The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games (July 2007)

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[This article was originally posted at Just Another Mobile Monday on July 22, 2007]

I have a confession to make.  I am a bit frustrated with The Arcade for the first time since I started writing it.  My frustration primarily stems from my monthly search of the web for games to include.  This month, I downloaded about fifteen great looking “free” games.  I put free in quotation marks because, as I started playing many of them, I found they were not free games at all.  In fact, the were nothing more than trial versions of commercial games.  The purpose of this column, as many of you who read it regularly know, is to bring you some of the best completely free games on the Internet.  I am not looking for, and neither are you, free games which are nothing more than a dumbed down version of a commercial game, or free games which expire after a period of time.  Both of these are really poorly labeled trial versions of commercial games.  I am more than happy to review commercial games (and I do so on a regular basis), but they really have no place here in The Arcade.  So, this month, after downloading and installing approximately 15 games, I finally found five that were suitable for inclusion in The Arcade.  To be clear, these are five fantastic and free games.  My frustration is not related to the games I have included, but with the games I did not include.  Fully two out of every three games I downloaded were not true freeware games and did not belong in this column.

OK.  I am done with my rant now.  So, let’s get on with the fun.  This month, as always, I have selected five free games which I thought you would enjoy, including:

1. All Mobile Mines

2. BoxWorld

3. Ratsplat

4. Four Rings

5. Tesla Ball

All Mobile Mines.  I always like to see a commercial game company develop a few games that are released as freeware.  The last few months, we covered some excellent releases from Inscenic, which they decided to release (or re-release) for free.  This month, I am looking at All Mobile Mines, a free game release from Binaryfish, the developers behind some excellent commercial games, including All Mobile Casino, which I reviewed last February.   I think this practice shows a real respect for the consumers, and also goes a long way toward ensuring brand loyalty.  So, it really seems like a win-win for everyone when a good developer offers a game for free.

All Mobile Mines is a fantastic remake of the classic Windows 3.1 game, Minesweeper.  Like the original, you must locate all of the mines on the board.  You will begin with a grid of covered squares.  Uncover the squares one at a time to reveal the numbers underneath.  Each number tells you how many mines are adjacent to that square.  Use these clues to help you identify the locations of all of the mines.  Once you deduce the location of a mine, mark it and keep hunting.  Find them all without blowing yourself up and you will win the game.   At the bottom of the screen, the game even displays  the number of mines you have located as well as a running timer.

I did find the controls were a bit tricky to get used to.  To peek under a square, just tap it.  To mark it as a mine, however, you need to swipe across the square.  This took a little getting used to…but then again, those of you using an iPhone or HTC Touch device should be well used to this motion by now.

BoxWorld.  This is another game which is based on a classic game for the desktop PC.  It is also a variation of the classic Japanese game Sokoban.  Here, you will guide a character around the screen, sliding objects onto the targets.  Once all of the targets are covered, you will advance to the next level.  Sounds easy, but it quickly becomes extremely complicated.  Some of the levels were based on the desktop version, however, many of them were designed directly for the Windows Mobile version.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this game was the graphics. Particularly, I loved the four different themes in which the levels can be drawn:

• the Default theme (shown above) has you sliding boxes onto the targets
• Paper Jam moves you into an office setting, sliding large fax machines around the levels
• Red Pill sees you sliding telephones in front of a Matrix themed background
• Christmas has you moving presents around the board to cover the Christmas trees instead of targets.

In addition to these fantastic themes, the game also allows you to save at any time and replay any levels which you have already completed.

Ratsplat.  This is a fantastic and addictive variation on whack-a-mole.  The board consists of a 3×3 grid of holes.  Rats will poke their heads up through the holes and quickly jump back down.  You must hit a rat with your hammer before it dives back into the hole (I found this worked better with your finger than with a stylus).  When you do hit a rat, its face will be smeared with blood, making this an excellent stress relief game.

The game features four levels of difficulty, however, if you are really having a particularly stressful day, I would urge you to stay away from Impossible…that only added to my stress level.  Whether you are experiencing unusually high stress levels or just need a quick break from the daily grind, spending just 30 seconds a day smashing virtual rats with a virtual hammer will give you a real outlet the next time your boss makes you work unscheduled overtime (again!).

Four Rings.  This is a game based upon one which I first encountered as a plastic puzzle from the same people who brought you the Rubik’s Cube.  It consists of four (different variations can have as many as five and as few as two) intersecting rings.  Each ring is comprised of 12 balls, four of which are yellow balls.  These yellow balls are shared with at least one other ring as part of an intersection.  The other eight balls in each ring bear that ring’s color.

The object of the game is to shuffle the balls and then, by spinning the rings, sort them back to their original positions.  To play, simply tap shuffle to mix the balls, and then tap the ball you want to move to spin the wheels.  Be careful, though.  I lost several hours puzzling my way through this one without even realizing it.  This is a fantastic version if the original puzzle game.

Tesla Ball.  One of the great things about writing The Arcade is that I can bring you some truly original game concepts by a new or unknown developer.  This time, it is Tesla Ball by Shade Eye Productions.

In this game, your duty is to protect an electromagnetic sphere (a Tesla Ball) which sits it the center of the screen.  Four cannons around the edge of the board will fire metal balls which are attracted to the Tesla Ball.  Guide your paddle around the perimeter of the Tesla Ball to protect it from being hit by the metal balls.  You can also fire your gun at the four cannons to prevent them from firing a new ball at you.  When the Tesla Ball takes enough hits, it will shatter, ending your game.

This is one of the best freeware games I have included in this space.  Not only for its original gameplay, but also for its amazing 3D menu transition, which would be reminiscent of the new HTC Touch, if it didn’t predate the Touch by at least 12 months.

Thanks for joining me for another edition of The Arcade.  Special thanks to SPMWinkel for directing me to numerous free games, many of which will continue to be featured in upcoming editions of 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.  All requests are welcome.

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