I can't get no.... satisfaction. I can't get no... gaming action. But I try! And I try! And I try! And I try!... and I realize that I can probably just look to the JiG archives for all the games I could ever want. Take that, double negative! This week in The Vault we've got three action games that are sure to fire your imagination.

• A Murder of Scarecrows - A Murder of Scarecrows by My Pet Skeleton is the perfect game to kick off the slow march to Halloween. With its measured pacing and visuals reminiscent of the "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" series, A Murder of Scarecrows is hauntingly beautiful and more than a little ghoulish. The seed-launch mechanism takes some getting used to, but the animated thrashing of the straw-men and piercing cries of the crows will keep you happily spooked. A Murder of Scarecrows feels like a painting come to life... a painting that you don't trust to look away from for too long.
• Boomshine - Simple, colorful and psychedelic, Boomshine, by Danny Miller, is the gaming equivalent of a lava lamp. One of the surprise hits of 2007, games with chain reaction gameplay had been done before, but never so beautifully or so intuitively. Boomshine relaxes the body, while posing a challenge that stresses the mind to the breaking point: that level 12 is a killer! Special mention needs to be made of Tim Halbert's music, which would be equally at home as the background for some zen meditation as it is for popping bubbles. Boomshine may look like a screensaver, but it will move your mouse for hours.
• Avalanche - You are a marshmallow! Blocks are falling from the sky and threaten to crush you! You need to climb them or get melted by acidic Kool Aid! Sometimes, that's really all the plot you need. Fluid, slippery, and sometimes blatantly unfair, Beast Games' Avalanche plays like a lost 80s arcade game designed to rob you of as many quarters as possible. With dramatic jumps every few seconds and constant skin-of-your-teeth escapes, Avalanche will inspire profanity with each loss. However, you'll always be glad to hit the replay button for just one more round of punishment.

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!