Everybody's favourite emotionally tortured little robot is back in this sequel to 2010's K.O.L.M., a Metroidvania style platformer about a lonely little robot with one very dysfunctional family. Picking up right where the original left off, having escaped the claws of his Mother, will our hero finally find out where he belongs, or will he be unable to escape his family ties?

Now that you've defeated that pungeon master, the five-man band is descending into a cave with an even greater threat: humidity. Turns out putting a cave of ice and a cave of fire next to each other isn't that great of an idea. The good thing about Flagstaff: Chapter Three is that it's more of the same, and since the previous games were fun, light-hearted time wasters well received by many in the JIG community as well as myself, more of the same can't go too wrong.

Sad armadillo is sad because he can't fly like the birds. He can run and roll, though, and with your help, he can do something remarkably close to flying! Dillo Hills is a browser-based action game similar to the iPhone release Tiny Wings. All you do in this simple physics-centric title is hold the [down] arrow key to dive towards the hills. When you hit terra firma you start to roll, coasting along the slopes to gain more and more speed. Release the button and soar high into the sky, picking up speed and traveling to distant lands in the process!

Help the blocky-headed hero escape in this fun physics puzzle platformer hybrid from bart99. Labscape skews more towards the platform than the puzzle end of the spectrum when it comes to its challenge. While the level designs are clever and frequently charming, with my personal favorite being what I might call "razor blade surfing," it doesn't take more than a little thought to figure out where the missing pieces are that you have to draw. Completing this game won't necessarily turn you into a lithe athlete, but it will provide a fun little break for your day.

Anyone who has ever played the classic PC game Lemmings will recognize the gameplay in Dibbles. In each level, a troop of marching ant-like critters (who I suppose are the eponymous Dibbles) must be ferried to the exit point with as little loss of life as possible, taking special care to spare the life of the chief monarch Dibble. The fun in Dibbles is in breezing through the levels and seeing what other gruesome tasks you can set your Dibbles to executing. All For The Greater Good, of course.

Go, Speed Runner, go! A superhero whose only super power is running really, really fast runs afoul of an evil genius whose extracurricular activities include building giant death machines and planting bombs all over the city. (... and... his... hideout?) Spring to the rescue in this bouncy, stylish arcade platformer that demands quick reflexes. Note: not for players with allergies to repeated spiky death.

You like Dino Run SE, right? And Nanotube? Well, imagine a game that's nothing like either of those games but co-created by the makers of each. Imagining that? Now stop and check out Super Space Rubbish, a game that satisfies the wildest fantasies you've had since starting this review, and does so with a fantastic retro style. Super Space Rubbish looks a lot like the classic Asteroids game on the surface, but really it's a mining/upgrading sort of experience where you customize your ship using materials extracted from asteroids smashed with your turret.

Hotel Dash: Lost Luxuries is time management done fantastically well, challenging, amusing, beautiful, and frantic. Take a few minutes and get sucked into the world of Flo and Dinertown!

Just because a game isn't technically finished doesn't mean you can't play it. Or that it isn't fun! This edition of Weekend Download features two games that are still works in progress. They may have some rough edges, dusty corners, and missing bits and pieces here and there, but you can still experience the core of what is shaping up to be a great game. And just think: when the games are officially released, you'll feel all cool and stuff because you already knew about it!

The goblins are angry... again! They're rolling out the big runs to crush the humans beneath their very literal wheels. Big Block Games serves up an impressive new rendition of their original action physics shooter with this massive overhaul that brings awesome new weapons, minigames, new enemies, new areas, and much, much more, all wrapped up in one beautiful, snarky package.

In Bug Tunnel Defense, bugs are in fact our deadly enemies after an atomic war has laid waste to the rest of civilization, and they're coming for what is left of humanity. So, not much different from the present day, really, minus the radiation and the end of civilization. With 5 levels of tutorials and 40 levels of gameplay, Bug Tunnel Defense is short but entertaining. If you enjoy tower defense games, then try out Bug Tunnel Defense with its fun new twist on an old classic. And for heaven's sake, get those darn bugs before they wipe us all out.

As per usual with Tonypa games the difficulty curve in Regrebluli is pretty steep, but that's about the only complaint there is with this addictive, entertaining game. The one thing we can always count on with Tonypa is a simple idea (plain stark graphics and elementary gameplay) done exceedingly well.

In a day when physics puzzles are as common as tax collectors, you can't just set a square block on top of an orange block and let your game loose on the world. Enter Steampunk, a simple sort of phuzzle game whose goal is to provide a sturdy challenge through 30 levels of puzzles while painting everything with a gorgeous steampunk art style.

Help a fledgling Dreamsong Catcher's own dreams come true in Nerdook's latest unique game! Collect the imagination and music that emanates from dreamers as they sleep, using it to create fantastic creatures, destroy horrors looking to disturb your work and restful sleep, and experience a whole mess of dreams that are silly, sweet, or just downright weird.

It's not just apocalypse, it's the pocalypse, and zombies aren't the only thing you have to worry about in this beautiful, quirky little defense shooter from newcomers Green Pixel. Defend the city of New Hammerston against zombies, mutants, plant monsters, robots, and even vampires with an array of powerful weapons and abilities, and spend the cash you earn to upgrade your butt-kicking prowess.

Time to brush up on your culinary skills and get cooking in this latest Tesshi-e escape game! Explore the irregular dimensions of this out of the ordinary room as you enjoy the beautiful and stunning graphics that Tesshi-e is known for. You'll need to combine logic, puzzle solving, object finding, object using, and a few culinary skills in order to call your friend to let you out so you can enjoy the lovely breakfast you just slaved over a hot...hot-plate to create.

If you've ever had sand kicked in your face at the beach by a vending machine, then this ridiculously over-the-top arcade game will provide some much needed closure. Unleash a massive array of upgradeable abilities and weapons, including volleyballs, lightning, guns, magic scythes, and lightsabers, to showcase the most "epic man vs vending machine" brawl ever.

While jetpacks are the futuristic invention people traditionally desire, for me I've always wanted a laser cannon... for entirely peaceful purposes, of course. I mean, they just have so many uses around the house: hedge-trimming, apple-coring, and causing the cartoonish demise of annoying critters. It is the latter that Laser Cannon 2, the new physics puzzler from Max Derevyagin and team, focuses on. A shade sadistic in concept? Perhaps, but if the creatures didn't want to be laser-blasted, then they shouldn't look so much like Furbies.

Zombies are everywhere. And all you've got is a heavily armored bus that can be upgraded with shields, zombie-crunching bumpers, guns, and other equipment! Guess you'll have to do some reckless driving in order to rescue the survivors. Zombus is a top-down driving game from Game Launch Project, creator of Bunny Flags. The game features loads of blood, plenty of angry zombies, and a healthy dose of more blood. But, for a browser-based driving game, you'll be surprised how spot-on the controls (and overall sense of dread) are!

In the tradition of games like Worms and Scorched Earth, take your tank onto the 2D battlefield and drop a few bombs on your enemy in this excellent multiplayer artillery title from Kyle Champ. Addictive, demanding and fun; the hallmarks of a great artillery game. And Shell Shock Live is a great artillery game. Maybe even one of the best...

Tearstone is a fantastic first effort by a new designer on the scene. DragonsEye Studio has come up with a fantastic, challenging, fun, and entertaining point and click adventure of the old school, with a few hidden object conventions thrown in.

Serve the Pact, serve Avadon, serve Redbeard. So it goes for you, a new recruit to the fabled Black Fortress, eager to make a name for yourself and help uphold the ideals of your land. But all is not as it seems; Redbeard, Avadon's commander, seems to inspire as much fear as he does loyalty in his followers, and murmurs of dissent ripple through the ranks while rumours of traitors both unnerve and intrigue you. Decide for yourself what path you will follow in this massive, engrossing turn-based fantasy RPG from Spiderweb Software. Just remember to watch your back so someone doesn't stick a dagger into it. Who can you trust?

Love Chronicles: The Sword and the Rose, a new casual adventure game from Vendel Games, creator of the Magic Encyclopedia series, flings you into a gloomy world of alchemy, spells, sleeping trees, frozen puddles and glowing rose petals. As a prince who is on his way home from an adventure, you encounter a strange island filled with mystery. And ice. Lots and lots of ice. Your boat becomes trapped on the shore, so you set foot to sand and investigate the island's strange sights.

While it's fairly similar to the original, particularly because a lot of the art assets are recycled, Book of Dead Names helps update the Necronomicon formula and add a lot of much-needed depth. The difficulty might turn some players off, especially since as a card game it's possible to lose matches by simply not getting the cards you need, but it's still worth a look for card game and Lovecraft fans alike. Just try not to unleash any dark powers. It's a pain to clean up after that kind of thing.

Sumo wrestling, as everyone knows, is a noble and ancient Japanese art where a rotund man bounces around like a ping pong ball, occasionally careening into other sumo wrestlers, and shoveling rice down his gullet as quickly as possible to increase his size and convert all adversaries into clones of himself. So loosen your belt, grab your industrial-strength chopsticks, and jump into Hungry Sumo for seconds. Or tenths. Or fiftieths. Yum.

I appreciate the specificity of Space Arcade: The Game's subtitle. I was seriously worried for a couple minutes that I was going to have to deal with Space Arcade: The Hit Broadway Musical. However, as much as I crave toe-tappin' hits and elaborate choreography, I enjoy Galaga-inspired pixel shooter action even more. This appears to be music-meister Matt McFarland's debut game release, and it's so much fun that maybe he should consider quitting his day job.

If you were looking for a game that gives you a taste of true omnipotence, zOMT leaves something to be desired. But as a defense game, it's a great deal of fun. Being told that your godly might was at the level of "holy toast" was certainly a spur to keep playing. Conquer all fifteen levels and your power will be unquestioned! At least from here to that torch-thing.

A couple of months ago, we featured Insectonator by Denis Kukushkin and family. I thought i thought it was a fine shooter, and going by the site ratings, it seems that many of you agreed. However, I did have a small problem with it: as fun as it was to blast various anthropods into lymphatic chunks, the whole thing did seem just a shade sadistic. I mean, most of those beetles were just minding their own business. If only the developers came out with a version that featured enemies for which the average gamer had no compunctions eviscerating... something like, oh, I don't know, the stalking legions of the undead. Well, guess what, Insectonator: Zombie Mode is here, and with it comes new weapons, new arenas and new achievements. And zombies. Tiny, tiny zombies.

10 Gnomes in Liege is pretty short, but that doesn't mean that you'll only spend ten minutes playing. Try it and you might get hooked, going back over and over again to admire the stunning black and white photography of the city whilst you try to ferret out every last gnome before time runs out.

Sym-a-Pix is a unique take on picture-logic puzzles. Like most of the Conceptis Light line, this edition features a selection of easier puzzles in three different sizes, to give you a good grasp of the concepts for solving these puzzles. If you're looking for a different logic puzzle challenge, give Sym-a-Pix Light a spin. You never know what will turn up!

Hermit Rabi is a satisfying little escape adventure chock-full of puzzles, logic, use of found objects, combining objects, and communicating with imaginary rabbits. With this designer you get the whole package: fantastic gameplay, intuitive and easy to use controls, and gorgeous visuals, making Robamimi one of our favorite room escape designers. So get ready for a perfect mid-week break with Hermit Rabi and Wonder Fountain.

Slide as long as you can before the heat gets you in this quirky, fast-paced arcade game. If you have to ask why there are fires on a waterslide, well, clearly you have never heard the sad tale of Dormant Volcano Waterpark and the gypsy that cursed it. Maybe you should be asking yourself why you'd want to take one last ride down something known as a "death pipe" instead.

Bloopers is a short physics game of destruction similar to Crush the Castle, Angry Birds, and countless other browser-based diversions of a similar type. Here, you play the role of little black blobs who own a really great cannon. One day, one of the blobs sees a lightbulb. He goes insane with rage, immediately smashing the bulb's delicate glass exterior. Only when the light has been extinguished is the blob happy, and thus they set out across the land, using physics to destroy lightbulbs that plague their very existence!

Nostalgia returns in Ragdoll Parashooter, a modern-day version of the classic games like "Sabotage" and "Paratrooper." Control your turret to take out waves of enemy paratroopers, helicopters, and transports. Upgrade your weapons and survive across six levels, playing minigames and earning achievements along the way.

If history has taught us anything, it's that history is neat and can make great content for video games. Case in point: Siegius, a casual real-time strategy / defense game that takes place during Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul way back in the mid-50s BC. Send units out to attack the base of the Gaul commander Vercingetorix. He's streaming soldiers as well, so you must balance defensive units with long-range fighters, melee combat specialists, and unique spells, clearing the battlefields as you march your way to victory! Hopefully!

Antique Road Trip 2: Homecoming is a hidden object game that tells the story of a young couple, Grace and James, their newborn son Colin and their amazingly cute puppy. In the original Antique Road Trip USA they spent a ton of time traveling around the country, finding and selling antiques to fix up their own lovely antique store. Now all they want is a break, so they head to Montana to visit Grace's parents and enjoy some long-awaited relaxation.

When tornadoes strike Greefield Island, who you gonna call? The rescue team, of course! Clad in the finest orange overalls and wearing the highest-tech helmets available, the handy crew sails in, hammers at the ready, willing and able to clean up the debris covering the island and repair each and every building along the way. A time management sim in the vein of My Kingdom for the Princess and Roads of Rome, Alawar Game's Rescue Team aims to take its own slice of the road repairing, house rebuilding pie, one level at a time!

Be sure to check out our well-written and complete walkthrough (with images) for Dream Chronicles: The Book of Water, the standard edition of which has just been made available today at Big Fish Games. Be warned: contains major spoilers, so proceed only as needed, and as a last resort.

The pen is mightier than the sword and it won't give you any time to rest. Mark Twain's soul is uneasy, and he seeks you out to help him try to make sense of a premonition he can't remember from his youth, and to help save him from the strange beast that seems to be hunting him through time. Solve a centuries old mystery and conspiracy in the third installment of Mumbo Jumbo's popular hidden-object adventure series!

Dust off that old Nitrome Entertainment System and maybe even your super sneaky Game Muscle cartridge for a little old-school arcade glory! Help the world's cutest pink elastic puppy stretch his way around all manner of dangerous obstacles to retrieve gems in this beautiful nostalgic homage to classic arcade avoidance gaming.

Well it finally happened. After years of cheating, fighting and swirlying, you've been expelled, and your parents aren't happy. The only thing standing between you and juvenile detention is St. Frost's School for Slackers, Troublemakers and Idiots. The students are a mixed bag of violent sadists and amiable dunces, the teachers aren't much better, and the last new student had a nervous breakdown after two months. But hey, you ruled one school before didn't you? How different can this one be? It's all about doing the right things for the right people... So is the premise of Wasted Youth, the new open world adventure-RPG from GPStudios.

14 Locks, the latest game from Bart Bonte, is not strictly an escape game but it is still fun to navigate your way through the imaginatively decorated spaces, each one becoming more elaborate than the last. Bart has created something that is pretty exciting and amusing to play with this Unity platform, although it can be a little nausea inducing, so please be warned.

This is Jack. This is Jack's spring. This is Jack's amusing hat. This is Jack's box. Jack wishes he were in his box. Jack needs you to guide him to the box. This is Jack's friend. Jack's friend also has an amusing hat. Jack's friend will follow Jack wherever he goes. This is the additional element of strategy added to Jack's puzzle-platforming game. In short, this is Jack in the Box, made by Jack's creator, Ali Bati. And if you think it won't be a good time, brother... you don't know Jack.

EA2D and Evan Miller of Pixelante Game Studios combine forces to create this fun, frantic side-scrolling hack-and-slasher set in the Dragon Age universe from Bioware and EA's popular RPG series. As one man against a seemingly unending tide of demons, beasts, madmen, and more, do you have a chance to make your way across hostile terrain to victory? Master four different combat styles, topple massive bosses, and indulge in a little wholesome face-stabbing in this straight-forward but very fun action title from both Industry and Indie talents.

Created by five-year-old Cassie and her father, Ryan, Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure is a stupendously silly and wonderful short little adventure game about a little girl able to travel through rainbows, who desperately wants a collection of ponycorns in jars. (Don't we all?) Short and easy but nevertheless cheerful and fun, this little game will put a smile on your face for the duration.

When a little yellow creature mysteriously named Red spies a sign advertising a free muffin, nothing's going to stop him. Of course, this muffin turns out not to be so much a "free as in no strings attached" muffin. It's more of a "free as in you must first complete a gauntlet of puzzles while pointing and clicking your way around a mysterious castle" kind of muffin. Made by Rob and John Donkin, The Adventures of Red serves up some classic challenges and a few twists of its own.

Sakudatu is definitely an entertaining room escape. The puzzles are fun if a tad too easy and the madness going on all around merely enhances the escaping experience. If the bizarro world of Detarou is to your liking then you are in for one tasty treat.

Katharine Neil brings us a quirky, cheeky adventure about what it takes you get you up off your butt and enjoying the great outdoors. Provided your idea of "enjoyment" is trekking all over the wilderness, being outwitted by devious animals, set to work by devilish children, and tracking down a truly unreasonable amount of teddy-bear eyeballs. An entertaining, bawdy adventure game with a ton of sass and creativity.

If there's one thing I loathe, it's those darn dirty zombies. Not just for their intentions re: my brains, but also how it seems that, as of late, some developers have used their antagonistic qualities to prop up uninspired game design. Every so often though, a game comes out that features the undead in a way that feels fresh and interesting... and since I already dodged one apocalypse this week, I was just about ready to go for two. That game is Jim P's new run and gun shooter, zOMGies 2.

Fame! Romance! Excitement!... none of which are for you. After all, Count Thrashwoode is the hero here, and you're just his lowly assistant. It's up to you to properly organise all the treasure he uncovers during his adventures and then properly equip him for battle in this quirky, unique puzzle game.

From Papa's Pizzeria to Papa's Burgeria to the latest time management game Papa's Taco Mia, Flipline Studios consistently produces great-looking games that walk a delicate line between challenging and straight-up entertaining. The newest in the growing series of restaurant sims puts you in the managing shoes of a taco joint. Take customer's orders, grill up the right kind of meat, stuff the tacos, add the toppings one by one, and present each order to the customer for their evaluation. Make neater tacos, rake in bigger tips, and outfit your restaurant with the best equipment available as you work your way to a taco-making master!

Spite Cannon Reloaded is a truly casual game where you shoot cannonballs at various shapes with eyes and mouths. Play through 80 levels, complete with upgrades and a level editor. Can you unlock the lemur cannonballs and beat the game?

Time management game? We don't think so! Bistro Boulevard is a casual restaurant simulation from Fugazo, creators of the World Mosaics series as well as Fiction Fixers. In an unusual departure from the norm. Bistro Boulevard is focused on you as the manager of a restaurant. Hire staff, train them to cook ingredients, formulate recipes, and seat customers, all with a few clicks of the mouse. Your staff does all the drudge work, leaving you to focus on the important parts of the business!

Emma and the Inventor is a wonder-filled adventure/hidden object game from Tricky Software. A relative newcomer to the casual downloads scene, the studio makes a great impression with a game that is not only easy and inviting to play, but one that has been carefully put together with attention to the small details. The end result doesn't shatter records or break the genre's mold too fiercely, but instead delivers a supremely satisfying game with good puzzles, excellent artwork and music, and frustration-free gameplay scene after glorious scene.

With its darker and more powerful storyline and haunting music Princess Isabella: Return of the Curse still delivers the goods of involving, entertaining, challenging gameplay. The ability to chose two different modes of play makes Princess Isabella fun for both beginners to the field and seasoned adventurers looking for a challenge. Beautiful beyond belief and exciting to play Princess Isabella: Return of the Curse is a definite hit.

Fans of the original Castaway will find much they like from the first game, plus many improvements. Castaway 2 isn't the deepest RPG around, but it's perfect for casual fans of the genre. The Isle of the Titans has a lot to do and a lot to see, and will keep casual RPG players well occupied. Just don't let it suck you in too much, or you might find that you suffer some light amnesia of your own.

Forget Tremors and Sarlacci, you've got Death Worms to worry about! Indie developer Play Creek brings 2007's smash arcade hit to your browser with sleek new graphics, fifteen levels, achievements, upgrades, thirty different enemies, and all the fanged, gaping maws you've ever wished for.

I have to admit, if I was ever sucked into a Tron-like computer world, I don't know if I would be able to handle the games they would force me to play. Since getting my motorcycle, I think I could manage a draw in light-cycles, but Deadly Discs? Solar Sailor? Brawls at the End of Line club? I think I'd be derezzed pretty quickly. On the other hand, should the Master Computer challenge me to a game of hangman, I think I could take him. Such is the scenario presented by Langman, the new unity platforming word game from Von Lehe Creative.

Oh sure, you could say that Successful Experiment by Toffee Games is just another physics-based puzzler where you fiddle around with balls and targets, but just check out that sweet laboratory set you've got as a background, and the Einstein-look on the logo character. You're fiddling around with balls and targets for science.

Although Bla Bla is presented on a technological medium, many of the pictures and figures are hand-drawn or made through stop-motion animation. The combined effect of modernity and tradition produces a unique aesthetic and a visible human touch to the gameplay.

In this conclusion to the Stamp Rally Escape trilogy, the puzzles flow nicely from one to the next and the animals' special talents for jumping and punching are on display front and center several times around the room. All in all a nice, satisfying conclusion to the series, leaving the room escaper happy and content, at least until Cogito Ergo Sum's next epic trilogy.

Samegame Fighter cuts out all the nasty parts of adventuring (and most of the other parts, for that matter) and distills battling monsters to a matching game. Samegame Fighter is a solid choice for those of us who'd love to be heroes but enjoy changing our underwear regularly.

Wasps stink. That's not a typo; they may sting, but they stink too, and you'll think so too after you fire up this cute, quirky little puzzle platformer. When the Wasp King steals all the honey before Bearboy can steal it himself, it's up to you and your cursor to help Bearboy get the goods across worlds filled with all manner of strange and challenging obstacles.

With smooth, easy to use controls, sumptuous detail and pop-culture style humour, A Knight's Quest is a lovely diversion that won't necessarily extend your cerebral capacities, but rather will entertain, amuse and remind you of the importance of respecting your mother and helping others, even if it's simply in the pursuit of milk... that costs well over $650.00. And that's the low-fat variety. Without diamonds in it.

With its cute, cartoony visuals, throbbing music track, fast-paced action, and Super Mario-like platforming City Siege 2: Resort Siege is a wild ride through the world of special ops and hostage rescue. So you can't be a member of Seal Team 6 (which doesn't actually exist, anyway), try City Siege 2: Resort Siege and live out your wildest commando team fantasies of saving the day, killing the bad guys, and reducing some random unnamed resort to complete rubble.

Those gosh-darn Giraffe-neck-extending Russkies are at it again! No longer content to simply stretch their ungulates up through the stratosphere, now it seems that they won't be satisfied until they've gone across the horizontal horizon as well. Yes, it's Soviet Rocket Giraffe, an amusing new launch/platformer hybrid from Jmtb02, a guy who knows a little something about launching animals into space. And while some of the elements are more than a little familiar, there's no finer forgotten chapter of the space race than this, comrade.

Lume is a new puzzle adventure game from State of Play, creators of a few browser games you might know, such as A Short History of the World and A Break in the Road. The visual style is by far the game's most standout feature, as everything you see was created out of paper and cardboard before getting filmed in high definition. The awesomeness doesn't end with the graphics, though. Lume features some solidly challenging point-and-click puzzles that will cause even seasoned room escape veterans to stop and think on more than one occasion.

From crooked law agents to psychic detectives to run-of-the-mill agents who find themselves in tough situations, most of us feel like we've got a good grip on the fictional portrayal of the justice system at this point in time. Dark Ritual plays with this familiarity a bit, introducing two FBI agents at the very beginning of the game, one of whom has a sister that has mysteriously vanished. The pair sets out to locate her, uncovering top secret plots, a mad scientist with an Incan mind control concoction, and plenty of mysticism along the way. It's a stunning hidden object thriller from Vogat Interactive (Shades of Death: Royal Blood, Gravely Silent: House of Deadlock), and you won't be able to pause until you've ran through to the end!

Dragon Keeper is an amusing and fun little time management diversion in which you need to raise baby dragons to help win back the princess and the kingdom. The animations are hilarious and the action can become fast and frantic, but not so much that this game is out of reach of the young or old, making Dragon Keeper literally fun for everyone. Dragon Keeper offers hours upon hours of addictive fun for the whole family, wrapped up in a cute little bow.

Part of what makes Weekend Download so fun is sharing games that aren't yet complete, are just concepts, are experimental, or are just plain weird. They aren't epic journeys that will consume entire days of play time. Instead, each little nugget of freeware gold does one thing particularly well. And even if it isn't perfect, we still like to share, allowing more people to play crazier games and giving the creative game developers a little more attention!

Tragedy rocks an isolated town, but nobody wants to talk about it... mainly because they've all vanished. Over a century later you find yourself at the gates, drawn there by an obsession from your own tragedies and a mysterious letter, and wind up embroiled in a plot of love, hate, and murder in a place that straddles the line between nightmare and reality. A creepy and captivating hidden-object adventure with quality and good times to go around.

You can keep your CGI mippy-maps and digitally inserted explosions. In my mind, what the best movie stunts need is non-negotiable: An actual dude, in an actual car, making actual jumps (possibly with an actual dude hanging from the rear axle with an actual whip). I suppose then it's a little contradictory that I turn to computer gaming to recreate this real-life experience, but Stunt Crazy, the new physics driving game by The Podge definitely has the right spirit... and a ton of stuff that goes boom. Can't forget that.

Zounds! A movie-tie-in advergame that is a 16-bit platformer and doth not suck? And one that doth has been made by retro king Big Pixel Studios! Yea, verily! I personally may be a bigger fan of the Distinguished Competition, but any game that lets you control a Norse God that flings lightning and hammers around is certainly worth a look. Yes, it's Thor: Bring the Thunder, just released on the main Marvel site. Indeed, I've heard that the company has just released a 150 million dollar movie for the sole purpose of promoting this game. Was it a waste of money? By Odin's beard, I say thee nay!

Checkpoint is a quick-fire arcade platform game that's as much about avoiding things that make you die as it is getting killed. Created by Hero Interactive (Bubble Tanks, Storm Winds), Checkpoint goes the extra mile and taunts you with running commentary on each level, reminding you why you're a terrible gamer, questioning your every move, and laughing at you when you fail. On top of that, you're being timed and your deaths are tallied, so if your ego isn't crushed by Hero Interactive throughout the course of the game, just wait for your pitiful final score at the end!

As with most escapes, Button is set in a room filled with all manner of doodads and puzzles: a few paintings on the wall, a red couch, a grandfather clock mysteriously missing its hands, a bookshelf... and a tempting red button behind a metallic hatch beside the door, helpfully marked "DO NOT PUSH" in both English and Japanese. How you treat the button will affect the outcome of the game.

Be legendary! Be powerful! Be... pixellated? Kevin Glass' retro roguelike is currently in continued development, but don't be afraid to dip your toes into this top-notch casual experience designed to be picked up and played at any time by anyone. Sharped your sword, fletch your arrows, and... uh... spark your fireballs? There's adventure to be had!

Minerbot features a distinctive minimalist art style that might be confusing for the first couple runs. Once you get into the groove of the game, though, there's definitely an addictive quality to watching a collector hollow out a massive expanse of ore. The action's accompanied by a hopping techno soundtrack.

Platform fans are bound to enjoy Test Subject Green while puzzle lovers won't be punished for a lack of twitch reflexes. It's an excellent hybrid of the two genres made possible through the power of science, much like astronaut ice cream is a delicious fusion of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. Aren't you glad we live in this modern world?

Dangerous Gen-Kan Escape 2 is not only a perfect mid-week break but a fantastic nod to the past oeuvre of point-and-click adventure gaming which spawned today's room escapes. Come on, you know you want to play, even if you might blow up. Be careful, it's dangerous.

The Sieger Level Pack is an extension of the popular projectile physics castle destruction game, Sieger. It features 40 new levels with extra building material types and deadly projectiles. Levels now include slippery ice blocks, rolling boulders, and explosive boxes and barrels for maximum chain reaction devastation, as well as connecting blocks and moving contraptions. There's also an enhanced level editor to make and share your castles with the Sieger community.

Since the dawn of time, man has collected. This arcade platformer plays right to this compulsion by encouraging players to load up on diamonds like it's going out of style as they try to climb to the top of an endless cavern. This isn't a pretentious art game or a brain-wracking escape, this is down-and-dirty arcade action through and through and it succeeds spectacularly on that level.

Doodle God is back with 2 new episodes for your element-combining alchemical enjoyment! Enter Doodle God 2 and play from the beginning of episode 1 or skip the first 116 elements to get right into episodes 2 & 3. Yes, it's a lot of trial and error, but just like Pokémon's "Gotta Catch'em All" the Doodle God games play right into our obsessive compusive desire to find all the elements.

When a mighty warrior is turned into a zombie, he does what any self-respecting one-man army would do: find a good armorer, learn a few skills and go pound revenge into whoever needs it. Even if you just want to spend a few hours where you can indulge in mindless violence, but pretend you are delving in stats formulas and real-time strategy, join the ranks of the Zombie Knight.

Aah, to be young again. To experience the thrills of the imagination. To not pay income taxes. To prowl about the night hypnotizing people, utilizing my super strength powers, flying like a bat, and unleashing telekinetic powers that can do virtually anything I desire. While that may not exactly be the childhood of anyone reading this review (or writing it, for that matter), in the point-and-click puzzle game Vampire Skills, you take on the role of a young vampire (is that even possible?) learning to use his skills. And yes, it's about as whimsical as it sounds!

When Amanita Design's Samorost or Machinarium meets a smart, non-formulatic hidden object game, The Tiny Bang Story is the beautiful result. A point-and-click puzzle game at heart, this charming release from Colibri Games will hook you from the start, keeping your eyes busy and your cursor mobile from the opening screen all the way to the very end. It's a stunning and very memorable game that will make you wish more games followed its careful design concepts.

Yoshio Ishii is back with another installment of one of our favorite puzzle games here at JIG: Hoshi Saga Ringoen is the 6th in the series and in full color like the previous version. Still not nearly as difficult as the first few games in the series, which may disappoint the more hard-core puzzle lovers, but for casual players are sure to eat this one up. Whether you are new to the series or a veteran, a new Hoshi Saga is always a day to celebrate.

Welcome to Snark Busters 2: All Revved Up, a bizarre, colorful, steampunk-ish world of broken hidden objects, magical mirrors, and mischievous chandelier-breaking cats! As Jack Blair, famous Formula 0 racer, you follow in the footsteps of your grandfather who was not only a better driver, but a better Snark Buster as well! The sequel is every bit as whimsical and engaging as the original game, Snark Busters: Welcome to the Club, and it's a treasure of an experience from beginning to end!

Mystery Chronicles: Betrayals of Love tells a tale of love, obsession, and murder which unfolds alongside the dazzling scenery with each clue you uncover and each vista you explore. Will you find out what happened to the countess? You will indeed, and have a great deal of fun along the way.

Mystery is afoot in the snow-logged town of Raincliff! When a busload of university students goes missing nearby, the locals aren't talking... mainly because there aren't any. The town has been deserted for years and nobody knows why, and when you go looking for answers, it's clear that something doesn't want you around and will go to any lengths to keep you from playing the hero. Uncover a bizarre secret, stay one step ahead of a murderous unseen force, and search for clues in this exciting, imaginative installment in the fantastic Mystery Trackers hidden-object adventure series!

Do K and S resent C for horning in on their territory? Is it agoraphobia or contempt for the other letters that compels Q to stay at home unless U is close behind? What sort of twisted inter-literal love triangle makes I go before E, except after C? And what happens when a formally happy literal couple decides to call it splits? This last is the premise behind The I of It, a unique puzzle platformer, in which the "t" of the word "It" runs off, prompting "I" to set forth on a quest find him.

Don't Panic is a well designed defense shooter game on all fronts. Ralph Damiano has made an incredibly fun and exciting game that doesn't let you rest on your laurels, but also takes measures to make sure you're still enjoying it. Each level can get you as excited as the one before. You play a king, or, at the very least, someone who is a crown enthusiast, and you must defend your fortress against a mad scientist and his robot minions.

Save the Princess is an adorable puzzle game, almost bordering on precious. It has just the right mix of colorful graphics and logical gameplay that makes me think that it would be the perfect game for parents and children to play together without either getting bored. Collect stars for extra (and slightly hilarious) achievements, but watch out for spikes and getting caught in an endless loop!

Take up the mantle of Gem Keeper and protect your glittery hoard from all comers in this official level pack from tower defense maestros Iriysoft. Make strategic use of three different terrains and towers, upgrading your offensive capabilities to stand firm against hordes of powerful enemies, each with their own unique abilities. Just remember, when the going get tough, the tough rain down a fiery hail of massive meteorites.

Buried in the dirt or sitting in the open pathways are letters or bones, simply run across them (or dig across them) to pick them up. Spell words to earn bones to buy bonuses and to move further in the game. Simple to learn with a lot of vocabulary complexity to be found, Word Up Dog! is casual gameplay that can suck you in and give you hours and hours of enjoyment. This fun, amusing, challenging game of spelling is entertainment for a wide range of ages, from those youngsters who want to improve their mad spellin' skillz to the older folks who enjoy a vocabulary challenge.

Where do all the bugs go? What happened between early testing of a game and final release? Jonas Kyratzes may make you wonder with this experimental platformer. Recruited to test an early build of Jonas's new game, you wind up falling through the cracks into a strange place you were never meant to see.

It's not your typical numbers-in-boxes challenge, but don't let that scare you away. Once you wrap your mind around the concept of using the empty boxes as the clues for filling in the black squares, you're on your way. This first batch of Nurikabe Light features a number of simpler, smaller puzzles to help you learn the ropes. Give them a shot, you might discover a new puzzle addiction!

You would really have to search hard to find anything wrong with Mild Escape 4, the newest game from Tesshi-e. Challenging, amusing, easy on the eyes and ears, with simple intuitive controls, you're looking at a near perfect classic one-room four-wall escape game, wrapped up in an anniversary bow. Perfect for the mid-week break, Mild Escape 4 is everything you could want in a room escape and more.

Flagstaff remains more about the silly story and casual pace than about seriously challenging veteran RPG players, but the design is cute and distinctive, the heroes all have interesting and balanced powers, and the pace is perfect for a light bit of dungeon crawling. Chapter Two builds on the promise of Chapter One, and tantalizes for the next installment of the Flagstaff series.

Some things in life are purely about experience, like bungee-jumping and rollercoaster rides. And there are games with no apparent meaning, that draw you in simply to enjoy something different, like Deliza. This point-and-click curiosity is essentially an advergame without the hard-sell elements, diffcult to define yet an experience in its own right.

My Little Army is clever strategy fun that wears its real-time nature on its sleeve, made from cutesy graphics and carried forward by purely-for-decoration storylines. You might even be fooled by thinking that this makes the game easy. See if you feel that way when a giant Jason is stomping your Khan Kong's face.