Monster Master

Monster Master is a card-based game in which two players match off to see whose monsters can destroy the other player. It's a little bit like a simplified version of Magic: the Gathering, for those who've ever played that, without the investment in cards, and overly-complex rules system.

Areas

Areas is a simple, yet addictive game consisting of a lot of black, white and grey circles, no text at all, and no need for ever clicking your mouse (even though the entire game is played by mouse rather than keyboard)! Wondering what on earth I'm on about? Well, the best way to find out would be to go try it for yourself!

Naturalchemist

Today's game is called Naturalchemist. The idea is to combine potion ingredients into sets of three or more so that they form the next ingredient in succession. Keep leveling your ingredients up and eventually you may produce gold nuggets! Your score in each game is converted at the end to ingredients you can then use in a cauldron to produce all kinds of fun effects like changing your avatar on the site and such. You can also use any gold you earn to spin the magical wheel and earn upgrades and ingredients.

I should note though that while this is a free game, only one play per day is free. If you want to play more often than that, you'll have to spend some dough on tokens.

Draw Play

In Draw Play, you get to draw your own levels! Well, mostly. The obstacles are already there, and getting over, under, around and through them can prove to be quite tricky. This game is sure to challenge the creative thinker in everyone.

Big Fish Friday: The Sims Carnival SnapCity

Kind of a mix between Tetris and a Simplified Sim City, all set to music from The Sims, The Sims Carnival SnapCity is a fun diversion that any puzzle gamer can appreciate. Place puzzle-shaped zoning divisions in your city to create the perfect balance of residential, commercial and industrial properties. Be sure to pay careful attention to those bonus grids to add special structures. Make sure all of your zones have good access to transportation, or they'll become run-down. And don't forget to quell disasters like tornadoes, riots and even alien invasions before they wreak havoc on your helpless populace.

Flash Element TD 2

Some of you may remember me posting Flash Element TD a few weeks ago. Today, I'm featuring it's sequel, Flash Element TD 2. If you thought the last one was funny with the speakers on, you'll love this one. As each wave enters the playing field, they'll yell some sort of battle cry. Then when they die, they'll cry out in defeat. In this one, you're not defending a stronghold or anything, rather you're protecting a set of colored orbs. If the creeps manage to get all of the orbs back to their home base, it's game over!

Tarnation

Use your army of seeds to defend your garden against attacking bugs in Tarnation. Send out seeds to become flowers and repel the bugs, but don't send too many or your waste meter will take a hit. Don't let the bugs reach the water or you might find your garden in jeopardy.

TylerK's Picross

Time for another Picross site! I don't know why, but I'm pretty well hooked on these puzzles. For those who missed the explanation last time:

Picross is a game where you have to fill in a picture on a grid. Do this by using basic logic skills to fill in the blocks on the grid. Each column or row tells you how many black blocks there are, and how they are grouped. From this information, you must determine which are black and which are white. Clicking a block once will turn it black, click again to put in a placeholder if you're sure the block should be white. I recommend turning fade on, so you can see which rows are already complete.

Edit: Not sure what happened to the picture, but it's back now...

Featured Game: Seal Bounce

The folks at Yeti Sports must really have it in for penguins... In Seal Bounce, the goal is to toss a penguin as high into the air as you can. So where do the seals come in? Well, they lend a helping hand... er, flipper... when the penguin hits them. Who says penguins can't fly?

Big Fish Friday: Garden Defense

Of course, I can't make it an entire week without posting a Tower Defense game... This time it's Garden Defense, which has a few little twists on the genre. At the start there are two sets of towers available, gadgets and plants. The gadgets can be moved at any time, with only a short period of non-functionality afterward. Handy for shooting at the start of the maze and then again at the end. Plants can't be moved at all, but they do self-upgrade and spawn new plants, so you can populate your entire maze without having to continuously buy new plants. Of course, there are also all kinds of ways to improve your arsenal as you continue through the game. All in all, Garden Defense is an interesting and fun take on tower defense!

Big Fish Week: Wedding Dash

If you're a fan of the Diner Dash style of games, you'll love Wedding Dash. You play a wedding planner who has to put together the perfect day for one couple after another. Keep track of their tastes so that you can order the proper food, cake, flowers or honeymoon, then take charge of the reception. Make sure all of the guests are seated where they prefer, avert disasters like swarming bees and angry bridesmaids, and keep the food coming! Before you know it everyone will be on the dancefloor and your job will be done, for this event anyway!

Big Fish Week: Alice Greenfingers

Today's Big Fish pick is Alice Greenfingers. It may not look like much, but this little gardening game combines the art of gardening with the science of marketing to produce a fun and profitable business! Not only do you need to manage your garden, keep your plants watered and harvest everything yourself, but you also need to run your own vegetable stand, keep an eye on market trends and price your flowers, fruits and veggies appropriately. How will your garden grow?

Big Fish Week: Kudos Rock Legend

Kudos Rock Legend recreates the experience of putting together a rock band and propelling it through obscurity and into stardom. Choose band mates that will not only get along, but also bring unique talents and characteristics to your group. Make sure you have the proper equipment and staff. Write new songs, practice the old ones and hone everyone's musical skills. Book gigs at a variety of venues and promote, promote, promote. But don't forget to give everyone a little free time or your friends will become cranky quickly! Will your band have what it takes to hit the top of the charts?

New Feature: Big Fish Fridays

Yeah, I know... This is a blog about FREE games, but I'm a sucker for a free trial. My favorite site to go to for free trials of downloadable games is Big Fish Games. They release a new game daily and they're usually top quality offerings. I've been downloading there for years and I'll continue to do so as long as they still offer what they do. So, in homage to Big Fish, I'm starting a new feature here on Featured Games: Big Fish Fridays. Every Friday I'll post the link to a game from the Big Fish catalog. You can go and download the trial and play for an hour free, or just go ahead and buy the game.

So why am I talking about this on Monday you ask? Well, to kick off the new feature, I've decided to dedicate this entire week to Big Fish. So every day this week will be a Big Fish Friday... Yeah, I can do that. It's my blog.

Today's game is Aveyond. If you like RPGs, you're going to love this one. Yes, the world is two dimensional and the graphics are pixellated, but the game is amazing. Gather together friends to aide you through your quest to seal the Demon Portal and save the world. The whole game is about as non-linear as it gets, with plenty of options for how you want your story to go.

Featured Game: Temple Guardian

Time for another tower defense game, and this one's a bit trickier than most. In Temple Guardian, you're defending an ancient temple against waves of invaders. You start out with the usual fare, cannons and arrows, but there are also eagle's nests and sacred dragons. Manage your money and your miracles, and don't forget to upgrade, upgrade, upgrade!

Featured Game: Paper Pug

Take one pug on a string, a slew of soldier guys with shoulder-mounted guns, and throw in a sword-wielding ninja, and what do you have? Paper Pug! See how long you can dodge bullets and swords and keep your pug alive.

Featured Game: Sushi Go Round

Sushi Go Round is a fun little service-type game. You'll need to master various Sushi reccipes, with new ones added each level, in order to serve your customers quickly. But that's not all there is to this game! You also have to manage your supply of ingredients. You can only order ingredients in quantities of ten (or less!) at a time, but most of the recipes require at least two of a single ingredient, so it's easy to run out if you don't keep on top of things! Of course, if your customers are getting cranky from having to wait, you can always smooth things over with some complimentary sake.

Featured Game: RingShot

RingShot is a fun little skill game, where the entire idea is to slide little colored discs into corresponding colored rings. Of course, saying it is always easier than doing it. You'll only have so many of each colored disc, so don't waste your shots. Be careful not to knock discs out of place, and think strategically about the order in which you want to play. Of course the levels get harder and harder, so see how far you can get!

Featured Games: Osmosis

Osmosis is a fun little physics game that will really make you think. You've fallen asleep in the middle of a physics test. A sheep appears to help you with your test. You now must maneuver your sheep through a maze, while manipulating spin, friction and gravity to help him avoid obstacles.

Featured Game: Reaction Effect

Reaction Effect is a fun little game/toy that experiments with the chain reaction concept. Rotate any one of the 256 circular tiles that make up the game board. When the edge of the arc on that tile hits the edge of any other arc, it will rotate that one as well. See how many rotations you can chain together!

Featured Game: Laser and Bubbles

Laser and Bubbles is a chain reaction game that's just a little different than most. Your mechanism for starting your chain off is a set of two lasers, one horizontal one vertical, which fire simultaneously. They fire at a screen full of colored bubbles, which each pop in a way specific to their color. I find that the lasers make my brain work in a way that is different enough that it can be a bit of a challenge, just to aim! Maybe I've been playing too much BoomShine though... lol

Featured Game: Reflex

Some of you may remember the classic puzzle game "Reflexion." Reflex is simply a remake of that gem. The idea is to maneuver the ball through a level by bouncing it off of various mirrors. You have to hit all of the coins in the level, then make your way to the exit. Of course, there are plenty of obstacles and challenges to get in your way.

Featured Game: Flash Element TD

Time for another Tower Defense game!!! For this one, you absolutely must turn on your speakers because each wave of invaders has their own battlecry and some are quite funny. Other than that, Flash Element TD is pretty standard of the genre: build towers, upgrade them, repel attackers, etc. Worth a play or two though, especially if you're a TD fan like I am!