PacXon

PacXon is a mixture of two old arcade games. Pac-man like figures race around the screen as you try to fill in the square by outlining areas. Once outlined, the square will fill in automatically.

The ghosts can be maddeningly difficult to trap. If you are strung out, and they hit your back trail, you will lose a life. Ghosts can appear in the blank areas, or in the areas you have already filled in, so be careful. The big red ghosts are particularly dangerous, as if they hit a wall, they will remove any filled in blocks (not the side edges, though).

One particularly bad issue with this game was how the little pink ghosts would hit me even though I was sitting on a 'filled block'. Very upsetting, to say the least.

But overall, it can be quite addicting, just as the old games were.

Categorize this under: Arcade, Puzzle

Play PacXon at justfreegames.

Osiris

Osiris is an online adventure, croft like, 2-d adventure. Shoot, jump and duck your way past multiple enemies over multiple levels to get to the treasure.

I had real trouble avoiding some of the dangerous items here. It's really easy to get too close to the spikes or blades, even when you're ducking under them. Also, keep in mind that some creatures are vulnerable in one spot only. So, don't waste your ammo.

You can move/jump/duck with the arrows or aswd keys. Sprint by holding down the space bar (or ctrl button). You can pan the camera with zxc, but the camera may move on its own. Fire with the mouse button and change weapons with the scroll wheel or select your gun of choice with the numbers 1-5.

Here's a tip for you... look out for holes in the ground.

Categorize this under: Shooter, Action, Adventure

Play Osiris at armorgames.

Imminent

Imminent, as in imminent destruction, is a tower defense game. Hordes are descending on your tower. Defend yourself or be destroyed. BTW, what did you do to get so many angry at you?

What I liked about this game is how many different types of enemies are coming at you. Those wizards may not look like much when compared to the jeeps, but they can take a beating. Also, I liked the music, but I would like it better if there was a 'random song' selection so that it would just randomly switch tunes from level to level (you can switch it manually).

With two different gameplays and plenty of different types of enemies, this game can keep you busy for hours. Unless you play on the hardest level, in which you just won't last that long.

Tips: Build up your most powerful gun. It may not fire often, but you'll need the extra firepower. Also, learn which enemies you should fear, and which you shouldn't. Those big tanks can take a lot out of you with one shot.

To engage autofire, hit any key. To disengage, hit any key (but why would you want to?).

Categorize this under: Shooter, Action

Play imminent at armorgames.

Cake Mania

Cake Mania is a clone of Diner Dash, so if you like playing that game, you'll like playing this game for a while. The downloadable version has a lot more things to play with. The online trial was simple and a little disappointing. At least the diner dash trial gave you a real flavor for the game.

Cake Mania starts off with you coming home from culinary school to find your family bakery has been closed. Determined to get things going again, you start a bakery out of your own home. Bake those cakes with the frosting and shapes your customers want. Do it quickly and you might get a tip. Do it slowly and your business will fail.

Tip: the real focal point is the frosting station. Keep getting that station cleared as fast as you can.

Categorize this under: Business, Action

Play Cake Mania at bigfishgames.

Gameboy Emulator Online

The latest gameboy emulator on line. The nice part is their is no registration and no downloads. All the ROMS are there and ready to use.

I had to use the secondary view to make the games work, however. The input rate really needs some tweaking.

There are plenty of games to play under all categories, so categorize this under: Strategy, Shooter, Card Games, RPG, Racing, Sport, Arcade, Action, Adventure, Puzzle


Gameboy Emulator at home.

Beach Marbles

Beach Marbles is a different type of game, that's for sure. You want to race around the track with your marble as quickly as possible, gathering up the bonuses for extra points.

Hole the left mouse button to zoom in (up), zoom out (down) or shift your perspective left or right. Hold the right mouse button down (and then release) to set your power. Just make sure you don't hit it too hard into a corner or you'll bounce up and out of the track. It's not as easy as it looks at first glance, so try out different power settings to see how hard it really is, then restart it to really try your hand at it.

Categorize this under: Sport

Play Beach Marbles at officinepixel.

Top 10 Most Popular Games

Over the past 30 days, this site has had a lot of traffic because of the following games. What's your favorite game?

1. Escape From Rhetundo Island
2. Smart Stick Adventure 2 1/2
3. Hapland 3
4. Parking Perfection 2
5. Super Mario Bros
6. Orbox B
7. Jungle Gin
8. Wogger
9. Chronon
10. Online Adventures

Hapland 3 and its mate, Escape from Rhetundo Island, caused quite a stir when they were released, and I received quite a bit of traffic after posting walkthroughs. The same goes for Chronon, so I owe a thank you to foon and eyezmaze for creating those great games . Smart Stick Adv 2 1/2 (I believe) receives a lot of traffic as an indirect result. Wogger has a full walkthrough posted as well, and so, again, I'm not surprised to see it near the top despite being so new (I also have a link to the walkthrough at digg, so that helps).

Parking Perfection 2 was quite a surprise to me. It was one of the first games I got a lot of hits for reviewing, and I almost didn't do it. It just wasn't one of my favorites, but I got addicted to it despite my frustration. So...

Super Mario Bros is a classic and I've posted many tips for those who get frustrated at Orbox, so I suppose it's no surprise to see them in the top 10.

Online Adventures is my summary for puzzle pirates and Runescape. Both are great games and both receive a lot of attention (Runescape in particular) in the online world.

Grow Nano v0

Grow Nano is another game from eyezmaze. This one is different from his most successful series, 'Grow'. And to be truthful, I'm not all that crazy about this one. I like his Grow series more than I like his 'make it grow' games.

Scroll down so that the bottom of the playing field is in complete view before starting. Then follow the hotspots around the screen and click on them. Notice that you have a timer at the bottom that keeps going down. So click faster if you want to get to the ending. You'll know you're there when the crowd cheers in the background, but that's all the reward you are going to get.

Categorize this under: Puzzle

Play Grow Nano V.0 at eyezmaze.

Update: I just have Hapland on the brain lately. Thanks, anonymous for pointing that out.

Overkill Apache

Overkill Apache is about as simple as you can get. Fire away at everything that comes across the screen. Pick up any weaponry that drops from the sky and blast away.

Really, that's all there is to this game. It's a side scrolling shoot'em up. Use the arrow keys to move around and the space bar to shoot. As you pick up more ammo, the weapon will be fired automatically when you hit the space bar. There's no strategy, no picking of which weapon to shoot with.

The graphics are clean and simple and the voice over is funny to listen to. The music is tense and exciting (if overly simplistic).

Categorize this under: Shooter, Action

Play Overkill Apache at fingertime.

Toboggan Run

Toboggan Run is just that. Push your toboggan down the slope, but not too hard. If you do, the passengers may get a little toasty when they travel through the burning hoop!

The best part of this game is how the crowd laughs as your toboganners get lit of fire. The crowd noise and the announcers are just fun to listen to. Turning off the music is probably a good idea, however.

Push and hold the go button until you have enough power. Then let go. It's that easy.

Categorize this under: Sport

Play Toboggan Run at wedu.

Gamma Bros

Gamma Bros is a space shooter designed to look like the 'games of old.' The brothers Buzz and Zap are heading out (take your pick, they are the same) on their daily commute home (seems familliar to me.. I wonder if this is based on my commute?) when they come under attack by lots and lots of aliens who want nothing better to gather together and shoot them down. Oh, and don't forget to shoot down or dodge those asteroids, too.

You can tag out when your brother shows up, plus just because your ship blows up doesn't necessarily mean you will die. You'll come out of your ship in your own space suit, but best of all, you won't lose those power ups you bought from the traveling salesman who floats by every once in a while. Also, if you switch out, your brother gets the same power ups.

The password for level 3 is there in the picture (if you can read it). I lasted 1455 seconds, how about you? My accuracy was way down because I like to hold down the firing key.

Control your ship using the arrow keys. Fire left, down, right, and up using ASDW.

Categorize this under: Action, Shooter

Play GAMMA BROS at pixeljam. Found at jayisgames.

Four Second Fury

Four second fury is a hard game to describe because its many games in one. Each game lasts only four seconds and you may need to avoid objects, hit objects, shake a can, move from one side to the other, shoot something, etc...

Each game is (of course) very simple since you need to finish each one in four seconds. Here's a warning, however. The music is set a little too loud. You may want to turn down your speakers before going to play.

The controls are simple using the arrow keys and the space bar. The hard part is figuring out in four seconds which arrow keys to use or when to hit the space bar. Each time you 'lose' a game for whatever reason, you lose a life. The objective is to keep on playing.

I like that every time you play the games come in different orders, so each time you play is a little bit different. You can still get a lot farther the second time, however, as the games will repeat (did that make sense?)

Categorize this under: Shooter, Racing, Sport, Action, Puzzle

Play Four Second Fury at jmtb02.

Wogger

Wogger is similar to Samarost or Samarost 2, you need to point and click your way through the adventure. Most of the time you will spend looking for the next place to click. But, if you liked Samarost, you will like Woggers.

My thanks go to jayisgames for pointing this gem out.

Your objective (although it's not clear at the beginning, just keep going and it will be) is to make a nice little home for the little red guy. He'll need some grass to sit on, fresh water and a nice light.

Hint: If you get really stuck and just want to skip ahead, right click and hit play.

I'll try to post a walkthrough in the comments section.

Categorize this under: Adventure, Puzzle

Play Wogger at wogger.

Tino's Fruit Stand

Tino's Fruit Stand lets you fill the orders as they come in using a monkey to gather up the fruit. The monkey can only get to the fruits that aren't being blocked, and his bag is only so big, so plan your next step carefully.

You can see what the next order is going to be, so if you have to grab fruit that the current buyer doesn't want, look for ways to fill the next order as well (combos give you extra points).

This is only the trial version, you can go ahead and buy the full version, but despite the fun I had playing, I wasn't tempted to shell out for the whole fruit stand.

Categorize this under: Puzzle

Play Tino's Fruit Stand at shockwave.

Virtual Police 2

Virtual Police 2 starts off where you left off, the bomb has blown, but you've saved the day. But now those pesky terrorists have taken over the 'city airport.' Get over there and stop them again.

Try not to shoot any civilians, but take out all the terrorists. Point totals depend on how good a shot you are. This is a short game, so don't worry about the time it takes. Medium wasn't that difficult to play, so I didn't even bother trying the easy level.

Aim and fire with the mouse. Reload (one shot at a time) with the space bar. When facing the boss, duck down when he fires his machine gun with q. But if he fires missiles at you, shoot them to blow them up. Ducking down won't save you from the missiles.

Categorize this under: Shooter, Action, Adventure

Play Virtual Police 2 at armorgames.

Rampaging Hobbit

Rampaging Hobbit lets you rampage as a hobbit, of course. Take your hobbit through the many levels of fearsome beasts and harmless rabbits (don't kill the rabbits, you sick so and so).

Controls are simple, use a to go left, d to go right, and w to jump up. Or you can use the arrow keys to move around. Hold down the left mouse button to use your weapon (dagger, bow and arrow, etc...).

Don't bother trying to kill the spiders on the first level. Just get past them. Killing them gets a lot easier once you have a bow.

Categorize this under: Shooter, RPG, Action, Adventure

Play Rampaging Hobbit at ungrounded.

Viking Quest

Viking Quest is a historical look at the viking raiders. You have chosen to take the challenge laid down by your chief. Your job, raid the monastery at Lindisfarne. If you're successful, you get to be chief in Denmark, fail and you'll be demoted so far down, you won't know which way is up.

Make wise choices about who to bring on your raid, what type of boat to bring and how you want to make your raid. Choose wisely.

Categorize this under: Adventure, Puzzle

Play Viking Quest at bbc history.

Rapid Response

Rapid Response is a National Guard promotional from shockwave. Drive your humvee around town defusing the bombs before they blow.

It's a nice 3-D racing adventure game, although I'd like to know how driving over a location defuses a bomb ;-) Use the arrow keys to control (and I use the term loosely) your hummer as you barrel around town. Avoid running into too many walls and other obstructions as you travel, or you will slow down or damage your car too much to continue.

There are some power-ups that are worth short detours for if you can find them.

Categorize this under: Racing, Adventure

Play Rapid Response at shockwave.

Sky Patrol

Sky Patrol is probably the easiest game I've reviewed here. But be warned, it can be very addicting. It's just so easy to say, I can do better than that after crashing into some stupid kamikaze plane once again.

Your job is to fight off the hordes of alien invaders in your extremely maneuvarable ship. Each level will have its own boss ship to destroy, but they are usually the easiest of the bunch (line up behind it and blast away as it flies away).

If you play this one, you'll either play once and say that was too simple/dumb, or you'll keep on playing trying to get just a little further.

There are powerups that float by. They will increase the number of shots you have from 1 to 2 to 3. After that, you'll blow everything on the screen.

Aim with your mouse. Shoot by holding down the space bar (or left mouse button - but you can't hold it down like you can the space bar).

Categorize this under: Shooter, Action

Play Sky Patrol at shockwave.

Super Mario Bros 3

Super Mario Bros 3, free and online. You know you want to play!

Do I really need to tell you anything more about this game? Don't you already know how to play?

Categorize this under: Arcade, Action, Adventure

Play Super Mario Bros 3 at atarcade.