any difficulty you encounter is probably because you're going about solving a level the wrong way. The achievements feel a little random and token, but the real reward is seeing even more of the beautiful, clever design as you play and uncovering more of the oddball story. SpongeBob Marbles and Slides will doubtless be enjoyed most by fans of his cartoon adventures, but thanks to some genuine heart and effort by the talented folks at Gilded Skull, this is one physics puzzle adventure that's easily recommended to everyone. It's pure goofy, joyous fun, and sets a new standard for media tie-in games that will be hard to surpass in the future.

SpongeBob Marbles and Slides

(iPhone, iPod Touch)

SpongeBob Marbles and Slides LITE

(iPhone, iPod Touch)

SpongeBob Marbles and Slides (HD)

(iPad)

SpongeBob Marbles and Slides LITE(HD)

(iPad)

Spongebob Marbles and Slides

(NOOK Color/NOOK Tablet)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on an iPad (1st gen). Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

Dogs and worms dominate the latest edition of Mobile Monday, an entirely unintended coincidence, we assure you! To balance out the slight "ew" factor, have a taste of a cute robot and a new game from the creators of Angry Birds. That should balance things out nicely!

Machinarium on Android - If Amanita Design's latest release Botanicula hasn't kept you busy long enough, Android owners will be happy to know the studio's last big release, Machinarium, is now available from Google Play! The Android port unfortunately requires a hefty bit of hardware to run, so if you've got something beefier than a three year old Android phone laying around, get ready for mobile steampunk goodness!

Death Worm eaten by 5M - In late 2010, PlayCreek released Death Worm for iOS, an official enhancement of the classic browser game of the same name. Barely 18 months later, Death Worm has been downloaded over 5 million times, almost as if every person in Denmark bought it! We're pretty sure the phenomenon isn't localized to Denmark, but PlayCreek has decided to celebrate all the same with a ton of new content, including a new ice stage, 20 new enemies, a massive boss battle, and a brand new mini-game!

New physics game from Angry Birds creator - Rovio recently unveiled its upcoming new game, and the biggest surprise of all is that it's not another Angry Birds expansion! Instead, Amazing Alex is a building-based physics game similar to The Incredible Machine where you construct contraptions to accomplish various tasks. The game is actually an enhanced version of the iOS game Casey's Contraptions, which the company purchased outright not too long ago.

New toys for Off the Leash - If giant worms aren't your thing, perhaps freely cavorting puppies are? The tilt-based avoidance game Off the Leash is as cute as it is addictive, allowing you to control a pack of dogs running from the police while you work to go as far as you possibly can, increasing your pack size to gather more power-ups and switching your running formation to creep through difficult obstacles. New in this update is a new track to run on and a new character that you might not expect— a man dressed like a dog. That, alone, makes it worth checking out!

Presented for your code-breaking pleasure, Box 19, a neatly packaged little escape-the-room by Tateita. Although the name sounds more like a trendy new nightclub down by the pier and the exact number of boxes is not verified, it does have something we love to find in an escape game—fun, logical puzzles. Also a plus, its stark, clean design means pixel-hunting is nonexistent.

With five walls and no furniture, gameplay is stripped down to the basics: click either on the edges of the screen to navigate or on a box to inspect it. Then, ponder clues and employ deductive reasoning to open locks and obtain the exit key. It's disappointingly short yet enjoyable while it lasts. So, if you have a moment to spare, open up Box 19 to see what's inside.

Play Box 19

It's been said that people create because they're not satisfied with the way things are; they feel that the world needs more of 'them'. Well, if Dark Scavenger is any indication of what Psydra Games 'is', then I am eager to have more! In the team's darkly-humored point-and-click adventure game, you are an alien who has to forage through a planet looking for a source of energy to power your failing ship. With combat and mystery at every turn, this game will have you humorously pointing and clicking your way through the storyline.

You find yourself floating through space when you meet a strange entity that threatens you. This creature seems very alien, though who's to say you yourself aren't more so. After your interaction, you awake in a ship with three companions. One of them informs you that you're a dark scavenger. What exactly is that? Well, you scavenge for energy... and I suppose you're darkly colored? With the ship running low on power, it's up to you to venture out onto the nearby planet in search of a mysterious force that should be able to help you and the other three aliens to continue to travel. Of course, leave it to you to walk into the middle of a multi-faceted war with all sorts of strange beings.

Dark Scavenger is completely controlled with the click of your mouse, from navigating the menus to exploring the environment and carrying out the turn-based combat. Each scene is a top-down view of the area and hovering your mouse over a hotspot highlights it in red. Clicking such areas gives you a brief description which can lead to a multiple choice interaction. Make a decision, and if you're lucky, you'll not only come out alive but also with some loot. Exiting a screen sends you to your ship where you can choose which companion you want to turn your item into something valuable. Each one does something different, and deciding which option for which item is part of the fun. No matter what, though, you can only repurpose one item per visit, forcing you to strategize based on your current needs.

Analysis: If you're not already in a good mood when you start playing Dark Scavenger, it's sure to put you in one within minutes. Whether you're giggling at the silly inhabitants of the planet or shaking your head at your cuckoo-for-chocolate-cereal shipmates, it's a game you can't take too seriously. What makes it even better is how well Psydra Games was able to seamlessly weave a point-and-click interface with open item creation and combat that, while increasing in difficulty, never creates a situation where grinding is necessary (or possible, for that matter).

Where the game seems to falter is in the storyline. After being thrown into a crazy situation through the prologue, you then have to explore a strange world with many different unfamiliar peoples and creatures. It starts to become work keeping up with everyone, and that can prevent you from really connecting to the protagonist and, ultimately, the game as a whole. Thank goodness for the funny, recurring side characters (Come on, a giant, grinning snake who's wrapped himself around a poor soul so he can hop around?) who remind you to just laugh once in a while.

Dark Scavenger is a dark, funny game that isn't afraid to use an NPC's pain for your chuckling gain. With five lengthy chapters and dozens of rooms to explore, this game is sure to keep you occupied for hours, if not days. And with so many possibilities in how you can handle a situation or the many items you can craft, replayability is definitely high. To repurpose the exit dialogue box for my own use: Are you sure you won't try the demo? You're really close to a fun game!

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo Get the full version

They say you have to break some eggs if you want to make an omelet, but did you know you could use bees?! In Anton Koshechkin's inventive little physics puzzler, Disaster Will Strike!, you'll finally get your chance to wipe that arrogant smirk off some smug, cantankerous little cage-free eggs. But instead of the usual fair of bombs and projectiles (yawnnnn), you get to use mother nature itself to achieve your objective, from hurricanes, comets, and yes, bees! You get a set number of disasters to use for each level and will have to economize your mayhem and choose the right act of god for the right situation. But, this being light and casual entertainment, you can always just restart the level at anytime. And really, Disaster Will Strike! is not that hard, so those wanting a serious challenge should look elsewhere, because this game is anything but... in fact it's quite funny. So, go crack some eggs already and maybe a smile while you're at it.

Play Disaster Will Strike!

Across the universe, no matter the time period or location, delivering the mail is a rough job. Take the poor sap in charge of the space-based mail delivery station Meteor Mail, for example. (That's you, by the way.) That lonely technician has to fire packages from one end, then tweak the exact position of gravity orbs to thread each delivery through worm holes, asteroids, roving pirates, and other obstacles. But, if it were easy, we wouldn't have the delightfully challenging puzzle game that is Meteor Mail, so from adversity comes entertainment!

Your job in Squirrel Tech Enterprise's Meteor Mail is to deliver a mail sphere to its destination by placing and adjusting gravity generators to curve its flight path. Simply drag the globe-like structures from your inventory on the left, place them on the screen, then hit [space] to fire the package. The path will be drawn in red as the delivery is being made, and if it crashes (let's face it, it probably will crash), the action pauses and you can make some adjustments. By fine tuning the location and strength of each sphere, you can get the mail to where it needs to go. How else is anyone going to get the orange and yellow wool cap their mother knit for them?

Not all levels are so free with their gravity orbs. In many stages they have already been placed on the field and are locked down. All you can do is adjust their strength by clicking on each one, holding down the right mouse button, and nudging the mouse wheel up or down. Stronger values pull mail packages more fiercely, while weaker ones tend to be more forgiving.

Analysis: Meteor Mail is the sort of puzzle game that presents a streamlined front but still lets you geek out on some of the details. You only have one item to worry about placing — the gravity orbs — but you have to be precise in where they go and what strength they're set at. Having the previous shot's ghost path available while you adjust is quite helpful, but really it all comes down to developing a good feel for gravity. After some time, you'll just sort of "get" where the package will go based on the orb locations. Trial and error slowly erodes, leaving your honed skills to carry you through the last levels.

What's a shiny space puzzle game without a few extras? You'll spend most of your time in Meteor Mail staring at a 2D map of the environment, dragging and adjusting gravity orbs and using the hand-holding hint system if you get stuck. When you fire a package, though, you can switch on the Mail Cam option for a little visual treat. Instead of the flat map, you get to watch the mail as it flies through space, following it up-close in a 3D view of its twisty journey. You can't get as much done watching like this, but hey, it's cool, and that counts for something!

Meteor Mail is a simple but challenging puzzle game that falls on the casual side of the complexity fence. It's easy to get into, but it takes a certain amount of mastery to carve delicate paths later in the game. Good honest space-based fun!

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo Get the full version

If you've ever tried to write something, you know how rewarding and challenging the creative process can be. When it comes naturally it's the best feeling in the world, but if you try to force it you can feel like you're fighting something that hates you... figuratively speaking, of course. Renowed writer Alan Wake knows that feeling better than anyone, and with his agent and his fans breathing down his neck two years after his last book, writer's block is starting to feel more like writer's noose. But sometimes the stories we tell or find ourselves in aren't always up to us, and Alan's vacation to the idyllic mountain town of Bright Falls with his wife Alice takes a nightmarish turn for the surreal in this action adventure game from Remedy.

When Alice vanishes after an argument, Alan regains consciousness to find himself alone and bloodied in the middle of nowhere, with no recollection of how he got there, or where Alice is. Things get even stranger when he starts finding pages to a manuscript... one bearing his name that he doesn't remember writing. Especially when the things within those pages start coming true. With everyone doubting Alan's sanity, including Alan himself, will the truth be stranger than fiction? Or will Alan even survive to discover it as the darkness in the sleepy little burg of Bright Falls and its inhabitants begins to grow? Only Alan and the one person who believes him, his sidekick Parka McNot-as-Good-as-Zeke, can find out.

Use the [WASD] keys to move around, and the mouse to aim and fire if you've got a gun equipped. Holding [shift] will let you sprint for a while until Alan runs out of breath, and using [shift] in conjunction with one of the directional keys will cause him to dodge that way. [E] interacts with objects, while [R] reloads, and you can tap it to speed up the process if you're feeling the pressure. Along the way, you'll find a variety of firearms and flares you can swap between using the number keys or mouse scroll, and I'll tell you right now you can ignore those finely honed shooter hoarding tendencies I know you've got. Since the game is set up in a series of six episodic chapters, Alan typically finds a way to contrive losing most or all of the weapons and ammo you have stockpiled between each one, so don't be afraid to spray hot shotgun death when things get hairy.

Until Tuesday May 15th at 06.59 AM EDT, Alan Wake is 50% off at GOG.com! Includes both DLC episodes "The Signal" and "The Writer".

Most enemies you'll encountered can't be harmed until you deal with the protective darkness shrouding them, but luckily for you, you have history's deadliest weapon at your disposal... and you're packin' double As. Aiming a flashlight at an enemy slowly burns away the dark, and holding down the right mouse button boosts the beam to speed up the process at the cost of faster battery drain. When the light has beaten them down, you'll finally be able to put them down for good with whatever weapon you have on hand. Alan's health is displayed around the radar in the top-left corner, so you'll want to avoid getting hit whenever possible and seek out safe places in light for faster health regeneration. Of course, if you do take one too many whacks, it's not the end of the world; the game operates on a checkpoint system, so you'll just be kicked back to the last one you passed. Checkpoints are typically fairly frequent, fortunately, so even if you take an axe to the face you won't lose that much progress.

Analysis: Alan Wake is, first and foremost, a great story. Invoking everything from the works of Stephen King to classic schlock like the Twilight Zone or Tales from the Darkside, and even modern day thrillers, it's a scary and engaging wild ride. While it delivers its share of predictable jump scares, a lot of the fear in Alan Wake comes from the unknown as it melds the supernatural with the everyday to create the downright bizarre... like the ax-wielding maniac chasing you through the forest shrieking about non-refundable deposits or keeping your pets leashed at all times. It's a wonderfully weird and intriguing story, and even if some elements feel familiar, it If you go hunting around, you can even watch short episodes of a little show called Night Springs that delivers a different little scary story each time... some of which make more sense than others, but hey, most mountain cabins don't even get cable, let alone haunted cable, so show a little gratitude.

The game is, as a whole, pretty darn good looking. Environments are stunning with some of the best light effects you can hope for. You will spend rather a lot of time running around in the forest with a flashlight, but the stunning attention to detail that packs the woods with atmosphere and foreboding makes it hard to be bored. Characters are likewise well modeled, though watching them talk is about as realistic as watching a pair of sock puppets jaw at each other. Voice acting is sort of hit and miss in that some actors seem a bit more into it than others, but the Taken people you encounter can be flat-out terrifying with their bizarre ramblings and worn-out tape recorder voices. Sure it would be nice if most enemies were varied beyond "guy with a sharp thing" and "slightly bigger guy with a sharp thing", but by and large Alan Wake is so good at creating tension and panic that more set pieces will be the last thing on your mind.

Since Alan Wake originally started on a console, the biggest issue a lot of PC gamers might encounter is the odd, over-the-left-shoulder viewing angle the perspective takes. While you'll get used to it, it's sort of like being drunk on a cruise ship, only the cruise ship hates you and is trying to kill you. The light as a weapon mechanic isn't really that new, though Alan is at least better at it than ObsCure ever managed to be. Combat in general has an appealingly frantic feel to it, but what it lacks is a fluid feel. Okay, granted, Alan is a random schlub and not Leon Scott Kennedy, but come on... who plays video games to be reminded of their own inept fumbling? The shoulder-mounted camera works fine for exploration, but in combat situations with multiple foes where you're trying to stay light on your feet, it just feels dizzy and disorienting, especially combined with that drunken dodging.

Alan Wake isn't exactly a perfect game, but it's still a very good one. Despite a strictly linear progression and action sequences that occasionally drag on for too long, it still manages to keep the story roaring along thanks to a likable cast and plot twists aplenty. It has an extremely cinematic style, and it definitely has potential for a lot more beyond even the upcoming PC port of the standalone title Alan Wake's American Nightmare. If you're big on thrillers with supernatural twists, Alan Wake's story will likely keep you glued to your chair 'til the end. If you want to visit Bright Falls again, you can check out the short, six-episode live action web series that acts as a prequel. It's also a great way to find out if you're interested in the tale the game has to tell. If you've ever tried to write anything yourself, you'll probably sympathise with Alan's own creative frustrations. But even if you haven't, Alan Wake is a solid and exciting horror thriller that's well worth checking out.

Windows:
Get the full version

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

Peppy, cheerful Miley Verisse wants nothing more than to start up her very own club in her school, but her former friend and now student council member Octavia Richmond is carrying a grudge a mile long and has no intention of making it easy. Miley just wants to follow in the footsteps of her idols and become one half of a new comedy duo, but the rules state that new clubs require a minimum of five members to start. With a deadline for the end of April just a month away, are Miley's dreams of comedic greatness over before they even begin? Cherry Tree High Comedy Club is a unique, light-hearted game from 773, Nyu Media, and Capcom that delivers a blast of ultra-high energy sweetness to your day. Part adventure, part visual novel, part simulation, and all beautiful, light-hearted fun.

Miley needs three (or more!) new recruits by April 31st, so it's time to hit the pavement and track down likely candidates. Gameplay is split into three time periods, and during each one you'll be able to decide where to go and what to do. Potential members are all over town, but a winning smile will only get you so far. You'll need to buddy up to them and increase their Friendship Level to 5 to win them over to your cause, so make sure you spend time with them. Miley has the gift of gab, so you can participate in activities to boost her chat capabilities and charm people faster. Of course, different people are different things, so it's important to make sure our heroine is well versed on a variety of topics, from video games, to history, to travel, and much more. You can check out how suave Miley is by viewing her Repertoire in the menu when you hit [esc]. Additionally, you can perform a variety of part-time jobs to earn cash to spend on items to increase Miley's knowledge, or even just to pass the time. Just remember, you can only discuss each topic with a character once, so it might be a better idea to wait until Miley is stronger at a particular subject to get the most out of it.

During regular gameplay, use the [arrow] keys to move Miley (hold down [spacebar] to run) and press the [up] arrow in front of buildings to enter and [spacebar] to talk to people you're standing in front of. From the town map, you'll be able to travel to different locations where you can encounter different characters and story events. At Miley's dormitory, you'll be able to chat with her friend Harriet to save the game, but also work on... ugh... homework. The pencils represent the number of assignments she has left to complete. In addition to keeping her grades up, you'll also want to keep an eye on Miley's fatigue at the bottom of the screen and make sure she isn't running herself ragged. Just don't forget to keep an eye on the date; as new potential recruits become available, you'll want to prioritize winning them over. But don't give up! If Miley can't achieve her dreams, who knows what horrors the comedic world will have to make do with instead?

Analysis: If you're trying to find a game more aggressively energetic and cute than Cherry Tree High Comedy Club, well... good luck. From the vibrant presentation to the cheerful, wonderfully light-hearted story and concept, it's just the sort of game that makes you feel happy. It looks absolutely beautiful. Each of the potential recruits Miley can interact with have their own stories and personalities, and Miley herself makes for a particularly... dynamic lead, but it's nice to see how unexpectedly perceptive and caring she can be around her friends. The goofy jokes and overall tone of exuberant silliness won't be for everyone, but sometimes all you really want is to play a game that's trying its hardest to make you smile. It's chock full of anime and pop culture references, jokes, likable characters, and a whole lot of colour. If I could give some sort of award to this game for being like a shot of rainbow sprinkles in the eye, I would. It's very refreshing compared to some of the heavier titles around.

In a way, Cherry Tree High Comedy Club is structurally (and even rather stylistically) similar to Atlus's Persona series, specifically the two most recent titles. Only, uh. Without the deep soul searching, demons, and murder. If you've played Persona, then the relationship building mechanics will feel very familiar to you, and What this means is that Cherry Tree is at once both simple and yet surprisingly engrossing; the time can fly by before you realise it. In a way, this is also a bit of a curse. While the short game time demands you spend all your time interacting with people in a way that staves off repetition, it also makes the skill and homework mechanics feel a lot shallower and more like busywork. Especially since only being able to talk about something with any given person a single time is silly, even if the skills only serve as a boost to the standard chat option. The game's simple mechanics aren't necessarily a bad thing since it makes it a lot more approachable, but on the other hand players who crave deeper experiences will feel like there's some missed opportunity going on for it to be even bigger.

Light on drama but heavy on style and charm, Cherry Tree High Comedy Club is a gorgeous, peppy gem for people who are looking for something different and friendly. While it definitely feels like some aspects of its mechanics are underdeveloped, it's still a perfect casual introduction to the genre and excellent relaxing gaming. At around three hours or so, it's a bit on the short side, although if you want to get all of the potential club recruits you'll probably want to play again. It does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, of sorts, or at least a strong implication that there's another installment coming somewhere down the road. Cherry Tree High Comedy Club is a lot of fun while it lasts... a light, occasionally unexpectedly touching treat that's perfect to brighten your day.

Windows:
Get the full version

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

If you grew up in an age where dithering was a a common graphical trick to get around color limitations and were excited when CGA was succeeded by EGA which gave way to VGA, just seeing a screenshot of Kyle Pittman's You Have to Win the Game will turn you mad with nostalgia. The exploration platformer shares a lot of design elements with Terry Cavanagh's VVVVVV, Lyle in Cube Sector, and Celestial Mechanica, though its main trick is emulating the computing environment of a decades-old PC. But even if you don't get excited by 16-color CRT monitors, You Have to Win the Game is a thoroughly enjoyable ride!

Run and jump, explore and backtrack, activate switches and avoid enemies, ring bells and gather cash. That's pretty much the gist of what you'll do in You Have to Win the Game. The environment is filled with twisted passageways, forked tunnels, and seemingly impassable spots marked by platforms and moving lifts. You'll need to find a few switches to activate or deactivate certain blocks, much like the colored switches in another practically ancient favorite, Super Mario World. Along the way, you'll ring bells to activate checkpoints and pick up tiny bags of cash you come across, all in the name of turning that little exploration percentage number into a full and healthy 100%.

You Have to Win the Game leaves some of the less-desired classic gaming conventions behind, so no worries about cheap deaths, limited lives, or corrupt floppy discs (hey, that used to be a real problem!). You do, however, have to deal with a lot of backtracking, something that can grate on you after you've conquered new territory only to step off a ledge and find yourself back at the beginning of a one-way tunnel. But, despite this, you'll have a pleasurable run through You Have to Win the Game, and since persistence will be your key to making the title come true, all you have to do is stick with it and you'll conquer this deliciously classic platform game!

Windows:
Download the free full version

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