Simple Game Reviews

This frame requires you to slightly curve the ball

RocketBowl is an original arcade game that mixes Bowling, Mini Golf, and rocket-powered balls.

Setting: The game is set in the 1958 Kalamazoo World’s Fair, where you get to play against the local pros of this brand new futuristic sport known as rocket bowling.

Gameplay: RocketBowl takes the concept of bowling and adds a Mini Golf feel to it. Instead of playing on the same usual bowling lane, you get to play on different play fields with obstacles that require you to aim carefully.

At the start of the game, you play a frame simply by aiming and setting the power you want to give to the ball. As you progress, you earn money and get to buy new balls with additional abilities. The main feature of the improved balls is the Rocket Boost, which is used once the ball is thrown to give it a sudden boost in a chosen direction. The more expensive the ball is, the more Rocket Boosts can be applied to it after a throw. This boost is pretty fun to play with as it makes the game much more dynamic: instead of just watching the ball after the throw, you keep playing by trying to apply the rocket boosts at the right moments.

Once the ball is thrown, you can use Rocket Boosts to change its direction

Another ability that you get by upgrading your ball is to throw curve balls. You can adjust the power of the curve to make the ball turn around obstacles. This is a more traditional element of bowling and actually isn’t nearly as useful and fun as the rocket boosts.

The game comes packaged with 10 courses, each featuring 10 frames. You can play each course in 3 different game modes: Freeplay to practice the frames, Challenge to try and beat one of the local pros, and Tournament, the most challenging mode, where you get to play against better opponents.

Personal opinion: The concept is original and nicely implemented with good controls, a fun theme, and simple but attractive 3D graphics. For a while I found the courses not challenging enough, but the later courses fixed that issue. If you like bowling, there’s a good chance you’re going to enjoy this futuristic version with crazy rocket powered balls.

Play RocketBowl:
Download the demo for Windows.
Order the full version.

(7 votes, average: 3.14 out of 5)

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Roll the block to make it fall through the square hole

Bloxorz is a free puzzle game that consists of rolling a block to make it fall through a square hole. Just like most of the greatest puzzle games, Bloxorz has a simple concept and yet proves to be very challenging.

Setting: Bloxorz is the story of a block who’s in a desperate search of a place to fit in. Deep down, this game truly is a metaphor for the human condition. Or maybe not.

Gameplay: The objective of the game is to get the block to fall into the square hole at the end of each level. The original idea behind the game is that you move the block only by rolling it, using the keyboard arrow keys. You’ll have to think in 3 dimensions to figure out how to roll the block to advance in tight areas without falling off the edges.

Most stages contain switches that add bridges to the level when activated. But some of the switches actually remove a part of the level: you’ll sometimes have to carefully avoid a switch in order to finish a stage, and this is easier said than done. Other elements include fragile orange tiles that fall if your block stands vertically on them, and teleporters that divide your block in two distinct cubes.

Using all these elements, the levels can be quite difficult, so expect to get stuck on at least some of them. You may then be tempted to look for a solution to a specific level, even though you know you shouldn’t… Well, below are the passcodes and solutions for the 33 levels of Bloxorz. But don’t spoil the game, consider these solutions only as a last resort!

:: Solutions

Don’t look at the solutions unless you’re really stuck on a level and it’s getting too frustrating.

The 11th stage, most people (me included) get stuck for a while on that one

Personal opinion: The concept is original, the design is elegant, and the levels are quite clever. The only bad thing about Bloxorz is that, like many other web games, your progress is not automatically saved: you have to remember to write down the passcode of your current level to be able to resume the game later. That tiny con aside, Bloxorz is simply one of the top puzzle games on the web.


Play Bloxorz:
Play Bloxorz for free online.

(123 votes, average: 4.51 out of 5)

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Grab the colored blocks and place them to build a path to the next “telefunk”

Polychromatic Funk Monkey is a platform puzzle game in which the objective is to reach the 10 teleporters, called “telefunks”, scattered around a huge level.

Setting: Visually, the game is very simple with unicolor blocks and platform blocks with a basic pattern. But coupled with the funky music playing in the background, the end result is very stylish and just feels right. Your little “monkey” character (which doesn’t look much like a monkey by the way) dances following the beat of the music, this is the kind of little detail that adds to the funky feel of the game.

Gameplay: The objective of the game is to reach the 10 telefunks located around the randomly generated level. The telefunk closest to you is indicated by the giant grey star shining on a side of the screen. In order to reach it, you have to grab colored blocks and place them intelligently so that your newly built platform helps you advance. At the start of the game you can only carry 1 block at a time. Each newly found telefunk gives you the ability to carry 1 more block, and also allows you to teleport back to the telefunk anytime you want.

You have to figure out an efficient way to place the colored blocks so that you manage to get closer to the next telefunk without getting stuck and without losing the ability to bring more blocks to the top of your platform. This building gameplay is quite clever and original.

Look at my beautiful stairway to heaven

Personal opinion: I love the visual and audio styles of the game, it’s simple but beautifully done. The gameplay is original and building stairways to reach the telefunks does give a sense of accomplishment, but it’s not enough. Once I got a working “strategy”, I just kept building the same kind of stairways again and again. Reaching the 10th telefunk was exactly like reaching the 3rd one, it wasn’t more difficult and it didn’t involve any new mechanic. And now that I’ve finished the game, which took about an hour, I doubt I’ll play it again. Plychromatic Funk Monkey is worth a try for its original “building” gameplay, but this gameplay is not for everyone.

Play Polychromatic Funk Monkey:
Download the full game for Windows.

(14 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Avoid the traps and reach the finish line

Hamsterball is a 3D racing game similar to the classic Marble Madness. As a hamster in a ball, your objective is to avoid various obstacles and reach the finish line before the time runs out.

Setting: 15 races are included in this Gold version of the game, each featuring a distinctive setting such as a Tower race, a Neon race, a Glass race, etc. The graphics are always colorful and vivid and generally look very nice.

Gameplay: The game plays using either the mouse or the keyboard to control the hamster ball. I recommend the mouse as it is more effective and feels more responsive, but it can also be too responsive and you’ll quickly fall off into the void if you’re not careful with your movements. The level design of each race is very good and many level parts will prove challenging at first. A simple downward slope can prove difficult as it makes it tough to slow down, but trickier obstacles are also included: mean 8-balls will attempt to knock you off the ground, hammers will try to smash you into pieces, and saws will cut the bridges you’re rolling on! The numerous ideas included in each race keep Hamsterball exciting throughout the whole game.

Two main modes are featured in the game: a Tournament mode in which you play all the levels in a row, and a Time Trial mode where you can play any race against the clock to win special rewards (Bronze medal, Silver medal, Gold medal, and a “Golden Weasel” trophy). Two multiplayer modes are also included: a race mode where the first to reach the finish line wins, and a pretty fun rumble mode where you play on special arenas and have to knock your opponent off the platform.

15 colorful and creative levels are included

Personal opinion: Hamsterball really is a perfect modern version of Marble Madness. The controls are good, the levels are fun and original, the graphics are simple and yet beautiful, and the multiplayer modes are a nice bonus. I seriously can’t find anything bad about this game.


Play Hamsterball Gold:
Download the demo for Windows.
Order the full version.

(30 votes, average: 4.73 out of 5)

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Connect the like colored squares to finish a level

3D Logic is a difficult logic puzzle game with an original concept.

Setting: Visually, the game features a Rubik’s Cube style that is both simple and elegant.

Gameplay: In each of the 30 levels included in the game, the objective is to link every pair of like colored markers. You create a link by clicking on a first marker, holding the left mouse button, and drawing across the cube until you reach the second marker. While the first few levels are very easy, they only serve as an introduction to the concept. The later levels are much more complicated and you’ll have to stop and think for a while in order to figure them out.

Now how do I connect the red markers? Argh, guess I’ll have to start again

Personal opinion: I had played a 2D game with the same concept before, but the third dimension introduced here really increases the difficulty. As much as I hate to admit it, I was stuck for a while at the 16th level… If you like a tough puzzle, you should love 3D Logic. Beware though, you can’t save your progress and no password system is included, so closing the window of the game means restarting from the first level.


Play 3D Logic:
3D Logic is available for free online.

(7 votes, average: 3.71 out of 5)

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Match 4 to create an exploding gem

Bejeweled is the classical puzzle game that started the genre known as “Match 3″, which is the name used for puzzle games based on swapping adjacent pieces to create matches of 3 in a row. Lots of match-3 games have followed, with more or less interesting changes to keep the genre fresh, but Bejeweled remains the true original.

Setting: The game features a space setting, in which you move from planet to planet and discover different nice backdrops. But no story is included, Bejeweled really is a pure puzzle game.

Gameplay: The gameplay consists of swapping adjacent gems in order to create sets of 3. When a set is created, the gems in the set disappear and the gems above fall. Matching 4 gems at a time creates a “Power Gem” that will explode if it gets included in a set, destroying all the nearby gems. Matching 5 gems at a time creates a “Hyper Cube” that can be used to remove all the gems of a chosen type from the board. The more gems you match at a time the more points you score, and extra points are awarded for chain reactions.

Based on that gameplay, 4 game modes are included in Bejeweled 2 Deluxe: a “Classic” mode, an “Action” mode that adds a timer forcing you to play faster, a relaxing and never-ending “Endless” mode, and a “Puzzle” mode where you have to clear special pre-defined boards. While the Classic, Action and Endless modes are basically the same, the Puzzle mode really plays differently and features some pretty challenging levels.

Puzzle mode can be tricky

Personal opinion: Bejeweled is a very pleasant and addictive game, but something is missing to make it a truly great puzzle game. In the classic modes of the game, you pretty much do the same things over and over again: find possible sets of gems, swap them accordingly, repeat. Of course the greatest puzzle games are based on simple principles such as these, but they also usually involve some form of strategy. In Tetris you can try set up your pieces so that you’ll make 4 rows disappear at once, and in Puzzle Bobble you can create “grapes” that you’ll then detach with a single additional bubble at the start of the grape. But in Bejeweled I couldn’t quite figure out how strategy could be involved: you want to set up chain reactions, but it seems impossible to do so. So in the end Bejeweled feels very mindless to me. Of course it might also just be that I haven’t reached a skill level that allows me to set up chain reactions…

The puzzle mode however plays completely differently and is the opposite of mindless, as some levels are really tough to figure out, which means it feels lovely when you do figure them out. That mode was a very nice surprise to me as it isn’t the main mode of the game and I really wasn’t expecting anything out of it. My main reproach is that huge “Hint” button that is just way too tempting!

Play Bejeweled 2 Deluxe:
Download the demo for Windows. A Mac version is also available.
Order the full version.

(7 votes, average: 2.86 out of 5)

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An unconnected city at the hardest difficulty level can mean trouble

Oasis is an inventive game that mixes the depth of turn-based strategy games such as Civilization with the simplicity of a puzzle game like Minesweeper.

I first heard of Oasis when it was awarded the prestigious Innovation in Game Design prize at the Independent Games Festival in 2004. I was a bit skeptical of the idea of a “casual” strategy game at first, but I quickly realized that the idea works, and it works really well.

Setting: You play as a pharaoh in Ancient Egypt who must protect his people against barbarians.

Gameplay: Each level starts in a completely unexplored land that will soon be attacked by barbarians. The objective is to build a strong enough kingdom that will be able to defeat the barbarians, but you only have 85 turns to do so. At each turn you have to decide between a set of actions such as exploring a new part of the land, sending some of your people to work in the mines to discover new technologies, or building a road to connect your cities. The tutorial is well done and will teach you what each action does.

The barbarians have destroyed one of my cities :(

The exploration of the land will remind you of Minesweeper since revealing a square of the land gives hints as to what stands on the near-by squares. For example a green square means a city resides next to it. These hints help you decide what your next steps should be.

The difficulty of the game is in finding out what the best actions are. What part of the land should I explore next? Should I connect my cities first? Or should I try to discover the mines before? How many villagers should work in the mines? As you slowly figure out the answers to these questions, the difficulty also increases, as more and more barbarians attack you. This is also a strong point of the game: the different difficulty settings are well gauged and the game will prove a challenge even after hours of playing thanks to the hardest difficulty settings.

Personal opinion: I usually stay away from strategy games as I prefer simpler games, but Oasis really got me hooked. I kept playing and really enjoyed it, until I reached a point where I didn’t have to think much about what to do at each turn: the game simply became too mechanical for me. But that was after many, many hours of play time. Oasis is a very original game and I highly recommend it.

Play Oasis:
Download the demo for Windows.
Order the full version.

(7 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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