The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games

Posted by: dgoldring on Jun 15 2007

 

When I started writing The Arcade last fall, I always envisioned that it would ultimately become a reader driven column.  I imagined that I would review freeware games suggested by the readers, ensuring that I write about the games you want to know about or share, not just the ones I stumble upon as I scour the Internet.  In the past few issues, this dream has begun to be realized.  Rather than searching the Internet to identify freeware games, there has been an increasing amount of reader feedback and suggestions.  For the second month in a row, in fact, four of the five games I will be looking at were requested by readers, just like yourself.  So, don’t be shy.  If you have a favorite game, by all means leave a comment or send me an email.  Ultimately, my hope is that the future direction of The Arcade will be determined by our faithful readers. 

All of that being said, it is now time to turn our attention away from future issues and focus on the present.  Let’s take a look at the five amazing freeware games to be featured in The Arcade this month:

1. FreakOthello

2. Last Marble

3. Lines Gold

4. Retro Detonation

5. AsobiSimon

FreakOthello: Whether you call it Othello or Reversi, the object is the same: fill the gameboard with your colored tiles, while blocking your opponent from doing the same.  I am sure you all remember how to play this classic board game.  In a nutshell, on each turn, you place one tile in such a manner that one or more of your opponents tiles will be surrounded on either end by your tiles. Doing so "captures" your opponents surrounded tiles.  At the end of your turn, any captured tiles are flipped to your color.  When the board is full, the player with the most tiles of his (or her) color is the winner.

After our last edition of The Arcade, Brandon (our very own Netsyd) requested an Othello game.  I hunted around for one, with the help of a few suggestions from avid reader SPMWinkel, and came up with FreakOthello.  This is a fantastic version of the classic game.  It offers four levels of difficulty ranging from Amateur to Grand Master (although I found the AI, even in Amateur, to be extremely difficult to beat.  I don’t think I ended any game with more than a handful of points.)  The graphics are superb, and it even provides you with a mark on any potential moves.  The only thing missing was a multiplayer option, which would allow you to play against a friend. 

I hunted around the Internet for a couple of days, and this was the Othello game that I decided to recommend to Brandon.  It has the best graphics of any I tried and superb animation.  Just be ready to get spanked by the AI…a lot. 

 

Last Marble.  A number of years ago, my wife and I went on a vacation to a resort in the Poconos.  One of the novelties we found was that on every table in the restaurant, there was a little wooden puzzle game which you could enjoy (or get completely frustrated by) while waiting for your food.  There were several different versions, but they all had a relatively similar concept, you had 10 pegs and eleven holes in the board.  The idea was to clear the board, leaving only a single peg.  Last Marble reminds me a lot of those wooden puzzle games.  Essentially, you have a pyramid of 15 or 21 marbles.  Players take turns eliminating marbles in groups of one, two, or three.  The player who eliminates the last marble will lose the game.

In addition to expanding the size of the board from 15 to 21 marbles, there are also three levels of difficulty.  You can even play against another person or the computer.  This is a simple game to learn, but is filled with complex strategy which makes it extremely addictive.

 

Lines Gold.  All of a sudden, it seems that the Lines genre of games have exploded.  I had never played these games until last month when I featured Lines FG in The Arcade.  This month, I had a request to feature another variation on this genre, Lines Gold.

Lines Gold consists of a 9×9 grid, in which you will start with three colored balls.  The object of the game is to move the balls vertically and horizontally around the grid in order to line up five in a row.  Each time you move a ball, however, three new balls will be added to the field. 

Although Line Gold is free, there is also a pay version, Lines Platinum which offers additional features.  To be honest though, I found the free version was extremely enjoyable, even without the additional features found in the pay version.

 

Retro Detonation.  Last month, I told you that Inscenic had generously taken two of its commercial games, and was giving them away as freeware.  At that time, I showed you the first of those games, Galaxy Gate.  The second of the two games is Retro Detonation, a Bomberman Clone.  I have always loved Bomberman, and I have played dozens of clones.  This is one of the best I have seen.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this genre…well, do yourself a favor and download this game.  Anyway, you are trapped in a maze filled with creatures trying to eat you.  To fight back, you have packed bombs which you can drop throughout the maze.  Catch a creature in the bomb blast to destroy it.  Blow up the walls to reveal hidden weapons, objects, and other helpful tools.  Once you have killed all of the creatures in the maze, you can find the exit hidden in one of the walls.

Retro Detonation features five worlds, each divided into 10 levels, a store in which you can purchase new weapons and tools between modes, and dozens of bonuses and weapons.  Additionally, the maps are all randomly generated each time you begin the level, so you should never have to worry about seeing the same layout twice.

Retro Detonation is a fantastic Bomberman Clone, which could easily be sold as a commercial game (and was for quite some time).  The fact that it is now free, just makes it even better.  A hearty thank you to Inscenic who, with surprisingly little fanfare, began offering two fantastic games absolutely free.

 

AsobiSimon. Who doesn’t remember the game Simon?  Come one now, the black plastic disk, the four colored buttons (yellow, red, blue and green).  Basically, the game was an electronic version of follow the leader.  The computer would light one of the four colored buttons in sequence, and then challenge you to follow the exact same sequence.  With each turn, an additional light was added. 

Shortly after I posted the May issue of the Arcade, I got an email from AsobiTech telling me that they had brought Simon to the Pocket PC with AsobiSimon.  This is an extremely simple freeware game.  No frills, no special options, just a whole lot of fun.  Just like Simon, you must follow the sequence as the computer leads you on a dazzling path of light and sound (in addition to lighting up, each colored button also emits a Close Encounters-like tone.  So, sit back, strap on your nostalgia cap and get ready for Simon…AsobiSimon, that is.

 

I think I have said this before, but it always amazes me when I write this article each month, to find the breadth and scope of freeware games available.  I am also excited by the amount of reader feedback we have been getting.  Let’s make July the first completely "by request" edition of The Arcade.  Send your favorite freeware games to me at doug [at] justanothermobilemonday.com (replace the "at" with a "@".)  Developers, I am happy to feature your games in future issues of the Arcade.  Just send me an email.  To see previous editions of The Arcade, check out our archives, exclusively at Just Another Mobile Monday. 

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