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Summer games

I love the sun and being outside, but I've never been as adaptable to heat as most people. When I'm at the beach I'm in the water, or I'm in the forest playing on my bike instead of laying out on a blanket somewhere.

I love the sun and being outside, but I've never been as adaptable to heat as most people. When I'm at the beach I'm in the water, or I'm in the forest playing on my bike instead of laying out on a blanket somewhere. And when the temperature cracks 30 I retreat to the coolest room in the house and chill until it's safe for me to go back outside.

Luckily I have about a zillion hobbies, but if I'm feeling bored then entertainment is never too far away on the web. There are literally thousands of free games and puzzles out there, and some of them are pretty good.

Here are some of the online games I've sampled recently that I would recommend:

Go To Hell - http://www.addictinggames.com/go-to-hell-game.html - This is an addicting game about a one metre tall dwarf with a pick who must tunnel his way to hell, 666 metres below the surface. You chip through rocks and move rocks around in a strategic way, navigating underground lakes, snakes, bats and other challenges. Each choice you make has consequences, and to make it down safely (I've yet to do it) you have to conserve your strength and health, and not get caught running out of air.

Battle for Alandria - http://www.gameshed.com/freegames/21322/ - It starts off slowly and is a little confusing, but after a few levels you'll be coming up with strategies to win every level of this turn-based battle game.

The Pretender: Part 2 - http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/541617 - This puzzle game will have you thinking five moves ahead and playing levels over and over as you navigate your shape-shifting magician through a netherworld where you lead lost ghosts to safety. Turn into a monster and you can break and move the rocks, turn into wind and you can float up columns of steam...

Light Bot 2 - http://www.ezzal.com/23459/games/puzzle-games/light-bot-2.html - This is the sequel to one of the top online games of 1998. It's a straight-up puzzle game where you have to program a path for your report using a series of commands. The fewer commands you use the more points you get.

Super Mario Bros. - http://supermariobroscrossover.com/ - There's more than one way to skin a cat, and there's more than one way to win at Super Mario Bros. This unique Flash game lets you play Super Mario Bros. using different Nintendo characters, from Super Metroid to Contra to Link, each with different abilities, strengths and weaknesses.

Airport Madness 3 - http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/airport-madness-3/ - How many planes can you land safely? This game is like playing five games of speed chess at once, and requires deep focus, quick thinking and the ability to strategize "on the fly." It starts slow, but give it time...

Curve Ball - http://www.superpandagames.com/Curve_Ball.html - Picture Pong, the first video game ever, played in 3D with a vector-based arena, and you've got it. This is a fun, simple and sometimes challenging game that is simple to play but hard to master.

Easy Joe - http://www.kongregate.com/games/Gamystar/easy-joe - This is an easy and stylish puzzle game where you have to figure out how to get Easy Joe out the other side. Generally that means figuring out the correct sequence of events you need to set in motion.

Kill Me - http://arcadebomb.com/play/kill_me.html - Finally, a game where you're supposed to die. Your superhero character has unlimited lives (and up to three corpses) which he can use to cover up spikes, bounce out of pits and so on. The goal is to complete levels with as few deaths as possible.

The rest - Again, there are literally thousands of free games out there to enjoy. Some sites to visit include www.armorgames.com, www.kongregate.com, www.newgrounds.com, www.maxgames.com, www.arcadebomb.com - the list is long!

 

Summer of Arcade

At just $300 there's really no reason for a home with young people not have an Xbox 360 or PS3. Both slim versions (the Xbox 360 one is just out and it's awesome) are quiet, have massive hard drives for storing content, wirelessly connect to the Internet and do a lot more than play games. Both will allow you to download movies and televisions while the PS3 (c'mon Microsoft) will also let you surf the web.

But if there's one reason that you should consider buying a console, it's the games. Specifically, the cheap and downloadable kind. I recently downloaded two games from the Xbox Live Arcade, Snoopy Flying Ace and Serious Sam HD, and both were well worth the price. Then I downloaded Deathspank for about $15, getting a game that is as good - if not better - than many of the $60 titles out there.

I can't recommend Deathspank too much. It's easily one of the funniest games I've ever played with great dialogue and ridiculous situations. It's unique visually, with 3D characters hacking and slashing through a 3D world. The gameplay is intriguing and evolving, the bad guys are challenging, the bosses are daunting, there's lots of loot to collect and you can play something like 100 side missions that only add to the value. Best of all you can also invite a friend over and play the whole game in co-op, with the number and difficulty of bad guys scaling up appropriately. Best game of the summer so far.