as if!
Don't miss our CGDC #7 announcement coming November 16th! Tagged as: blog , teaser
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Battalion: Ghosts
Platform: Flash —
The popular Battalion series continues with Ghosts, your solution to the daily ain't-go-no-tank blues. It's turn-based strategic warfare at its pixelated finest as the story continues. It's puns, explosions, and tactics galore. Will you emerge triumphant from the ten stage campaign? Or is it back to boot camp for you? Tagged as: battalion , browser , combat , flash , free , game , kongregate , macwinlinux , rating-y , strategy , tactical , turnbased , urbansquall , warfare
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Battalion: Ghosts
Helium-3
Platform: Flash —
From the Discovery Channel comes a casually-oriented strategy game of tactics, battle, mining and exploration. The world's energy reserves have run out, but a new element called helium Tagged as: browser , education , flash , free , game , macwinlinux , rating-g , realtime , science , strategy , tactical
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Helium-3
Big City Adventure: New York
Platform: Download (Windows) —
After so many recent disappointments in the length of casual games (especially the HOG games), it's nice to find a game that instead is ready to offer you hours and hours of fun, casual gameplay. So belt up your fanny pack, slather on the sunscreen, don't forget your camera, and enjoy your vacation! Tagged as: affiliate , demo , download , game , hiddenobject , jollybeargames , rating-g , windows
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LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2D2
Platform: Unity —
Choose between playing as Anakin Skywalker for the Republic, or as the Jedi assassin, Asajj Ventress, in this Star Wars action adventure game built in Unity 3D. Forget what you think you know about browser-based games and give LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2D2 a try. It won't be long before you get sucked into a time long ago in a galaxy far, far away, where plastic bricks vied for control of the universe. Tagged as: 3d , action , adventure , browser , free , game , lego , macwin , platform , rating-y , starwars , unity
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LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2D2
NationStates
Filed under: Customize, General, Other, Puzzles, action, adventure
We’ve been in charge of running a country during a national crisis in Pandemic: American Swine Flu . We’ve led the nation to world conquest in Mastermind: World Conqueror . But have you ever wondered what goes on during the downtime? In-between the diseases and the hostile takeovers, everyday decisions still need to be made. NationStates is a massively multiplayer online game by author Max Barry that puts you in charge of your own fledgling nation to create and shape how you see fit.
To get started on your path to becoming an imaginary superpower, you’ll need to create your nation. You will be prompted to customize different aspects, such as your flag, history, and national animal. These options are superficial only, but the next page will asks you for your opinions concerning various political, social, and economic issues. These will determine the initial status of your nation, although it will change shortly after you start playing.
Changes to your nation come about through issues presented to you every day. You’ll be presented with a problem with several options, and whichever one you choose will become national law. You will initially receive one issue per day, but you can bump that up to two in the account settings. As you make choices the various aspects of your country will change and the type of government you run will shift, going anywhere from “anarchy” to “psychotic dictatorship”. There are probably some other, reasonable options in between, but I never discovered them. Where would the fun be in that?
You can choose to stay small, influencing just your country, or you can step up to the next level and join with other nations in a group known as a region, where you can make deals or compete for power. You can also join the World Assembly, a thinly-veiled version of the United Nations, to write or vote on resolutions that will affect all participating nations. The forums have as much discussion on current events (in-game and otherwise) as any real-world political site you may find, so if you’re up for a good debate, you’ll always be able to find one.
Analysis: The real beauty in this game is that it’s accessible on so many levels. If you want to be part of the multiplayer aspect, you can join an existing region or create your own. If you’d rather keep to yourself and watch the outcome of the choices you make, that’s an option too. Since there is no way to “win”, per se, there’s freedom in how you run your internal affairs, as well. You can make decisions that reflect your own political views and see which direction that takes the country, or you can be like me and see how difficult you can make life for your citizens. They would probably recommend the former, if I allowed them freedom of speech.
Unfortunately, with a maximum of two issues per day, if you’re not participating in world affairs, gameplay will be over fairly quickly. Your decisions can be made in minutes, then you won’t have much to do until the next time you log in. That’s not to say that the game is any less fun that way; on the contrary, it’s very satisfying being able to decide the fate of a nation while having your morning coffee, then be free to go on with the rest of your day. But for people who crave more, the single-player experience might not provide the hours of entertainment you may be looking for. And yes, in my country, it is legal to end your sentences in prepositions.
The philosophical implications of NationStates are staggering. Although they are often humorous and exaggerated, the issues that are addressed are usually real concerns for governments all over the world. The decisions you make may seem like a good idea at the time, but there could be consequences that you never expected. More than once I have made a choice that seemed reasonable, only to rethink my position when I saw the results. I now realize that I am perhaps not the best option to rule the world, after all. Not yet, anyway. Let me play around with NationStates a little more, then we’ll see.
It’s worth noting that this game is inspired by the novel Jennifer Government by Max Barry. In that sense, it could almost be considered an advergame, as it was created by the author in order to tie in with his book. Still, it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to promote anything. There are links to the Mr. Barry’s website throughout the game, but there is never any real effort to sell you anything. It comes across as more of a companion to the novel. Of course, this could be a marketing scheme on the author’s part to make me feel like buying the book was my idea, but if it is, it worked. I will receive my copy in 3-5 business days. Touché, Mr. Barry!
If you’re interested in politics and what makes a country run, or if you just want to oppress the lower class, NationStates is right up your alley.
Play NationStates.
More here: NationStates
Picma
Platform: Flash —
Picma takes picross to dizzying new heights, and satisfies the never-ending craving familiar to picross addicts. The game lends itself well to the casual gameplay experience, being something you can do on a coffee break or when you have a few free minutes to solve a puzzle or two. Head to the site and solve one or two puzzles, or settle in for a marathon and solve until your eyes bleed, it is up to you. But definitely play Picma and enjoy the experience! Tagged as: browser , flash , free , game , macwinlinux , moonberrystudios , picross , puzzle , rating-y
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Picma
The Jolly Gang's Spooky Adventure
Platform: Download (Windows) —
The Jolly Gang’s Spooky Adventure is a point-and-click adventure game that doesn’t take place in a near-fantasy world, a scary haunted mansion, or a series of dream worlds connected by a magical portal. It also doesn’t involve anyone’s family member heading off to investigate a long-lost artifact. It does contain cheesy visuals and a bit of an adult sense of humor, making it one of the few casual games to target an older crowd. Think of it as a casual version of Ben There, Dan That mixed with your favorite browser-based room escape game. Tagged as: adventure , affiliate , alawar , demo , download , game , pointandclick , rating-o , windows
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Being One: Episode 4 – Moonrise
Platform: Flash —
The fourth and final chapter in the Being One series. Taken separately, each chapter of Being One has been a little gem of casual gameplay, combining all of the above elements into an interesting, mysterious, serialized tale. Now that tale has come to an end. Was it worth the journey? That is up to the player to decide. Tagged as: adventure , beingone , browser , escape , flash , free , game , hiddenobject , horror , macwinlinux , pointandclick , psionic , rating-r , scifi
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Being One: Episode 4 – Moonrise
Escape from the Meeting Room
Platform: Flash —
While not a complicated life-or-death struggle to escape, Escape from the Meeting Room is perfect for mid-week casual gameplay. Short enough to fit in a lunch break (or even a coffee break), escape from responsibility, escape from the everyday, and most importantly Escape from the Meeting Room! Tagged as: browser , escape , flash , free , game , japanese , macwinlinix , pointandclick , rating-g , tesshi-e
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Escape from the Meeting Room