Game 35: Shadez - The Black Operations

In this real time strategy game you are "the General of a mercenary force hired by the governments around the world to fight the wars they don't want to fight." Excited yet?!

Rather than the A-Team you control a beautifully rendered army of soldiers with an increasingly powerful arsenal of weaponry. As you choose your troops and artillery wisely, they stream from left to right across the misty, Vietnam-esque landscape battling whatever approaches from right to left. With enough scope to keep you involved for hours on end, this could be another job-destroyer. Don't blame me.

Have your clicking finger at the ready and unleash hell. Click on the various options across the bottom to pick troops, arrange air strikes, roll in the artillery and more. All in the name of death... War is an expensive business!

Plan for the future... just having missiles doesn't mean you have to use them... but as long as you have them, then you can use them if things get hairy. Don't think the opponents are gonna hold back!

Game 29: Gride

Gride is an arcade-style action game in which the objective is to apply and remove abilities to an always-moving little pink car at just the right moments to make it as far as you can along the never-ending terrain. The controls to Gride are simple, but using them well is not. Rest your hand on any of the three keyboard layouts, or get ready to click the four icons at lower right with the mouse, then learn your upgrades: Anti-Gravity makes the car leap into the air. Feather speeds the car up. SuperDrag gives you a smaller speed boost than Feather, but works on steeper (and slipperier) slopes. And DeGride turns Feather and SuperDrag off.

The basic strategy in Gride is to use Feather and SuperDrag to gain speed, then Anti-Gravity to jump over the steepest parts of the hill. But be careful! If you land upside-down or start sliding backwards, it's Game Over. You have to finish on your wheels to get a high score, and high scores are the whole point: Gride has only two levels, but they both go on forever! How far can you get?

At first you may find Gride to be a little too difficult to make it very far at all. Remember, though, you're not expected to beat the game, just get as far as you can! Use your attempts to learn what terrain is coming and how best to handle it. It may take a while to get the hang of things, but with practice you will get better at it.

Game 24: fl0w

flOw is a mesmerizing game of primordial life, evolution and survival. Dive deep into the wild blue to seek out and consume other organisms on your path to simple cell nirvana. Begin life as a microscopic multi-cellular organism with a semi-circular shaped 'head' for feeding and for locomotion. The organism moves by following the mouse cursor, moving as it moves and always in pursuit. Click and hold the mouse button to accelerate its movement, though doing so will make it more difficult to steer and to make sharp turns.

The starting location is at the top of a very deep pool, 20-levels deep. The top level is indicated by the game's "flOw" logo, which can be seen when the game begins. On the top level you will also find another organism with a small red dot "." in its middle. This organism can be found on all but the deepest of levels, since eating it will take you down one level. There is a similar organism with a blue dot "." on all but the top level; consuming it will take you up one level. If either of these two creatures ever leaves the screen of the current level, small ripples, in corresponding red or blue, will appear along the edge in the direction that it can be found. Just follow the ripples as it is also an indication of where there may be food as well. To eat another organism as food, for example one smaller than you, simply navigate your creature so that the 'food' comes within its circular 'mouth' and it will consume it. In later levels where there are even larger organisms, steer for the bright circular shaped cells within the body cavity. When an organism (including your own) loses all of these life-giving cells, it will perish.

Continue your advance deeper and deeper to discover what lies in waiting within this absolutely magnificient piece of interactive art.

Game 15: Risk

Take over the world in this 'puterised version of the classic board game.

For those of you not geeky enough to already know the score here; You're the General, and it's your duty to invade neighbouring countries and defend your lands against enemy attack. RISK has always been a secret geeky addiction of mine, and this online version is definately a decent recreation. Use your mouse to choose territories and roll the dice. Protect and invade in an effort to dominate the world!

For more detailed instructions check out the in-game help under 'Play' -> 'Menu' -> 'Rules'.

Game 14: 3D Logic

3D Logic is a fantastic puzzle game developed by Alex Matveev. The goal of the game is really simple: connect each pair of same-coloured blocks with an unbroken line without crossing over another colour.

Controlling the 3D cube with your mouse, you must click on a coloured block and drag along the empty spaces to create a line that connects the pair. As there is no time limit, don’t worry if you make a mistake in the process of drawing a line. Just use the undo or restart buttons.

With beautifully smooth graphics, an automatic save which allows you to come back later, and clever gameplay, 3D Logic is a well designed and addictive puzzler. Expect to spend a couple of hours (or more) to complete all 30 levels.

To see more detailed rules use the 'Help' option.

Game 5: Simon Says

"Simon's a computer, Simon has a brain, you either do what Simon says or else go down the drain."  This was the slogan from the Simon Says toy of the mid 1980s, a classic I'm sure you'll agree. This version is a digital replica of that plastic piece of fun.

The idea of the game is a simple one, follow the pattern of lights and sounds for as long as you can remember them.  The lights show up faster the more sequences you correctly recall.

Okay, it's not quite the same thing... But if you're not lucky enough to have the original toy, or you're too lazy to replace the batteries, then this is the next best thing.

Use the mouse to select the lights, or the following keys:

Red light – R          Yellow light – Y

Green light – G      Quit game – Q

Blue light – B          Mute sound – M