Digital Air Hockey

Who doesn't love air hockey? Now you can play this arcade classic online, at Gamescene.com.

In typical air hockey fashion, you're presented with a puck, a paddle, and an air hockey table. What's not so typical is that you get to pick the skill level of your opponent: easy, medium, or hard. Then, you battle against a computer to become air hockey champion. But take note: even if you're really good at air hockey, it's not so easy to beat a computer at the game.

On the easy level, I had some technical difficulties with my playing partner. At a certain point in the game, he grabbed hold of the puck and stopped playing. And on the medium level, my opponent was far more skilled than I at digital air hockey - he knew all of the best maneuvers.

What's nice about the game are the arcade style graphics and the authentic sound effects - you'll hear the white noise sounds of an air hockey table in the background while you play. Score eleven points first and you'll win the game.

Read more »

Brick Invaders

You won't find any sort of invasion in Brick Invaders from Clever Media, but you will find a rubber ball that packs a punch and colorful walls of breakable bricks.

This free game is well designed and fun to play. At each level, the player is presented with a wall of bricks, including extra-tough bricks, bombs, and command centers. Use your paddle at the bottom of the screen to deflect a little ball in the right direction. The ball will bounce off the sides and top of the screen, and off of any brick, but if you miss it on the way down, it will disappear into the dark unknown.

What should players watch out for? First of all, there are the bombs woven into every wall. You can see them, but you may not realize that breaking the surrounding bricks will send them flying in your direction. If you get hit by a bomb, you lose a ball.

It's also important to always catch the ball before it hits the bottom. Every player starts off with four extra balls, but once your ball supply is gone the game ends.

One fun feature of Brick Invaders is that the ball acts like a ball should. If it breaks a brick on the top of the wall, it won't come straight down - instead, it will continue bouncing between the top of the screen and the other bricks on the wall. This move will break a lot of bricks, and score lots of points.

Once you've broken every brick in sight, move your magic ball on to the next level. The game ends at Level 20.

Read more »

Finish Line

At the start of the game, you get to take your pick from four different cars. Then the race track music commences as the timer starts ticking. Your goal is to make one lap around the track as fast as you can. Watch out for the sharp turns and the usual obstacles (cones, construction barriers) - running into them will slow you down. On the other hand, your car is practically impenetrable, so you might as well go as fast as you can, even if you spend the whole race skimming the sides.

The main difference between this and a real arcade game? No driving skills will help you ace this one. There's no mock steering wheel or even a joy stick. You have to learn how to control a high speed vehicle with two or three fingers on the arrow keys.

I thought this game was a really cool take on a video game classic. It's fun to try out different cars and see which one will help you beat your previous time. The finger maneuvering is a little bit unwieldy, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be zipping around the track.

Read more »

The Wheel Of Misfortune

Nothing like a dark comedy to get your blood goin' in the morning. That's when I played The Wheel of Misfortune, a new free game on net-games.biz. It's a funny, yet slightly disturbing aim and fire game. On each level, you have a complete supply of knives and a spinning target. Right in the middle of the target lies, you guessed it, an "assistant." You get a different assistant on every level, but it's always a living breathing (graphic) person in the center of the Wheel of Misfortune. At every level, you'll receive a different set of instructions. You might be instructed to pop all the balloons in under 15 seconds, but avoid all the dollar bills. Or, hit all the coins, but don't hit the balloons in under 10 seconds. To play, just aim with your mouse and click to fire as your target circles around the wheel. If you hit all of the targets, and don't hit your assistant, then you get an A+. Lower grades are assigned when you've wounded your assistant or missed some of the targets. And if you commit manslaughter while playing this risky game, then you receive a big fat F, but you do get to try the round again if you want to. As the levels progress, the wheel spins faster and the targets are harder to hit. Cute sound effects in the background feature cheering and jeering onlookers. This game is definitely worth a round or two if you don't mind dark humor.

Read more »