Games Blog

If you’re a massive fan of the arcade classics that you will love or hate this game which combines the best of all them in one hell of a heady mix.

The game has been developed by the same team that brought the world Fishie Fishie and Polychromatic Funk Monkey - that gives you an idea of the eccentric minds we are dealing with here. The simple aim is to clear the screen of all enemies to complete each level, but the task is made difficult by the sudden switching of gameplay rules. When this happens, you suddenly find that ideas and concepts from old arcade classics such as Zelda and Super Mario Bros are suddenly thrown into the fray. The control are fairly simple at least - just use the arrow keys to move and the space key acts as the “action” button. You can use the Left Alt and Enter keys combined to switch between full screen and windowed mode. Although there are about 20 levels, you’ll probably get through the first 10 very quickly as the levels seem ridiculously short.

Nevertheless, this is a very original game although perhaps a bit too clever for its own good as it does get rather confusing at times.

Review by Nick Mead

Read more: Rom Check Fail 1.0 - The best of arcade classics in one game

I’m I big football fan so naturally I’m starting to get excited about the forthcoming European Championships in Switzerland and Austria.

As always with big tournaments like this, I’m warming up for the big event by playing soccer sims. As always, it’s EA who have the official licence for the tournament. And, as always, I came away from the game feeling a little disappointed that the developer still has the freedom to release yet another slightly-tweaked clone if its long-running FIFA game, knowing that punters will snap it up in the hoards amid the excitement of another major championships.

Essentially, it plays virtually the same as FIFA 08 (and, no doubt, very similar to the next version of the series) aside from a few tweaks. For instance, there’s a new ‘flick’ mode for free kicks (and penalties), where you control the power and swerve of the shot using your right-analog stick. It’s a novel idea and one that attempts to address one of the few areas that no football sim has yet to do perfectly. It’s certainly an improvement, but is for me, too fiddly and difficult to get master.

Other new additions are in-game player ratings which update in real-time depending how each individual is performing, and improved collisions, trapping and goalkeeper AI. You even get to see the managers’ reactions to goals, free kicks and near-misses, which I thought was quite neat.

Aside from the gameplay changes, there are a couple of new game modes. Captain Your Country sees you take the role of your team’s skipper and influence the other players while you’re out on the pitch, and there’s a new online mode called Battle of the Nations.

Of course, all the official stadiums, real players, kits, balls, haircuts, etc. are there and the game features 52 European teams. “But there are only going to be 16 teams at the Euro Championships” I hear you scream. Well, EA has decided to allow you to go through the rigours of a qualifying campaign instead of just competiting in the final tournament. I guess it helps to add more depth and longevity to this title, but the qualification is finished now so it’s not that realistic. Why couldn’t we have had this game two years ago, when qualifying got underway in real life? Not in keeping with the Electronic Arts marketing plan, I imagine.

UEFA 2008 provides a great way to warm up for the European Championships. However, if you already have FIFA 08 I wouldn’t bother buying this one as well. It offers little more in terms of gameplay and will be out of date by August.

Review by James Thornton

Read more: UEFA Euro 2008 Demo - The UEFA Euro 2008 official game

Racer is a free cross-platform car simulation project (for non-commercial use), using professional car physics papers to achieve a realistic feeling. Cars, tracks and such can be created relatively easy (compared to other, more closed, driving simulations). The 3D and other file formats are, or should be, documented.

Editors and support programs are also available to get a very customizable and expandable simulator. OpenGL is used for rendering.

Read more: Racer 0.5.7 Beta - Cross platform 3D racing simulator

Free Orion is an open-source, platform-independent galactic conquest game in the tradition of the Master of Orion games. Its commercial competitors, just to give you an idea, are VGA planets, Galactic Civilizations and Space Empires. Free Orion instead is a collaborative promising project, a community effort that moves forward based on the motivation and contributions of users and it is currently in the alpha stage.

Although graphics can be interesting, the game is somewhat difficult to enjoy for new players. There is little in the way of guidance and at the beginning, FreeOrion appears rather boring. In theory, victory is achieved by eliminating all ships and planets belonging to other empires, that’s fairly standard, but at this stage there isn’t any combat yet.

You must read the ‘quick’ play guide, (which isn’t that quick) in order to understand a bit what to do. The guide starts in a very step by step way: ‘to start a game, run the freeorion executable, then click on the ‘Single Player’ button on the main menu, then ‘OK’ on the Galaxy Setup screen. You should then see a starmap which you can drag around with the mouse and zoom in/out with the scrollwheel. The triangle next to the star is a fleet. Clicking the fleet opens the fleet window. Try moving fleets around to explore, making a new colony or clicking on techs in the Research screen to read their descriptions.’

If you are patient enough, and you are really passionate about strictly strategic games you might want to try this project and maybe collaborate in the related forum for further, more exciting releases. As specified in the game’s Wiki, the easiest way to contribute when new to the project is simply to join in brainstorming discussions on the forums.

Strictly for strategic games lovers, an intriguing, promising game.

Review by Francesca Migliorini

Read more: FreeOrion 0.3.8 - Galactic conquest game on an open-source independent platform

I have always liked easy-to-learn games when all you have to do is to enjoy your time playing without having to read a 100-page manual before playing. Bubble Burster is a funny arcade game that rides on the slipstream of the historic Puzzle Bubble, with nice graphics and a fast response to commands.

This type of game is really not a novelty. It’s about two fellow special little dragons, an evolution of the two cute ones of Puzzle Bubble, which have to try to survive the upcoming invasion of crystal coloured bubbles, by shooting them with the same colour ball, if they manage to get one. There is a puzzle mode where you have to collect diamonds protected by the coloured balls and the challenging mode if you want to play against the clock: as you get rid of bubbles, little chunks are added to the progress line at the top. A little hesitation and your progress evaporates.

From the second level the game becomes interesting, fast and funny to enjoy with friends. The graphic design is also well done, which renders the whole game experience pleasant. If you decide to interrupt a round, the next time you access the game you can start where you have left.

This game is certainly not new, but it’s enjoyable to play for its speed and ease of use. It’s funny with a challenging puzzle mode to add more excitement to the game.

Review by Francesca Migliorini

Read more: Bubble Burster 1.0 - Puzzle Bubble is now on the space, enjoy

If you were a fan of Dragon Ball Z then Dragon Ball Z Budokai takes it to a new level with added acrobatic 3D action.

Dragon Ball Z Budokai features over 100 DBZ heroes and villains and an added story mode for extra depth. The games allows you to recreate classic scenes from the TV show in story mode with some lightning-fast fighting moves and the ability to engage in titanic battles. There are around 15 3D scenarios and much improved graphics, levels and special moves. The game uses a “behind-the-back” camera perspective and features all the regular Dragon Ball Z power ups and bonuses. Players can build up their “Ki” bar to execute various techniques such as the Power Guard, which reduces the damage characters take by 1/4. The Ki bar can also be used to use moves referred to as Blast 2s plus many more death defying moves which can snap your opponents neck in the blink of an eye.

For those that enjoy a good old punch-up, this is a great game although it could do with a few more characters and moves.

Review by Nick Mead

Read more: Dragon Ball Z Budokai X 2.0 - Classic combat based on the classic Dragon Ball Z

LinkLines is a remake of the Tetris arcade puzzle game. For the benefit of the uninitiated, the object of the game is to link five balls of the same color to form a line in any direction. Create lines to stop the board from filling up.

The game is presented in an updated format. You are given the chance to progress through various challenging levels. This is a bright and highly polished version of a classic game. LinkLines doesn’t attempt to baffle you with features and bonuses, this is simply an addictive puzzle game.

This is a fun and entertaining game for all ages. Quick reactions are not required for this game, there are no time limits or speed bonuses. You are free to ponder over each move. This game may appear simple but the subtle strategy required to reach the highest levels is great fun.

Read more: LinkLines 1.4.0 - Intriguing remake of the classic puzzler

Do you like playing pool or snooker? Then you’ll definitely have a great time playing Pool Sharks.

In this simple yet fun pool game you’ll be able to play pool or snooker in all their variants against people from all over the world. Pool Sharks only supports online games, which means you don’t get any chance to practice before you face a real competitor. On the upside, online games work pretty smoothly, with no lag or connection issues whatsoever. Also, games can be played for real money or fake bets – I’d personally stuck with the latter, at least until you improve your skills.

After registering your free user account, you enter the Pool Sharks lobby where you can see a list with all currently ongoing games, as well as a list with all the available tables you can join for a game. Games can only be played between two players though the game developers apparently plan to include support for tournaments some time in the future. While playing, you can chat with your opponent with the game’s built-in IM client.

Pool Sharks includes realistic graphics regarding the pool table and balls, but realism reaches a higher degree when depicting physical movement: it does really feel like hitting a pool ball with your own cue.

In spite of not having offline playing mode, Pool Sharks is still a fun, interesting game for all pool and snooker lovers.

Review by Elena Santos

Read more: Pool Sharks - Realistic online pool game

Have you ever heard of Briscola? It’s an exciting classic Italian card game for two to six players, also popular in Croatia, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, and Spain. If you don’t know it, look for the rules online as it is easy to play and you can spend entire nights with your friends enjoying it.

BTM Pro is a free application to play Briscola, Tresette and Madrasso against the computer or your friends. Multiplayer is available thanks to the network mode where you can select up to 4 players. When you choose to play in the network mode you will also have to specify a nickname, the server’s address and the port number.

At first I was disappointed to see that the graphic program is graphically very unattractive, but then I discovered it’s possible to choose a better resolution by accessing the Settings menu option. That said, I still felt unsatisfied after seeing how slow the game loaded after selecting that option. Apart from the loading though, the cards in the game move at normal speed and it’s nice to have a proper detailed look at these characteristic Italian cards.

Although BTM Pro lacks a user-friendly, resizable interface; having the possibility to play classic Italian card games with your friends makes it a must-have for card-game fans.

Review by Francesca Migliorini

Read more: BTM Pro (Net+) 6.48 - Enjoy a Briscola night with your Italian friend

Super Frog is a classic arcade game where you have to guide a frog across a busy highway to safety. This Christmas alternative to the popular game adds a bit of twist to it, with not only cars and trucks, but also candy canes and stockings coming into your way. After crossing the road successfully you’ll have to make your way on a path and grab the present on the other side.

Christmas Super Frog is a fun timewaster but doesn’t offer much more. First of all the graphics are really weak and the music itself gets annoying after a while. Even though the game is fairly easy to get used to, all you need is your arrow keys, it lacks any guidance for new users. We also thought the game got too difficult too early, as level 2 is already very challenging, with much more faster cars than the first level.

Christmas Super Frog is a basic time waster, fun for the holidays but nothing more.

Review by Cyril Roger

Read more: Christmas Super Frog 1.8.7 - Locate missing presents to save Christmas