The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games

Posted by: dgoldring on Nov 20 2007

 

Well, here it is, November, deep in the heart of the Holiday Season.  I hope everyone had a great time Trick or Treating.  I took my boys (Red Power Ranger and Superman) out and about in our neighborhood.  We all had a blast and came home with more candy than they could carry (at the risk of a shameless plug, thanks goodness I was wearing the SeV Explorer jacket with its numerous pockets which are great for holding gadgets…or candy).

Now, it is time to take down the ghost and ghouls and make way for the tinsel, glowing lights, and decorated trees of Christmas (or in our case, Channukah).  Before we get there, however, it is time for Thanksgiving.  I love Thanksgiving.  It is my favorite holiday.  I mean, what can be better.  We gather around with family and eat turkey with all of the trimmings while watching football (the American style).  Food, family, and football.  Oh yeah, and something about Pilgrims and Indians or somesuch… 

OK.  I got waaay off topic there.  So, what are you thankful for? Hopefully a few of you might be thankful for these five free games I am about to highlight.  And don’t forget, in December, I will be looking at the Best of The Arcade.  I plan to cull the archives and bring back the top five games I have featured here.  So, get your votes in early.  What were your favorite games from past issues of The Arcade?  And don’t forget, these five games are also eligible for your votes:

1. Max Memory 

2. Asteroid Explorer

3. Exit Nights

4. Solitaire

5. Pocket Hasami

 

Max Memory:  This is your basic memory game, designed to show how the world can come together as one.  The screen consists of a grid of covered cards.  The size of the grid will depend upon the difficulty level you select.  Under each card is a flag of the world.  All you have to do is find the matching flags to clear them.  Clear all of the flags to reveal a remarkable image of the Earth from space.  The real draw of this memory game for me, however, was that it does not just use meaningless icons to help train your memory.  Because it utilizes flags of the world, the game inspires you to learn more about the flags and the countries they represent. 

  

2. Asteroid Explorer: When I was younger, playing games on my Apple II+, one of my favorite games was called "Sea Dragon".  This was a pretty basic game, in which you had to guide your submarine threw a cavernous maze.  Touch the walls of the cavern and your submarine would be destroyed.   Now, that gameplay, which I enjoyed so much as a kid, has been rekindled for the Pocket PC.  Asteroid requires you to guide your spaceship through the interior of an asteroid.  Watch out for enemy spaceships, and whatever you do, don’t let your ship fly into the walls.  This game is much more difficult than it appears…and is every bit as addictive now was similar games were 25 years ago.

3. Exit Nights: Earlier this month, I reviewed a fantastic adventure game, Fade.  Fade introduced us to a whole new world…heck, a whole new way of looking at a whole new world.  And they did not just stop at Fade.  Exit Nights is not so much a sequel to Fade as a spin-off (to put it in television terms).  Or, maybe it is just a short story which exists within the same universe as Fade.  Either way you look at it, Exit Nights focuses on the action in a single location within the Fade universe, namely the Exit Night Club.  The Exit, as Fade fans will recall, is a pretty racy club replete with gambling, strippers, and all manner of lurid acts and behavior. 

Exit Nights is a card game, unlike any other.  Collect the powerful technology cards in order to capture cards from your opponent’s deck.  Defeat the players in all three tournaments (of increasing difficulty) in order to face the Exit Nights Boss in his own lair.  The game features graphics which are simply far too well done for a free game (essentially, the same graphics as Fade).

I will admit that the rules of the game were a little difficult to learn.  Many games I have featured here are described along the lines of "easy to learn, difficult to master."  This is not one of them.  If you take the time to learn the rules of Exit Nights, however, you will quickly find the hours slipping away as you lose yourself in the virtual world of the Exit Night Club.

4. Solitaire: This is probably the most well known computer game ever.  Although, for you older folks, my money is still on Pac-Man.  Solitaire is more than likely responsible for billions of dollars of your employer’s money (or taxpayer if you work for the government) being wasted as you sit around wondering whether to move that black queen over to the red king now or wait until you find the second black queen.  We all know how it is played.  This is the classic game which has come with every iteration of Windows since Windows version 3.0 was released.  Of course, you will find it preinstalled on your Windows Mobile device.  The classic time waster, right in the palm of your hand.  What could be better?

5. Pocket Hasami: This is an extremely unique variation of chess hailing from Japan.  Each player starts with either 9 or 18 colored stones (one player is black, the other white).  Players alternate turns moving one stone any number of spaces vertically or horizontally (like a rook in chess).  The object is to capture your opponent’s pieces between two of your stones, thus removing them from play.  Whichever player is reduced to fewer than four stones first loses.  The game features two modes (9 or 18 stones) and three levels of difficulty.

That will wrap us up for another month of The Arcade.  Don’t forget next month, I will be taking a look back at the top five games from all of the previous editions of The Arcade.  If you have an opinion or favorite which you think should be included, let me know by leaving a comment on this post.  I am sure some of you frequent readers have found some of these blurbs useful and maybe found a game or two which you cannot live without (anyone? anyone…Bueller??)  So chime in and let me know.  And then, we will be right back here in January with an all new edition of The Arcade.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

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 here at JAMM (doug [at] justanothermobilemonday.com, but replace at “at” with a “@”. All requests are welcome.

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