It is the middle of the month, and that can mean only one thing – it is time to take another look at the freeware games landscape.  I have really been  amazed since I started this feature by the number of excellent freeware games available for the Pocket PC.  Each month, I find myself with seven or more freeware games from which to choose.  It is always difficult to decide which five to include this month and which ones to hold onto for a future edition.  The fact that there are so many quality freeware games, and that my decision each month grows increasingly more difficult is a testament to the hard work of some of these thoroughly unrecognized developers. 

This month, I’ll be introducing you to the following five games:

1. S-Tris 2

2. Space Trader

3. Warring States

4. Dames Are Trouble

5. Puzzle of Pipes

S-Tris 2: When I was in high school, my friends and I used to gather around the Nintendo console and compete in massive Tetris tournaments.  It was, by far, one of the most popular games of its time.  S-Tris 2, which is based on this favorite game of mine, is the follow-up to Elements Interactive Games popular freeware game S-Tris.  Both S-Tris and S-Tris 2 are among the best Tetris clones I have played.  

Space Trader:  This is a twist on the popular game format in which you are the captain of a merchant ship, trading and fighting your way to prosperity.  In this version, however, instead of trading across the open seas, you must navigate through various star systems, trading supplies with different planets in order to earn additional credits.  Watch out for Pirates, though.  Thy will attack without warning and blastyou out of the skies.  Although primarily text based, this is an extremely unique take on a popular game format. 

Warring States: Warring States is a turn based strategy game, which takes place in the Warring states period (464-222 BC) in China. During this period a multitude of independent states were almost constantly at war with each other to achieve supremacy and hopefully build an empire. As ruler of one of these states, your ultimate goal is to conquer all of the competing states in order to unite them into a single empire with one ruler, You. In order to achieve this supremacy, you must lead your army into battle, collect taxes from your people, discover new technologies and sciences, and fight against invaders and local rebellions. This is a fantastic variation on the turn based strategy format.

Dames Are Trouble: This was a new gaming format for me, called Interactive Fiction.  Essentially, it is a choose your own adventure style story for your Pocket PC.  This are text based games with fantastic illustrations and photos to help guide you through the adventure.  I was much more impressed by this format that I expected to be, and hope to include more of them in future editions of The Arcade.  In this story, Dames Are Trouble, you must delve into the shady world of a hard-knuckled private investigator, who has fallen unlucky in love.  Danger lurks around every corner and every alley has its own tales.  Solve the mystery to win the game. 

Puzzle of Pipes: One of my favorite ways to "waste time" on a lazy Sunday afternoon (before I had children) was a game called Pipe Dreams.  Basically, you were faced with a faucet, a water source and a mess of pipe to arrange so that the water source and faucet were connected with no loose ends.  Puzzle of Pipes takes that concept to another level by combining it with the classic sliding picture puzzle games.  Here, you must slide the pipe pieces around the board to connect the water source to the faucet.  Be careful, though, the water is coming…don’t let any spill.

So, there you have it, five fantastic games from five fantastic developers…all of them free.   I hope you enjoy all of them as much as I did.  They are each unique and enteratining variations on classic game formats, and offer a level of gameplay and graphics which is usually reserved for commercial products.

To see previous editions of The Arcade, check out our archives, exclusively at Just Another Mobile Monday. 

If you are a game player or developer, and would like to recommend a freeware game for use in a future installment of The Arcade please email me at doug@justanothermobilemonday.com.  All requests are welcome.

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