There's nothing like good old games, except perhaps great new ones. There's a lot of them out there, but here at Casual Girl Gamer, we leave no web-based stone unturned to find the very best titles for you to get your beat-em-up, tower defence and/or RPG groove on.
The latest tip-top batch takes us from the grimy, soul-shredding depths of corporate hell to ethereal temples of light and cold cyberworlds from the not-too-distant future. How about that then? And the best part is they're all free. So let's crack on, shall we?
1Corporate Climber
Gamers of a certain vintage will be taken back by Corporate Climber's by turns witty, cynical and, I say, rather coarse take on the 80s platform style of much-loved classics like Jet Set Willy. The setting is the wonderful world of exploitation-for-reddies otherwise known as work. You start in the bowels of a corporate skyscraper and, not being the type to wait for the boss to place his hand on your shoulder and say "Son, I've been hearing good things", you decide to take on increasingly bonkers tasks to move up to the next floor and a step closer to that crisp white shirt and tie.
What makes this such an enjoyable game is the little details - from the lift muzak at the outset to the variety of grisly ways you meet your end, which show some imagination goes a long way to breaking the constraints of pretty basic graphics. Getting to the top can be hell. You can play Corporate Climber here.
2Epic Combo
Just what have Armor Games got against turtles? One suspects someone at the Flash games powerhouse has a deep-seated problem with the little green guys to come up with Epic Combo. You are a businessman armed with a giant hammer, who makes his money by hitting the aforementioned reptiles as they emerge from a little tube. Of course.
At first - and despite that promisingly ridiculous set-up - it's a bit underwhelming. But thankfully the wonder of consumerism is there to spectacular things up. After smashing a few shelled ne'er-do-wells, you can take your hard-earned cash to the store, where you can kit out your turtle torture chamber with a range of cutting, shooting, exploding and catapulting implements for dispatching the little sods, as well as tools to crank up the flow. Strategically place them for maximum damage (or just cram them anywhere) and you'll soon be racking up the combo kills, which means you can get more nasty gadgets! Yay! Practice your turtlecide here.
3Thomas Was Alone
Thomas is a lonely little rectangle. Aww. But fear not, because there's a whole world of other shapes out there just waiting to meet him. This oddly charming little game is simple as can be in its premise - get the protagonists to their respective gateway to the next level.
You start as the titular Thomas but soon collect other geometric buddies to help you get where you're going. As the levels progress, you have to think ahead and get your growing crew to cooperate in order to negotiate various peaks, troughs and water traps. A nice idea executed really well. Just remember, leave no shape behind. Play Thomas Was Alone here.
4Saunavihta Vortex
Super-slick physics game Saunavihta Vortex is one of a trilogy featuring a plucky little stick man who just wants to find a warm spot. Remove the white blocks and pillars to wheel, catapult or drop you to your smoky goal - but beware, getting rid of the wrong bit at the wrong time - or indeed not getting rid of something at the right time - can leave you tumbling into oblivion or trapped like a sack of spuds.
Taking on (or harnessing) the forces of the universe has rarely looked and sounded so stylish. The attention to detail is top-notch and the music, creepy voices and genuinely brain-teasing levels make it a five-star, must-try, lock-of-the-week corker. Er, play it. Play it here. If you're after more, the first game of the trilogy can be played here and the second here.
5Steak and Jake: Midnight March
In the long history of gaming, rarely (if, indeed, ever) have we seen the pairing of a cartoon pirate parrot and a superhero cow. Flipline Studios obviously spotted the gap in the market to bring us Steak and Jake: Midnight March. There's so much going on in this one, it's hard to know where to start. You control the stylishly attired Jake (the parrot) by clicking spheres in a puzzle grid to turn him the appropriate colour for interacting with the side-scrolling map by bridging a gap or bashing an enemy.
In the meantime, Steak and his accompanying pumpkin-carrying ghoul-cows march steadily on and it's your job to see as many as them as possible to the end of the trail. The gameplay is frantic and fun, the design is sharp and there's a seemingly endless number of little challenges for you to take care of. All in all, a mooving experience. Sorry. Play Steak and Jake: Midnight March here.
6BustaBrain
Not to be confused with the late, great Buster Bloodvessel, BustaBrain has virtually nothing to do with lipping up for the trumpeet. Instead, it's a series of tricky visual puzzles, leaps of logic and mini-games to stretch the old grey matter.
The casual pace (no against the clock frenzies here) and languid music make it an appealing coffee break distraction - and even I managed to get a few right. Plus, you might pick up some good tricks with matches to show off down the pub. Just don't set fire to anything. Play BustaBrain here.
7Tetravalanche
Upman has a problem. A large, gurgling purple monster from the deep is after him. To make matters worse, some pudding is dropping familiar-looking Tetraminoes - an avalanche of them, no less - in his general direction as he tries to climb away from the jaws of doom. Thankfully, Upman also has a handy right hook and a head that fills in as a Tetraminoes demolisher, so he can smash his way to freedom.
The race ever-higher is fast and furious - and there's the odd special power-up to help you on your way. Beware though, catching a falling block on the noggin will spin you 180 degrees, turning your hard head from a blessing into a curse as you plough through your progress back towards disaster. Play Tetravalanche here.
8StormWinds: The Mary Reed Chronicles
This intriguing point-and-click adventure is the latest chapter in Hero Interactive's StormWinds saga. Unlike its earlier instalment, which saw you deploy fixed cannons to fend off swarms of invasion ships, The Mary Reed Chronicles takes its cue from those space opera serials of the 1930s like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.
Our heroine must rescue the young Anne and the superbly named General Windchill from the clutches of those dastardly cads, the Demos, with nothing but her wiley wiles, stealth and speed. Oh and a giant robot called Rusty. Much derring-do ensues as you explore your environment to find ways of outwitting the bad guys, rescuing the good guys and generally saving the day. There's also a mini-challenge that unlocks an alternative ending. Not bad for free, eh? Play StormWinds: The Mary Reed Chronicles here.
9Madness Retaliation
Not, as the name might suggest, a chilling vision of what might have been if someone had leaned on the wrong button during the Cold War, but another click-and-point adventure where your main goal is to dish out damn good thrashings while pursuing the entirely secondary goal of some mission or other. You control a squad of four angry, angry clones, who you can tool up with various weapons as they raid the bad guys' lair.
As you go, you can raid lockers to pick up handy items like smoke bombs, while also nicking a range of headgear and armour that allows you to personalise your crew. Just because they're clones doesn't mean they can't have some individual panache. It's a turn-based game and each of your little guys has a number of action points he can use to move, shoot, hack and so on, so give it some thought before you charge headlong into the ranks of evildoers - as you may find that when you get there, you can't do anything. How embarrassing. Play Madness Retaliation here.
10Ghost Hacker
Back in 1982, this is how we all imagined life would be like in, oooh, 1994. It's a slick, retro realisation of that glowing, dystopian future where we all have personal hovercrafts and genetically engineered talking monkey butlers. Er...anyway. You are Alpha, waking to the disconcerting news that you have been digitised to help battle rebel AIs who are trying to nick your precious data cores. Everybody got it so far?
What's to be done? Reasoning? Negotiation? Never! Tower defence - that's the way. Position and upgrade your various installations - in tasteful neon, naturally - and blast that no good rebel scum to the big motherboard in the sky. Play Ghost Hacker here.
11The Light Temple
Next, we have The Light Temple, a platform explorer featuring the duo of Fireboy and Watergirl. Steamy. Eh? Eh?! Fair enough. You control the pair individually, which can be a tricky proposition, as they collect their respective diamonds and head for the exits. This being a Light Temple, there's also a lot of, well, light. You need to flick switches and hit platforms to bounce beams off mirrors and open up the way to all those lovely diamonds. However, there's also other levels where you have to find your way in the dark - which does make you wonder about that name.
The detailed design is as sharp as ever and having two characters to send scampering around the nook and crannies of the various levels is a nice little twist. Play The Light Temple here.
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SubmitPublished by Exporter of Medical Items on 16th December 2010