The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games (January 2008)

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[Note: This article was originally posted on Just Another Mobile Monday on January 14, 2008]

Welcome back to The Arcade.  I hope you are all well rested from the holidays and ready for another action packed year of free games.  As you can see, we have a new animation this year, which fits right into the new look of the site.  So, Happy New Year, welcome to 2008, and now let’s sit back and enjoy:

Fishcopter

Be The Last

Chess Puzzles

Magic Bubble

Mine Fields

FishCopter: This is a side scrolling arcade game, in which you must guide your character through a cavern, avoiding the tops and bottoms of the cave as well as a variety of obstacles along the way.  Fishcopter recreates a classic arcade style game from the 80’s (I remember playing similar games on the Atari 2600).  The twist, however, comes from the location of the action.  Rather than piloting a spaceship through an asteroid, as was a common theme in this genre, you must guide a fish (actually a school of fish) through an underwater cavern.  Watch out for sea urchins, shells, and other fish, which can quickly end your adventure.  Gameplay is fairly easy.  Left alone, gravity will pull the fish toward the bottom of the screen, crashing them into the bottom of the cavern.  Your intervention, however, can move them upward.  Momentum alone can then steer them into the top of the cave, so you will also need to steer them back down toward the center.  Try to stay near the middle (which, of course is where the enemy creatures tend to live).  This game did a fantastic job of recreating a classic game…complete with a 1980’s era soundtrack for the complete retro adventure.

Be The Last: This puzzle game challenged me almost as much as any game I have ever played.  Essentially, you are faced with four columns of explosives (each time you play, the layout will change).  Players take turns destroying the explosives in each column.  On each turn, you may choose an explosive located anywhere in one of the columns.  It will explode, destroying all of the bomb, as well as all of those above it.  Whichever player destroys the last bomb (hence the name) on the screen wins.  This sounds like a fairly simple concept, and really, it is an extremely easy puzzle game to play.  Of course, the real difficulty lies in the strategy of the game. In order to be the last, you must correctly determine the number of bombs to explode on each turn.   And that is where it becomes much more like chess than checkers.  This is a fantastic game for anyone who enjoys a math or strategy challenge in the morning.

Chess Puzzles: One of the oldest ( and arguably most popular) board games in the world is Chess.  There are hundreds of chess games and variations available, and dozens on the Windows Mobile platform alone.  Of course, the main problem with Chess is that it is not a quick game.  When great players meet on the Chess board, a game can last hours, if not days or weeks.  So, what is a Chess enthusiast to do when he wants to practice but does not have time for a long, drawn out game?  Chess Puzzles takes care of this problem by providing you with a variety of Chess-based scenarios.  Use them to hone your skills, learn new strategies, or just enjoy a little Chess-based fun.  Of course, if you run out of puzzles in the included pack, there are plenty more available for download.

Magic Bubble: I will admit that I am a bit shocked to be writing about a color matching game which was not published for Windows Mobile by Astraware.  They are, after all, the undisputed heavyweights in that genre, staking much of their reputation on the Bejeweled series.  Every once in a while, however, you find a “little guy” who steps in and stirs the pot with his own unique look at a genre.  In this case, it is Manbolo, with their fantastic color matching game, Magic Bubble.  Here, as in Bubbles or Bejeweled, you will be faced with a wall of colored bubbles.  Your goal is to match three or more to remove the bubbles (which will be instantly replenished).  Bonus points are given for clearing multiple groups with a single move.  You control the board with a translucent magnifying bubble.  Place this bubble over any group (up to three will fit) and you can spin clockwise or counter-clockwise.  Spinning the balls allows you to change their positions, and connect them to the proper sequence to form long chains of balls.  Watch out, though, when that line at the left reaches the bottom, it will be game over for you.  This is one of the best color matching games I have ever played for Windows Mobile, which was not named Astraware.

Mine Fields: We are all familiar with Mine Sweeper, the classic Windows game.  In fact, I have used this space in the past to bring you several free (and commercial) variations.  Now,we turn our attention to Mine Fields.  Imagine Mine Sweeper, however, instead of a square board filled with square spaces, you will find an irregularly shaped board, filled with hexagons or triangles (in addition to the tradition squares).   Gameplay is identical to Mine Sweeper, but the different shaped spaces make for an extra challenge.  A hexagon, for example, can border up to six other spaces, instead of the traditional four.  Additionally, changing the shapes of the spaces means the board will no longer form a square.  These long, narrow, and oddly shaped boards increase the challenge of the game.

This month’s edition of The Arcade reminded me a lot of parallel dimensions.  Everything looks familiar, but just slightly askew.  You say Asteroid Explorer, Chess, Bejeweled, and Mine Sweeper; I say Fishcoptor, Chess Puzzles, Magic Bubble, and Mine Fields.  Welcome to the alternate universe that is The Arcade.

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.]

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