The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games (February 2008)
[Note: This article was originally posted on Just Another Mobile Monday on February 18, 2008
Well, the unseasonably warm weather we had been enjoying passed yesterday with a terrible windstorm, followed by freezing rain and ice. It was bad enough that I kept expecting to find a pair of ruby red slippers poking out from under my house. Alas, no such adventures took place (unless you count the green plastic slide that went flying out of the backyard). Now that it is cold again, I realized our readers would need some nice indoor entertainment to distract from the sub-freezing temperatures. And what better way to thaw out than sitting in front of a blazing fire (in the fireplace), leaning back in your favorite chair, and playing a few games on your Pocket PC. Why the only way that could get better would be if the games were all free. And so, hearing your call for some nice, free games to distract you from the winter cold, I decided to move this month’s edition of The Arcade up a week and get it to you as soon as possible. No need to deprive you of these five fantastic games any longer than we absolutely have to. This month, we will be looking at:
1. Realms
2. TangledBugs
3. Pocket Checkers
4.Magnets
5.3210
Realms: If you are under the age of 30, then this is probably about to make absolutely no sense to you whatsoever. So, you all can just skip on down to the next paragraph. For the rest of you, let me take you on a journey back through time. The year is 1980. The hit arcade game: Asteroids. You all remember this one. In your triangular outline of a ship, you have to blast your way through digitized outlines of giant asteroids hurtling through space all around you. Occasionally, a spaceship flies by, signaling the end of the round. Of course, you blast that ship for an enormous bonus. For you younger readers, it looked something like this (compliments of Wikipedia):
OK. Dream sequence over. Now, let’s return to 2008. Three-dimensional graphics with exquisite detail rule the landscape of today’s video arcades. A simple game like Asteroids has long since made its way to the video scrap yard…or has it. Enter Space Time Arcade to essentially ask the question: what if you mixed yesterday’s Asteroids game with today’s technology. The result is a visually stimulating, fast paced, rocket flight through space. And don’t go thinking you are going to get away with fighting against passive asteroids this time. Sure, there are giant shards of rock smashing into you at all directions, but they are no loner your main objective. Now, these asteroids have been turned into mere obstacles, keeping you from your real objective, which is usually the destruction of an alien vessel or group of vessels.
The basic idea behind Realms is that you must journey through all six realms (each of which contains 30 levels), destroying the baddies and collecting credits along the way. You will want these credits later in order to upgrade your ship and purchase special weapons. This is a fantastic re-imagining of one of my favorite games, with a whole host of new elements included to ensure that it is completely updated and ready to blow you away (or technically blow away the aliens). The only complaint I had were the controls which struck me as a bit counterintuitive. Once I became accustomed to them, however, it was no problem to control my ship. This is a game which I would gladly have paid for commercially. Thankfully, Spacetime Arcade, the developers behind many math-related games, have decided to let you have this one for free. And I suggest you take them up on that offer before they realize that giving this one away may not "add up" very well.
TangledBugs: "Oh what a tangled web we weave…" and this game is going to require all of your skills to untangle it. No deception here, much to Shakespeare’s chagrin. Just a bunch of spiders (each level will add a handful of the creepy critters) spinning webs in various intricate patterns as they move about the forest. Of course, these spiders have no regard for one another, as their webs criss-cross and tangle over the screen. Your job is to move the spiders about the screen so that their webs are completely untangled. If you place a spider in a position which crosses no other lines, it will turn green. In order to clear the level, all of the lines must be green, meaning that they cross no other lines. There are two modes of play: Clasic Play, in which you can take as much time as you need to maneuver the spiders and untangle the webs; and Sudden Death, in which you will find yourself in a race against the clock to untangle the woven tapestry of spiders. There is also a commercial version of the game, which includes additional variations. Add to that the clever animation and graphics (when you quit the game, the spiders all drop their webs and scatter off the sides of the screen), and you will be bound to get tied up in this game for hours.
Pocket Checkers: Pocket Checkers is a direct contrast to TangledBugs. Whereas that was an extremely original game with unique graphics, Pocket Checkers is one of the most well known and popular board games in the world. Heck, for many of us, Checkers was among the first games we learned after Candy Land. I was really quite impressed by Pocket Checkers, which had exceptional graphics, and more options that any free game really should. There are four different colors for the pieces, and each side can choose any of the colors. Additionally, you can choose whether one or the other side is going to be controlled by the computer; or whether you want to play head-to-head with another person. And if you do choose to play against the computer, there are three different difficulty levels, meaning the game is never going to be too easy or too hard for you. According to their website, a new update should be coming soon, which will include the option of playing either international rules or American rules. I am extremely impressed with the attention to detail in this game, particularly with four different colors and multiple levels of difficulty.
Magnets: This is the second game I have featured in the Arcade by French developer, Jean Francois Mainguet (the first was Hitofri in March 2007), and I am fairly confident that it will not be the last. Like all of his games, Magnets is simple and well designed, making for smooth gameplay. Magnets reminds me a lot of the game Japanese Crossword. It consists of a square grid, which can range from 4×4 to 8×8 blocks. Your job is to follow the clues and place all of the magnets on the board.
Each magnet has a plus side and a minus side. Like real magnets, opposites attract and like poles must not be next to each other. Additionally, a 2×2 square can never be fully occupied within the grid. Along the top and left of the grid are numbers, which reflect the number of positive magnets which must be in that row (negative ends are not counted). Now, follow the clues along the sides to place the magnets in the white squares (each magnet uses two squares) on the grid. Sounds easy enough, but even the smallest grid quickly becomes complicated as you immerse yourself in this challenging puzzle.
3210: This is another unique and addictive game. Here, you control a cannon which pans back and forth across the screen. Tap the screen to fire a ball. The ball will bounce about the screen, finally coming to a stop. But once it stops, the real fun begins as it begins to expand. The ball will expand until it hits a wall or another object. Land a shot near the edge and it will hardly expand. Stop in the middle of the screen, however, and the ball will fill almost the entire screen.
When you fire a new ball, it will have a "3" written on it. Your task is to make this three countdown to a "0" by hitting the ball with another one. Sounds easy enough. Hit it once and the "3" becomes a "2", hit it again and you are at "1", and then a third time makes the ball disappear. You will score a point for each ball you successfully remove from the screen. Of course, it can’t be all that easy. There is a line drawn near the bottom of the screen. If a ball bounces past that line, then it is game over. I found the addictive gameplay more than made up for the minimalist approach 3210 took to graphics and animation.
This was probably the most fun I have had with any edition of The Arcade. The five games included in this edition of The Arcade were all impossible for me to put down. And when I did finally stop playing one, I almost always loaded another, only to get lost in that one as well. So, please be careful with this list of games. I don’t want to hear about anyone’s employer complaining that they are not getting their work done because of playing Realms, TangledBugz, Pocket Checkers, Magnets, or 3210.
To see previous editions of The Arcade, check out our archives, exclusively at Just Another Mobile Monday.
If you are a game player or developer, and would like to recommend a freeware game for use in a future installment of The Arcade please email me here at JAMM (doug [at] justanothermobilemonday.com, but replace at “at” with a “@”. All requests are welcome.
[The address for comments has changed. Please submit any suggestions to me at dsgoldring [at] mytoday screen.com or use the contact form.]
Related posts
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
No comments yet.