Games Blog

The nightmare before Christmas? Almost. In Christmas Crisis you need to help out Santa delivering presents by guiding his sleigh and dropping presents over houses, whilst avoiding jets and airplanes. The game is certainly a good idea for the holidays and an original adaptation of the Space Invaders style, yet Christmas Crisis is on the whole rather disappointing.

First of all, and this may sound cheesy, but I quite like when there’s a little introduction to the game, or at least some sort of setting. Christmas Crisis drops you right in without any explanation as to why you need to replace Santa. There’s only a small window to explain the controls.

Movements in Christmas Crisis are simple. Use your arrow keys to navigate your sleigh and the space bar to shoot the presents onto houses. On the whole though, they feel a bit clunky, and there’s a little delay every time you move the sleigh. Christmas Crisis is a bit difficult and I couldn’t manage to hit all the houses in the first level. Getting used to it doesn’t take much though, but the increase of planes flying around as you pass levels does make it challenging.

Even though the game lacks an introduction, and controls are clunky, Christmas Crisis is an OK time waster for the holidays.

Review by Cyril Roger

Read more: Christmas Crisis 1.1.9 - Help Santa deliver all the presents

Fishing beyond my desktop has never really appealed to me but this is one game that’s strangely addictive and a lot of fun.

You are basically a pro-fisherman who has to cross the country entering competitions to catch the biggest and juiciest fish to climb up the rankings. The more fish you catch, the more you progress up the rankings but there’s plenty of obstacles in store for you such as nasties that swim below the surface, steal your bate and even your rod! It’s simple enough for kids to play but it’s also got an addictive quality that adults will also, excuse the pun, get hooked on. The graphics are cartoon style and the fish in particularly are beautifully down with some huge bulging eyes that almost pop out of their head when caught. As you become a better fisherman - learning to beat the pelicans before they get to the fish before you - you earn more tokens which you can use to upgrade your boat to something really spectacular. Half the fun is riding around in your boat causing mayhem in fact, especially as you progress to the larger boats.

A highly entertaining game that will have fishing fans hooked and kids enthralled by the sounds and graphics.

Review by Nick Mead

Read more: Fishing Craze - Go fishing for fun!

Poker may not be a difficult game to learn, but what really distinguishes the pros from the amateurs is knowing all the tricks and ropes to win hands. Poker Academy is aimed at improving your level at poker.

The game pits you against virtual players, meaning you don’t have to worry about betting actual money, and lets you control up to 200 hands so you can see and learn from all sorts of situations. The game can really be tweaked according to your level of play, and you can set the level of opponents and host your own tournaments.

Poker Academy has many well prepared tutorials to guide you, but even better, will provide all sorts of statistics to examine your hands, wins and losses. You can also create filters to analyze your game even more closely. One feature we quite liked was the Hand Evaluator, which can tell you your chances according to your flop (first three face up cards).

Poker Academy will certainly allow you to improve the game. 6 hours of demo probably aren’t enough though, as you can get easily hooked to poker. If you decide to purchase the game you can then get into more serious games with other real Poker Academy players.

There are so many options and menus to choose from that the game can seem a little confusing at first.

Poker Academy will allow you to improve your game of poker significantly with loads of statistics and useful tutorials. Recommended for poker lovers.

Review by Cyril Roger

Read more: Poker Academy Pro 2.5.9 Build 235 - Become a pro at Poker

Originally written to test some routine functions, this program evolved to become Mono, a shooter that mixes the classic Asteroids game with Robotron with Paint Shop Pro. Picking up power ups as you go, you must shoot the large balls of color which then break in to several parts which you must also destroy. As you hit the balls, they leave what looks like a stain on the screen and soon you have a really cool multicolored background that then changes when your pod gets hit.

Read more: Mono 1.03 - A visual experiment that lets you paint the screen while blasting colored balls

Inca Ball is an entertaining puzzle game, perfect for a short moment of relax after a hard working session with the computer, but also fun enough to get hooked on it.

The game is very similar to the popular Zuma, so if you’re familiar with this title you already know how to play Inca Ball. You’re in charge of a moving platform that slides from side to side along the bottom part of the playing area. With this platform you can shoot balls to a line of colored balls that twists all over the window, until it finally reaches the exit. Your aim is to get at least three balls of the same color together, so that they disappear from the screen and you earn points.

Like I said, plain as it sounds, Inca Ball can really become quite addictive, as it’s easy to play and rewards you with many power-ups and special bonuses as you progress through the game. Also, the game is very visually appealing, with detailed graphics and animated menus.

On the downside, I had the impression that levels take too long to complete, making the game seem a bit repetitive in the end. Oh well, maybe I didn’t play long enough.

In spite of seeming a bit repetitive after a while, Inca Ball is still a fun puzzle game in the old Zuma style you can easily get hooked to.

Review by Elena Santos

Read more: Inca Ball Demo - A fun puzzle that challenges your quick wits

Street Challenge is an authentic, free, online multiplayer drag racing simulator. Street Challenge appeals to fans of speed films like “The Fast and The Furious” and “Gone in 60 seconds”, gearheads and casual fans of driving games who want to sharpen their skills before they attempt to crush the online competition. Requires an internet connection.

Read more: Street Challenge 1.352 - Free online multiplayer drag race simulator

Your aim in UFO: Alien Invasion is to fight the forces of evil in a world that has turned over a leaf in the next stage of it’s evolution.

While war and famine have been virtually eradicated, one major threat remains hanging over mankind - the threat of alien invasion. UFO: Alien Invasion is a free game rich in background history and strategy. You have to lead a crack commando team to destroy and investigate the increasingly dangerous extraterrestrial technology which threatens to wipe out the human race. The game takes the shape of a strategy/shoot-em-up action based thriller which requires a certain amount of guile and map reading ability as well as a quick trigger finger. The missions are incredibly well thought out and rich in detail and although the graphics aren’t exactly stunning, there are some excellent special effects. It’s easy enough however to pick up pretty quickly although to get the most out of the game, you’ll have to consult the Wiki which has extensive details of the how to play.

A very well designed and thought-out game that, considering it’s completely free, will thrill any UFO enthusiast or strategy game fan.

Review by Nick Mead

Read more: UFO: Alien Invasion 2.2 - Defend the Earth against UFO invaders

Project Torque could be defined as a free online clone of Gran Turismo – if PlayStation fanboys would excuse such audacity.

Now, before you start throwing your sixaxis controllers at me for being such a daring reviewer, let me explain: Project Torque is not Gran Turismo, that’s right. But it is an awesome online racing game, seasoned with a very attractive social component that’s contributed to build a very active user community around the game. Add to that a complete driving license system, several game modes, online competitions and a shop where you can upgrade and customize your car, and you get an excellent game that’s definitely worth a try.

Bear in mind, however, that it may take a while before you can actually start taking part in races. First, the game file will download an extra 456 MB patch before allowing you to launch the game. Then, I advise you to follow the tutorial, which teaches you all the basics in less than 5 minutes. And finally, you’ll need some time to get used to the game’s interface, which looks a bit cluttered with all those available options and tools. One tip: add your favorite MP3 files to the game’s music folder and you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite music while playing Project Torque.

So how’s racing itself? Pretty fun, indeed. The game allows you to drive from different perspectives (inside or outside the car) and in all of them, the level of realism is going to make your jaws drop. This goes also for circuit environment, light effects and physical effects as well, the later being especially noticeable when you bump against a lamppost. Luckily you can repair your car on the spot with the backspace key.

As you unlock tracks, obtain different driving licenses and take part in races against players from all over the world, you’ll earn experience points that you can later on invest in your baby, I mean, you car, to make it the fastest machine on earth. Project Torque will also give you the chance of meeting very friendly people online, who you can add to your buddy list. The game features embedded chat and email clients to keep in touch with them.

Project Torque is a free online multiplayer driving game, clearly inspired by Gran Turismo, where you can take part in exciting races, earn experience points, improve your car and have loads of fun!

Review by Elena Santos

Read more: Project Torque - Free multiplayer online driving game

If you’re looking for an easygoing action game, one you can play just for fun even if you’re not very good at shooters, you should definitely give Bloodmasters a go.

Featuring a top-down perspective like old style games, this action title enables you to fight against other players both in LAN and online battles that can take place in different maps. The aim depends on the type of game you’re playing: Deathmatch, Scavenger or Capture the flag, either in individual competition or by teams.

The game’s graphics are quite simple and the maps are ridiculously small, consisting mainly of a large room with corridors, stairs and dark spots where you can hide away from your enemies. There are different weapons and ammo scattered all over the map for you to pick up and use.

Bloodmasters lacks single player mode, which makes it quite limited in terms of gameplay. During our tests we could only find three online servers to play, but I guess the funniest way to enjoy the game is by fighting against friends on a local network.

Bloodmasters is an easy, old school multiplayer action game with an overhead view. Despite its tiny maps and basic graphics, it’s loads of fun when played against friends online or in a LAN.

Review by Elena Santos

Read more: BloodMasters 1.0 - A free, old-style onine multiplayer action game

It’s usually difficult to find high-quality free racing games, but sometimes you do find exceptions to this rule like Moto Race Challenge. This game doesn’t offer the official championship bikes or pilots, but at least you can play it absolutely for free.

Graphics are better than we expected, with good response to controls. The motorbike is controlled just with the cursor keys, but don’t let this apparent simplicity fool you: it takes some time and practice to master it, especially when accelerating and braking.

You can play offline as much as you want, but if you’d like to join an official race or championship, then you must register as user (it’s free). However, bear in mind that you’ll have to pass the qualifying series to be allowed to join the race.

Review by Elena Santos

Read more: Moto Race Challenge 08 - Get your virtual biker gear and join the championship