June 2012 Archives

Where's My Perry? is a brand new physics puzzle game from Disney Mobile. Utilizing the same set-up as Where's My Water?, this updated and expanded version sets things in the Phineas and Ferb universe where Perry the platypus has to work his way through underground tubes to investigate a series of mysteries (some of which may or may not involve moustaches). The catch is that the power doesn't work for these tubes, trapping Perry in booths until you can guide water to the intake valve. It's a very similar experience to Swampy wanting his bath water, but with new gameplay elements and puzzles, you'll be happy to join in on the much-improved fun!

Getting the gooey liquid stuff to the power spout is a simple matter of removing soil and letting gravity do the rest. By dragging your finger across the screen, you can get rid of any amount of dirt you see fit, freeing up space for the water to flow. When the liquid gets going, it can do things like power movable blocks, set off celebratory confetti gadgets, fill and collect water gnomes you'll need to get the best score for each stage, and finally, power that transportation tube so you can move on to the next puzzle!

New in Where's My Perry? are certain Crazy-inator beams that can turn water into steam or ice. Naturally, ice sets still, often forming necessary platforms, and steam rises to the top of the screen, forcing you to invert your dirt removing strategies and come up with convoluted plans to clear a path upwards. Many of the later stages require you to convert water back and forth between states, setting up multi-stage puzzles that can take some time to wrap your head around.

Analysis: Where's My Perry? is far from a simple re-brand of Where's My Water?. In addition to the slightly new look, a number of new gameplay elements have also been added (namely, the steam and ice beams), not to mention new levels, new cutscenes, and plenty of character cameos from the Phineas and Ferb cartoon. The re-skin doesn't really add or subtract anything from the experience, but if you're a fan of the cartoon, you'll definitely get a kick out of seeing the characters do their thing on your mobile device.

The puzzles in Where's My Perry? are simultaneously more devious than in Where's My Water? and easier to solve by accident. Staring at a level and plotting out your moves, you might think it'll be next to impossible to solve the puzzle in front of your face. That is, until you stumble across the solution without even trying. This is likely an intentional design feature due to the younger crowd that will be drawn to the cartoon rebranding. Don't think there's no challenge to Where's My Perry?, though. There are still plenty of levels and plenty of obstacles to overcome, especially if you want to shoot for collecting all of the secret folders and gnomes!

Where's My Perry? is a smartly-done redesign of an already amazing game. It keeps everything intact that made the original so perfect while adding new elements, more complex puzzles, and more stages to complete. Really, the only bad thing about the game is the slightly awkward name!

Where's My Perry?

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Where's My Perry?

(Android)

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.

On the surface, it's easy to put Thomas Was Alone in the puzzle platform genre, citing games like The Lost Vikings when you discuss the gameplay mechanics and mentioning VVVVVV as a possible source of lo-fi indie inspiration. But after you've spent some time with the game, you suddenly realize it's much more than just a platformer. Thomas Was Alone is an interactive, character-driven puzzle experience with a beautiful audio visual presentation and gameplay controls/physics that were no doubt fine-tuned with fastidious precision.

One morning, Thomas woke up to realize he existed. This was quite an unusual thing, seeing as how he didn't exist before. He's alone, which is something, but he's also quite good at falling. Not only that, but he seems to be able to fall in the opposite direction, something he'll call "jumping". Before long, Thomas meets Chris, a shorter, heavier rectangle who can't jump quite as high (but gets along just fine all the same, thank you). Soon, Thomas meets more friends, each with their own unique shape and special ability, ranging from the tall and thin John to the surprisingly buoyant Claire. The newfound friends have to work together to make it through each level, hopping on top of each other's heads and taking turns climbing across the dark landscape as they avoid dangers and press switches to transform the very layout of the land.

To move about in Thomas Was Alone, use the [arrow] or [AD] keys, with [up] or the [spacebar] to jump. You can switch between characters using [Q] and [E], or jump straight to one using the [number] keys. Simple controls, indeed, and once you get the hang of fast switches, you'll be well on your way to mastering the subtleties of single player cooperative quadrilateral gameplay!

Analysis: Thomas Was Alone isn't merely a technical piece of precision goodness, it's also a well-written game, stylistically speaking. Imagine if Douglas Adams wrote children's fairytales and you'll get the basic tone the writing takes. Thomas and his friends all have very distinct personalities, likes, dislikes, thoughts, and attitudes towards each other. Not only that, but through the narration, the dynamics between the group grows as the game progresses, something you rarely see done with such eloquent brevity. Publishing the game without the brief pieces of texts would turn Thomas Was Alone into just another puzzle platformer to throw on the pile (albeit one with a nice presentation and some excellent gameplay). With just a little bit of characterization, the game suddenly springs to life, endearing itself to the player as they, too, become part of the team.

Apart from the wonderful presentation (with soundtrack by David Housden), gameplay in Thomas Was Alone is just as solid. Characters move in different ways, each with his or her own weight and speed. Chris feels so heavy, somewhat matching his personality, and John moves as if filled with air. The puzzles are smart and quickly get more intricate, and while they do tend to repeat a bit over time, you never really mind, as the game has already managed to charm you through and through, so a few repetitive jumps are no mind.

Thomas Was Alone is a little indie masterpiece that does great things with narrative and minimalist artwork. It's not just a platform puzzle game, it's a story of some little self-aware blocks who are on a quest to figure out what this whole "existence" thing is and why it's so utterly fascinating!

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version (Desura)

Mac OS X:
Download the demo Get the full version (Desura)

Six year old Theresa and her twin sister were the first to catch the virus. Theresa survived. Her sister didn't. Now, with people dead or dying and the city both evacuated and quarantined, the only hope for a cure might lie in finding the missing little girl who started it all in the plague-ridden town... provided you can avoid being horribly murdered by the menacing, masked hulk of a man who wants to find Theresa for his own ends. And you're alone, unarmed, and apparently kind of a pencil-neck. So, you know... good luck with that. Gogi Games delivers a remarkably creepy and engrossing hidden-object adventure with a medical thriller storyline in Infected: The Twin Vaccine. Will you be able to find Theresa, your only chance at a cure, before the virus mutates and spreads across the globe? And isn't this a job for virtually anyone else? Wolverine? Rebecca Chambers? Courage the Cowardly Dog?!

If you're worried about being vastly underqualified and unprepared to conduct an investigation in a hostile environment crawling with disease, don't worry... turns out all you need to know is how to click. Unlike most games of this genre, Infected is fairly unique in that all of its hidden-object scenes are small, contained puzzles. Each item that you're asked to find has a use in that same area, usually to gain access to another, and when you've finally found and unlocked them all, you'll get an item that relates to your quest. If you need a little direction, click the hint button to get pointed towards your next objective, or to find a random object on your list. As an added bonus, the difficulty of the game is customisable, allowing you to tweak how quickly the hint and skip functions recharge in addition to whether you want the tutorial or help text. The end of the world was never so user friendly!

Analysis: Professional-calibre voice acting? A straight-laced medical thriller horror story? Hidden-object scenes that make sense and don't feel like pointless busywork?... Sweet Celestia, am I dead? It's rare to find a casual download game willing to play it straight, when most would rather inject some forced lightness, goofy dialogue, or out of place humour in order to try to appeal to a broader audience. The Twin Vaccine, however, creates a story-driven experience full of tense scenes, plot twists, bloated corpses, and disease-riddled animals. Hooray! On the downside, most of the environments you'll visit tend to be rather drab, if beautifully rendered, but I suppose that's one of the consequences on setting your game in a plague-ridden city quarantine. David Bromstadt probably isn't going to be able to do much for you even if he is willing to get airlifted in, and he's amazing.

The decision to try to make hidden-object hunting feel like a more carefully considered part of the gameplay rather than a random assortment of junk and time wasting is a welcome one. It's nice to feel like you have a goal and are actually solving mini puzzles instead of mindlessly clicking on pictures, and for the most part, it's integrated very well. The rest of the gameplay is fairly standard stuff, with the usual assortment of bizarre locks and puzzles sprinkled about so that it looks like the Umbrella corporation built everything. Which is, y'know, kind of apt given the subject matter. On the whole, even if you do tweak the difficulty, chances are you'll find the game a bit on the easy side. It's a bit less about using your brain in most cases, and more about being smart enough to use the square peg in the square hole when it's presented.

If you're sick of fantasy and want a casual game that delivers a more serious storyline with a plot more grounded in reality, then Infected: The Twin Vaccine should be a demo you make a date with. The main game will probably run most players around four hours or so, and the bonus chapter, which acts as a sort of prelude, adds another hour or so to that. Despite the short length and comparatively simple gameplay, however, The Twin Vaccine is still easily recommended for its high amount of polish and exciting story that makes for a remarkably engrossing evening's play. Just remember... you have to dunk a few flaming basketballs to make a plague-riddled omelette. Or, uh. Something.

A Collector's Edition is also available. It contains a bonus chapter, art gallery, strategy guide, and more. 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

It was just supposed to be another mission. Just another rebel force in another of the dozens of country you team has been sent to. That was before the explosion. Before the plane crash. Before some your squadmates started acting strange. Maybe the facility over there will have some answers. Of course, even if you find those answers, you'll still have to worry about getting out alive... Strike Force Heroes, by Sky9 Games, is an action arena shooter that proves that the best way to unravel a shadowy conspiracy is by blasting everything in sight

Your soldier moves and jumps with the [WASD] or [arrow] keys, and aims and shoots with the mouse. You equip your two weapons prior to each level, switching between them with [shift]. You can choose before four different classes, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and special weapons: Medic, Commando, Assassin, and Tank. Successful enemy kills with a class will gain experience and cash, unlocking new weapons and abilities for purchase. In particular, there are "kill-streak" abilities, activated with [ctrl] or [E], after killing a sequence of enemies without dying. Ammo and Health Packs are scattered around the various levels, to replenish your stocks. Each level has various win conditions, be it a certain number of individual or team kills, holding specified points for a certain period of time, capturing the enemies flag, or working as a team to face off against a single juggernaut of an enemy. Good luck, soldier!

Analysis: Juice-Tin, part of the Sky9 team, was co-creator of the Raze series. It is no surprise, then, that Strike Force Heroes plays a lot like them. Indeed, a fair description would be "Raze... NOT IN SPACE". That's a good thing for fans of the genre though. It keeps the frenetic action and streamlined gameplay, while at the same time, addressing how generic its predecessor felt at times. Most notably, by keeping things on Earth, there an appreciably larger variety of arenas to fight in. Even if, in most cases, it's a matter of aesthetic differences and platform placement, it's still much more enjoyable to have a choice of battling in a jungle village, a disintegrating aircraft, or a secret underwater lab, than a choice between a bio-mechanical alien landscape, a bio-mechanical alien landscape in a canyon, and a bio-mechanical alien landscape with a little ice on it. The aesthetic is sleek, even a little cartoony, but that serves well to keep characters and locales distinguishable. Also worthy of mention is the soundtrack, largely consisting of riffs and remixes on "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". While it sometimes comes out a little tinny, the choice of music does much to enhance the militaristic flavor, while allowing natural musical transitions from level to level, and style to style.

Of course, with all attempts at innovation come a few missteps. The ability to change to a different kind of soldier, with its own choice of equippable weaponry unlocked as you play, works well as a mechanic. Yeah, it gets a little odd in story mode when your named Medic comes back to life as a Commando. Still, it's a fair price to pay for sidestepping the "whatever player gets to the best weapons first, wins!" problem that has plagued death-matches since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, the different classes don't feel quite balanced yet, which means, when it comes to XP gains, some classes may get left behind. (Then again, it may just that this review was never meant to be a Tank.) Also, speaking of balance, the difficulty in campaign mode takes quite a leap near the end, which may leave player grinding earlier levels for quite a bit. Finally, the lack of online multiplayer is a shame, though at least the programming is smart enough to ensure your AI teammates don't spend their time firing into walls. Much.

The best part of Strike Force Heroes is its wealth of content and options. 65+ weapons, a hefty story campaign and challenge mode, a host of achievements and unlockables, and an impressively customizable quickplay mode combine to make a game that all fans of arena shooters will find engaging. Pwning CPU newbs has never been so satisfying.

Play Strike Force Heroes

The Story of Red Cloud is a massive adventure-style mod for the sandbox building game Terraria. Citing inspiration from The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls, the mod takes a massive step away from its source, knocking out most of the creative aspects in favor of traditional combat and exploration. This isn't the Terraria you've grown to love, nor is it a happy romp through a flower-filled land of bunnies (though there are bunnies). The Story of Red Cloud is a challenging game filled with secrets to find, items to hoard, dungeons to explore, and gruesome deaths to narrowly avoid.

New to Terraria? That's just fine! The Story of Red Cloud doesn't require any knowledge of the original game, though if you're familiar with the set-up and controls it will certainly help. For starters, you need to own a copy of Terraria, which isn't a big deal now that the game can be found for a low price. Once you have the game and install the mod, simply move with the [WASD] keys, use the cursor to aim, the [left] mouse button to attack and the [right] mouse button to interact with things or use your secondary weapon.

Exploring the impressively large world of The Story of Red Cloud, you'll find a number of different environments to poke your nose in, ranging from towns to swamps, temples to mountains, and maybe even some underwater bits, too. You can interact with chests and barrels and the like, gathering items to add to your collection and keeping the best equipment for your own use. Enemies are all over the place in this game. It seems like half a dozen of them are on your tail at every turn. You can fight them off most of the time, but what you really want to do is stand back and deal with the situation logically. Combat can get you into trouble, and death can be a big setback in The Story of Red Cloud, especially if you nudge the difficulty level up to include permadeath!

Major changes from Terraria to The Story of Red Cloud include a narrative-driven plot (though it's light on text), almost 200 new items, weapons, and pieces of equipment, eleven new bosses, a dozen unique dungeons, a custom soundtrack, and a hand-crafted world where paths are carefully laid out to lead you to towns, dungeons, caves, and hidden secrets.A lot will be familiar to anyone who has played Terraria, but even more will be brand new.

Analysis: The Story of Red Cloud may be a mod of Terraria, but it plays and feels like something completely different. There's no crafting or building or house decorating, but you can place a few blocks, destroy some blocks, and fight plenty of foes. This is an action adventure game at its heart, so even though it looks like the friendly world of Terraria, it's an entirely new experience. The inspiration drawn from Dark Souls and The Legend of Zelda really does it justice, so if you're familiar with those games, you'll know what to expect here.

The Story of Red Cloud was created by Tim Hjersted along with a number of folks from the Terraria modding community. We don't often feature reviews of mods on JayIsGames, largely because they tend to require convoluted set-up procedures, but The Story of Red Cloud is a notable exception. A handy installation guide comes with the download, so once you have your copy of Terraria ready to go, you can get the mod up and running within just a few minutes. All you have to do is install a mod manager and a launcher, then copy some files to folders you create. It isn't as awkward as it may sound, and it's a safe process that won't destroy any existing data you have. Plus, The Story of Red Cloud is totally worth the effort!

If you can deal with the high difficulty level and play the game cautiously, you'll find very little to fault with The Story of Red Cloud. Combat isn't as precise or engaging as you might expect, as it is built on Terraria's loose model of attacking, but you quickly adapt to the inexactness of swinging a sword or firing a bow. Before you know it, you'll be dealing multiple blows with a single swing, like a boss!

Good mods can be a rare thing, and completely new adventures of this nature are even less common. The Story of Red Cloud takes the soul of Terraria and sticks it in the body of a challenging action adventure game stuffed to the brim with items, enemies, and areas to explore. It distills the best bits of the genre and expands them to epic proportions, so you get more of the things you love without having to deal with terrible storylines, awkward gameplay gimmicks, and the like. And, while Terraria was obviously not made for a game of this nature, somehow it all works out well in the end.

Windows:
Download the free full version Get Terraria (required to play)

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

What makes a hero? Is it someone who keeps fighting, even when everyone around them insists there's no point? Or is it someone who is willing to give the most precious thing they can just for the promise of a better tomorrow? Made in just under a month as a half hour lunch break game, Sailerius and Hirei have crafted a short but remarkably atmospheric action adventure release with Finding Eden, a thoughtful game about friendship, the end of the world, and sacrifice. The story follows two young girls struggling to stay alive after an unspecified disaster befell the world and left it stripped of Mana, with virtually everyone left sleeping husks littering the street... except for the sinister Harvesters who are always on the girls' heels. With their own Mana, their life force, constantly dwindling and scraps being harder and harder to come across, is it worth carving out an existence in this bleak world... or can they find something worth giving everything they have for?

Move with the [arrow] or [WASD] keys, and interact or attack with the [spacebar] or [enter]. Combat is real time, so make sure you stay on your toes and keep moving whenever Harvesters are after you. Luckily, both girls have special abilities you can trigger using [J] that can seriously help out in a dangerous situation, but using them takes precious Mana. You can recover health by sleeping in any bed, but doing so causes you to lose a bit more Mana with the passage of time, and the only way to replenish it is, occasionally, from fallen enemies, or by harvesting it from glowing sources found scattered throughout the areas. You can save your game after sleeping, or any time you like by hitting the [ESC] key to open the menu.

Finding Eden is... a bit weird. On the one hand, it's an exceptionally well done example of how you can tell an effective story with an evocative setting within serious time constraints. The areas are beautifully designed, and the soundtrack perfectly chosen. Combat is interesting, but feels underdeveloped and a little awkward to the point where you can often just run past enemies, though the few boss battles you'll encounter do liven things up a bit. On the other hand, you're definitely going to be left with a lot more questions than answers at the end. You'll want to know more, and in a way, that's the biggest compliment you can pay a storyteller. Our two heroines are easy to care for, and while the time you spend with them might be short, it's worth making the time if you can appreciate a story that wants you to decide the ending for yourself.

Windows:
Download the free full version

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

One of the main tropes present in hidden object hybrids these days is that someone gets kidnapped by mysterious forces and you must rescue them, be it a prince, a princess, children, a whole town, or some random guy off the street. However, Fierce Tales: The Dog's Heart by Blam! Games (creator of The Keepers: Lost Progeny) goes in a completely different direction. You see, your cute little puppy is kidnapped by mysterious forces, and you must rescue him before it's too late. It may not reinvent the hidden object wheel, but it's still a pretty darned good adventure waiting to be played!

The Town of Houndspoint is one that really, really loves their dogs. Unfortunately and rather suddenly, not all of the dogs are returning that love. A strange pack of savage dogs has appeared and is ravaging the town, killing at least one resident and dognapping other faithful companions on their way through. It all seems like a rather abstract problem to you, the hero, until the calamitous canines make a run at your house and kidnap your cute little puppy Pippa. All you need to do is track the dogs and discover the secret behind the pernicious pack before the entire town is wiped out.

Gameplay is of the point-and-click variety with changing cursors to indicate areas of interest and navigation, hidden object scenes which disgorge one useful item, a nice scattering of mini-games and puzzles, a bottom loading inventory, and a refilling hint timer. Glints, gleams, and glimmers of light highlight areas of interest if played in casual mode, and the usual articles, letters, scraps of paper, etc. are everywhere telling the story as you wander a town suffering from the doggie equivalent of shell shock. Helpful residents of town (not all of them human) are around to answer questions or give more clues to solve the central puzzle of what is happening to man's best friend.

Analysis: With Fierce Tales: The Dog's Heart, Blam! Games has created a beautiful, engaging tale that is sprinkled with more than a bit of humor. Yes, the story is one that has been done before, but rarely this stylishly and with as hefty an amount of gameplay. Bonus points for no ghosts, demons, or other supernatural beings wandering about. More bonus points for being a canine-rescuing hero!

Background visuals are stunning and bathed in tones of blue and brown befitting the night-time setting of the adventure, enhanced by a rousing soundtrack and some pretty nifty animations. Voice acting is competent and not a large intrusion, merely serving to move the story along rather than acting as filler to make the game seem longer. What really stands out is the rather snarky humor that pops up in unexpected places, keeping the story from becoming too overwrought and angsty.

Gameplay length is fantastic and will clock in at five hours or more just for the main adventure (in the Collector's Edition, the bonus adventure is also pretty hefty). Hidden object scenes are the usual list o' stuff but do involve some interactivity to keep them interesting, and the mini-games and puzzles are fun and engaging although on the familiar and somewhat easy side. Three modes of play ensure that a wide range of players can enjoy the mayhem, although it might be a bit too intense for those under the age of eight. Rounding out the experience is a handy interactive map, a feature that is welcome to keep track of all the places that have been explored.

With its meaty gameplay and rather amusing twist on the standard "damsel in distress" theme Fierce Tales: The Dog's Heart is a definite must for those who love adventure hybrids, a genre that has too often, it must be said, gone to the dogs.

A Collector's Edition is also available. It includes wallpapers, music, concept art, extra gameplay, and a built-in strategy guide. Remember that Big Fish Game Club Members pay only $13.99 for Collector's Editions, 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

As with anything good, there's something about a TomaTea escape game that goes beyond description. But you know one when you see it—logical puzzles that lean heavily on code-breaking, the ever erudite "no clue" messaging and settings that look like an artistically rendered feature spread from House Beautiful—all marks we've come to associate with the designer whose icon is a plump red veggie-like fruit.

So let's look back at Vintage Memory, a relatively vintage TomaTea game. While the light-up cursor, found in newer TomaTea releases, is absent here, both design and distinct (though not always obvious) clues mean you won't miss that extra guidance. Of course, there's a bit of misdirection involved, especially with multiple 4-digit codes to break, and it's not quite as seamless as more recent TomaTea productions. Yet, Vintage Memory is still a fun, mildly challenging escape—with all the classic TomaTea features to make it memorable.

Play Vintage Memory

Here at JayIsGames, we're always in the mood for a cavalcade of pixelated arcade fun. But, you know what? Sometimes we like it to get... a little funky. Enter Chunkadelic, developed by Noel Berry and Chevy Ray Johnson for the Full-Indie 48-hour Game Jam. It's one third Atari, one third microgames, and one third discotheque. That adds up to a work that's 100% a love letter to retro-gaming... A love letter with an atypical amount of strobe-lighting, but a love letter none-the less.

Chunkadelic takes you through a series of 9 minigames, each one inspired by a classic of gaming, ranging from Asteroids to Xevious. All are controlled with the [WASD] or [arrow] keys. While specific instructions aren't given, the inputs should be intuitively familiar to most gamers. (An exception seems to be the Super Mario-inspired level, which has proved a stumbling block for some players. For the record, you must alternately tap [left] and [right] to build up the speed that will allow to leap over pipes with [up].) Admittedly, Chunkadelic relies heavily on its spectacle. However, it is pretty good spectacle, so it genereally works out well. The feel is quite reminiscient of the Space Invaders Extreme series, so much so that it wouldn't be surprising if it was a direct inspiration. Overall, Chunkadelic is kind of ephemeral, but it's hard not to be entertained by it's prettiness. Turn off the lights, turn up the sound and get groovin'

Note: This game contains bright colors and flashing lights. In fact, it might be better described that this collection of bright colors and flashing lights happens to contain a game. In any case, those prone to seizures should probably avoid.

Play Chunkadelic

Sorry to disappoint all you hardcore extreme couponers out there... not only do we not have any Vitamin Water for you, but you don't have to clip anything to win a free game this week... just be your normal charming self! This week's Link Dump Friday somehow wound up a lot more ghoulish than expected, and with all these zombies and fleshy mutants and potent psychological drama shambling around, you'd think we'd be nervous, but honestly, this is pretty standard for us here at JiG HQ. Besides, ever since Jay punished me by making me watch that Jersey Shore marathon, nothing scares me.

CONTEST: Prizes, Terror, and Emotional Trauma If you want horror that's both disgusting and cerebral, then Jasper Byrne's surreal adventure Lone Survivor is an easy recommendation. It follows you, as apparently the only person immune to a disease that turned the rest of humanity into vicious beasts... at least, you think that's what's going on, and judging by the pills and hallucinations, there might be a bit more at work. We're giving away three copies and all you have to do for a chance to win one is leave a comment telling us the game hero (or villain!) you would most like to survive the end of the world with, and the three things you'd take with you to ensure your survival. Rules: Entries must be submitted by July 6th, 11:59 p.m. EST (GMT-5). Winners will be notified by e-mail shortly thereafter. Winners are selected randomly. One entry per person only. You must be at least 18 years of age or older to enter. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.

The Continuing Adventures of BRAAAAAAAAAAINS! I kind of loved the first installment in TellTale's brutal adventure series based on the source material The Walking Dead, and if you felt the same way you'll be just as excited as I am to know that Episode Two: Starved For Help is releasing this Friday, June 29th... or, in other words, the day this article goes live! TellTale defied expectations with their gory but surprisingly tense and heartfelt game, and they've given themselves a tough act to follow. Will they succeed? Only time will tell!

The Trees Have Eyes Survival horror via RPG Maker 200? Hmmm, and hmmm again! Developers Outhouse Studios thinks it can be done, and with the July 15th release of Eyes of the Forest, they might just do it! The game, set in Victorian Europe, follows Samuel, despondent ever since his wife's death, who answers a letter from a colleague in Germany claiming to have discovered "something big". Apparently, nobody told Samuel he was the protagonist in a horror game, or suggested that maybe a place named Rottgarten is a terrible place to visit, and things go about as good as you'd expect. Promising full 3D cutscenes, multiple karma-based endings, and several hours of play, it looks like it could be a great way to creep yourself out for an evening... although hopefully those typos in the screenshots get cleaned up before the release!

Vlambeer: Enemy of Boredom and Producitivty Vlambeer has this really terrible, wonderful habit of releasing "just one more turn" games like Super Crate Box that you kind of live in perpetual dread of being reminded of, since you know the moment it happens all semblance of responsibility will go out the window as you lose your time to it all over again. So you should be excited but nervous about Luftrasers, an improved version of the original. Adding upgradeable ships and more enemies is just the tip of the iceberg and could turn the original top-down arcade shooter into a serious contender. Keep your eyes peeled for 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!

Normally when someone says you're "full of hot air", them's fightin' words. I say normally, because if they're talking about Nitrome's Hot Air series, it's actually a compliment because they mean to say you're full of vibrant whimsy, colour, and fun. Hot Air Jr. is the latest installment in the rubbery action avoidance adventure series about a relentlessly cheerful balloon adrift in a relentlessly dangerous world. This time, you're chasing after the evil giant spiky villain who has absconded with the family balloon dog. You have no choice but to journey across a wide variety of hazardous levels, featuring everything from malicious fans to enormous swords, in search of the pilfered pooch.

To play, click and hold on the screen to start your propeller cursor whirling, which you can then use to direct our blue hero around the screen and (hopefully) safely around hazards. Your goal is to collect the stars in each level and make it to the landing pad at the end without being popped, stomped, thwomped, or otherwise deflated... which is harder than you might think, since all manner of malicious baddies are out to make life difficult to you, with the scenery itself often being hazardous to boot. Take it slow and steady, plot your course, and make sure you activate any checkpoints you see scattered throughout the levels! Since you can only withstand a single hit, checkpoints will save you from having to restart the entire stage over if disaster strikes. Each level is unique and accessed from a central hub where you can take care of other important business... like the latest in unlockable balloon fashion!

While Hot Air Jr. represents another gorgeous chapter in Nitrome's long history of top-notch releases, it's also a fantastic and welcome example of a developer opening their ears to feedback from the most important people... their fans. For a lot of people, checkpoints are the difference between ragequitting and another try, making Hot Air Jr. much more accessible and less frustrating. More than that, however, it just feels better. Control is tighter and altogether more responsive compared to the originals, allowing you to be able to really soak in the clever stage designs and quirks that make the game great. That said, you shouldn't expect the game to be easy, since even with the checkpoints and more responsive controls you'll still need steady hands and quick reflexes, as well as a keen eye to spot patterns in the stages. If you're looking for a challenge with a lot of style and variety, and have the patience to master it, however, Hot Air Jr. is a great way to spend your afternoon soaring among the not-particularly-relaxing clouds.

Play Hot Air Jr.

It's not clear how the scenario of Magic Island Escape 3, an atmospheric escape by Kamikaze Worm, came to be. Maybe you washed up on the island after a reef sunk the cruise ship you were on. Maybe you were dumped here by fairies as a form of purgatory. Whatever the case, you're here now and you need to escape.

Navigation, and everything else for that matter, is done by mouse click. Click the edge of any screen with an arrow to navigate, and click on things on the environment to interact with them. Your inventory is displayed at the bottom; click on an item to select it for use, then on the environment to use it, or on the "handle" hand to deselect it. To combine two inventory items, click "combine" followed by the two items in question. Your ultimate goal is to escape the island, and to do so you need to activate the magical portal arch by finding and using four colored keys.

Magic Island Escape 3 is short but sweet. The game itself won't last very long as long as you're observant and think logically, but the puzzles are fairly intuitive and well-designed, and the atmosphere is downright lovely. Every screen looks like an oil painting, and the audio loop is soothing without being invasive. There's even a changing cursor, and although the game lacks a save feature, it's short enough you shouldn't need it. Got fifteen minutes to kill? Put them to use escaping an island, by all means.

Play Magic Island Escape 3

Scientists have spent years and millions of dollars to turn a regular cat into The Magnetic Cat. (Why? Uh... For science!). His frizzy ferromagnetic fur allows him to stick to all sorts of surfaces, and, as the scientists unfortunately discovered, to easily escape from secret government labs. Now, he wants nothing more than to settle down with a family, but there's still 30 levels of obstacles in his way. A puzzle platformer developed by GrimToyz, The Magnetic Cat has an attraction all its own.

Move The Magnetic Cat with [WASD] or the [arrow keys], with [up], [W] or [spacebar] to jump. With the mouse, click metallic blocks to magnetize them. Magnetic blocks attract The Magnetic Cat horizontally and vertically, and using this force will allows him to avoid obstacles. Keep in mind that while magnets can keep The Magnetic Cat clung to the ceiling, metal blocks are slippery, and magnetism is not enough to keep you from sliding down walls. Click a magnetized block once again to demagnetize it. You may magnetize up to three blocks at a time, but the more blocks currently magnetized, the smaller the range of their attraction will be. Later levels will feature Metal Crates and Keys affected by magnetism, along with the usual collection of spikes, lava, slicing saws, and acid pits.

The Magnetic Cat should prove a treat for all fans of puzzle platformers. The central magnet mechanic is well-conceived, and the levels are designed well enough to allow multiple equally-satisfying solutions. The implementation could be a little bit better. While individually clicking and unclicking boxes works fine for most levels, it's kind of awkward when the puzzle requires specific timing. It would feel more natural for, when three boxes are already activated and another one is clicked, the least recent one to automatically deactivate (while still allowing you to click and unclick boxes manually). Also, there should be a way to deactivate the magnetized boxes that have crossed the border of the screen without resetting the level, either by allowing free-scrolling or by the afformentioned suggestion. That said, these minor issues are easy to get used to, especially when balanced against the game's charms. Have fun with Magnetic Cat watching you cogitate!

Play The Magnetic Cat

The following is a selection of favorite games compiled and reviewed by JIG community member, Luthy:

I love and play a variety of types of games. Some players only play escape-the-room games (and are really good at them), some only play arcade games (and are likewise excellent at them). I tend to play whatever strikes my fancy at the time, and so while I'm not as good at any of them, I get to enjoy a wide variety of games. In choosing my favorites, I've tried to represent a variety of genres, with a variety of different looks. What I think binds these games together is more a feel, or a sense of whimsy and nostalgia. I'd love to jump into any of these games and live there for a while, and all of these games have the potential to make me feel. None of them are super-challenging, but I don't necessarily consider difficulty to be a hallmark of quality. I hope this small collection of games can make your day just a little bit brighter.

• Treasure Adventure Game - This game has already gotten a lot of press, but I had to include it because it's one of the best games I've ever played. (No, really.) Despite the pixelly art, this is one of the most immersive worlds I've ever had the pleasure of playing around in. You play a boy who has forgotten his past, and wants to go on an adventure. Gather up a few items on your home island (you can't sail without a, well, sail!) and head off. Along the way, you'll discover an important quest, fight monsters, meet all kinds of creatures and embark on many sidequests (who doesn't want to save a poor sick mouse)? All in all, the game offers hours and hours of questing fun, and the best part is, you always feel at least semi- in charge of your own destiny. There are enough different paths to take through the game that you are never going to feel bored. And something about the world is strangely touching — just try playing this game and not feeling a little wistfulness at the fact that it doesn't actually exist. (I want to live in the boy's little house by the sea!)
• Escape from the Lodge - Tesshi-e has produced hundreds of escape games, but Escape from the Lodge was the first of theirs I ever played. To this day, having played the vast majority of them, I consider it one of the best. The visuals are clean and attractive, as always, but the stand-out feature of this escape game is the puzzles. Some are easy, some are more challenging, but they are all consistently logical. Nothing requires a ridiculous leap to come to (with the possible exception of the construction aspect, if you aren't expecting it, as I wasn't the first time — but a little experimentation should make that simple to figure out as well). The ambience is fantastic, the music sets the mood perfectly, and what's not to love about having a cup of coffee under the stars? Talk about a sense of peace! Like many Tesshi-e games, this one does have a Happy Coin ending, but unlike most, I actually prefer the regular ending to this one. Try them both and enjoy!
• Bloom Defender - Bloom Defender is far from being the best tower defense game out there. It's not even the best with a "cute" aesthetic (can any game ever beat Kingdom Rush in that category?). But protecting your little Mother Tree from the corrupted spirits is strangely compelling. As in any tower defense game, you have a choice of tower types, but where Bloom Defender stands out is its elemental system. Your defenders have to do their jobs, of course, but you also have an arsenal of spells that you will be deploying pretty constantly — a freezing ice spell, a burning fire spell — and these spells have different effects on different spirits. If you freeze a fire spirit, great! They're weak against ice. But if you try to freeze an ice spirit, well... they'll speed right up, making defending against them even more difficult. Burn a fire spirit? Better watch out, it restores a bunch of health. Bloom Defender is pretty easy to pick up, but provides hours of fun battling corrupted spirits until you get your spell timing juuuust right. The whole world is cheery and lighthearted (you don't kill evil spirits, simply cleanse them) and did I mention your defenders are trees? Enjoy the colorful graphics and engrossing gameplay.
• The Book of Living Magic - Have you ever had one of those dreams that is so surreal and fantastical that even as you're dreaming you half-know it can't be real, but is at the same time internally coherent to the point where you wonder how you could have possibly made it up? The Book of Living Magic is a point-and-click game that's just like one of those dreams. (There's a man who lives in a bottle? Well, why not?) Journey to the Land of Dreams (it all makes sense now, huh?) and search for the Book of Living Magic. As you travel, don't forget to click on everything — literally, everything you see on screen — because 99% of the things you click on have unique descriptions, which are illuminating and often hilarious. You could finish this game in no time, but you'd miss out on so much. Ultimately, The Book of Living Magic is much deeper than it appears, and offers a look into dreams and reality, and the impossibility of a "mundane" life. Lighter than some of the creator's other works, it still maintains just enough darkness to make it realistic (inasmuch as a game with hand-drawn marker graphics can be realistic). This game is practically the definition of whimsy. If you liked the book The Phantom Tollbooth, you'll love this.

While we welcome any comments about this particular selection of games, we do ask that if you need any help with individual games, or wish to comment on the games featured here, please post your questions and comments on the respective game's review page.

There are those that say that standards of spelling and grammar are vital to proper communication; that without following them, untold consequences of miscommunication will result. Others hold that only the content of ideas that matter, and that fascist adherence to arbitrary rules misses the forest for the trees. However, Witherworth University Professor Nathaniel Paynuss takes a third tack: that proof-reading is meant to be a weapon to get back at those snotty collegiate brats making fun of him on "The Face Book". In First Person Tutor, an, uh, "educational" arcade word game developed by Big Blue Boo Labs for the 7 Day FPS Game Jam, you play the role of beleaguered TA to the evil professor, held captive by a huge pile of student debt. You have a stack of papers to mark, and a score of professorial grudges Paynuss would be happy to settle by GPA proxy. You know what you need to do.

Using the mouse, scan the submitted paper and mark off all spelling and grammar mistakes by clicking. Move up and down the page by directing the mouse, or use the [WASD] or [arrow] keys. Each mistake spotted will lower the student's grade by a certain amount, with quick spotting leading to combos. Your boss will be vaguely satisfied with handing out a C-, but true success will only come by delivering a total failure. The inherent premise of First Person Tutor should appeal many on the internet, but its dark satire of college politics should give it wider appeal. The papers cover a nice variety of Wikipedia-swiped topics, though one suspects that the more esoteric errors true grammarians may spot may not be recognized. (Curse you dangling participles!) Still, the concept is so unique, and the presentation so polished for a Game Jam work, that players will be surprised how fun it is to get a high score by giving out low ones.

Play First Person Tutor

Playing an escape-the-room game isn't all about the literal puzzling through four walls and a locked door—the figurative escape is just as meaningful. For that, we look to games that leave us feeling bright and sunny, with a tap in our toes and a tune on our lips. That's exactly what Fuwayara's Raincoat Escape does best with its oh-so-cute story, chimey music and gentle puzzles; it'll chase away those dark clouds in no time.

Like most escape games, play Raincoat Escape by clicking around the room, finding helpful clues and deciphering them into puzzle solutions. Objects you pick up are kept in the inventory sidebar where you can select to use or examine more closely with "about item". Although the cursor does change, the design is clean enough to eliminate pixel hunting on its own. Being on the easier side, Raincoat Escape makes a perfect short intermission—like a big ray of happy—in your day.

Play Raincoat Escape

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When you see the name Bounzy 2 you may not at first realize what you're getting into as you click on the title. Maybe it's about bunnies or really awesome bouncy balls attacking space. Alas, you fluffy loving person you, this physics projectile game (made by Petre Vlad and Rocanten) is filled with some zombies who are in need of a good old fashioned bullet to the head. Your mouse will aim your gun, grenade, or missile, and you click to shoot the projectile off. Bullets bounce off silver surfaces and can explode barrels upon contact. Grenades and missiles are useful for zombies that are either impossible to reach with a bullet or need a little extra fire power to kill. If you're lucky, you might even encounter stages with mechanisms that can be triggered to bring your undead foes to an even nastier end. Oh, and watch out for chickens. We hate chickens.

While the missile mechanic feels a bit touchy at first once you practice more it becomes much simpler and reliable. As if 60 innovative levels full of zombie exploding fun wasn't enough, there are achievements to be earned and chickens that you can kill. Even though the zombies don't make any vicious attempts to eat your brains you won't be without a certain level of gore to accommodate your desire for carnage. A zombie plus an enclosed space plus a grenade equals a very messy clean-up for some poor janitor.

Play Bounzy 2

Even more difficult than creating an exciting, logical, entertaining full size room escape is the art of creating a mini-escape, one that has less locations and puzzles yet still encapsulates the challenge and excitement of a larger game. Robamimi manages this balancing act in their One Scene escape games, and TomaTea can as well as with their 5 minute escapes. Isn't it lucky, then, that TomaTea has just released another? Say hello to Blue Sunset.

Similar to their previous 5 minute escape, Waiting for the Sun, Blue Sunset doesn't have a deliberate theme like their larger escapes have. What Blue Sunset does contain are features common to all TomaTea escapes: lovely serene backgrounds, charming music, challenging puzzles, a gently glowing changing cursor, easy navigation, and a lock on any puzzle where you haven't yet seen the clue. With a nicely balanced mix of logic problems, use of found objects, and at least one color-based puzzle, Blue Sunset is a perfectly delectable mini-escape treat.

Play Blue Sunset

As a child, do you remember those polyurethane bags of green, plastic army men that you could purchase for around a dollar at any drug or discount store? Being part of pop culture as they are, they have shown up a few times over the years in all sorts of modern media, and BeGamer's newest point-and-click puzzle, Soldier Diary, is the newest entry into the milieu. You are a footsoldier in the heroic green army, currently detained in prison by the evil red army. Use your cunning, skills, and logic to click around the area, so you can alert your allies to send help, and get you out from behind enemy lines.

If you are familiar with BeGamer's offerings in the past, you will probably find that these puzzles are a bit more slick and polished, offering a bit more of a mental challenge than some of their prior games have. Part of that complexity is that on some levels, your avatar can get shot, and die, so keep your head down, and your thinking cap on. If you find yourself at a place where it seems that the next logical step is to jump, or climb, make sure you look closely at your surroundings. If you are looking for a five to ten minute diversion, then you will probably enjoy Soldier Diary. If for no other reason, play it in memory of all the other green army men that have fallen in the line of duty, and met their gruesome end from being melted with a magnifying glass, in the rays of a summer sun. You CAN get this soldier back to safety.

Play Soldier Diary

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Doctor Photon isn't entirely sure why he agreed to babysit. He has a lot of research to do, and isn't particularly great with kids. At least the tyke seemed to settle down once he got his hands on that mysteriously glowing octahedron. But, wouldn't you know it, a vampire bat broke through the window and abducted both kid and crystal to the local spooky castle. Years of research could go down the tubes if he doesn't get that crystal back! And, uh, the tot might get hurt too! Grab your Photonic Laser Blaster, and get ready to bring a little light to the creatures of the dark in Photon Baby, a genre-busting platformer by Jeremias Babini.

Move the Doctor with [WASD], and move and click the mouse to aim and fire a photonic blast. You beat each level by defeating all the enemies within it. However, each monster can only be defeated by a certain color of blast, assigned by reflecting blasts off of various surfaces. These include mirrors upon which you can change the reflecting color by crouching down next to them with [S]. [Spacebar] is used to redirect the blast towards your mouse crosshairs for more precise aiming. Later levels will require you to bounce your blasts off of multiple mirrors to get the proper color, and the RGB formulas required will be displayed when one pauses the game with [P]. Watch out for transparent surfaces, spikes, bouncing skulls, and the entire cast of Universal Horror!

Drawing inspiration from all manner of genres, Photon Baby is a unique little creation. The pixelated graphics and comically ghoulish atmosphere is reminds one of the 16-Bit classic Zombies Ate My Neighbors. However, Photon Baby's gameplay owes just as much to laser and gravity-based physics games, though with a decidedly more actiony slant. Truth be told, sometimes the different play-styles compete rather than cooperate, making for a few especially busy levels later on. That said, there's nothing quite as exhilarating as when a developer has genuinely thought through their game's premise, and are willing to explore it from every angle. That individual levels might have come from entirely different games, but still feel a natural progression, is to Photon Baby's credit.

With its climatic boss battles and entertaining ending sequence, Photon Baby is a very satisfying game from start to finish. It's a work that attempts a lot, and generally succeeds, especially in capturing the particular challenge and charm of a mid-nineties arcade hit that never was. If you're the kind of gamer who wished Halloween lasted all year, Photon Baby is sure to bring a little color to your day.

Play Photon Baby

Deep inside all of us, there's a brilliant tactician yearning to break free and conquer the gaming world one carefully placed unit or well thought-out move at a time. But even if, like me, you're a little more Leeroy Jenkins than Sun Tzu and you'd need an excavator to find any secret lurking strategists in your psyche, that's no reason not to enjoy the games that get you thinking! Here are three of our favourite strategic titles you don't need a degree to get addicted to.

• Lock 'n' Roll - James Prucey and Sean Hawkes' fiendishly simple puzzler is something you try to forget... not because it isn't good, but because if it gets its hooks into you, it's one of those effortlessly addictive little gems you might find yourself orbiting back to when you should be taking care of other priorities. All you have to do is place dice down in certain row combinations, such as colour or number, and keep going for as long as you can without locking up the board. Sounds easy? Sounds easy, yeah, sure, but Lock 'n' Roll's simple premise and gameplay delivers a remarkably compulsive challenge that's just perfect for endlessly procrastinating.
• Super Energy Apocalypse - Basically, Lars A. Doucet does terrible, wonderful things to your free time, and this entry into our 5th Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a prime example. I mean, come on... strategy... upgrades... zombies. Yes, it seems the world has (once again) succumbed to an undead apocalypse, but that's only an issue if you don't have upgradeable turrets and massive heavy weapons at your command. And really, what sensible household doesn't? With a fantastically camp design and clever gameplay that revolves around corpses and pollution, it's easy to see why this real-time strategy game can suck you in for a good long time.
• Bubble Tanks Tower Defense - Tower defense games aren't always welcomed with open arms, but Hero Interactive managed to crack the code for wonderfulness in this squeaky clean title. With its clean visual style and soothing soundtrack, it doesn't look particularly threatening, but make no mistake... there's a challenge to be had here. Unlike most tower defense games, Bubble Tanks allows you to place your defenses virtually anywhere you like, allowing you to manipulate the environment and the flow of your enemies to your advantage... if you're clever enough, that is. Levels get harder and more elaborate as you progress, and you'll have to make careful use of your upgrades and precious bubbles to succeed. It's a surprisingly robust game with a lot of depth that makes it the perfect choice to sink into for a while... not unlike a warm bubble-bath!

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!

Mobile developer Orangepixel has made a name for itself by crafting unique action arcade games that go to great lengths to tickle that nostalgic gaming bone of ours. Two of our secret favorite examples include Stardash and Meganoid. With the team's latest release, Chrono & Cash, a single-screen loot gathering game that challenges you to grab the gold while avoiding the baddies that constantly stream from the doors. It's a bit like the original Mario Bros. (not Super Mario Bros., mind you) mixed with a little Super Crate Box, and it's a great fit for an on-the-go arcade fix.

The idea is a rather simple one: get the loot, don't get hit, continue until you die! Each stage is laid out with multiple collectible valuables, be they bags of cash, rare gems, or other themed treasures. Using just a few virtual buttons for moving left and right and jumping, you must work your way up the platforms, dodging enemies that pop out of doors along the way. Some of these bad guys are pretty rough, and some stages have traps in addition to mobile enemies, so if you think you've got an easy task ahead of you, it'll only take a few levels to prove you wrong.

Chrono & Cash is strongly rooted in arcade-style gameplay, giving you a few lives to work with and allowing you to progress through the levels only if you can stay alive long enough. There are challenges you can complete along the way, such as gathering the gold in the proper sequence or beating a level without getting hit, and the rewards are both points-based and cosmetic item-based, giving you a dual sort of incentive to keep plugging away. Apart from this, your own personal drive is what will keep you playing Chrono & Cash, as it's definitely a high score-oriented game. But it's an inviting, easily playable, and wonderfully varied one at that!

Chrono & Cash

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Chrono & Cash

(Android)

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.

Taking a few cues from classic animated games like Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, The Act from React Entertainment puts you in the clumsy shoes of Edgar, the humble window washer who has to save his job, rescue his brother, and pretend to be a doctor, all while doing his best to get the girl in the end. How does he do all of this? Not with style or finesse, but with blind luck. And a little help from your iPhone swiping skills!

The Act both looks and feels like a classic cartoon, complete with over the top physical gags, a clueless protagonist, and crazy situations that you'd never find in real life. At certain points in the story, the action switches from movie to a game scene. Here, your goal is to help Edgar make the best of his current situation, whether that be wooing the lovely Sylvia or cooling the temper of an angry boss. When the action begins, pay close attention to Edgar's movements and how each character reacts to his mood. Body language is key!

You accomplish all of these tasks by balancing Edgar's show of emotions between timidness and brashness. Swiping left on the screen makes Edgar back off from the situation, often inviting the other character he's interacting with to step forward. Swiping right encourages Edgar to be bold, a move you have to carefully meter lest you frighten the other party away. If you fail three times in a scene, you have to restart it. You don't lose any progress, but if you want Edgar's day to be as perfect as possible, failure is not an option!

Analysis: The Act is short, featuring only about half an hour of gameplay, not including any replays you might be inclined to do. This might make you turn your nose and look elsewhere for a longer experience, but don't mistake brevity for a lack of quality. In its short time on your screen, The Act will capture your attention and turn you into a detail hound, scrutinizing the characters you see while you root for Edgar the underdog. And even when the end credits roll, you'll sit back, appreciate the experience, and hope React Entertainment delivers more in the future!

The Act takes a huge risk by ditching any sort of heads-up display, leaving you alone with invisible controls that directly affect Edgar's interactions with the world. While this makes things a bit more like guesswork than precision gaming, it also allows you to focus on the characters themselves, reading their body language and trying your best to be a socially aware cluemaster. This "blind" gameplay does have a few drawbacks, especially in those scenes where you'll fumble and fumble without knowing exactly what to do, but in the end, The Act is a better experience because of its invisible input. Interacting with people is not an exact science, and The Act mimics the real life interplay of emotions quite well, even in its quirky cartoon setting.

The Act is a game you want to experience at least once. The animations are fluid and detailed, the story is quirky and interesting, and the gameplay elements, while minimal, are subtle and meaningful. It's not an in-your-face modern gaming experience where you get to smash buttons to destroy things, but it does manage to convey subtle emotions and encourage you to interact with virtual characters appropriately, adding a wonderful layer of immersion that's quite rare in games today.

The Act

(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.

We have created this special page for community members to swap and trade aircraft parts and Game Center friend codes. Feel free to post requests for parts and replies to existing comments for trading on this page only.

If you are looking for our Pocket Planes Strategy Guide, Hints and Tips Walkthrough, or our Pocket Planes Review, or have general questions or comments about the game not related to trading parts, be sure to visit that page and post your comments there instead.

Drawing has always been a nice way to pass time, whether it's for art or simple doodling during a dull class. Now games are taking that doodling boredom and channeling it into games that everyone, even your decrepit granny, can play. So to help advance your drawing prowess I present to you Draw a Line, an addictively cute physics puzzle game by Fun Instinct that allows for quite a bit of innovation. Just hold down the left mouse button to draw a line around the faces, and then hit "Go" to see if your walls and paths meet the needs of each little person without touching one of them or itself. There are the happy faces that want somewhere nice to sit and can also collect bonus stars, angry faces that want to get off the screen at all cost, and sad faces that desperately want a fellow sad friend to be next to them. (Misery loves company.) It may start off simple, but soon you'll have gravity and bubbles to contend with in your quest to please everyone.

The only negative thing I can possibly think to say is that there are no unicorns in this game. All kidding aside, something I found frustrating about the game was the need to collect twenty-four stars in order to unlock the hard levels. Still, this is a minor squabble since collecting stars isn't difficult, it merely requires more creativity with your line drawing. Draw a Line is the perfect way to cure the doodle craving in all of us, as well as add some cheer with all the smiles.

Play Draw a Line

Oscura is a dark and shadowy mobile platform game created by Chocolate LIberation Front. The silhouette-based visuals might remind you of games like LIMBO, but Oscura is much more grounded in action, preferring exaggerated leaps over more limited, realistic physics. Some of the levels feature horribly frightening phantasms, not all of which come in the form of moving enemies. But the visual design is one of Oscura's strong points, and you'll find it's both a graphical treat as well as a platform player's dream.

A lighthouse burns in the darkness, keeping the Dark Creatures at bay with its ray of light. But when the power crystal explodes, sending shards across the island, the invisible terrors that once lived in the shadows step forward. Controlling a spindly little character with a glowing hand, your job is to collect fragments of light so you can chase evil from the land. As soon as you see some of the nightmares that are running amok, you'll be sure vanquishing them is a very good idea. Your powers are fairly limited, but you do have a useful time-slowing ability that can be unleashed to help you work through difficult parts of a stage.

Oscura features a good (albeit short) set of levels that focus on action and item collection. The enemies are largely meant to be avoided, and some of them even give chase, which is a terrifying ordeal every time it happens. The game relies on atmosphere and mood, and because of its luxurious visuals, it absolutely succeeds on both fronts. It might come as a surprise, but Oscura is one of the rare platform games that works well on a buttonless mobile device. Part of this is the game's overall design, but part is the unique control set-up that is more user-centric instead of plain old virtual buttons. You can swap the controls in the options menu, but the default settings work wonders once you get used to them.

Oscura is best played in the dark. With a stuffed animal nearby. And a flashlight, just in case you really start wondering what's hiding behind the shadows in your room.

Oscura

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Oscura

(Android)

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 number of "just one more round" games on mobile devices has increased dramatically since Jetpack Joyride gained its popularity (see the browser release Chuck the Sheep for another fine example). Each one features short stages, upgradeable abilities, in-game currency that can either be collected while you play or boosted with in-app purchases, and simple gameplay that grabs you within seconds of starting. Dragon Flight is one such game, though instead of going the route of sidescrolling arcade game, developer NextFloor plops you on a dragon for a vertical shooter that even casual fans can enjoy and (eventually) master!

To play, all you have to do is slide your finger back and forth on the screen, maneuvering the dragon to spread its auto-fire attacks around and to avoid enemies and dangers that slip by the bullets. Baddies come in horizontal waves, forcing you to punch a hole in their defenses so you can slide by. Defeating enemies gives you coins, gems, and occasionally temporary power boosters such as double shots, distance boosts, and so on. You also have to be on the lookout for meteors, as they can't be destroyed and will put an end to your flight faster than you can say "dragons are better than meteors"!

Each time you play, fight, and die, you visit the game's shop where you can purchase items in exchange for coins. In-app purchases allow you to fill your purse with very little effort, though it's worth noting that one or two of these boosters goes a very long way. Enemies gradually get tougher as you survive the waves and travel further in the sky, and the dangers get more frequent and more difficult to avoid.

The comparisons to Jetpack Joyride and its ilk are inevitable, but Dragon Flight is far simpler than these games. There are only a few power-ups you can invest in, only one of which is a permanent upgrade. Also lacking are challenge missions to complete, it's just wave after wave of enemies over a variety of backdrops. A little more repetitive than you might expect, but the same level of pure addictiveness is still present. As an added bonus, even if you're not a fan of shmups, you'll enjoy Dragon Flight. It was made for the casual mobile player!

Cthulhu saves the what now? Something about a penny arcade? Er, well, yeah, close enough. Lots of strategy and RPG news in this edition of Mobile Monday. Not exactly the traditional mobile genres, but with portable devices rapidly turning into "serious" gaming machines, we've got to get a little more serious about our mobile games, don't we?

Frozen Synapse slides along - The stylish indie strategy game Frozen Synapse is on its way to iPad, and developer Mode 7 says the port is moving along at a nice pace. Fans of the Mac/PC version of the game have almost universally praised it as the most perfect tactical game in existence, and that's saying something when you look at the long line of strategy games that have come before it. Look for Frozen Synapse iOS later this year, touch screen ready!

Cthulhu Saves the (mobile) World - Zeboyd Games is on a roll. Getting ready to release the third episode of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness in just a few days, the team (along with TinkerHouse Games) has also readied a new mobile port for us to devour. Cthulhu Saves the World is on its way to iOS and Android platforms very soon! The game is a straight-up retro RPG party with 16-bit era influences all over the place, putting you in control of a crippled Cthulhu trying to become a hero. It's every bit as fantastic as Breath of Death VII, and having a mobile port is a dangerous thing for your productivity. The release is set for June 28!

Cubemen goes portable - Launching earlier this year, Cubemen took tower defense gaming to an interesting level, ditching most of the fluffy story elements we've come to expect from our games and instead opting for a purely tactical gaming experience. Recently, developer 3 Sprockets launched Cubemen for iPad 2 and above, and to make it nice and clear for you, if you own the appropriate device, this is a game you want to play. It pretty much features everything you could want from a tower defense game, including multiple modes for single player and multiplayer support that spans platforms!

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!

Deep within the spaceship, a lowly garbage worker tosses clumps of trash into the incinerator. Outside, asteroids begin pelting the hull, eventually causing the ship to crash on an uncharted planet filled with strange creatures. And now you, lone survivor, must explore and fight your way through an intricate maze-like world as you gather power-ups, fight bosses, and collect every little green square you see. In Wade McGillis's downloadable and mobile game Astronot, you get a good strong dose of pure retro metroidvania-style platform adventuring, and you'll love every minute of stranded torture it brings you.

The controls are very simple, no matter which version you prefer. Move left and right, either with the [arrow] keys or the virtual buttons on mobile devices, jump with [up], fire your little peashooter weapon with [X], and pause the game with [ESC] to check out stats or fiddle with the options. If you go for the download, you can customize the keyboard to work with your preferences, but even with a touch screen's controls, moving around the alien world is no sweat!

Astronot plays out like a typical metroidvania game, allowing you to roam an impressively large world filled with branching paths, interconnected tunnels, enemies, and traps. There are a few bosses to battle with and a handful of power-ups to collect as well, though you'll find they are few and far between, making most of the game feel bare and frightening, just like you'd feel if you were stranded on an alien world. The sense of danger is quite real, and since your moves and weapons are limited, your wits end up being your main tool for survival. These aliens do some serious damage, and it's not like there are recharge stations planted at the end of every tunnel.

Analysis: Astronot is an experience in minimalism on every front, from the plain pixel visuals to the background music which is basically just looping clips of chip tune sound effects. The gameplay itself is similarly stark. Instead of giving your character every ability under the platform adventuring sun, you're limited to the extreme basics and must rely on your own skills to stay alive. Even better, the game lacks any sort of map, so if you want to see the end of the game in one piece, you'd better have a good memory.

The downloadable versions of Astronot are mostly identical to the mobile port, though the controls are more responsive thanks to the presence of physical buttons. The full version also comes with a level editor, with the promise of an in-game method for sharing user-created stages in the future. The mobile versions have a shrunken screen to accommodate the virtual controls, which, while not really detracting from the game, gives it a somewhat cramped feeling.

Astronot fills a very specific niche: nostalgic players who want a challenging game where the main point isn't constant power-ups or a high five every time you do the equivalent of taking a digital breath. For this reason, not everyone will find a welcoming home with this game. It's definitely designed to give fans of the genre a more atmospheric and intelligent challenge.

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo Get the full version

Astronot Lite

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Astronot

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

What could be worse than some cretin named Big (who also happens to be your brother) stealing the pair of mystical underpants left by your departed grandfather? Nothing, as far as the folks at Black Pants Studio are concerned. With the team's first release, the sandbox-oriented action and physics game Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers, we get to see just what happens when you give a guy a raygun, a grapple-device, and unlimited rockets, then turn him loose in a sun-parched ruined desert world to find his pants-thieving brother. To put if briefly: a whole lotta rocks will get sliced, tossed, juggled, and destroyed.

In Tiny and Big, you control Tiny, a goggle-wearing protagonist with a few helpful stone-manipulating tools at his disposal. For starters, there's the laser, a weapon that can be used to slice just about any rock surface you see in the game. Think of it like Nitrome's Ice Breaker games, only in 3D where you have to manipulate those rock chunks in order to progress. To help you push stones around, you're also armed with rockets, which latch on to and shove stones at your discretion, and a grapple tool that allows you to nab and tug movable rocks wherever you please. Those are in addition to your basic walking, jumping, and pushing skills, which Tiny uses at every single turn just to move through this ruined, pillar-filled world.

Bounding around the world, you'll complete stage after stage of puzzles that are equal parts head scratching and reflex testing in nature. Although the setting remains largely the same (a bright, desert world), you'll run through outdoor environments, ancient temples, and even carve your way through a giant statue's teeth. Further diversifying the slice-n-jump experience, Big shows up from time to time and decides to lob heavy objects at you, forcing you to deal with both the terrain and your troublesome brother at the same time. You'll need to master quick-draw raygun skills to survive, and a little luck never hurts, either!

Analysis: Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers is nothing short of a creative, charming sort of game. The levels are filled with secrets and collectible items, including "boring stones" to hunt down, cassette tapes that add to your soundtrack collection, and hidden rooms with some surprising secrets inside. Tiny and Big creates a grand sense of freedom since you can slice and manipulate most of the game world, but there's also the added challenge of running through the stages to earn achievements, many of which encourage you to be thrifty with your raygun and work quickly to cross the terrain.

One cannot simply review Tiny and Big without gushing over the graphic novel-style visuals. The hand-drawn scenes look absolutely stunning, even in motion, and the characters are almost parodies of themselves, a fact you might have guessed from the game's initial story set-up. The music is also spectacular, and you can even buy the soundtrack, which features tracks from over 15 different bands!

Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers does suffer from a few tiny setbacks, but nothing that ultimately scars the overall experience. For starters, note that the game ends after half a dozen levels (not including the tutorial or the arcade mini-games you can unearth), meaning you could blast through the experience from beginning to end in about three or four hours. That's longer than many casual games these days, and Tiny and Big is priced accordingly, so you definitely don't feel like you missed out on something when you reach the end. You just want more, because what's there is so utterly grand. A quicksave function would also be a nice addition. Even though the automatic checkpoints are frequent, when you're hunting for items to get that 100% ranking, you can't always re-do some of the crazy stunts you pulled off the first time around.

Although the quality isn't quite as polished as Grandpas Leftovers, if you're curious about the game's mechanics and want to try a demo of sorts before you buy, Tiny and Big: Up that Mountain is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. It's only one level long, but it'll introduce the concept of laser cutting and grappling so you can see how serious the development team is about getting the gameplay just right.

Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers is an imaginative, quirky, and captivating game. It falls on the short side, which is unfortunate but not a deal breaker, but there's plenty of incentive to replay levels or just treat the whole thing as one big creative sandbox. Cutting, tugging, and rocketing gigantic stones is just as much fun as you'd imagine it would be!

Windows:
Get the full version Get the full version from GOG.com (includes bonus downloads)

Mac OS X:
Get the full version

Linux:
Get the full version

Long has it been dictated that a woman in a fairy tale had better be either beautiful, meek, humble as apple pie, or a mix thereof. Someone hates her, a prince wants to save her, and some sparkly fairy dust is going to cause some type of dilemma. Throughout it all, this princess is going to hmmm and sigh but ultimately go along with the ride because, hey, she's a damsel in distress and you best not forget it! Fortunately for us, MoaCube didn't just forget it, they threw it out of the proverbial tower turret to the alligator infested moat below. In the team's dazzling visual novel Cinders, they charge headfirst into the outdated and come out the other side with brand spanking shiny and new.

While this game is based on the story of Cinderella, MoaCube has given her a rebellious streak and a tendency to wax philosophical. Cinders is a modern day story book with the addition of choices and a few new faces to the cast of this beloved fairy tale. Each decision will effect personal relationships and your ultimate ending, as well as possibly earn you trophies. In the dialogue when you come to a point of speech that has been affected by a previous choice, a flowering vine will appear in the upper right corner. At any time during your play you can hit [esc] or right click to bring up the menu where you can save your game, change screen size, adjust sound and music volume, and quit to the menu. Hitting the [up] arrow key rewinds the text, while [ctrl] skips through previously viewed passages.

Analysis: It's important to emphasize the novel part of the visual novel description. Cinders is much like reading a book, only you have a myriad of choices and the ability to change the outcome of your happily ever after. While there are a whopping 120 instances where you get to choose your own path, sometimes it feels like it's too few and far between and only occurs in chunks after mass amounts of text. Don't start thinking that there's not much room for maneuverability though. There's multiple different endings and personal relationships that can be built through the course of the game.

Now, first and foremost, it's absolutely necessary to mention how unbelievably gorgeous the scenes are for this game.From the town to the forest, artist Gracjana Zielinska has given players a stunning and breathtaking backdrop to be mesmerized by as you guide Cinders through her chaotic struggle to find freedom and independence. To further the beauty of this game is a soundtrack crafted by Rob Westwood that heightens every point, whether low or high. The story, while not new, takes an amazing twist with having Cinders being more than an unwilling slave in her own home. Instead she faces the perils of adulthood and learning the difference between the joy and price of freedom, the cost of duty, and what independence really means in a world of sacrifice and secrets. It makes all those CW teen dramas look pale and whiny in comparison.

Even if you're not the biggest fan of the fairy tale side of things, or you aren't always keen on a female protagonist, push aside your aversion for a moment or two. Cinders offers hours of game play, and with a fair amount of possible endings, you'll find yourself going back to see all the paths you could have taken. All those what-if moments you have in your own life don't exist here because you can go back and fix any mistake you want. Now, there are no singing mice and there's sure as heck no bippity-boppity-booping, but that's part of the great lesson of the game. When do you let go of the fantasy of childhood and replace it with the harder lessons of being in reality? Maybe Cinders won't be the only one having an epiphany after the end of this game.

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo Get the full version

When you lose something valuable, how far will you go to get it back? In Peta Game's Shaban, a shepherd travels across vast ravines, haunted forests and snow-capped peaks to rescue his kidnapped flock. Along the way, he is daunted by the three invidious thieves who stole his sheep in the first place. Now, the little herdsman must repair destroyed conveyances, help villagers in rampaged towns, and fend off the villains outright attacks upon him.

Your role in this beguiling puzzle adventure game is to help the winsome pilgrim in his sheep recovery quest by solving a slew of thorny puzzles all while enjoying the hand-drawn watercolor surroundings and comic strip style narratives. Move about by pointing and clicking wherever you want to go—an arrow cursor indicates the entrance to a new scene, but otherwise, almost anywhere you click, the characters will follow. The cursor also changes to indicate interactive areas, anything worth a closer look, and items to pick up. A drop down inventory at the top keeps your possessions organized until you're ready to use or combine them.

The story mainly follows the young sheep herder but, for added cuteness, there are times when you play as his pet goat. In fact, some puzzles are only doable by the goat while others are more human friendly. You'll know this by each character's reaction to the puzzles they encounter. The puzzles and mini-games employ the same charm and artwork as the rest of the adventure and include such tasks as uncrossing wires, reassembling torn pictures, solving codes and completing fragmented object searches. There is little in the way of help, though; the "hint" button is just that: a subtle hint. Except in the case of the arcade-type mini-games, there is also no way to skip these puzzles. Even so, it doesn't take long to get the hang of things, and soon you'll be looking forward to the next challenge.

Analysis: Because both the sheep herder's story and the puzzle instructions are conveyed almost entirely through visuals, there is a meditative feel to Shaban. Most the appeal is in the game's unique style, beautiful design and endearing characters. The story and the gaming elements overlap so that the puzzles convey as much story as any narrative would. Similar to Albert Lamorisse's The Red Balloon, without the intrusion of verbal elements, the experience of playing Shaban becomes more absorbing and poignant.

Even the puzzle instructions (a.k.a. "hints") give little in the way of textual explanation. This might prove frustrating to those who are unaccustomed to this type of gameplay, but at the same time it will be a refreshing delight to those who like figuring things out on their own. Lateral thinking and keen eyesight are also leaned on heavily here. The reflex-based mini-games seem a bit out of place but are good for adding action to the adventure. The exception to the fun, from this reviewer's perspective, was an overly difficult fishing excursion, but it was nothing the "skip" button couldn't solve.

Another good way to describe Shaban is to compare it to Machinarium and The Tiny Bang Story. Still, it has a few more rough edges than those titles along with a distinct hand-made, artisan feel to it. While extremely appealing in both overall design and the unassisted challenge to the puzzles, Shaban tends to vacillate between awkward quirkiness and a quirky charm. Players who are impatient with the slow presentation or who take less stock in aesthetic qualities might not see its appeal. Give it a demo first, see what you think. This is a game that caters to those looking for something uniquely creative, uncommonly gorgeous and simply adora-baaahh!

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version

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

War, what is it good for? Well, if it's pigs at war, it might just be good for some bacon. Mmmmm, bacon. Play Kamikaze Pigs to see pigs in uniform in this chain-reaction game by MostroGames. You start the action by clicking your mouse to cause an explosion that roasts a few pigs. This can cause planes to crash or tanks to shoot among other things, which in turn hit other units on the board causing them to explode or shoot in some manner. Your goal is to clear as many units off the screen as you can with just that one click. The more you kill, the more stars you earn. The more stars you earn, the more bacon, er, upgrades you unlock. Some stars are also earned by colliding into them on the screen. Besides stars, you also need cash to purchase the upgrades. The amount you earn is based on how many pigs are destroyed.

You can go back to the map at any time to try to earn more stars on past levels. It can be difficult to get every star on a level and I personally found the bosses particularly challenging. It is therefore nice to have to option to reset your upgrades to try different strategies. With 40 levels and tons of upgrades to keep you busy, Kamikaze Pigs throws a deliciously quirky twist into the chain-reaction genre. And I think it only fair to warn you that the game may cause a serious bacon craving.

Play Kamikaze Pigs

It's best not to ask what those weird laser-emitting bricks in increpare's twisted Puzzles are supposed to represent. They might be mobile conveyor belts with razor blades on the edges that are deadly to the touch. They might be idols for pasta-based deities that inflict death on anyone who touches them with a murderous marinara attack (tuck your napkin in before you approach). Quite frankly, we just don't know.

What we can tell you is this: You've got to move from the entrance to the exit using the [arrow] keys. You can push blocks around the map, and you can even push multiple blocks at once. However, if you touch one of the laserbrick beams, the game will go grey, the exit will disappear, and you'll have to return to the starting point to reactivate the exit. But before you rush back to the start, perhaps there's something you could do to make your run easier the next time around, winkwinknudgenudge. There are eight levels to traverse, and discovering how objects react to the laserbricks is part of the mystery in these mind-bending Puzzles.

Play Puzzles

Windows:
Get the free full version

Mac OS X:
Get the free full version

From the world's favorite developer of quirky indie games, bentosmile, the EasyQuest series is a set of three tiny action RPG-style games that take place in the same setting with the same creatures and the same basic goal: save the world! You do this by defeating enemies that are weaker than you, running them over until they bite the dust. With each hit, you suffer damage, too, so you have to balance your attacks and seek healing potions only when they're absolutely necessary. It's a game of watching the numbers and being aggressive when it's a smart thing to do, and despite each game's short length, they're still a set of quests you'll love to undertake!

The first EasyQuest game puts you in the role of a sword-wielding hero, the second a slime, and the third a mage. Regardless of your character, the basic idea is the same: fight your way to the final boss, a really big enemy that sits in the same patch of forest in each installment. In order to beat the big bad guy, you'll need to have leveled all the way up, a feat accomplished by defeating every enemy in the game. Naturally, there's a strategy and an order to doing all of this, but if we talked too much about that, you'd miss out on the delicious 20 minutes of game time the EasyQuest series has to offer!

Play them in any order and beat them whenever you have a free chunk of time. EasyQuest is short, simple, and guilt-free entertainment when all you wanna do is beat up some bad guys and feel like a hero.

Windows:
Get the free full version (EasyQuest) Get the free full version (EasyQuest II: Slime's Revenge!) Get the free full version (EasyQuest III: Mage Story)

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

Congratulations! You're officially the worst babysitter ever. When Monica, the little girl you're supposed to be driving to her grandmother's house for a friend, gets kidnapped by evil forces in a gas station, you find yourself embroiled in one very strange family with a tragic past that just won't stay dead. Dark Alleys: Penumbra Motel is ERS Game Studio's first pure adventure game that attacks its horror with such high camp and magic ghost dogs that it never really becomes scary, but is still a gorgeous and engrossing creepy experience to sink into. Just remember kids... if you absolutely must go into dark gas stations by yourself, for the love of whatever don't wear pigtails, carry a teddy-bear, and skip as your primary means of transportation. It's like wearing a big sign that tells the universe "Please kidnap me!"

Penumbra Motel has three difficulty modes to choose from, though the gameplay is relatively constant throughout. You'll explore the area, gathering items you need to solve various puzzles or get past obstacles. Your diary will keep track of current events and goals, as well as any important clues you'll come across for future reference, and the handy-dandy magic television on the opposite side of the screen will let you get a hint when you're stuck or skip puzzles. Turns out the area has a rich history of military heroes, cultural significance, and murder, and some spirits don't lie quietly. If you want to rescue little Monica, you'll need to put on your thinking cap to solve a wide variety of problems and bizarre puzzles. Or maybe you could just pick up another kid from somewhere and her parents won't notice. Kids are like goldfish, right? You can't really tell them apart. It would save you a lot of trouble, and drastically reduce your odds of "bloody murder by vicious old man ghost".

Analysis: Unless you're the sort of person who is scared by Halloween masks and wondering who was phone, Dark Alleys: Penumbra Motel is too over-the-top goofy and gleeful to be scary. From the big, overly dramatic "evil dark lord" laughter to the seething masses of darkness and eyeballs blocking doorways, this game is a trip. Largely a pretty good one at that. The story is morbid, but so packed full of evil, wacky mysticism you really only have to worry about the occasional jump scare. The area designs are seriously creative, and a real joy to explore. Flickering lights, rich use of colour, otherworldly occurrences all combine to create an atmosphere reminiscent of a particularly surreal Tales from the Dark Side episode, and it's a lot of fun to experience even if it never feels particularly deep. It's the perfect choice for people looking for a really casual gaming experience with the sort of polish ERS delivers, but without all that hidden-object hunting you might not care for.

Since Penumbra Motel is essentially a straight-up adventure game with nothing so tedious as a hidden-object scene to bog you down, the gameplay moves at a brisk pace. Unfortunately, that also means you'll encounter a lot more frustrating adventure game concepts, like gathering up multiple items for a single task that shouldn't even be an obstacle to begin with, obscure object uses, and a lot of backtracking. Luckily, the game features a lot of puzzles and some fairly imaginative versions of them, leaving you challenged but rarely outright stymied. As an experimental foray into the world of straight adventuring, Dark Alleys: Penumbra Motel succeeds more than it fails and delivers a cheesy, highly detailed, cinematic experience fans of schlock horror will enjoy. As always, try the demo and see if it whets your appetite before you buy, but if you're a fan of ERS and are looking for something to fill four hours or so, you can do a lot worse than this campy adventure.

A Collector's Edition is also available. It contains a bonus chapter, art gallery, strategy guide, and more. 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

Hurry hurry hurry! You didn't think that just because this site is called Casual Gameplay you get to relax, do you? Constant vigilance! You'll need it, along with a quick mind and quicker fingers to tackle NinjaDoodle's latest ClickPLAY puzzle challenge, ClickPLAY Quickfire 1.

The goal, across a series of vastly different and weird levels, is to click the play button after completing each objective put before you. The faster you solve it, the more points you receive, but some levels also demand you finish them before the clock ticks down. It's another speedy, incredible adorable puzzle challenge from the masters of the genre, and while some players might not be fond of working under pressure, the slick design and clever concepts makes for a rewarding workout for your brain. Perhaps once you have completed it, you will have attained... unagi. In the meantime... HUT HUT HUT!

Play ClickPLAY Quickfire 1

For some reason the public has an inclination towards a fascination with death. Some prefer gore, while others are moved by an emotional, but dignified passing. Enter The Suspense II, a platform adventure game by Black Square where you can switch between life and death to possibly escape your own fate. Using your [arrow] keys to move, traverse each level to find the key to unlock the door to move on. In order to get this key you will have to switch between the realities of life and death by pressing [S]. As you go along you will meet people that you may greet by pressing the [spacebar], which also allows you to grab crates and move them, as well as use levers.

The most difficult part of this game is timing. During several levels you will have to switch between the two realities quickly in order to hop on a moving platform, and oft times this can be tricky to accomplish. However, it's not impossible and once you hop off that platform and retrieve a key you realize that by golly, you're awesome. The subtle difference between the worlds is pleasing to the eye and manages to be dark without feeling as if you entered a haunted house. Honestly, death never looked so good or seemed so fun.

Play The Suspense II

Gnomes are solitary, mysterious creatures who are rarely glimpsed nowadays. These shy magical beings may still roam their habitats of Scandinavia, Siberia, and Majorca, but very few are ever sighted, so it is a lucky person who can find one. What, you didn't know that gnomes lived in Majorca, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Mediterranean? Okay, so maybe they're not native, maybe they're just invading. Or, you know, on vacation. At any rate, if you play 10 Gnomes in Porto Petro, the latest point-and-click gnome adventure by Mateusz Skutnik, you will hopefully find one or more of these delightfully reclusive imps.

Yes, the gnomes are back and apparently looking for a break from the bleak cityscapes they've been inhabiting in the previous installments of 10 Gnomes. Instead you are faced with a lovely wilderness in which to navigate, clicking on areas to examine in closer and closer detail until you come across one of these creatures who are so carefully hidden. A 10 minute timer means that finding a gnome or two (or a random troll) is an exercise in patience and hidden object finding skill. Once again Mateusz Skutnik has provided an addictive and gorgeous little puzzler with the standard lovely black and white visuals set against a creepy soundtrack as you race to find all of those vacationing little folks before time runs out. Rejoice, for here is another adventure in advanced gnome finding.

Play 10 Gnomes in Porto Petro

Though one should strive to live without regrets, considering all the different paths a life might have taken is an inherently intriguing concept. What if I went to a different school? What if I had caught that train that I missed? What if I chose chocolate instead of vanilla at the ice cream parlor? Some games, like Alter Ego, attempt to analyze the psychology of our decisions and their consequences. By contrast, others like Relive Your Life, an interactive movie by FrozenFire, will start by fending off a competing sperm, before failing to acquire a preferred toy at recess kicks off a chain of events that leads to a nation-wide resurgence in nude bear-wrestling. And it'll rhyme too!

In each "stage" of Relive Your Life, the narrator will describe your status before transitioning to a decision or simple keyboard-based Quick Time Event minigame. Depending on your choices or minigame success, your life will evolve in different directions, eventually leading to one of twenty-nine different endings. Relive Your Life is a uniquely surreal and amusing experience with a nicely expressive stick-figure aesthetic. One can't help but think that Relive Your Life would be a stronger work if it was presented in a pure "choose your own adventure" style, rather than including the somewhat-forced minigames. Still, on the strength of the prose and Egoraptor's top-notch voice-acting, you'll want to Relive Your Life time and time again.

Play Relive Your Life

While the rest of my erstwhile fellow writers and even my employer have fallen prey to the productivity black hole of adorableness that is Pocket Planes, I remain committed to your entertainment! Yep, no procrastination or distractions for yours truly. 100% dedicated to you guys! So that's why this week we've got another contest for some fiiiiiiiine digital indie entertainment on top of the usual batch of previews.

CONTEST: Kids! How Do They Work? Ah, childhood. Running around pretending to be ponies. Imagining your pillow fort is a spaceship. Mom tossing you around hostile, dangerous environments like a squawling beanie baby. Gooooooood times. Kyle Pulver's indie platform adventure game Offspring Fling! is a gorgeous bundle of gaming love, and we want you to get the chance to play it! To win one of four free copies, just play the free flash demo and leave a comment telling us what you liked about it! Rules: Entries must be submitted by June 29th, 11:59 p.m. EST (GMT-5). Winners will be notified by e-mail shortly thereafter. Winners are selected randomly. One entry per person only. You must be at least 13 years of age or older to enter. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.

Vomit, Time Manipulation, and SPAAAAAAAAACE! It's a squishy, squelchy, star-swinging blast from the past! Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel are combining forces to release the tentatively titled Basement Collection. Due out on Steam for a measly $3.00USD, it'll include updated versions of fan-favourite McMillen titles Aether, Spewer, and Time Fcuk. Why would you pay for games you can play for free? Well, because you like supporting the developers who give you things for free, and also because these titles will include achievements and new content in addition to a sparkly new makeover. Sounds like value to me!

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY Ichi developers Stolen Couch Games are gunning for your free time in a serious way with the upcoming action adventure simulation tentatively titled The Village. Dubbed as a combo of The Sims, Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and even a sprinkling of The Legend of Zelda, the game is about life on an island full of strange characters. It looks gorgeous, and though firmer details such as platform and more specific gameplay are missing at this date, if they can deliver on the concept with that sense of style, they might just have a serious winner on hand. Stay tuned!

Mana From Metroidvania Heaven Hempuli has a knack for creating really clever games, so you should be excited about the upcoming Environmental Station Alpha, a classic retro Metroidvania game for Windows. It's about a floating space station original designed to preserve "unique environments" but was abandoned decades ago... though as you start receiving signals from the station, it becomes clear you need to investigate despite the danger. Though he might be worried that the game "isn't innovative or original", it still looks absolutely fantastic and should scratch the itch for some solid Samus-styled gaming. Development on the title is temporarily at a standstill, but the newly released trailer should serve to get you good and excited for it, and then we can all be insufferable and annoying together until it's released.

On the Precipice of Release When it looked like gaming pop culture icons Penny Arcade would never finish their stellar comedic RPG adventure episodic series after their alliance with Hothead Games fell apart, my heart broke into a billion little pieces. Then Zeboyd Games came along and suddenly the world seems bright and colourful again! The third installment of On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is releasing Monday June 25th on Steam, and as an added bonus first week purchases will even get a copy of Zeboyd's Cthulhu Saves the World. For fans of the series, this is great news, and if you like sly, dark humour, turn-based battling, and magical pee weapons you'll definitely want to check this out.

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!

If you were king and zombies were approaching, the logical approach would be to send out your army to wipe out the threatening horde. Not if you're the king in Zombie at the Gates, a defense game by Ridlake. If you are this particular king, you decide the best defense is to collect resources to upgrade your castle to a flying castle and float away from the monsters. All by yourself.

Your king starts out with a measly stick to fend off approaching zombies, as well as a stomping attack that can stun your opponents for a short time. Use the [arrow] keys or [A] and [D] to move around. Your ground pound is done by tapping the down [arrow] or [S] key twice quickly. Your weapon is used to attack, but also to harvest rocks, wood, wool, and money out of surrounding resource nodes or crates. As you wander the castle grounds, zombies pop up out of the ground and attack you. Finding the balance between killing them while also collecting resources is the key to the game. The round ends when you kill the last zombie, even if you haven't had a chance to collect everything. The more you collect, the faster you can get out of there!

The zombies get tougher as you go along, so it's a good thing you have the option to upgrade yourself and your weapons. When did zombies learn to wield spears?! You can eventually get a sword instead of a stick, and a bow is available for ranged attack. The king himself can also be upgraded with a faster walking speed and health. The playing field increases as you progress as well, with safe spots in the middle you can duck into if you get overwhelmed.

Your castle upgrades automatically depending on which resources you pick up. Eventually it does get a couple of arrow towers, but they aren't as much help as you'd like them to be. The controls feel a bit clunky until you get used to them, but shouldn't slow you down for long. The cut-out graphical style looks amazing, and the sound effects and music are wonderful. While not super difficult, nor very long, Zombie at the Gates will nonetheless satisfy any zombie killing craving you might have had.

Play Zombie at the Gates

GARE: Sapphire Mechs could definitely be an interpretation of what Kevin Flynn had done to 'The Grid' between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy. In all of its neon glory, it is a mission based topdown shooting adventure where you play as a mech pilot straight out of military academy to fight an enduring war on the digitized planet, Vitirs-47. You control your mech with the [WASD] or [arrow] keys, aim and fire with the mouse, and activate abilities and bombs with the [ctrl] or [R] key and [spacebar] respectively. War never changes, but the enemies do! Your success is based on eliminating everything in your path, completing mission objectives, and building up enough resources to upgrade your suit fully to match or outdo the competition. Enlist today if you think you got the stuff.

GARE: Sapphrie Mechs succeeds in giving the player plenty of options with mech parts to customize their play style which also opens up unique special abilities based on those parts in battle. If you are running low on cash, you can hop back into old missions to farm up the funds and try to collect all the stars scattered throughout the grid-like environment for more incentive. The ambient trance music streaming through this neon blue environment adds a bit of artistic value to a world overrun with digital destruction as well. Prepare for a ton of 'derezzing' enemies and march the path of war in this combative casual experience.

Play GARE: Sapphire Mechs

Beethro Budkin has had to face all sorts of challenges crawling through the first eight floors of Dugan's dungeon. However, any monster exterminator worth his gil knows that payment is only granted once every creature is gone. So steel yourself, Beethro, for you stand on the very precipice of levels nine through twelve, and they're filled with Deadly Rooms of Death of all kinds! Caravel Games' series of turn-based puzzle-strategy games gets just a little bit more hair-pullingly complex in DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon Lite - Episode 3.

Beethro moves with the [arrow] keys (though utilizing the diagonals of the number keypad is recommended if you have one), and swings the Really Big Sword clockwise or counterclockwise with [W] and [Q]. Explore each level to find the exit, opening doors by triggering switches and killing all manner of ants, wingwraiths and evil eyes. Each switch can be clicked with the mouse to reveal how it will affect the environment. With every move you make, the baddies will respond with a move of their own (and watch out for those diagonals!). Even more so that previous installments, many of the puzzles in this episode rely on tactical prediction of enemy behavior. Still, there is nothing quite so satisfying as mowing down a hoard of roaches that have foolishly moved exactly where you wanted them to. Those new to the series will probably want to start with an earlier episode to get the hang of the mechanics, but fans of the games should rest assured that DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon Lite - Episode 3 is an excellent continuation of an excellent flash port of an excellent series.

Play DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon Lite
Episode 3

The following is a selection of favorite games compiled and reviewed by JIG community member, AlternativeDave. It is also one of the winning entries from our previous call for submissions for community favorites, for which AlternativeDave will be showered with gifts and prizes. Thank you to everyone who participated and for sharing your favorites with us! Look for more community favorites in the coming weeks.

• A Grain of Truth - In a grain of truth you'll take control of Myosotis, A traveller roaming her world collecting stories in a search for her lost, mysterious past. With the ultimate goal being to find the 'Wise Man' who might be able to shed some light on your story, you'll meet strange, fantastic creatures, discover the secrets of clouds and still have time for a game of Mahjong! Whilst the aforementioned 'Wise Man' is a carbon copy of a certain green Jedi master we're all familiar with the rest of the game is totally original, wonderfully drawn, beautifully written and incorporates puzzles that are challenging but logical. Set in the fictional realm of The Big Old Tree That Dreams the Rudowscy brothers have created not just a game to point-and-click around but a whole world. Whilst the cliff-hanger ending will have your mouth watering, it's been 2 years since the first instalment of the adventure, so maybe pop the kettle on...
• Submachine 7 - Confused? You should be! Seven games in to the Submachine series and we are still no wiser to the world we are functioning in, How we came to be here or why we are here at all. In Submachine 7 you'll guide our faceless protagonist, typical of Mateusz Skutink's games, closer to the elusive Murtaugh and the answers you're looking for. Whilst older instalments of the series may seem crude in comparison, Submachine 7 is crisp to look at with a narrative moving at more pace than it has done previously. The sound effects also create a great moody atmosphere best listened to with the headphones on but whilst the puzzles are challenging (to put it mildly) at times it's frustrating to feel you're pixel-hunting rather than using any logic. Submachine's creator is notorious for keeping quiet about release dates for his games, but if you can't wait to just stumble across Submachine 8 there's a helpful guide as to his progress here!
• The Dream Machine - Whilst later Chapters of The Dream Machine need to be bought for a pocketful of Euros, Chapter 1 is free online, and the perfect way to introduce you to the world of Victor Neff. After waking Victor from his odd dream of a desert island we find He and wife, Alicia, have moved into a new apartment, but all is not as it seems in this strange, old building. As the story unfolds we find it's not just Victor who's bothered by his new surroundings, as a hastily destroyed note from the previous tenant makes clear. The other residents also have a touch of the surreal about them, and that's not to mention your new Landlord, who becomes conveniently unreachable as the plot thickens. Whilst using clay as a platform to make the game has caused some issues with character movement, the design and creation of Victor's world is impeccable. This combined with an intriguing story, deliberately slow moving plotline and tough puzzles makes for a 'dream' of a game.
• Gateway 2 - As anyone with a mobile phone, laptop or iPod will tell you it's not hard to form an emotional attachment with a machine, and such is the case with the Anders Gustafsson's Gateway 2. As we guide our chunky, metal advocate around robot limbo we observe from a distance a small family (also mechanical). Through our hero's eye's we learn the story of controlling mother and a daughter who just wants to be left to her own devices. When seemingly empty threats are carried out it is up to the title character to piece together events so that others can move on. Although some puzzles seem to be a bit repetitive you'll plough through them happily to develop the story and find out the fate of our players, and although the ending might make you feel a bit flat, you'll enjoy the journey getting there.

While we welcome any comments about this particular selection of games, we do ask that if you need any help with individual games, or wish to comment on the games featured here, please post your questions and comments on the respective game's review page.

Forests aren't born evil, you know. Their dislike of heroes can usually be traced back to one traumatic event. In this case, it was the arrival of an evil necromancer, who brought the forest with him courtesy of a magic crystal. Naturally, it's up to you to stop both necromancer and forest in Evil Forest, an action RPG platform game from SeethingSwarm.

Use the [arrow] keys for movement, and [A], [S], and [D] for attack, jump, and action respectively. On each level, your goal is to clear out all the monsters, at which point a portal to the next stage appears. There's loot to collect along the way, and you'll need to make sure your character is suitably powerful because in a game with permadeath, you can't risk going up against more powerful foes.

Wait, permadeath? Well, this isn't your typical action RPG, as the game borrows some key elements from roguelikes. Each of the 50 stages is randomly generated, and yes, should your character be overwhelmed by an enemy, you'll be starting the whole game again. With a boss every 10 levels, and few ways to regain health, there are plenty of ways even a wary player might find his character running low on hp. On the plus side, the short, randomized levels mean replayability is rarely a chore, and with plenty of loot to find and nods to games such as Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac throughout the game there's often something new to see on a second attempt.

While merging so many genres seems like overkill, Evil Forest comes together nicely to make for an enjoyable experience. Alone, none of the mechanics stand out as spectacular, and movement especially feels sluggish early on. But the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and Evil Forest takes enough from each genre to appeal to fans without alienating players used to a different type of game. If you've ever wanted a faster paced roguelike, or hoped for an action RPG that favored skill and planning over grinding and unlimited respawns, Evil Forest is the perfect compromise.

Play Evil Forest

Some of us can pull off the hat look, some of us just looove hats, and some of us really want to get into the cool new hotspot that everyone is frequenting. It's no fun being left out. If you want to join The Top Hat Club then you better well have yourself a top hat. In this platform puzzler by David Durham, such an accomplishment is both simple and tricky. There's the hat, right within—sort of within—well, not always just within reach. Besides the typical platforming feats that you need to perform, a number of obstructions, such as disintegrating tiles, villains tossing barrels, and button-triggered walls will block your path.

Using arrows or [WASD] to move, pick up, and enter, and the [spacebar] to jump, your goal is to reach the club entrance with hat firmly on your head. Oh, did I say firmly? Any little bump can knock it off, but if you can act quickly and with agility, you'll saunter through the twenty-five stages unscathed. Whether to you it's easy or challenging, you'll be charmed by the "old school gaming values," vintage-style celluloid graphics (film reel jitters can be offed via "options") and many other player pleasing touches which bespeak quality production all the way—so give it a hats off and join in the fun!

Play The Top Hat Club

Oh, Deadly Rooms of Death! Not since Divine Divinity has a redundant name heralded such awesomeness! The easy part of Beethro Budkin's quest to rid King Dugan's dungeon of terrorizing baddies is over, as he descends to floors 5 through 8. But even an expert smitemaster like Beethro may be stymied without a little guidance from you. So ready your Really Big Sword and enter DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon Lite - Episode 2, another great installment in Caravel Games' series of turn-based puzzle-strategy games.

Move Beethro with the [arrow] keys (though utilizing the diagonals of the number keypad is recommended if you have one), and swing the Really Big Sword clockwise or counterclockwise with the [W] and [Q] keys. Explore each level to find the exit, opening doors by triggering switches and killing various serpents, goblins, and the dreadful living tar. Each switch can be clicked with the mouse to reveal how it will affect the environment. With every move you make, the baddies will respond with a move of their own (and watch out for those diagonals!). New players should probably start with Episode 1, but there's nothing in the plot or mechanics that would prevent those looking for immediate challenge from jumping right in. Good luck! And seriously... Watch out for that living tar.

Play DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon Lite
Episode 2

Although the title might sound scary, this is just an ordinary escape game, with absolutely no dying involved. Yet, without a friendly invitation from a Mr. Whatshisname, nor any other explanation for why or how, Kiteretsu's Death Nine leaves you trapped inside an unassuming room with no apparent way out—and the drop from that balcony is a very long way down. Thus you must rely solely on your code-breaking, clue-sniffing abilities to reach your freedom. Hmm, if you put it that way, perhaps it is a little unnerving.

In the typical escape-the-room fashion, play Death Nine by searching for hints and items that you can put to use toward opening the boxes, cupboards and doors that impede your triumphant exit. Navigate by clicking the grey bars on the sides and bottom of the screen; study clues and pick up items by pointing-and-clicking on them. Highlight an object in your inventory to use it or select "about item" to take a closer look at it.

Without a changing cursor to signify interactive areas, keep a keen eye out for the visual indicators instead—click any object, or part of an object, that might be worth a second look. Pixel hunting is not needed, though; nothing is randomly hidden along a blank wall but do check out that slightly smudged spot right...there. A number of puzzles will require a notepad, screen grab, or eidetic memory to solve, so stock up on one or all and you're ready to begin.

Death Nine is not long or involved, and the graphics are not the most exciting we've seen here on Weekday Escape, yet it does offer a number of thinky puzzles to stretch your mental muscles on. What frustration might build up in the effort to make sense of it all will quickly dissipate when you reach the end, as a nice relaxing reward waits for you there. If you have the patience and are happy enough with sleuthing your way through, you won't be disappointed. That is unless, drawn by the title, you were expecting something more bloody—the sequel to Kill Eight, perhaps?

Play Death Nine

Island paradises are always such perfect targets for the renegades and devious of heart to rampage and pillage. Sadly, you can't exactly build a fence around an island so what do you do in order to keep your people safe? As Empires of Arkeia, a strategy based defense game by Sam Raski, teaches us, you deploy a heck ton of different warriors to beat back the throng of blood thirsty raiders ranging from humans to orcs.

Your command is to save the villages on an individual island then repeat until you have reclaimed the floating nation. You can review stats and choose your fighters in the Barracks tab. These stats are upgraded with experience points by going to the Academy. To view opponents you've already faced you can go to the Library tab. Once you choose a city and press fight you will be taken to a linear battlefield. On the battlefield you will choose your fighter by either pressing their corresponding number or clicking on their portrait then hitting one of the five green arrows to send them out. Each unit costs a specified amount of gold, but if your blue morale bar is full then you can send out a wave of your chosen fighter from each pathway for free. You gain gold constantly throughout the fighting, and the battle is done when all enemy units are dead.

The addition of so many upgrades is both a blessing and a curse. It's wonderful to have such diversity in the benefits for your fighters but the amount of experience points you need can feel daunting when you're trying to get through a difficult level and need an extra boost. Gaining new units after completing fights is a creative way to not overwhelm with too much at once and give the player time to get used to fighting style advantages. Due to the fact that the fights are randomly generated, this game allows for a high amount of replay to test which strategy you like most and to find which combination of upgrades most benefits your fights. If you're feeling deprived of some fantastical fighting then here's a great game to dive into.

Play Empires of Arkeia

Great, you've been called into work early. Well, at least you finally talked to that cute girl on the subway. This small victory is cut short however, when you get to the lab only to find your brilliant physicist boss has been the victim of a mysterious explosion. Was it an accident, or is someone after his Resonance research, which has the potential to change the world? Perhaps someone is trying to prevent the research from reaching the light of day? Enter Ed, the mild mannered scientist, and Anna the intelligent doctor with a troubled past. Meet Ray, the nosy investigative reporter, and Detective Bennett, the good cop... or is he? Fate pushes these four unlikely heroes together in Resonance, a classic style point-and-click adventure by xii games and Wadjet Eye Games, of Gemini Rue fame. Can the gang solve the mystery and recover the research? Or is one of them responsible for the crime?

Any adventure game fan will be familiar with the basic controls of the game. For those new to the genre, simply click to move your character around the screen, click on an object to try to pick it up or otherwise interact with it, or right-click on an object for a detailed description. Click the inventory button to see what your character is holding, or to grab an object to use it to interact with the environment. Unique to Resonance are the the long and short term memory options. When your character has an important conversation, it will be stored in the long term memory. You can open this menu and revisit these conversations at any time, or click them during a dialog to talk about them with other characters. Short term memory works in a similar way, only you drag objects that may (or may not) be important, from the environment into the short term memory slots in order to bring them up in conversation with others at a later point in the game. Also singular to the game is the ability to play as all four characters, using another menu at the top of the screen to decide who you'd like to be.

Analysis: Resonance takes old-school, wraps it in a great story, and spits out a wonderful game with unique mechanics. The graphics wouldn't be out of place in any of the old Sierra adventure games in all their pixely glory. The memory options add a dimension and difficulty that a lot of point and click adventures are missing these days. The game is fully voice-acted, which is done well and really brings the characters to life. Detective Bennett is voiced by Logan Cunningham, well known in gaming circles as the voice in Bastion. The story is not totally linear, which is nice if you get stuck. If you do find yourself out of ideas, you can have the four main characters ask each other what they think should happen next. This can give you vague hints as to what you are supposed to accomplish next and how. The option of changing characters keeps the gameplay fresh, and there are parts of the plot that can only be completed by certain characters. Also several important scenes can be solved in more than one way. This is made even more interesting by involving some tough moral and ethical decisions in your choices.

There are achievements included with the game, accessed through the main menu, but you aren't made aware of when you accomplish them, so they aren't really a driving force in the game. To get all of them would require playing the game through a second time, as some are linked to the different ways to solve puzzles. It would be nice to be able to change the resolution from the option menu, as I had an issue with it fitting on my screen without changing my monitor's resolution. There were also a couple times when I loaded and wished I could skip through a cut scene I had already watched. But these are minor complaints. The music throughout is very atmospheric, and adds to the moodiness of the game, while the unraveling story line will keep you coming back to find out what happens next. There is also a handy auto-rewind system, should one of your characters not make it through a tricky situation. So no worries if you're not a save-all-the-time freak like me.

All in all, Resonance is an excellent game, as one would expect from Wadjet Eye. It is challenging enough without being frustrating, and captures the nostalgia of the original adventure games perfectly, while adding a modern touch. Did I mention there are two endings depending on your choices? And that the game conveniently auto saves before the final scene so you can go back and experience them both? There is a lengthy demo available, but with over ten hours of gameplay, it's definitely worth the purchase price.

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version Get the full version from GOG.com (includes bonus content)

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

In 1997, Webfoot Technologies released a little game named Deadly Rooms of Death. A turn-based puzzle-strategy game, it quickly became renowned as a first-rate dungeon crawler. As the 3D age begun, Webfoot would drop support for the top-down game, but graciously allowed original developer Erik Hermansen to remake it in an open source model. This game, officially re-dubbed DROD, and released by Caravel Games in 2002. Since then, the company, in conjunction with a vibrant fan community, has published numerous quality sequels, upgrades and level packs. And now, in 2012, another milestone has been reached, with the first game in the DROD series, King Dugan's Dungeon finally receiving a port to the browser. So join Beethro Budkin, exterminator extraordinaire as he clears out every evil critter in DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon Lite - Episode 1!

Episode 1 consists of four floors of monster-fighting action. Move Beethro with the [arrow keys] (though utilizing the diagonals of the [number pad] or its laptop equivilant is recommended), and swing his sword around him clockwise or counterclockwise with the [W] and [Q] keys. Explore each level to find the exit, opening doors by triggering switches and killing various cockroaches, goblins, and other baddies. Each switch can be clicked with the mouse to reveal how it will affect the environment. With every move you make, the baddies will respond with a move of their own (and watch out for those diagonals!). You must use the layout of the rooms to your strategic advantage, and get them before they get you. Scrolls will reveal new information, stepping on a red x-tile will save your progress as a checkpoint, and [R] can be pressed to restart any room from the beginning. New elements are introduced over time, and much of the joy of the game comes from seeing how they combine to make new types of puzzles.

With its emphasis on exploration and puzzle-solving, King Dugan's Dungeon Lite - Episode 1 is a perfect gateway for those intimidated by turn-based strategy, while still fun for hardcore genre fans looking for the challenge of finding optimal solutions. As an intro to the series, quite of bit of time is spent on the tutorial, which is to be expected even if it is a bit of a slow start. Stick around though, and you'll fall in love with the game's cunning design and impish sense of humor. One drawback worth mentioning is access to the high score charts is limited to paid Caravel Game members, though if you become that addicted, it's certainly worth it. So c'mon, try it! After all... the first one's free... (Mwah-ha-ha-ha!)

Play DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon Lite - Episode 1

All good things must come to an end, and our mechanical zombie fighter from Ant Karlov's previous title went out just like the Wicked Witch of the East did... flattened like a pancake. Zombotron 2 puts you in the combat boots of a hapless soldier who crash landed right on your predecessor from the first Zombotron and is in a whole lot of trouble. To find a way out of this undead nightmare, you must run and gun (and sometimes explode) your way through hordes of zombies and spider creatures in this physics-based zombie shooting extravaganza. The new guy might not know what is going on, but your foes do and they are out for some new blood... YOUR blood.

Standard [WASD] keys are used for character movement while your mouse is used for all your shooting needs, from aiming to pulling the trigger. The rest of the game is set up exactly like its prequel with health, ammo and money in the upper left corner, but now with revamped graphics. You swap between the two carried weapons with the [Q] key, reload them with [R], and interact with most buttons and objects using [E]. When you are high and dry with no ammo, just use the environment to the take out enemies' with falling debris and explosive canisters. Everything you loved about the old game has risen again and has been supercharged with richer and more interactive gameplay in mind.

Zombotron 2 still falls prey to the same sluggish controls as the first, but the renovated UI, additional weaponry (like melee combat and assault rifles for starters!), and brand new spider enemy variants will help you forget all about it. The difficulty definitely got turned up this time around, too, with health draining and your body exploding gruesomely from these new overbearing spiderlings and toxic spitters. The later levels are riddled with just such danger, but the game as a whole goes for a more RPG style progression. The action game star ratings were ditched and the mission objectives for each level were moved into a more global role that can be completed at your leisure. It may take away from the replay value a bit, but it will help you to focus more on the hero's story and how the heck you are getting off this plagued planet. Trust me, the action is nowhere close to being lost in this excellent sequel and fans of the first are sure to find a rotting friend in this zombie survival game.

Play Zombotron 2

Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls of all ages! Come on down to JayIsGamesLand! The Casual Gamesiest Place on Earth! Sure, we may not have much in the way of thrill rides or funnel cakes (though I hear the "John & Dora Ice Spectacular" is not to be missed). However, we do have some wonderful games in The Vault this week: a gorgeous piece of interactive art, a high-stakes hacking puzzler, and a platformer that's sure to steal some of your time. All of the fun, and none of the sunburn!

• Small Worlds - The winning entry in CGDC 6, Small Worlds, by David Shute, is, without hyperbole, an artistic masterpiece. While technically an exploration platformer, such a classification doesn't nearly capture the pathos and discovery contained within the experience. Without spoiling anything, the concept of revelation is central to Small Worlds: tiny rooms become sprawling locales, blocky graphics transform beautiful architecture, serene landscapes reveal sinister history. The fact that such revelation are told nearly entirely without words only adds to the impact, aided in no small part by Kevin MacLeod's amazing score. There are a thousand ways to interpret Small Worlds, and all of them are wonderful and horrible. Anyone who hasn't played it yet, should budget fifteen minutes and be transported.
• Exploit - As a game creator, Gregory Weir has demonstrated his innovative skill time and time again. His willingness to play with the conventions of Flash gaming form and content is perfectly displayed in Exploit, a tile-based puzzle game. Exploit may have an interface about as advanced looking as an Apple ][, but telling the story in E-Mails somehow makes the game's taut espionage story even more gripping. The turn-based puzzles are complement the plot quite well. While likely having little-to-know resemblance to actual hacking, they'll certainly make you feel like you're ready to take on The Gibson. Though the world of technology is no longer the daunting place it once was, Exploit masterfully builds its tension on how there is still something ominous in how the internet has added so much abstraction to our lives; how code and firewalls dominate our everyday actions in ways we're never quite sure we comprehend. Of course, when code forms itself into something as awesome as Exploit, the digital future becomes a bit easier to take.
• Chronotron - A number of games have used the Replay Theme where multiple copies of a character work together to reach a platforming-level goal. (I think there was a competition about that somewhere...) Still, Chronotron, by ScaryBug Games, is one of the most refined, and preventing time paradoxes adds a fun layer of challenge. The titular Chronotron is a wonderfully-clunky little guy; sorta like if WALL-E had gotten hold of a TARDIS. The timer in the bottom left makes planning your movements natural, and the "Rewind" mechanic keeps things from getting too frustrating. Overall, Chronotron will get you thinking laterally and get your mind moving in all sorts of dimensions.

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!

Looking at the title of Alexandria Bloodshow, your mind might fly all over the place wondering what genre the game represents. Sounds like a great name for a first person shooter set in ancient Egypt, right? Well, that may be, but in this case, Alexandria Bloodshow is actually a tactical card combat game that succeeds the even more unusually named SAMURAI BLOODSHOW: les vagues blanches, les nuages rouges. Yeah, that's right! Once you put the names aside, though, you'll find a couple of excellent slow-paced strategy games that will remind you of Plants vs. Zombies in some surprising ways.

If the sound of a tactical card game makes you want to head for the hills, pause for just a moment and consider this: Alexandria Bloodshow is simple to play, and the complexity only builds up later in the game. By that time you'll be well-equipped to handle it, so you'll never feel overwhelmed, undereducated, or just lost. It's about as casual as a tactical card game can be, and for that alone, it's worth checking out.

Alexandria Bloodshow pits two ancient armies against each other on the field of battle: the Greeks and the Egyptians. By assembling a deck of warrior cards, you'll fight wave after wave of opponents, each of whom is out to capture and kill your king. Tap a card and move it to the playing field to place it, staying aware of the horizontal lines of attack enemies tend to follow (see? Plants vs. Zombies!). Different units have different strengths, so you'll want to spread your forces out and layer them so their attacks can overlap if at all possible. And keep in mind you can level up units by placing cards on top of them. But don't go too overboard, as your deck carries a limited stock of troops!

When everything is in place (or before, depending on how much time you take organizing your troops), the waves begin, with enemies pouring in from the right side of the screen and your fighters meeting them when they're in range. You constantly gain gold in Bloodshow, and gold is used for drawing new lots of cards and for moving units on the screen. Battlefield obstacles often make things more interesting, and the leader of your forces charges a three-tiered ability that can often turn the tides of battle.

Analysis: Just like its predecessor, Alexandria Bloodshow is full of over-the-top creatures, epic battles (think Greek gods vs. Egyptian gods, or mythological animals, if you like!), and deeply nuanced gameplay that pulls inspiration from a number of sources. It may not have the cuddly critters or pretty colors you find in most mobile games, but the artwork is impressive in its own right, sporting the same paper scroll look culled from SAMURAI BLOODSHOW.

The basics of Alexandria Bloodshow can be learned in just a few minutes, but like any good strategy game, it takes time to master. Building a deck becomes a real challenge once you obtain more units and more cards, a process that takes more time than you'd think. And with 120 different cards to gather, you're in for a serious afternoon of deck management.

The only real downside to Alexandria Bloodshow is its pacing. The game moves along at a sluggish speed, from the slow battles to the oh-so-gradual progression of moving through your chosen campaign, unlocking new cards, and winning battles that are more varied and more difficult. Sure, there are times when you can't make the waves come slow enough, but it takes time to get to that point. The game doesn't try to throw any hooks out there early on to grab more gamers, it simply presents what it's got and lets you make up your mind on your own.

And finally, rounding out the game's set of features, Alexandria Bloodshow comes with several multiplayer modes, both online and local in nature. Assuming you can find an opponent who is interested in intelligent play, this is a great way to extend the game even further, finding some clever opponents to pit your deck against to see which ancient race of card-based folk are the most powerful!

You won't catch the game on grandma's iPhone, but Alexandria Bloodshow is a smart underdog of the mobile strategy game world. It's got lasting appeal, deep tactics, and enough gameplay to keep you fighting for hours on end.

Alexandria Bloodshow

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Commander Pixman is in trouble. Or, rather, the aliens whose base he has just crash landed on are in trouble! Armed with a gun and a good pair of jumping boots, you have the honorable pleasure of escorting Commander Pixman through over 135 levels in this retro-inspired action arcade game, destroying aliens, evading traps, and making pixel-perfect jumps time and time again. And if you fail, you get to watch your flub a second time on instant replay!

Using the on-screen controls, move Andrew "Pixman" Blazkowicz through each small level, firing on aliens to clear the path, tripping and subsequently avoiding landmines, hopping across moving platforms, skirting around spikes, utilizing portals, and all sorts of other exciting things you would do on an alien world. The action is surprisingly intense, especially for a thick-pixeled retro world, but because it comes in such short bursts, you never get frustrated, no matter how many times you die and repeat a level. You even have the option of skipping trouble spots!

One Minute Game's challenging platform release is sort of an odd fit for the mobile market, as the game demands responsive, real-world controls for both precision and tense moments where you squeeze a gamepad. With virtual buttons, the experience isn't quite the same, and there's even a slight delay in movement you'll have to learn to adjust to. Still, for an action-heavy game on a mobile platform, Commander Pixman gets things just about right, and with the frequent updates and massive number of levels to complete, it's one game you won't get tired of anytime soon!

Commander Pixman

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Commander Pixman

(Android)

Commander Pixman

(Kindle Fire/Android)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on an HTC Incredible. 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.

Matt Lepus was just an ordinary mammal until one day, a tragic accident involving a truck-full of chemically-altered produce left him blinded. However, finding his other senses to be enhanced to super-lagomorphic levels, he did what any other bunny would do: use his powers to safely grab all the carrots from the local minefield. Such is the tale of Senso Rabbit, the titular star of Mighty Ducks Entertainment's debut action-puzzle game.

Move Senso-Rabbit around the minefields with the [arrow keys]. The goal is to collect as many carrots as you can, then return to where you started, avoiding hazards along the way. As he walks, Senso Rabbit's SONAR will pulse to determine if there are mines in his vicinity. If a green, yellow, or nuclear orange circle pops up in Senso Rabbit's sense range, that means a mine is underneath, and activating it will cost a chunk of Senso Rabbit's health! [Spacebar] will chuck a carrot in the direction you're facing, handy for setting off a cluster of mines that would otherwise be impassable, and should you find a laser visor, [ctrl] will fire a beam perfect for clearing obstacles out of the way. There are boxes to be pushed, switches to be activated, a veritable hrair of enemies to antagonize and, of course, achievements to earn.

Right off the bat, Senso Rabbit scores points for its unique, even innovative, premise. Only one other game about MineSweeping immediately leaps to mind, and that one doesn't have any bunnies in it at all! Do keep in mind that the gameplay here relies a lot on strategically planning a safe path through the field. Players in the mood for something twitchy might want to give this a pass. That said, those of a methodical mindset will find Senso Rabbit strangely addictive. Hop on over and give it a try, Doc!

Play Senso Rabbit

The great alchemy phenomenon kicked off by Doodle God is still going strong, but why simply play around with fire and water when you can undertake the colonization of an entire planet? My Laboratory for iOS lets you do just that, following the same basic rules as other alchemy-based games where you drag and drop elements to make brand new things. You start with the four most basic elements (air, earth, fire, water) and work towards building over 200 unique creations, from the small to large, simple to not-so-simple. The plug and chug through all of the possible ingredients will give you multiple hours of unexpected logic puzzle excitement!

While it does model itself after games like Alxemy, Jerome Gangneux and crew at weheartprojects adds a wordless story told via comic-style art to provide clues for new elements. It may take away from the mix-n-match exploration of games like this, but it is an insightful aspect to aid the not-so-logic-minded gamers out there. The touch screen interface is as easy to navigate as an old photo album, but with the added functionality of an alphabetic search so you don't have to flip through pages of old components. My Laboratory is a wonderful addition to anyone's mobile game collection, especially if you have a taste for casual puzzles, logical solutions, and the building blocks of creation!

My Laboratory

(iPhone, iPod Touch)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on an 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.

Life is tough. Games, though, are fun, so when you mix the two, you get... fough? No, wait, you get Life Quest, the life simulation game recently ported to mobile iOS devices by BigFishGames! As soon as you graduate from high school, the world is yours to command. Once you get a job, earn some money, float above your rising pool of debt, and somehow come out ahead, that is! But since it's all fun and games in Life Quest, you get to kick back and enjoy an experience not unlike The Sims meets a time management game, which is to say, you'll spend a whole lot of time getting very little done! (Just like real life, no?)

After jumping through the initial tutorial hoops, Life Quest turns you loose in a city full of promise. There are buildings to utilize throughout the town, such as universities, apartments to rent, restaurants, clothing stores, furniture outlets, and much more, much of which is locked at the beginning of the game. Your goal is to live life to its fullest by outdoing your classmates as they present you with challenges. The game takes place in daily increments where you'll try to earn money, then use that money to do the things you need (and want). As soon as one task is done, the next classmate appears with bigger and better goals in mind. You won't have to worry about managing too much in Life Quest, as there are very few stats to keep an eye on, and progression is largely automatic and a simple byproduct of your daily activities.

Where Life Quest really shines is its plethora of options. You can tinker around all you want with this game, customizing your character, picking just the right job (assuming you're qualified for it), picking out clothes to wear, getting appliances and buying groceries, etc. It really is its own little simulation world, but with a nice rivalry-fueled incentive to keep outdoing everyone you knew in high school. This does lead to a less character-centric approach to the game, however. Even though you'll spend a lot of time focusing on who you are and what you do, the goals are always about outdoing someone else, not meeting and beating your own personal life goals. But hey, that's what real life's for, right?

Life Quest was an excellent game when it was released for the downloadable casual games market, and the mobile port effortlessly brings that experience to touch screen iOS devices. Have a little virtual life in your own hands, no matter where your real life takes you!

Life Quest

(iPhone, iPod Touch)

Life Quest HD

(iPad)

Life Quest

(Android)

Life Quest (full)

(Kindle Fire/Android)

Life Quest

(Kindle Fire/Android)

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've got the Wild West in your future and trains in your past, you've got to start wondering if something went screwy with the space time continuum. I mean... Marty? Got any ideas? Tachyon particles went where now? Well, no matter which alternate universe we've stumbled into, there's a lot of cool stuff on the horizon for the mobile market, not to mention nifty things in the very recent past!

Pocket Planes vs. Trains - Are you playing Pocket Planes as much as we are? If not, check out our review to see exactly why you're missing out on some serious fun! Here's a neat fact about Pocket Planes: the game was originally going to be Pocket Trains! Developer NimbleBit released some screenshots (mock-ups, really) showing the land-based game being as cute as ever. The reason for the switch? Trains are limited to tracks, whereas planes can fly anywhere (except Mordor, one cannot simply fly there), creating that open-ended feeling of exploration the team was aiming for. We don't know about you, but having Pocket Trains in addition to Pocket Planes doesn't sound like a bad idea. There's just something timelessly attractive about trains.

Angry Birds under the sea -
Remember the other day when you were thinking "I should be playing more Angry Birds"? Excuse time has arrived! Rovio recently rolled out the "Piglantis" update to Angry Birds Seasons featuring 30 all new levels to torture pigs in. Even more impressive is the new underwater physics engine that allows you to pop birds in and out of the water in a realistic way. It's impressive to see a feature like this roll out with an update, so be sure to check it out and see if you approve!

SQUIDS goes westward - The RPG-meets-tactics-meets-cephalopod game SQUIDS meet with serious approval when we featured both the mobile and downloadable versions of the release. The sequel, SQUIDS Wild West, is still in production, set for release within the next month or two. But we got our hands on a preview version, and we can confidently say, you want this game as soon as possible. The backdrops are simply gorgeous, putting most other wild west games to shame, and the game's mechanics feel like they've been tuned to an even finer grain of perfection. You can grab an early look by downloading the latest update for SQUIDS, featuring three levels set on a Wild West map.

Magic the Gathering to iPad - Fancy yourself a bit of Magic the Gathering? The CCG from yesteryear is still going strong, with new sets and new video games coming out at a brisk pace. Some very exciting news is that Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 is headed for iPad, supporting Retina Display resolution and playing as close to a real life card game as you can get. It looks absolutely beautiful and is shaping up to be an end-all resource for MTG fans to get their fix in a digital form. Duels of the Planeswalkers is due out this week!

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!

From movies to books to video games, the "creepy" seems all-pervasive. Put an individual or group in some deserted, out of the way place with lots of shadows and eerie sounds and you've got the recipe going strong! Luckily for you, assuming you're the type that likes creepy things, Specialbit Studio has quite the joyride for you! In the hidden object puzzle adventure game Haunted Hotel: Charles Dexter Ward, you get rewarded with the creepiest of creepy: a deserted hotel in a bayou out in good ol' Louisiana. I wouldn't stick around for any jambalaya if I were you.

Your brother has been missing for seven days, and the cops don't seem very concerned, insisting that he simply "ran away". You return home one day to find a mysterious box with a rather imposing demonic figure on the lid accompanied by the initials J.C. What lovely thing rests inside? Just your brother's necklace that he never takes off. Obviously things have gone horribly wrong, and it's up to you to rescue your brother from a swamp infested wasteland. Good luck, and watch out for alligators!

Haunted Hotel is peppered with hidden object scenes as well as puzzles and mini-games. Your cursor is plenty helpful as it changes when you hover over specific areas, and depending on which of the two difficulty levels you chose, your hint button is either readily available or slowly recharging. As you mosey around the hotel property you'll discover notes and letters that will unravel the story of what has happened to your brother. The game plays through three days where you have no map to guide you, so be sure to pay close attention to your surroundings.

Analysis: The most phenomenally well done part of Haunted Hotel: Charles Dexter Ward is the cut scenes. When you come across a game with live actors, more often than not you get someone who doesn't know how to speak like a normal human or grossly exaggerates their character and it ruins the whole experience. Haunted Hotel avoids that folly and enchants with a seamless delivery, something you'll be quite thankful for once the game gets its hooks in you!

A point of frustration arises with the absence of a map. It's not that it's hard to remember which way to go, but in a hidden object game, there's always a good deal of backtracking. A visual reminder (or a blatant signal) that an area needs to be visited is always appreciated, so when it's not there, suddenly it's sorely missed. Haunted Hotel also does something unusual by using mini-games to open doors, a departure from the "find a bunch of keys for all the locks" philosophy of most casual adventure games.

Game plots are much like fashion and music: nothing is truly original anymore. From kidnapped family members to enchanted fairytale creatures, it's all been done at least a hundred times before in one form or another. Don't fret though because despite the repetition, Haunted Hotels delivers a well-developed game with intricate puzzles and dazzling graphics to make you forget, quite easily I might add, that you've probably done heard this story before.

A Collector's Edition is also available. It contains bonus gameplay, an art gallery, strategy guide, and more. 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:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.

You know those times when you're bored with doing laundry and you take the clothes hangers and tried to dangle them off one another so they all stay balanced? Well, Splice isn't quite about hangers. But you've got to fiddle with the balance of cellular structures in a similar way! In this beautiful puzzler from Cipher Prime, each string of cells is a mystery waiting to be spliced into something amazing.

In each level, you'll find a handful of cells that need to be shuffled around to fit inside the outlined pattern with a limited number of splices. For the purposes of this game, a "splice" is defined as the physical movement of a cell or group of cells from one location to another. So, by clicking and dragging a cell from one end of the strand to another, you've used up one splice. As a rule, each cell can have up to two "child" cells, so you're limited as to how many branches you can make at a time.

Rearranging the cellular strands starts out simply enough, but ramps up in difficulty when you're handed new cells that let you manipulate the structures in different ways. Starting from the central cell and moving outward toward the extremities, you'll notice a ring that stops at each special cell. Clicking the central cell (or right-clicking) activates that cell's special power, be it splitting itself in two and making copies of everything attached to it, or making everything hanging on it disappear from play. Activating these cells does not count toward your splice total.

If you think you might've made a mistake, you can fast forward and rewind your actions with your mouse's scroll wheel or by tweaking the timeline on the right. Each level is cleared when your cellular strand fits in the outline, without any unused special cells attached. Remember that your pattern must much identically; there's no sympathy for symmetry in this game!

Analysis: At its heart, Splice is a very simple game. The average level takes only five to seven moves to solve, and you have a limited number of options available to you at any point in time: splice some cells one way or another, or activate the next ring of special cells. However, the difficulty lies in finding the perfect combination of splicing, splitting, and purging. You could think of Splice as a series of Eyezmaze's Grow games, but set on a cellular level.

After a certain point, you are able to make splices where you can leave a segment of cells floating separately from your strand. This is a strange mechanic, since having the option of dumping cells in the middle of nowhere makes the game just a tad easier. Mind you, each detachment and reattachment still costs you vital splices, but it feels like a bit of a cheat when you can discard extra cells at the end of a level just by dragging them out into the void.

Despite this loophole, Splice still bears a fierce mental challenge to overcome to even be able to use that cheat. There are 49 levels available in the main game, with a handful of extra-hard puzzles to tackle in an epilogue. All of them are presented with an incredibly soothing whoosh through the petri dish as a piano serenades you with what is probably my favorite Cipher Prime soundtrack yet (sold separately). So there you have it, a fantastic puzzle with a great atmosphere. A round of Splice beats a coathanger windchime anyday.

Windows:
Download the demo (via Steam) Get the full version (via Steam)

Mac OS X:
Download the demo (via Steam) Get the full version (via Steam)

Splice: Tree of Life

(iPad)

Here's the good news: you get to go to a small European village for free. The bad news? Well... there's this tiny issue of horrific and angry statues randomly coming to life and carting off the villagers for who knows what reason. Also, you have the good fortune of being the most prominent detective around! That means you get to go deal with those statues and puzzle out what in the heck is happening. Elephant Games has returned to us with a wonderful new hidden object puzzle adventure game Royal Detective: The Lord of Statues, so put on your bowler hat and get ready to do some mystery solvin'!

You have been summoned to the snowy town of Martlet. A once upon a time gorgeous town that was filled to the brim with statues, made by a sculptor named Gregory Amadey, that you would swear were alive. Funny story is now they are alive, and they're not so happy. They're after someone and you need to find out whom it is they seek. Lucky you huh? However, it's not only finding out who managed to make these stone giants real. For example, who is Princess? Is she simply the ever-smiling child that Amadey took in? Also, why are some of the statues rocking the fiendish red eyes while others are glimpsing out of emerald peepers? Time is of the essence, Royal Detective, but no pressure or anything.

Unlike Dorothy you don't have any ruby colored heels to click together so you'll have to make due with clicking your mouse to grant your wish. And to also hunt down some clues throughout the town. There are three levels of difficulty ranging from sparkly fun to no sparkles and no helpful hints from your companion Rupert. Add in some achievements and twenty-six miniature figures to be collected and you have yourself quite a hefty case on your hands. To help in your adventure is your cursor, which will change depending on what you hover over, and a slew of statues with specific abilities. The most convenient of your tools are your map. Any place you have visited will have a blip on the map and when pressed you will be instantly transported back to the spot, making going back and forth that much simpler.

Analysis: Elephant Games always releases heavy hitters, and Royal Detective is a stellar addition to their already abundant repertoire of awesome. Though the idea of an inanimate object coming to life isn't necessarily original, they manage to pack in a few twists and turns to at least spice up the tried and true plot. When you see the Elephant Games title there's always a certain level of expectation and I'm pleased to say they've upped the ante quite a bit.

One of the few drawbacks present in the game is the slow movement speed of the cursor. In this digital age of being a gamer one of the biggest hum bug moments comes when there's something that feels laggy. Oddly enough the lag doesn't seem to occur in any of the hidden object scenes. The hidden object scenes at times feel a bit cluttered, but that is more pleasant challenge than a subtraction from enjoyment. The only other mild inconvenience is length of time between when you finish a puzzle and when it vanishes from the screen. However, none of these things really impedes the greatness of the game as much as allows a cynic to scrutinize a little more.

I'm happy to say that the positive aspects of the game are like a flood gone wild. They're everywhere and epic. The graphics are stunning to say the least, and it's a great reminder that live action isn't the only way to make a fantastic hidden object game. It's rare to find a casual game that takes the time to invent new and crafty puzzles, but Royal Detective steps up to the plate and hits a home run. I was especially tickled by the puzzle where you have to match the mythological creature to the appropriate country of origin. The story line is enthralling, especially because you're given the information by your handy helper Rupert.

Truly, this game packs quite a wallop. You're guaranteed several hours of enjoyable gameplay that is made all the better because of the gorgeous scenes. Fans of Elephant Games will not be displeased by this testament to their ingenuity and dedication to provide a great experience for their players. If players of the game are lucky, Elephant Games may even have just found themselves a new game to turn into a series. I for one wouldn't mind seeing more of the Royal Detective.

A Collector's Edition is also available. It contains bonus gameplay, an art gallery, strategy guide, and more. 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

To quote the intro of Fallen City, Channel 4 and Big Robot's educational puzzle/real-time strategy game: What is a city? It is a machine; a machine for living in. But all machines can break down. The inhabitants of Fallen City (Angries) have become distracted by their individual lives and dreams and have let the once gleaming metropolis fall into disrepair. Frustrated by their inability to live the lives of fame and fortune they were told could satisfy them, many of the Angries fell into boredom or rage... and the city sunk ever deeper into its gloom. But broken machines can be fixed, right? A few Angries with hope to spare know that a few friends and a little dedication can work wonders. But they'll need your help to get the Fallen City back on its feet, to once again become a place where life is worth living. So roll up your sleeves and put that Broken Window Theory to the test!

Fallen City is all about commanding Angries to do the things that need to be done, namely cleaning up this disgusting city. Click on anyone with the left mouse button to select them, then right click somewhere else to put them to work. You can select several areas to work on in a row and the Angry will clean them in a sequence. Angries can find new skills by uncovering books or by cleaning certain condemned buildings, renovating them, and staffing them with other Angries. You can use these skills to inspire other workers, open new areas, or to calm down the rampaging purple Really Angries. Once you find, clean, and staff the stage's key building, the level will be complete and you can move on to the next dingy part of town!

Analysis: Fallen City is unlikely to win any awards for subtlety of message, but really, that's part of its charm. The idea of cleaning up a city, block by block, building by building, admittedly sounds very grindy when put on paper. However, the concept of turning a drab space into something lively and energetic is an inherently appealing premise, as anyone who's every played Animal Crossing can attest to. Actually, a better comparison may be to the most addictive of Facebook social simulation games (and indeed, it wouldn't be hard to conceive of a port): a game in which your every action serves to make your virtual world a little bigger and a little brighter, so much so that it's hard to tear yourself away. Of course, it's to Fallen City's benefit then that it is both completely free and way prettier than the vast majority of WhateverVille games out there. But don't think for a moment that means the game is a simple walk in the park.

Fallen City's setting and inhabitants are the obvious stars of the experience. The city design feels similar to the one in de Blob, which is a good thing, though it has a bit more of a English suburb feel to it. The ruined buildings are properly twisted and Dickensian, while the clean areas gleam without feeling too artificial. It was a nice touch that the sound design subtly changes to be more pleasant, the more repaired the city is, i.e. bursts of static and ominous barking dogs transformed into pleasant chatting. The Angries themselves are a joy to behold, packed with such humorous character in their design, whether they're dancing, chatting in their language, or kicking back and having a cuppa. Channel 4 had better be starting on plush versions, stat.

A few negatives are worth mentioning. For a game that centers itself around coming together and rebuilding a community, there seemed to be precious little interaction between the Angries themselves. You control only one at a time, and while it's cute to see the others Angries laze about, watching a refurbished TV or quietly smiling, it would be really cool to be able to direct a cluster to clean a path down an alleyway or, better yet, see them do it of their own accord. Also, the control scheme may be a little too complicated for its presumably young target audience. A movable camera is infinitely preferable to one you can't move, but with so many 3D buildings to block the field of view, one feels that a more elegant solution must be available.

Even if it is a little blatantly presented, one cannot fault the message of Fallen City: that the state of our city affects the state of our lives, and its health is linked to our own. Our space takes care of us, as we must take care of it. Undeniably, this is a over-simplified view of the many problems that afflict our infrastructure, but it is still a correct one. After all, if, after spending a few hours on Fallen City, a couple of players decide to spend an afternoon picking up trash in the park, making it a little more beautiful, nobody's gonna, y'know, mind.

Windows:
Get the free full version

Mac OS X:
Get the free full version

Shifter. The word conjures up images of werewolves or some other type of were-creature. Or maybe somebody's been watching too many episodes of Grimm? Jennifer Klement obviously has a different interpretation of the word, and she displays it well in the point and click adventure escape the town game Shifter. If you've needed a good break from the summer festivities or you've been looking for something different to try out, then take a peek at this beauty!

Welcome to the town of Aberdan! You wake up and experience the joy of seeing nothing but strangers all around you. As you'll find out, the countryside is embroiled in war and the guards have been commanded to keep the city gates closed at all times. This is quite the problem for you, seeing as how all you want to do is get out! Your ticket home is your "shifter" ability along with keen conversational skills that lure bits of information out of each stranger.

At the bottom of the screen is a bar with a number of different buttons. Most of your interactions will involve just three of these: the chat bubble to speak to townspeople, the inventory button, and the clone button. To clone a person you must know them well enough to answer three questions correctly. You can't fake your way through this one, you've actually got to do the talking, listening, and talking again in order to learn what you need to know. Getting people to talk is fairly simple, but you'll have to switch between times of day to get different bits of information along with exhausting every branch on the conversation tree multiple times.

Analysis: Shifter takes a familiar idea, escaping a designated area, and gives it a twist. Much like going to a salon and getting a new haircut, you're still the same you, but boy howdy you look purdy! The cloning aspect also ensures you read the dialogue carefully, something many of us happily skip over in most modern games. The most enjoyable part of the game are the characters. Each has his or her own personality, there's no overlap of traits, and they're so endearing it's hard not to want to know more about them and the lives they lead.

Shifter is, unfortunately, not a very long game, but that neither hurts its innovation or entertainment value. Unlike most games in the point and click or escape genres, conversations are absolutely key to beating the game, along with having a piece of paper handy to write down information (or just memorizing it if your brain is up to the task). For a game that's so focused on reading, you'll be surprised to know that Shifter isn't nearly as text heavy as many of its counterparts. You ask a few questions, get some information, talk to the next person and repeat. No walls of text or pseudo-novels to digest. And these people seem perfectly willing to talk about their lives to a complete stranger, even though you tell them nothing of yourself!

One can only hope that there will be more of Shifter in the future or that the unique cloning feature will become more prominent in the genre or allow for more interactions with the environment. Still, it's fun to see how fast you can make your escape even after having done it once, twice... okay five times. But hey, there's nothing wrong with wanting to better your sleuthing skills!

Windows:
Download the free full version

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

While chunky pixel goats are nothing new to the indie gaming scene (see Llamasoft's iOS release GoatUp), MagicalTimeBean has done something special with Escape Goat, a retro-inspired puzzle platform game that recently made the leap from Xbox Live Indie Games to Windows-based PCs. And you're going to be glad it did, as Escape Goat is an exceptionally entertaining game that strikes a perfect balance between challenge and frustration, reflexes and puzzle solving, and, well, goats and sheep.

In Escape Goat, you utilize the power of goat jumps, goat head bashes, and goat button pushing powers (a.k.a. just touching them) to move groups of blocks around the single screen levels so you can proceed to the exit. A sleepy little mouse is there to help you out, deployable with the press of a button to squeeze through small gaps and hit out of the way switches for you. Some stages feature a magic hat that allows you to teleport to your mousey pal, a trick that will allow you to pull off some great stunts in that level. There are also keys to find, skulls to activate, and other traps to trigger, but finding those is half the fun (and half the 'oops I just died' moments, too).

Because of the open-style level layout, you'll miss out on progressive difficulty and may have to use trial and error to find the next stage that suits your playing prowess. The challenge never really becomes overwhelming, though, and the mix of platforming and puzzle solving ensures you never get frustrated. In fact, Escape Goat is pure enjoyment from beginning to end, especially when you start playing around with the level editor! It's got a sly sense of humor, a goofy story, and a lot of great micro-moments where you'll sit back, stare at the screen, and pat yourself on the back for making a good game buying decision!

Windows:
Play the demo (browser) Get the full version

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

If your cursor is an ominous grinning human skull, can you really be surprised when your plane takes a nosedive into the ocean? In Fuzzy Bug Interactive's hidden-object adventure Haunting Mysteries: The Island of Lost Souls, you manage to avoid a watery grave by floundering ashore onto a nearby island. Of course, the laws of video games dictate that all unmapped islands at sea have at least one (1) malevolent curse and more than two (2) tortured spirits with unfinished business, so chances are you're not going to kick back somewhere with a mug of hot chocolate until help arrives. It seems the island's previous inhabitants had a bit of a tragic history, and one lonely bride has been mourning her beloved and hiding from the vicious spectre of the man who killed him ever since. Can you put a centuries old betrayal and murder to rest without becoming another casualty of the world's worst case of obsession?

The Island of Lost Souls offers two difficulty modes to choose from, but the gameplay should feel immediately familiar to anyone who has played another game of this type before. The cursor will change as you move it around the screen to show places you can interact with or area transitions, and you can click to add items to your inventory. During regular gameplay, the hint option will highlight any places on the current screen you can manipulate to progress, and in hidden-object scenes it randomly displays one of the items you're looking for from your list. Puzzles will attempt to bar your way towards escape and uncovering the truth, but with the option to skip them if you wait a few moments you probably have a leg up over your otherworldly antagonist that he didn't appreciate. You know, if these evil forces really don't want us to succeed in stopping them and exorcising their dastardly influence to the great beyond, maybe they should stop granting us the ability to completely bypass their overly complex locking mechanisms? Just sayin'.

Analysis: There's no getting around the fact that Haunting Mysteries: The Island of Lost Souls isn't particularly original in its gameplay or story, but what's surprising is how enjoyable it is in spite of it. Despite the morbid subject matter, the game itself isn't oppressively dark and manages to strike an admirable balance between a handful of surprisingly effective creepy scenes and the brisk pace of the adventure gameplay. Item uses are logical, puzzles are simple but creatively presented, and the supernatural elements that continually crop up as you explore serve to keep you from losing interest. Ghost typewriter? Skull-faced madman? Awwww yeah, now you're speaking my language! Though the plot has been done before, The Island of Lost Souls carries it through in the gameplay in a way that makes you feel like you're having an impact on it, and serves it up with some lovely visuals to boot. Though am I the only one who thinks that the waves at the beginning of the game look like they're made out of meat?... yes?... huh. Thanks a lot, subconscious, my psychiatrist will have a field day with that one.

Unfortunately, that visual style makes its frequent hidden-object scenes a pain. Combined with a tendency to hide enough of an item that you might not even know what you're looking at when you're staring at it, you'll probably wish the game didn't make you do quite so much scavenging. The bigger downside, however, is that Haunting Mysteries: The Island of Lost Souls just isn't very long. Most players will sail through it unimpeded in under four hours, smashing easily through puzzles like a particularly nerdy Hulk on the rampage. The Island of Lost Souls is perhaps best recommended for players who want something light and easy to sink into for a single evening's play, or those of you with a fondness for fatal love triangles and secret mechanisms. If you want a lot of challenge or longer gameplay this might not be for you, but for a great casual experience with gameplay nowhere near as dark as tends to be popular these days, Haunting Mysteries: The Island of Lost Souls is worth checking out.

A Collector's Edition is also available. It contains a bonus chapter, art gallery, strategy guide, and more. 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

In the first chapter of Myosotis, your search for Lily drew you to an eerie hotel where your struggle for answers only led to more questions and tragic results. In Myosotis: Chapter 2, a point-and-click adventure by Mike Morin (aka ImpendingRiot), the body of your true love lies stone cold dead before you. Beside her still corpse, a box flashes suspiciously while the words of a blank-faced scientist literally hang in the air: "You can still save her." Now, your journey transitions to chasing the past as it quickly becomes clear that you're being tested for more than just your patience.

Play the entire Myosotis series:

Click around the screen to interact with objects or to send Rick moodily trudging over to inspect them. Solve the puzzle in each room to unlock the next door. Pay close attention to subtle signs and frequent word play, as the answers range from fairly obvious to quite devious. Depending on how long it takes you to decipher those clues, it's a relatively short distance from start to finish. Much of the time spent is centered equally around building Rick's story of lost love and buried memories as it is to actual gameplay. The melancholy tone and bleak, muted atmosphere — which is enhanced perfectly thanks to the haunting melodies by Hania Lee — bristle with emotion and create a compelling force to discover what lies behind every door, even the ones that may hurt to reopen.

Play Myosotis: Chapter 2

From NimbleBit, the creators of Tiny Tower, comes the next game that's going to occupy bite-sized pieces of your time for the next several months. Pocket Planes is the team's latest offering in the casual simulation department, putting you in charge of airports and passengers, planes and people, and challenging you to make it run smoothly and swiftly so you can, well, do it all on a much bigger scale. It's the perfect formula for a "just one more level" kind of game, and if you were one of the many souls who fell victim to Tiny Tower's amazing level of addictiveness, Pocket Planes might just hook you twice as hard.

Pocket Planes begins with a very brief tutorial that shows you a few of the basics, allowing you to pick your starting location on the map so you can build your pocket empire from there. The central focus is managing different airports where you load planes with cargo and passengers then send them across the map to deliver the goods. You get paid for your efforts, of course, and this money can be used to purchase new airports in new cities, upgrade your fleet, buy new planes, expand your number of slots to hold new vehicles, and so much more.

Pocket Planes takes place in real time, so when you see a plane will reach its destination in four hours, that's four hours in the real world. For this reason (and for financial reasons), you'll want to keep a lot of planes running different routes, ensuring you always have someone around to fill new jobs that appear. This also means Pocket Planes is a game of waiting, since you won't always have tasks to complete or cargo to load up. But you know the drill: set the game down, do something else, then come back for more!

Analysis: Oh, Pocket Planes, how do you manage to be so—oh, empty plane in Naples, lots of cargo to load up. Back in a moment. Where was I? Yeah, Pocket Planes' ability to steal tiny nibbles of your time all throughout the day. It's the same sort of formula found in games like Smurf's Village or We Rule, only with planes and people instead of farms and crops. And like you would expect, NimbleBit has everything balanced down to the pixel, leaving no gameplay element unrefined or out of tune.

The in-app purchasing system is worth talking about. We all know how easy it is for developers to mess up this part of the game, but since NimbleBit got the formula exactly right with Tiny Tower, you have nothing to fear. In Pocket Planes, you can use real world money to buy both coins and bux, both of which are used for purchasing new items in the game. Bux can also be used to speed things along, so if you're really tired of waiting for your plane to fly across the Atlantic, toss a few bux its way and watch the magic happen. It's never compulsory to buy anything, and a little patience can always take the place of spending money, as both bux and coins are earned throughout play. But, you know, if you don't want to wait, the option is always there, and you'll be surprised how quickly you head to the in-game bank to get things done!

Pocket Planes is also stocked with NimbleBit's usual sense of humor, allowing you to paint planes any combination of colors, dress pilots in crazy costumes, and deliver things like a shipment of axes, important crime scene evidence, or a Tardis. There's never a stale moment, even when you've got all of your planes out and about on business, as the in-game Bitbook lets you peek in on the passengers' thoughts like the good little voyeur you are!

Looking to join a Flight Crew for the extra challenges and rewards? Come and fly with us! Enter JAYISGAMES as your Flight Crew via the in-game menu.

Eventually, the world of Pocket Planes gets bigger and bigger, so instead of managing a few airports and a few planes, you've got a hangar full of retired vehicles and have to scroll around the world map just to find your destination. At that point, the game doesn't get overwhelming, it just gets larger. You'll have more things to do, more things to manage, but also more income pouring in and more options at your disposal. Nothing is ever forced on you, not even acting on available jobs or stocking up flights, so even if you put the game down for a day or two, you can pick it right back up and start where you left off!

It's easy to summarize Pocket Planes by saying this: it's similar to Tiny Towers, but better in many ways. And if it's good enough to challenge one of our top mobile games of 2011, you can bet it's got a lot of great things going for it!

Pocket Planes

(iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Pocket Planes

(Android)

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.

Do you like robots? Silly question, everyone loves robots! Even the type used for world domination? No, especially them! Well, has Robot House Games got just the game for you folks! It's Total Robostruction, a simple arcade action game of robot construction injected with boss battles to break up the gameplay. Create your wicked army as you climb up the ranks of an evil corporation.

Use your mouse to drag body parts to the robot dummies while keeping an eye on hidden bad guys and every gamer's nemesis: the timer. The completion of each level allows you to win back some more time; the more matching body parts you use, the more time you earn. It's all about your quick fingers in this fun little title, which will have you craving your own robot part conveyor belt.

Play Total Robostrution

As a lifelong Pennsylvanian, I can tell you all about bears. Bears make up about 12% of the population of Pennsylvania, which accounts for our giant 20 electoral votes in elections. Bears enjoy fishing, ping-pong, and foreign cuisine, but they don't eat too much junk food (source). That's why when a bear spots a soft drink factory being plopped into his neck of the woods, he always feels compelled to take action. Cola Bear Float is a high difficulty platformer where you've got to exploit gallons of fizzy drinks to get to the next level.

To reach the goal at the end of each level, use the [arrow] keys to move your grizzly self left, right, and jump. However, some jumps might be beyond your natural jumping abilities (bears are not good jumpers; chalk that up as another bear fact completely fabricated for this review). That's where the soda comes into play! If you've recently grabbed a glass of soda, you can make a double-jump by hitting the [up] button again at the peak of your jump. You can even make a triple-jump or a quadruple-jump if you'd like, just keep an eye on the soda meter at the top of the screen. (You can get four midair jumps from one soda.) Occasionally, you might come across a glass of super fizzy soda pop, which floats you up toward the ceiling! To get back down, burp three times with the [down] arrow.

Cola Bear Float borrows a lot of its visual elements from the Give Up, Robot series of games, but without the seizure-inducing colors. There are 49 levels to tackle, which vary from agonizingly hard to pleasantly easy, though the level of difficulty you inflict upon yourself could change depending on how devout you are in your goal of grabbing all the coins and rare bonus sodas along the way. The overly-generous hit detection can be a bit irritating when trying to dodge spikes and laser beams, but they can all be conquered with a bit of practice. There's soda justice to be administered, and it won't happen if you don't bear with the challenges in the soda pop factory!

Play Cola Bear Float

I have to warn you from the start: Nursery rhymes aren't going to offer any protection. There will be no anti-rain dances that can help either. Those poor little oranges who thought they might get a smidge of sun are about to be rudely interrupted by a bout of the most lethal rain I've ever seen. I think what they need is some help from you, oh mighty player, in Cover Orange Player's Pack 3, an addition to the popular physics puzzle Cover Orange series by Johnny-K (with the addition of Anton Koshechkin and Maxim Yurchenko).

This new level update plays exactly like its predecessors. You must tease out a solution of how to keep your orange safe with the help of some pretty random objects. The name of the game is truly your greatest indication of your goal; Cover Orange. You have to make sure that delectable fruit is protected so that none of the spiked rain touches that soft, porous orange skin. While there's nothing new to make this game seem more sparkly to veterans of the series, it's still packed with enough brain teasing to delight even the most jaded of players. Timing and proper positioning are your key allies in defending the citrus packed morsels. While it seems counter intuitive to want to help pieces of food consider this your good deed for the day. It's the perfect excuse to sit and play a fun game!

Play Cover Orange Player's Pack 3

This week we have poisonous tea, dapper murderous mechanical monsters, murders... and sand castles! See, and you said I didn't know how to throw a party. We're also giving away copies of Jonas Kyratzes' stellar surreal bookish adventure. And if that doesn't tickle your goat You Are Games has you covered with the Community Favourites Edition, so head on over there for details and your chance to win your choice from a myriad of prizes all for telling us about the games you love.

What's in a Book? Prizes! Anyone who still tries to tell you games can't be art needs to be slapped soundly across the muttonchops, then sat down and be made to experience the emotional wonder that is anything made by Jonas Kyratzes. The gorgeous and engrossing adventure The Sea Will Claim Everything is Jonas' first commercial release and all you have to do to win one of six free copies is leave a comment on this article telling us what your favourite Jonas Kyrtazes game is and why. Rules: Entries must be submitted by June 22nd, 11:59 p.m. EST (GMT-5). Winners will be notified by e-mail shortly thereafter. Winners are selected randomly. One entry per person only. You must be at least 13 years of age or older to enter. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.

Robbery Gets Classy Lights... camera... action RPG! Rad Dragon Games' upcoming PC and Mac title The Moonlighters looks like it's going to be a real piece of work, and we mean that in the best possible way. Take control of a group of disgruntled entertainers who, on the waning edge of their fame, decide that after so many years of performing burglaries and heists for audiences in big productions, they could probably do it for real. The game looks and sounds spectacularly swanky, and with the promise of a story that changes depending on your influence, this could be a serious contender. You don't have to steal my money for this one, guys... I'll give it to you!

I Have To Celebrate You Baby After two years of hard work, James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot have finally unleashed their efforts upon the world. Their documentary, Indie Game: The Movie, has arrived, and it not only follows the stories behind some of your favourite games like Braid and Super Meat Boy, it also provides a look into what it was like for these people to "create in a digital age", and how challenging and rewarding it can be to be an indie developer. Of course, not every developer will have the same experience, but it's an interesting and even emotional look into the creative process for the people who work for your entertainment. Available for 9.99 USD on iTunes, Steam, or DRM-free from the official site, it's definitely worth checking out and supporting the people who work for your entertainment. Congratulations, guys... you did it!

Like a Bloodthirsty Mechanical Sir It shouldn't be much of a surprise when a developer calling themselves Big Robot wants to make a game about robots, but when that game is also about robots in dapper English gentleman attire hunting you through the countryside for sport things start to entire nightmare territory. The upcoming Sir, You Are Being Hunted is much less a first-person-shooter than it is an open world survival/stealth exploration game, as you search for pieces of a machine you need while being stalked by the robots who want to shoot you for funsies. You don't stand much of a chance against these mechanical monstrosities in a firefight, so the emphasis is more placed on hiding, sneaking, placing traps, and so forth, all across a huge procedurally generated landscape packed with villages and the like. This looks like it could be a lot of fun, so start polishing your blunderbuss now.

To Protect and Serve and Build Sandcastles StillAlive Studios is thinking with sand, man, with their upcoming action RPG Son of Nor. In a dynamic desert world you can shape to your will, you play a mage struggling to protect what remains of his kind, and apparently the way you do that is by terraforming and blowing things the heck up. You can fight with magic, or manipulate the sand itself to your advantage, and if the computer AI isn't proving competitive enough you can saddle-up with up to four buddies in online co-op. The game tells you "the world is your weapon", but you'll also be solving puzzles and unlocking powerful new spell fusions as you play to boot. This one looks like a lot of fun, and you can look forward to it on PC and Mac when it releases.

Time Travel and Murder Cyanide Tea has already released two great free visual novels, but later this year you can delve into their first commercial release, Break Chance Memento. The story centers on a family tragedy and an unresolved murder. Four years after his twin sister's death, Shuuki Amamiya's life takes a horrific turn once more when his oldest brother turns up dead as well, and a mysterious stranger promises he can learn the truth... if he can find out how to travel through time. It's a darker story than the developer's celebrated title Ristorante Amore, with two playable characters whose vastly different storylines intersect and influence each other on subsequent playthroughs since they happen at the same time. The game looks great, and will be available for PC, Mac, and Linux for 15.00 USD when it's released, though there is a demo for you to check out right now!

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!

Cute adventure game get! Robo Quest is an adorable point and click adventure created by Glauzer and Adm244 using Adventure Game Studio. One could easily compare it to Machinarium in general layout and style, but the story, setting, and artwork are something else entirely. It's a short experience but an uncommonly engaging one, and you'll fall in love with the little robo's plight from the moment you see him napping!

As the game begins, you see our robot pal's floating island/house puttering through the skies. Then, t crashes into a land mass, setting off alarms and waking the robot from his recharge station. The crystal that powers his ship soon shatters, so he has to head out in search of a replacement. And fast, too, or he'll be late for the party! The controls are fairly standard for a point and click adventure game, just click on objects to use or examine them and slide the mouse to the top of the screen for the inventory and game menu.

One creative feature in Robo Quest is the use of modules. Double click the robot and you'll get a close-up view of his front panel. Here, you can activate or deactivate modules to give him special abilities, such as super strength to lift heavy objects. There are some puzzles you'll need modules to solve, so if you're stuck, turn on the muscles and see what happens.

Robo Quest is a simple game of logical puzzle solving and a charm-filled atmosphere. The text mentions a "full version" of the game, but at the time of writing only this free version exists. With a little hype and a little luck, maybe the developers will be inspired to create more in the future. Either way, Robo Quest is sure to tickle your adventure spot and make you crave more of the same!

Windows:
Get the free full version Get the free full version (mirror)

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

The Roebourne, Australia children's group, LovePunks, first formed when, with the support and technological training provided by the Yijala Yala cultural arts project, they wrote, directed, and starred in their own zombie movie. With the basics of production well-learned, the team decided that their next project would be a platform video game. And so, after five months of filming and photoshopping, the result is here: LovePunks: The Game! After selecting your character, move across the landscape using the [arrow] keys, avoiding obstacles and interacting with the environment. If a zombie comes along, fire a love-shot at them with the [spacebar]. Points are scored by activating animations, and there are 53 in all to find.

LovePunks: The Game is strange, crazy, bizarre, and absolutely wonderful. It has all the energy and vitality that you would expect from a creative group of 9, 10, and 11 year-olds, and they were clearly having a blast putting it together. Though its showcasing of the photo-realistic animations makes gameplay feel a little aimless, overall it is a singularly unique piece of interactive art. The group has other projects on the way, so until then, stay tuned, and stay LovePunk'd!

Play LovePunks: The Game

Let's see... if I shaded in that 4, I'd have to circle the 2 next to it, which would in turn mean I'd have to shade the other 2 next to that. That's a no-no because it and the 4 would isolate the circled 2, so the 4 must be circled. Circling that 4 means the 4 down there has to be shaded, so I'll circle the... phew, I'd better take a break. The latest Conceptis Light puzzle suite, Hitori Light, certainly is a mind-bender.

• One: no two circled squares with matching digits may exist in the same row or column.
• Two: no two shaded squares may be directly adjacent to one another (touching corners doesn't count).
• And three: no circled square or group thereof may be completely isolated from the rest by shaded squares (again, touching corners doesn't count).

It takes a very particular kind of mind to come up with the genius puzzles given such a seemingly arbitrary set of rules, a kind of mind many just don't have (*achoo!*), but there must be at least half a dozen such minds working at Conceptis to come up with a whopping 30 puzzles across three grid sizes, to say nothing of their previous Light projects like Nurikabe Light and Sym-a-Pix Light. Each puzzle is fairly entertaining and has its own unique solution, and it's easy to start formulating strategies based on specific patterns of numbers that turn up often (for example, what does it mean when you see three of a number consecutively in a row or column?).

Looking for a mind-bending distraction for a few minutes of your time? Then come shade and circle some squares. I know I am.

Play Hitori Light

It's time for a new You Are Games challenge, don't you think? We have lots of free games and prizes to give away, but we want you to jump through hoops before we'll part with them. So here's what we'd like you to do:

This time we're asking you to come up with 3 or 4 of your favorite games that have been reviewed here at JIG, and write a short paragraph for each describing what about the game you enjoyed to cause it to be among your favorite games. Any game qualifies as long as it was reviewed or featured here before AND you were not involved in the production of the game in any way. Spelling and grammar matter as well as writing something interesting and entertaining. We'll feature the best entries in future You Are Games articles, starting next Thursday!

The authors of the winning entries will be given a choice of prize packages including Humble Bundles, gift certificates, game coupons, Steam codes, and even game swag. Don't worry, there's plenty to give away and we'll be sure to find something to your liking. But don't do it for the prizes, do it for the fame and recognition you'll get from having your own article on JIG! Or, if that's not enticing enough, do it because you want to share with others your impeccable taste in games!

If you need an example of what we're looking for, take a look at any article from The Vault. Each of those feature short paragraphs and the icon from the game. We'll take care of formatting it and adding any necessary HTML markup (if you need help with that), all you need to do is write the words. When you're finished, just email your selections to the address on the right, and be sure to include your commenter display name (or a name you wish to be credited as).

• All entries submitted become the property of Casual Gameplay.
• You must be at least 13 years of age to enter.
• Writers on the JIG staff are ineligible.
• Void where prohibited.

The deadline for entries is Tuesday, June 19th at 11:59 PM (GMT-5:00).

How's that sweet tooth doing? Double-up on the sugary goodness with this superfine continuation of Bart Bonte's popular particle physics game series. Sugar, Sugar 2 brings more of what you love and adds in more cleverness, too.

Taking a simple concept and running with it, the game does a stellar job of gently easing you into gameplay, in case you're a little rusty since the last time or two you played with sugar. Just use your mouse to create a sugar pathway to make sure enough of the sweet stuff, which trickles from the letters in the title, gets to where the game wants it. Simple perhaps, but it's not too far into these 30 additional levels that the trickiness ensues as you have to take different colors and other sneakiness into account.

If you've tried it, you know: it's fun to tackle the imaginative obstacles—such as teleportation and gravity switches—found in each puzzling scenario. Just like the previous two Sugar, Sugars, make sure your patience level is turned up on a high setting...those little particles take time to reach their destinations! Unless you're a geometric artistic master, you'll probably be utilizing that "reset" button quite a bit, also.

Still, the drawback of this style of gameplay is an acceptable flip side to being able to trace your own path, draw your own boundaries, and toy with the endless possibilities. If you're not used to this kind of freedom, it may be uncomfortable at first, yet the instructions given for each new element will ensure you're not flummoxed by undefined objectives. Besides, there's a such deep satisfaction that comes from this kind of problem solving amongst the very chill jazz beat of the music and monochromatic block graphics, it's easy to let yourself get addicted. Go on, heap on more sugar!

Play Sugar, Sugar 2

Just when you might have thought that everyone's favorite digital restaurant mogul was resting on his pixellated laurels, Flipline Studio's Papa has returned with the latest spicy addition to his culinary empire. Papa's Wingeria is hiring, and only your mastery of time management and a dexterous control of your mouse stand between you and stacks of buffalo wing-scented dollars.

Try your best to satisfy your customers as best you can, because customer satisfaction also equals customer loyalty; the more consistent you are with your food and efficiency directly influences their tipping habits. As you earn more money, you will be able to buy upgrades for your restaurant that will increase your efficiency, and therefore, fatten your wallet. Additionally, with each customer, you have the opportunity to earn golden tickets, which can be used to play mini-games that can earn you clothes for your worker, or posters for your restaurant's lobby, that not only decorate the environment, but can also have an effect on your customers, such as improving your waiting score.

Just like all of Papa's eateries, your mouse is the only control you will need to run this wing joint. The four stations that Papa has set up for you to manage this time are: the order station in the lobby, and the fry, sauce, and build stations in the kitchen. Your customers have discerning tastes when it comes to their wings. Your basic rule of thumb in the kitchen should be 'fry them, sauce them, toss them, and plate them'. If you have worked for Papa before, you will notice that changes have been made to the quality control in the kitchen. The fry station uses a click-and-drag method to determine how many items you drop in the fryer at one time, and you can monitor the doneness of your wings by a green bar on the left of each fry basket. In the sauce station, click and hold the left mouse button to make sure you add the correct amount of sauce to the equivalent amount of wings you need to prepare, and then you should attempt to click the mouse at the correct time during the mixing process, in order to ensure the best sauce coverage. Pay close attention to your presentation when you reach the build station, by separating each wing from another with vegetables, if your customer orders them, like carrots or celery.

Analysis: Other than the controls in the kitchen that we previously discussed, the only other change to this version of the game is the 'clothes' feature, which allows you to dress up your character as you like, take a virtual picture of your sharply-dressed avatar, and optionally save it.

The entire series of the Papa's games has proven that it has staying power as a gaming franchise, and because of that, the downside of this game is also an upside. Flipline Studios isn't reinventing the wheel when they put another one of these games out, but that's because they don't have to. They follow the simple rule in the old colloquialism, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." And, for us fans of the series, that is a good thing.

Play Papa's Wingeria

Would you like some cheese with your shooter? Berzerk Studio and Adult Swim's Ultimate Robotoru comes with a big gooey helping of it, and a whole lot of arcade action besides. Control your continuously blasting Gundam-ish avatar with the [WASD] keys (or the mouse) and use [1] to [5] to activate your super special flashy attacks when their power bars are full. Baddies will come at you in waves, between which you and your nemesis will deliver some, uh, exposition (I guess) in a way that effortlessly parodies the poorly translated games of the early years. Destroyed enemies automatically grant you cash, which you can spend on upgrades at any time simply by clicking the button. Ain't technology grand? If you die, or if you decide to stop playing, you can just pick up the game again at the last wave you started.

Strange, frenetic, and over-the-top, Ultimate Robotoru is at heart a straight-forward side-scroller, but wraps it up in such a great gleaming package that its hard not to enjoy it. For some people, the game's relative simplicity combined with the heavy reliance on humour centered on poor translation, means the game will wear out its welcome quicker than others. It also would have been nice to have a larger screen and playfield to zip around on. But for an injection of giant robot rampage combined with ginormo swords, orbital lasers, and classic arcade action, you should make a lunch date with Ultimate Robotoru. MAKE YOUR TIME.

Play Ultimate Robotoru

When it comes to picking out your perfect escape from the weekday, what qualities do you look for in a game? Here's my short list—appealing graphics, smooth gameplay, no pixel hunting, logical puzzles, an enjoyable story and lots of fun. A smidgen of challenge is also nice, to make me feel super smart but, on their own, clever puzzles can't beat out clever presentation. Sprinkle in heart-warming characters and charm, and I'll take that any day over something more slick and crafty yet without any heart. Cogito Ergo Sum's latest has all the essentials—plus the sunny personalities of Wan and Nyan—which is why it wins this week's escaping place of honor with It Happens Escape Game: Beginner Course.

As the game starts out, Wan and Nyan are invited to an escape game tournament as "Most Valuable Escapers." Here in this special room, ten hints in the form of mission cards provide guidance and, as the game master states, this course contains many of the elements typical to the "average" escape game. That means usual point-and-click gameplay is in effect: examine everything you can, employ helpful objects, collect clues and decode a few locks until you've made your way out.

Just as you'd expect from something labeled "beginner's course," additional help is offered anywhere you might have doubts. That makes this a great opportunity for anyone who has shied away from the venue after experiences with more abstruse selections. Since you also expect more than one ending from Wan and Nyan's escapades, this has two. Don't skip the start screen and play for both endings because the interaction with Wan and Nyan is this game's greatest allure.

Even though it's disappointingly brief and any inkling of puzzle difficulty is squelched by the tutorial aspects of the game, It Happens Escape Game: Beginner Course is intelligently made. Where the game lacks in challenge or length, it compensates very well with a smart theme and substantially sound design. The smirk at the "Who's Who List" spam mails, and their irrefutable flattery, is characteristic of the Cogito Ergo Sum wit we so love. And really, who can resist Wan and Nyan's charisma? Not me! They can always be counted on for a smile—and that's what escaping is all about.

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Thanks to the huge success of games like Angry Birds and Crush the Castle, the physics projectile genre is one of the hottest in casual gaming. Smokoko's King's Game puts a twist on the familiar catapult destruction... because your targets can fire back on your castle!

Controls are fairly standard for this game style; press and hold the left mouse button, drag for power and angle, and release to fire. When using ammunition such as buckshot, or a bomb, a second click of the left mouse button will activate its' deadly properties. To zoom in and out of the battleground, use the mouse wheel. Obviously, it is always your most desirable option to decimate your opponent as quickly as possible, but in this game, it can become a necessary strategy. The AI is a fairly accurate shot, and doesn't miss that often, even on the beginning levels. Your goal will not only be to destroy your enemy's structures before they demolish yours, but you also want to aim to collect items (e.g. cheese or bread), when available, in order to finish different collections. When they are completed, you will earn extra powerups that range from score bonuses to ammunition upgrades.

The pre-level animated comics, and the characters in the game, are seemingly reminiscent of Fisher-Price's "Little People" that you may remember from your early childhood. The sound design is equally successful, from the crunch of the projectiles crushing the wood, to the high-pitched celebrations and taunts that your little king and his subjects will evoke upon each victory. King's Game is not only a great departure from a standard building destruction game, but also a wonderful reminder that virtually breaking stuff is a lot of fun!

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Attention all doodlers! Drop your pen and strap yourself to the keyboard, because Francisco Ferreres is here with another in his series of hand drawn, top-down, vertical scrolling shoot-em-ups, Notebook Wars 3. The game lets you take your preference of flying and firing with the mouse, or, if you prefer, the [WASD] keyboard controls with [K] for shooting. Be prepared for the margins to run red, green, and blue with pencil shavings once more!

Like Notebook Wars 2 before it, Notebook Wars 3 focuses on refining and extending the series' classic formula of shooting baddies, blasting bosses, collecting cash and buying upgrades. There are a number of new enemies and weapons to play around with, certainly, but the draw of the series has always been its unique aesthetic, which remains just as awesome as before. The developers have added two major features, though, and both of them are well-appreciated. Keyboard controls are new and will be appreciated by certain players, and there's also Frenetic Mode, which speeds up the sometimes-sluggish pace of the game considerably, fixing the most common complaint about the original. The combination of consistency and subtle improvements make Notebook Wars 3 a game that shooter-lovers, and fans of the previous installment especially, will find noteworthy.

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