In The Valley Of Colours And Kings

After Zuma's success, a number of clones appeared - but the Luxor series is the one that actually improved on some aspects of the concept. As the series progressed, Luxor games became more and more self-reliant. With Luxor 4: Quest for the Afterlife the franchise flexes its own muscles.

A series of coloured balls (with the number of different colours increasing every few levels) gets pushed and you have to match them in sets of three or more in order to remove them - and prevent them from reaching the end zone. Instead of having the "shooter" in the centre, it is located at the bottom and it slides left and right. This makes for some quite difficult shots (especially when obstructed by the advancing row of balls) and raises the difficulty of the game.

On the other hand, the power-ups are more powerful, at the end of every round a number of coins and gems drop and "catching" them add lives to your paddle. It seems pretty straight-forward yet it can become highly...addictive!

Compared to the previous instalment of the series, Luxor 4 is graphically even more impressive, enriched as to the dropping bonuses (and...penalties) - yet it will seem somewhat easier to seasoned players of the series; nevertheless, it will fulfill the fans craving for more pharaohnic fun!

This is an example of what has come to be known as Casual Gaming: small, resource-light games that are fun for the whole family.

It would be a good idea to download the 60-min trial version from a casual games site, such as Reflexive and decide for yourself whether this is indeed your cup of tea. It wouldn't hurt to wait for the price to drop either: most casual games sell for no more than $10.

Keeps Gooing & Gooing

This is a small game only in cost: it has offered me endless hours of fun!
If I were to describe this game as simply "building bridges made out of, well, elastic goo", I would do it no justice. I could never imagine how entertaining balancing goo-tension and gravity could be!

The graphics are clear and do not have high hardware requirements. The music is well chosen and appropriate. And the gameplay you will find yourself longing for after some hours away from the game.

World of Goo is a game that can be enjoyed by the whole family - and it comes free from any draconian DRM schemes.

Addictive Bouncing Fun (Now With Its AddOn)

Peggle Nights his is the most successful cross between Patchinko and Pinball! It will have you laughing and shouting at the damn bouncing ball...

At every level there is a number of colored pegs that have to be hit in order to clear the level. They are amongst generic pegs that is OK to hit yet will hinder your access to the colored ones you have to clear - and you have only a limited number of shooting balls.

Every time you shoot a ball it gets used - unless you are lucky to fall into an oscillating bucket and gets recycled. There are also special pegs that give you special abilities for a limited time.

I am afraid I am not doing justice to the game - if it sounds complicated it is not. You pick it up in a minute and it is great fun!

This is a perfect example of what has come to be known as Casual Gaming. It would be a good idea to download the 60-min trial version from a site, such as Reflexive, and decide for yourself whether this is indeed your cup of tea.

Anybody can make a good game that will run only on a super-computer. This is an example of pure programming genius!

If you already own Peggle keep in mind that this version only extends the original with some extra levels and a new "superpower". It is not its sequel - so decide accordingly.

Three Times The Fun

These are the years of PC gaming that will be known as the Underdog Era: full of indie masterpieces and megapublishers flops. World Of Goo, iFluid,Crayon Physics, Defense Grid: The Awakening, all released by small independent companies, were rewarded by much better financial returns than overhyped behemoths of the likes of Red Alert 3, Anno 1404 and Spore. It was not unexpected; after all, just like Limited Installations, greed only pays for a limited number of turns.

Trine is an excellent physics action/arcade game. You control three interchangeable characters (a thief, a wizard and a warrior). Each has his/hers special abilities, from shooting griping hooks to levitating objects and smashing things up. At any point, you can select which one suits you best. Obstacles have to be turned, balanced, jumped over or simply smashed. Enemies have to be wiped out. And vials have to be discovered and collected before reaching the goal.

Between levels there are checkpoints but, annoyingly, no regular saving is possible (hence the star withheld). If a character dies you are only left with the other(s) to finish off the level. If it is impossible without the missing character(s)' abilities you can always revert to the last checkpoint.

The graphics are just beautiful! PhysX is required however, so nVIDIA gamers rejoice. The sounds and voices are nicely done and clearly add to the enjoyment of the game. Overall, I have been playing this gem for almost a week now and apart for the checkpoint saves I can only say good things about it.

Trine comes with STEAM (in fact it was released first on that platform) and you will need to be online to post accomplishments - but there are neither limits on the number of installations nor any RootKits of the likes of SecuROM.

Erudio Coniecturalem Artem Esse Machinariumnam

To paraphrase Cornelius Celsus, Machinarium is the Art of Educated Guessing. Yes, art.

This indie gem is a definite affirmation to the question whether PC gaming is an art-form. In recent years the genre has strayed towards the-latest-hardware-demanding yet vapid eye-candy. So when a slow and moody game comes along, on that can run in almost any machine and offers subtle fun, we tend to underestimate it.

This is a logic puzzle-adventure. Sometimes the puzzles are easy. Sometimes you get lucky (hence the "Educated Guessing" in the title). And sometime you get stuck and you shall need hints or even the level walkthrough contained in a locked book that opens with a mini-game. However, perseverance is rewarded with the satisfaction of being able to untangle the inner logic of the game.

I have been playing puzzle adventures ever since Myst and, although I am not an exclusive fan of the genre, over the years I have played its best representatives. And Machinarium should be considered one of them.

The game is also a avant-garde cartoon story, with beautifully hand-drawn backgrounds and an endearing protagonist.

The game may not last long but, I promise you, it will stay for you for a very long time.