2012

Anno 2070: Deep Ocean
First expansion pack to one of the very best city builders of all time.

Black Space
Space-based RTS made by veterans from EA Tiburon who went indie to realize their dream project.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Gods and Kings
Expension pack to newest entry in this classic turn-based franchise (Civ V scored 9.0 from IGN). It brings many improvements, including restoring religion system.

Dungeonland
A Dungeon Keeper-inspired cooperative action game from Paradox Interactive where players take control of a group of adventurers in their visit to a crazy and dangerous medieval theme park.

Endless Space
Epic 4X game made by veterans from Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. The beta is absolutely incredible. This has potential to be one of the very best games this genre has ever seen.

FTL: Faster than Light
Awesome indie game that is a spaceship simulation roguelike. Its aim is to recreate the atmosphere of running a spaceship exploring the galaxy

Legend of Eisenwald
A King’s Bounty-like mix of RPG and strategy, with tactical turn based battles and a simple economic model.

Mech Tactics
F2P mech strategy game from makers of Battlestar Galactica Online

MechWarrior Tactics
TBS tactical wargame based on the classic Battletech license.

Nexus Conflict
Free to Play real-time space tactical combat game, set in the world of Black Prophecy.

Sins of a Dark Age
F2P game that mixes MOBA with full blown RTS mechanics. From makers of awesome Sins of a Solar Empire.

Stardrive
Promising indie action-strategy game where the goal is to build a space empire.

Starvoid
A multiplayer real time strategy game from Paradox, wrapped in the easy-to-pick-up and and easy-to-play structure of a first person shooter

Ghost Recon Commander
Surprisingly deep Facebook-based tactical TBS designed by Brenda Brathwaite – who worked on Jagged Alliance series at SirTech.

Eschalon: Book III
Third entry in the best indie cRPG series.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana
Finally an english version of classic PC action-RPG from japanese developer Falcom.

Ys Origin
An english version of classic PC action-RPG from japanese developer Falcom.

Sang-Froid
Mix of action, RTS and RPG, where we play a canadian lumberjack/traper who have to defend a little cabin in the forest against attacks of Devil’s hordes.

Outernauts
Pokemon-like turn-based RPG from Insomniac – a previously console-only developer, who made Ratched and Clank and Ressistance series.

KingsRoad
Beautiful browser action-RPG made by ex-Pandemic people.

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Sequel to the best horror game of all time. This project is pretty much dream team-up, because Frictional is working with Chinese Room, which was responsible for the incredible Dear Esther.

Cherry Tree High Comedy Club
Awesome japanese indie adventure game, where we’re trying to recruit members for school comedy club.

Lone Survivor
Regardless of how you approach it, Lone Survivor is one of those games that remain on your mind long after you’ve finished it. Even if you don’t share my predilection for nightmares, you’ll find that Lone Survivor’s masterful dedication to ambiance and setting far outweighs any concerns about its retro aesthetic. Embrace it on its own terms, and you’ll find a game that comes the closest a survival horror game has come to replicating the experience of the first Silent Hill game in recent years; indeed, in some ways, it’s even better. - 8.5 from IGN

Cradle
Experimental indie adventure game centered on exploration.

Stasis
Indie sciece-fiction adventure game heavily inspired by Sanitarium.

else { Heart.break() }
Innovative indie adventure game based around the idea of gamer reprogramming the reality.

Home
Minimalistic horror game

Apotheon
Greek mythology-inspired platformer with heavy focus on stealth, exploration and combat. It’s designed by creators of Capsized (8.5 from IGN) and Nexuiz.

Audiosurf Air
Sequel to one of the early indie success stories.

Brick-Force
This sandbox shooter allows players to create worlds, brick by brick.

Code Hero
A co-op first-person science shooter where you use the code ray to manipulate code. It can actually teach how to code Javascript!

Fighting Fairy
English version of popular japanese indie fighting game.

Intruder
Multiplayer tactical shooter, that places empasis on stealth, teamwork and planning.

Mercenary Ops
F2P multiplayer shooter made by asian division of Epic Games

La Mulana
Remake of one of the best freeware platformers of all time.

Reign of Thunder
F2P multiplayer action game from makers of MechAssault series.

Salvation Prophecy
Ridiculously ambitious science-fiction game that mixes space-sim like ship battles, Third-person shooter-like ground battles and 4X-style empire managment.

Showdown Effect
Side-scrolling action game that’s a homage to 80s asian action movies. It’s being designer by creators of Magicka.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Online
MMOFPS continuation of the popular franchise.

Under the Ocean
Commercial sequel to amazing freeware Under the Garden. It’s a sandbox platformer that puts empasis on survival the harsh wild enviorement

Formula Truck 
Hardcore truck sim from experienced Reiza Studio.

Might & Magic: Duel of Champions
Card game set in Might & Magic universe.

Reset
Stunningly beautiful science-fiction puzzle game.

Contrast
An indie puzzle game that centers on one mechanic — the idea that you can move in 3D or flatten yourself against walls in 2D.

Sword & Sworcery EP
Sequel to one of the very best RTS-es ever made.

Akaneiro: Demon Hunters
Action-RPG from American McGee that mixes Red Riding Hood fairy tale with japanese folklore.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
By rights, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare should be utterly underwhelming. The core game is changed not at all from its parent’s lukewarm style, the story is thin and hackneyed, hell it even has live-action cutscenes. But somehow, the gameplay is challenging enough to keep you clicking that left mouse button and listening to that weird, not quite Rod Serling voice telling you to survive until morning just one more time. – 7.5 from IGN

Awesomenauts
2D side scrolling MOBA game

Binary Domain
TPP shooter from the maker of Yakuza franchise.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Seems like a first breath of fresh air for the IP in a long, long time.

Enemy Front
Oldschool FPS designed by Stuart Black.

Dark Souls
PC version of last year’s bloody brilliant console RPG.

Assassin’s Creed III
Finally a leap forward for this franchise

Jet Set Radio
Enchanced HD port of cult-classic Dreamcast game.

Omerta: City of Gangsters
Tactical turnbased strategy made by creators of Tropico 3 and 4.

Skullgirls
PC version of fighting game that scored 8.5 at IGN.

2013

Company of Heroes 2
Sequel to one of the very best RTS-es ever made.

Nekro
Indie RTS/Action game that plays like a mix of Dungeon Keeper and Myth.

Nuclear Union
Post apocalyptic RPG set in a world where Cuban Crisis led to atomic war. It’s being developed by Best Way, the team responsible for the brilliant Men of War and Soldiers: Heroes of WWII

Wasteland 2
Turn-based post apocalyptic cRPG and a sequel to one of the greatest roleplaying games of all time.

The Elder Scrolls Online
MMORPG set in Elder Scrolls universe.

Pathfinder Online
Sandbox MMO based on amazing pen-n-paper roleplaying system.

Among the Sleep
FPP horror adventure game where you play as two years old child

Gone Home
FPP adventure game from lead team behind BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den.

Moebius
Hand painted thriller adventure game designed by Jane Jensen, the creator of Gabriel Knight series. This essentially is spiritual successor to first GK.

Tex Murphy: Project Fedora
New entry in brilliant detective series that revolutionzed adventure gaming in 90s.

Silent Hunter Online
Browser based WWII submarine sim MMO.

Kinetic Void
Kinetic Void is a 3D space adventure with a focus on customization and enjoyable simulation.

Survarium
Postapocalyptic MMOFPS focused on survival, from makers of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series

Yogventures
An open world sandbox game designed first and foremost as a multiplayer experience, from the team who makes the hilarious Yogscast videos.

Valdis Story
Metroidvania-like side scrolling action adventure, with an emphasis on intricate and rewarding combat as well as deep play style customization.

Ground Branch
Ghost Recon-styled hardcore tactical shooter created by lead level designer of first two Rainbow Six games.

Takedown
Oldschool-styled hardcore tactical shooter.

Painkiller Hell & Damnation
High-end remake of the first Painkiller game.

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Adventurer
Indiana Jones-inspired pulpish FPP action-adventure.

The Cave
Humoristic platformer from Rob Gilbert – creator of Monkey Island.

Crysis 3

Cyberpunk
New RPG from makers of Witcher series, based on Cyberpunk 2020 pen-n-paper roleplaying system.

Guacamelee
Mexican theme indie platformer

Mistborn: Birthright
Action-RPG based on series of fantasy novels by Brandon Sanderson.

Republique
Dystopian indie stealth game.

Starlight Inception
Indie space shooter

Watch Dogs
Incredible open-world action game where hacking is the most powerful weapon.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Shadowrun Returns
Turn-based cRPG that’s an adaptation of one of the greatest pen-n-paper RPG systems of all time

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As you’ve noticed I’ve suffered through pretty big problems with this site recently. To cut story short: I’ve lost my hosting server and as it turns out I didn’t take care of backups enough. As a result I need to manually restore a lot of content. I’m going to do it in backward chronology. I’ve started from 2012, which now has all the images properly loaded. I’ve also updated that list with new games and moved those delayed from 2011.Now I’ve started with restoring 2011. Please, bear with me. It will get done

I finally did what I should have done a long time ago. I’ve moved the blog into my own host and added domain. Now the site can be reached under the adress:

www.pcgamingfan.com

It turns out I picked a really good time to do it, because not only was my original host pretty much filled to maximum (it was an old one, merely 200 MBs of storage), but to make things worse it also has stopped responding recently. Dodged a bullet there a little . Please update any feeds or bookmarks you may have.

2010 GAMES

Castle Vox
Castle Vox takes the base of Risk, adds a couple of new elements, and produces a slightly unique and entertaining strategy experience. (…) Finally, the game features robust multiplayer matchmaking and is available for all three major operating systems. Castle Vox is strongly recommended for all players who thought Risk could use a bit more depth. – 8.5 from Out of Eight website

Worms Reloaded
This is the biggest, prettiest Worms, yet. Strategy fans will find one of the most fun multiplayer games around, and there is plenty to do on your own, as well. Few games offer the chance to wield a weapon called the Buffalo of Lies — don’t miss yours. – 8.5 from IGN

Zombie Pirates
Zombie Pirates takes the Plants vs Zombies concept and adds ships, water and pirates to great effect.(…)While the main story will take several hours to complete, there are also special challenges to partake in, achievements to earn, diamonds to collect and items to buy that will bump up your ship. Every now and again a game comes along with utterly surprises me, and Zombie Pirates has done just that. It’s fantastic fun, and well worth checking out. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Conquest: Divide and Conquer
onquest: Divide and Conquer reduces the commonly complex strategy genre into its basic elements, and the result is a usually entertaining game. (…)While Conquest might lack the depth of rival strategy games, the reduced mechanics do work well for quick online competitions. – 7.5 from Out of Eight website

Close Combat – Last Stand Arnhem
Close Combat – Last Stand Arnhem takes a great game, makes noticeable improvements, and comes up a bit short of “must buy” status. – 7.5 from Out of Eight website

Ancient Trader
With Ancient Trader, you come for the graphics and stay for the gameplay, at least for a little while. (…) Despite some limited features and a feeling of repetition after a couple of games, I enjoyed looking at and playing Ancient Trader more than some other trading games. For $10, the casual experience is worth the price of admission. Just watch out for the Kraken. – 7.5 from Out of Eight website

The Sims 3: Late Night
The expansion packs that have been released so far for The Sims 3 have been meatier than expansions from the previous iterations of the franchise, and Late Night continues the tradition. It really raises the bar for what we expect out of a Sims expansion. – 7.5 from IGN

Grotesque Tactics – Evil Heroes
Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes is an entertaining RPG adventure, offering both humorous parody and solid gameplay in equal measure. At roughly twelve hours in length, there is plenty of quest-running on offer, and RPG fanatics will adore the game references. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Nightmare Adventures: The Witch’s Prison
The story and the puzzles are more than enough reason for you to be downloading The Witch’s Prison as we speak, but the game’s difficulty level deserves mention, too. Items’ descriptions provide just enough information to point you in the right direction without clubbing you over the head with solutions, while hints will spells things out plainly, but only if you want them to. The Witch’s Prison does its best to make sure you succeed, without diminishing the overall challenge in the slightest – but it makes sure to slip in a few chuckles here and there, too. – 9.0 from Gamezebo

Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World
Kaptain Brawe is a quintessential point and click adventure: it looks beautiful, has a compelling story filled with interesting characters, and it’s plagued with puzzles that feel more like you’re guessing what the developer was thinking rather than doing anything logical. And even with the casual difficulty level, these puzzles make the game unfriendly to players new to the genre. But for adventure game veterans, there’s plenty to love, from the unique look and setting, to the intriguing plot and great sense of humor. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water’s Edge
Shadow at the Water’s Edge’s gameplay and presentation are as solid as ever; exactly what fans of the series have come to expect. Graphics hold their own with other current adventure games, and dialogue is all voiced with competent voice actors. (…)The game is recommended for players aged 10 and over due to some scary moments, but it’s certainly accessible to adults and kids alike and is a great choice for child and parent to play together. And although Nancy is without a doubt one of the best female role models in gaming, her games definitely aren’t just for girls to enjoy. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Nimbus
With Nimbus, Noumenon Games delivers a creative, accessible, and intelligently designed title. Its style of gameplay fuses twitch action with puzzle and racing elements and offers challenges that, while sometimes frustrating, remain satisfying all the way through. With numerous reasons to replay stages, an appealing visual style and catchy electronic soundtrack, there’s enough here to be able to overlook the minor control issues and enjoy the ride. – 8.0 from IGN

Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time
Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time is as inventive as it is humorous, providing clever gameplay based around the assembly of bridges, vehicles and a time-machine. (…) Doc Clock is really clever stuff, bursting with personality and neat ideas. A few little niggles here and there mar an otherwise cool and sophisticated indie release, and one that you should definitely considering delving into. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Mystery Legends: The Phantom of the Opera
It’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited about a hidden object game but Mystery Legends: The Phantom of the Opera is easily one of the best I’ve ever played. It may well be the best. I don’t know what else I can say about it – and I don’t know why you’re still here reading this review. Go! Play! Enjoy! Just don’t forget to come back and thank me later. – 9.5 from Gamezebo

Heart’s Medicine – Season One
All in all GameHouse Eindhoven is on a very good way to redefine the time management genre. Both the last titles of the Emily-series and Heart’s Medicine prove that connecting time management elements, puzzles, hidden objects, and a great storyline closely results in a very satisfying and original gaming experience. If general traditions such as fixed shifts (levels) and upgrades would be abandoned for more coherent and free gameplay Heart’s Medicine could really become a very interesting and original series in the future. As of now it already is one of the best options you can find in the time management genre. – 9.0 from Gamezebo

Fractal
Fractal is a fantastic puzzler, providing thoughtful, slow-paced action that’s perfect for kicking back and unwinding with. It will certainly provide a challenge, but is also simple enough to entice more casual players. – 9.0 from Gamezebo

Women’s Murder Club: Little Black Lies
There’s no one big flaw to point to in Little Black Lies, but there are plenty of tiny irritants. Fortunately, the sharp plot, inventive puzzles, and good voice acting are enough to smooth over the rough spots. – 9.0 from Gamezebo

Tulula: Legend of a Volcano
Tulula: Legend of a Volcano blends HOG, puzzle and city building gameplay (…)With eleven chapters to progress through, Tulula is a fairly long title in the point-and-click space, lasting upwards of six hours, depending on your dependence (or lack thereof) on hints and puzzle “skips.” Each element of the gameplay may have been seen elsewhere, but when combined, it all feels new and fresh, especially with the unique graphical theme. If you’re a fan of the many elements represented here, the game is sure to please. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Youda Farmer 2
re are a lot of charming details to be found, and it is very rewarding to realize how complex the game really is. Different levels require different strategies and it might take some time to learn those, but it is definitely worth it. All in all Youda Farmer 2: Save the Village offers a very satisfying gaming experience. Sustaining the core of its prequel, but solving major issues and adding logical and welcome improvements and features prove to be a reliable recipe for successful and high quality sequels. Help that small village against Big Boss and enjoy this challenging and rather unique time management game. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Great Migrations
Great Migrations is a line drawing game, not unlike Flight Control on the iPod/iPad. You’ll guide animals from one side of the screen to the other by painting a line for them to follow with your mouse. You’ll avoid predators and other dangers while trying to take advantage of things like wind to aid you on getting all the animals migrated safely – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Farm Tribe
In the end Farm Tribe still might be the ideal game for people who dislike both the lack of specific tasks in the Virtual Villagers series and the pressure and rush in time management games, although there is a lot of room left for improvement. Graphics and sounds could be a lot more polished, and at times it would have been better if there were more things to do, but all in all the pace and the number of features of Farm Tribe are satisfying. If you are looking for a relaxing version of Ranch Rush with a bit of mystery this might be exactly your game. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Campfire Legends: The Babysitter
Sequel to The Hookman even scarier than its predecessor. (…)Campfire Legends: The Babysitter is an excellent sequel to a promising trilogy that leaves us shivering, and yet dying to know more. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Mystery Trackers: The Void
Mystery Trackers is a polished and enjoyable hidden object adventure that should hit all the right notes with fans of the genre. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Jewel Quest: The Sleepless Star
In short, Jewel Quest: The Sleepless Star is a great addition to the Jewel Quest match-3 franchise. Like its predecessors, it offers weeks and weeks of gameplay for those who want to achieve everything there is to unlock. The American frontier setting adds some freshness to the series too, and the interesting story and top-notch presentation make you want to stick around to see what happens next. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

The Island Castaway
The detailed graphics, long list of items and extra challenges makes the price tag worth it. It’s a polished product, and for one targeted at casual gamers, it offers lots in the way of questing and exploration. There are natives to befriend, ancient statues to collect, trees to fell, tools to acquire (and upgrade), bartering to do, caves and forests to venture into, watermelons to eat and mysteries to solve. You’ll spend hours playing The Island Castaway. The tribe has spoken. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Columbus: Ghost of the Mystery Stone
Ghost of the Mystery Stone may not have many puzzles or minigames, but the ones it does have are well-executed and inventive – even if they don’t always make a whole lot of sense. With a mere 30 days before he turns to stone and a long ocean voyage ahead of him, Columbus probably shouldn’t be taking time out to paint an accurate rendition of his ship the Pinta, but it makes for a fun minigame, so who cares? Columbus: Ghost of the Mystery Stone is light on story and puzzle-solving, but brings real style and artistry to its object searches. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Knightfall: Death and Taxes does a wonderful job of infusing match-3 gameplay with RPG elements. The action can become rather tricky at times, but overall this is a journey definitely worth taking.(…) It’s one of the freshest match-3 puzzlers I’ve played in a while, and you’ll most likely find yourself hooked by its challenging gameplay and charming visuals – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Paradise Beach 2: Around the World
In the end we can safely recommend Paradise Beach 2 to all fans of building simulations. Minor issues aside, the game features a highly entertaining and diverse story mode, which serves players who love challenge and those who prefer a relaxed pace at the same time. The latter ones can disregard the timer and develop their resorts at personal leisure, while the former ones will welcome the high pressure that ensues the effort to beat any level in gold time. Give it a shot and see if you are a born resort developer. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Victorian Mysteries: Woman in White
Victorian Mysteries: Woman in White is an excellent game. It starts strong, finishes strong and never overstays its welcome. Puzzle fans may find it a little lightweight, but the fast pace, engaging story and exceptionally high level of production make this one a winner. If you’re a hidden object fan, this is one game you won’t want to miss. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Heroes of Kalevala
Heroes of Kalevala mixes building and RPG elements with the match-3 genre to great effect, and there are many hours of enjoyable grid-searching and village building to be found. Make sure to check out the demo if you’re at all interested. – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Trinklit Supreme
Trinklet is very much an old-school casual game: easy-in, instant gratification gameplay with no way to “fail,” perfectly suited for short bursts of play – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Dachinko
If you’ve got a hankering for some Pachinko fun, this new offering from Gamecask may just do the trick. Dachinko offers ball-launching gameplay with huge addictive qualities and a very distinct graphical style.(…)Dachinko provides plenty of addictive Pachinko gaming with a lovely authentic feel. Pick up a copy and prepare to say “just one more game” a fair few times – 8.0 from Gamezebo

Cooking Dash 3: Thrills & Spills
As more and more Dash games are released, I approach them more and more skeptically, doubting whether they can actually build upon the gameplay that I love. But Cooking Dash 3 does it, and does it wonderfully. I’ve had way more fun playing this game than I’ve had playing some console games that cost almost 10 times more. If you’re a hardcore gamer who has never tried a Dash game, I really encourage you to give Cooking Dash 3 a try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you find. If you’re already a Dash fan, then this is a must-buy. – 8.5 from IGN

Bejeweled 3
Another entry in the biggest casual puzzle series.

Poker Night at the Inventory
It comes with all the polish I’d expect from Telltale, and while it only features Texas Hold ‘em, is a really entertaining way to kill some time, especially if you want those TF2 unlocks. It may not be the best poker game out there, but it is definitely the funniest. And, as most people will tell you, a little humor goes a long way. – 8.0 from IGN

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is pure over-the-top driving entertainment. The cars and environments are gorgeous, the crashes are spectacular, and the new Autolog feature breathes new life into the time-honored tradition of video game competition among friends. The single-player races can become somewhat repetitive and there are some presentation issues, but overall, Hot Pursuit is a blast. If you’re looking for a high-octane racer that grabs on tight but doesn’t take itself too seriously, give this one a shot. – 9.0 from IGN

Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy is one of the best modern platformers. It’s infuriating, exasperating, and arduous, but it’s also delightful, thrilling, and hilarious. The NES games of yore were simultaneously simpler and more challenging than today’s games, a quality perfectly emulated here. Invite some friends over and pass the controller around — you’re gonna need all the help you can get. – 9.0 from IGN

Deathspank
If you like sweet loot, hacking things to death, looking at beautiful landscapes and laughing at good writing, you might want to pick up DeathSpank. However, although the game shines in many areas, it does have its flaws. Questing can turn into a noticeable chore, and I would have gladly substituted some of the “go fetch” missions in favor of some more brainteasers. Still, DeathSpank is a fun adventure worth exploring. – 8.5 from IGN

DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue
If you enjoyed the first DeathSpank, you’re gonna love Thongs of Virtue. It’s just as addictive, just as pretty, and I dare say it’s even a little funnier. Fans of quests and, more importantly, sidequests will find more missions here than they know what to do with. Hopefully this won’t be the last we see of DeathSpank. – 8.5 from IGN

Bit.Trip Beat
An appealing retro presentation mixed with an old-school challenge and addictive gameplay makes Bit. Trip Beat an easy choice for long-time gamers looking for something new that still conjures up a sense of nostalgia. It’s a rhythm game that requires fast reflexes and, even on its normal difficulty setting, can be a punishing experience. With time and dedication, you’ll be able to better appreciate the finely crafted challenges Gaijin delivers. The length of the game’s stages can wear on your patience and often there’s seemingly too much visual noise for the game’s own good, but that’s no reason to pass on this clever title. – 7.5 from IGN

Zen Bound 2
Even though the mouse controls for the PC version can be a bit fussy, Zen Bound 2 is still a worthwhile puzzler to unwind with after a stressful day. – 7.5 from IGN

Snank
Fans of character action titles should pull out their virtual wallets without hesitation, but otherwise, Shank might just be too sharp to handle. – 7.0 from IGN

FIA World Rally Championship
It’s no Richard Burns Rally and nor does it hold a light to Codemasters’ DiRT games, but WRC is a surprisingly enjoyable take on the sport that gets the fundamentals right. It’s a shame that its often excellent and consistently exciting driving model is hidden under layers of turgid presentation and uninspired visuals, but those dedicated enough to see through it all will be as happy as pigs in mud. – 7.0 from IGN

Apache: Air Assault
New arcade-sim from makers of Winds of Prey (8.3 from IGN)

2011 GAMES

DOTA 2
The mod that started the whole genre is now getting a commercial sequel from Valve Software.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth
Tactical game that plays like a revers of tower defense genre. It’s being made by 11 bit, a new studio formed

Magna Mundi
Commercial follow-up to the best Europa Universalis 3 mod ever made.

Panzer Corps
Spiritual successor to Panzer General.

Xenonauts
Indie turn-based tactical game inspired heavily by X-COM.

Arcada Mia’s
New puzzle game from the maker of Dangerous High School Girls In Trouble.

Firefall
Massive online FPS from RED5 Studios (ex Blizzard people) and lead designer of Tribes 1 and 2.

Heroes and Generals
Online WW2 FPS from a studio formed by lead designers of Hitman series.

Tribes Universe
Serquel to the classic PC FPS franchise. It’s being developed by makers of Global Agenda, which scored 8.4 from IGN.

The Spire
Indie FPP action-adventure with strong puzzle element built on Unreal Engine 3.0.

Warface
Free military FPS from Crytek.

Seasons after Fall
Beautiful indie puzzle platformer where you use effects seasonal changes to overcome obstacles.

The Swapper
Very promising and unique puzzle platformer based around the idea of a device that can create copies of yourself with whom you can then swap placesIt features interesting light, shadow and relativeness based game mechanics blended with an ambiguous storyline embedded directly into and told throughout the game.

Battlefield Play4Free
Free to play entry in classic FPS franchise.

Bloodline Champions
Indie arena-based game.

Cobalt
Indie platformer from the makers of Harvest: Massive Encounter.

Swimming Under Clouds
An indie 2-D physics-based puzzle platformer

Sky Legends
Online arcade flying game from the studio that made Snoopy: Flying Ace (console game that scored 9.0 at IGN)

Space Shuttle Mission Simulator 2
Sequel to the best sim of it’s kind.

Need For Speed: Shift 2
Sequel to a racer that scored 9.0 from IGN.

The Cursed Crusade
Action game from ATLUS

Gatling Gears

Alien Breed 3: Descent

A Vampyre Story: Year One
Episodic prequel to humoristic adventure game series.

Solaris Assault Tech
Multiplayer game set in BattleTech universe from people who for the last 12 years modded previous MechWarrior games as MekTek group.

Captized
Baitiful indie retro platformer.

2012 GAMES

Royal Quest
A MMO from Katauri Interactive, which is a studio responsible for gems like King’s Bounty: the Legend (8.1 from IGN) or Space Rangers 2 (8.0 from IGN)

World of Darkness
MMO from makers of EVE Online

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
Second part of StarCraft 2 trilogy.

2010 MODS

The Call of the Fireflies for Crysis
“The Call of the Fireflies is a puzzle-based singleplayer mod for Crysis. There’s no guns, explosions or nanosuits involved. Just an old man who follows mysterious fireflies through mountains and dark caves, sleeping villages and frozen woods, and has to use all kinds of mechanisms to open his path, while battling to stay alive in the winter cold.”

The Worry of Newport for Crysis
A Crysis Horror Mystery built around the key ideals of the genre: Immersion, story, and atmosphere.

1187 for Half-Life 2
Great and extremely polished mod taking place in Holland during early stages of alien invasion.

Attempt to survive for Half-Life 2
Sad post apocalyptic adventure.

Nightmare House 2 for Half-Life 2
Horror-themed singleplayer mod.

Tedium for Half-Life 2
Very unique and abstract art-mod

Final Project for Half-Life 2: Episode 2
Horror-themed SP mod.

Overheid for Half-Life 2: Episode 2
“There was more going on in City 17 than just what Gordon Freeman and Alyx were doing. Follow a new recruit as he struggles to find his place in the movement, and see just how sinister the Combine can be”

Dead Before Dawn for Left 4 Dead
Campaign based on the 2004 remake of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

Left 4 Mario for Left 4 Dead 2
Crazy campaign inspired by classic Nintendo platformer.

Fairy Tale for Civilization IV
“Fairy Tale puts the Civilization IV nationbuilding, warring and strategy elements in a Fairy Tale world with witches, knights, elves and damsels in distress”

The Forgotten for Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
“Command and Conquer 3: The Forgotten aims to bring back and tell the story of a fascinating faction. The Forgotten, featured in Tiberian Sun and Firestorm, are an ever-growing group of individuals afflicted with Tiberium-based illnesses. Detested, marginalized, and oppressed by the three superpowers, The Forgotten have begun to rally against GDI, Nod, and the Scrin. Since their story is not featured in C&C 3, the mod aims to tell it in a compelling fashion, through a deep singleplayer campaign, unique faction composition, and engaging gameplay. The Forgotten is also the only mod to feature high-definition Full Motion Videos, just like real C&C games, that advance the story. “

Halo: Homefront for Homeworld 2
A mod that recreates Halo’s legendary space encounters.

SimMars for SimCity 4
“SimMars is a mod for SimCity 4 taking the game to Mars. It will bring new buildings, transportation systems, user-interface and music and will replace the Maxis SimCity 4 content as far as possible, giving you the feeling to play a colony on Mars.”

Star Wars: Clone Wars for Star Wars: Empire at War with Forces of Corruption add-on.
This mod takes place right after the Battle of Geonosis in “Attack of the Clones”. Replacing the Empire, Rebels and Zann Consortium with the Galactic Republic, Seperatist Alliance and Pirates.

Space Hulk for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
“A total conversion mod in order to adapt Dawn of War 2 to Space Hulk, the board game developped by Games Workshop.”

Hellgate Tavern for Dungeon Master
A new adventure for a classic RPG.

Nehrim – At Fate’s Edge for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Gigantic total conversion for Oblivion which offers dozens hours of excellent new content.

Mount and Musket: Battalion for Mount & Blade: Warband
A mod that tries to represent a historically accurate early 1800s. It has real factions, with historical troops and items including historical maps, sounds, cannons and more.

Cleric’s Challenge for Neverwinter Nights with both add-ons.
A Conversion of classic pen and paper module. Plot: “Pommeville is a sleepy little town that seems like a good place to stay for the night. That is, until the town’s dead rise from their graves and begin terrorizing the village! Ancient evil threatens to overwhelm the good folk of Pommeville unless someone can find a way to comfort the restless dead. A lone cleric will have to be clever, courageous, and more than a little lucky to solve the mystery and save Pommeville from the mindless zombies that threaten it!”

Dragons of Autumn Dark for Neverwinter Nights with both add-ons.
Great Dragolance campaign.

Legacy of White Plume Mountain for Neverwinter Nights 2 with Storm of Zehir add-on.
A ‘treasure hunt’ sandbox campaign for single/multiplayer.

Nihil Trilogy for Neverwinter Nights 2 with Storm of Zehir add-on.
“Is it a dream you are awakening to or a living nightmare? When you open your eyes, all you see is shadow, unable to differentiate yourself from the multitude of voices you wander. You may have once been a great hero, a powerful arcanist, or merely a lowly thief, but no matter what you were before, you are a Asper. So shall you remain until you discover the reason behind your cursed state, and more importantly, how you may escape it.”

Risen Hero for Neverwinter Nights 2 with Storm of Zehir add-on.
“You awake in a destroyed village covered in blood, all around you are bodies dead and nameless. Your memories are gone, yet there is no sense of urgency or burning desire to discover your past. You are pulled into an epic journey and battle that extends throughout the realm. You will rise to become a powerful hero against an unknown and growing evil that threatens all.”

Circle of Eight Modpack for The Temple of Elemental Evil
A bugfix, rules compliance, and expanded content modification for Troika’s ‘The Temple of Elemental Evil

Right to the Throne for THe Witcher
“Right to the Throne is a short adventure focused on smooth action. “

FUEL: REFUELED for Fuel
An enhancement modification for the game FUEL, which brings multiple bug-fixes, improvements and the addition of various new content.

Wings of the Federation for Freelancer
Long and polished custom campaign.

2010 FREEWARE

Armed With Wings 3
Awesome platformer with strong adventure elements.

Chase Goose 2
A Canabalt-style side-scrolling runner in which you control a goose that is running and flapping away from a giant snake monster. -Indiegames

The Creature
Unreal Engine 3.0 based platformer.

Enemy 585
Great little action puzzle where you help typical enemies from platform games leave their levels long after the hero passed through them.

Flock Together
A story of a little girl who accidentally loses her sheep friend by tying balloons to him and sending him into the skies. You must use ropes to attach yourself to birds and fly up as high as possible. -Indiegames

Get Home
Your objective in Get Home is to help a man reach the safe comfort of his house before the song in the background ends, with many seemingly-unreachable platforms and obstructions doing their best to prevent you from getting to that goal. < -Indiegames

Gil
Gil is a simple platformer that explores a variety of different mechanics, from breaking bridges to jetpacks to levers to portals. -Indiegames

Gnome Carnage
The objective here is to prevent elves from reaching the top of the building and sliding down your unprotected chimney hole, since the game is over when you’re too overwhelmed to prevent that from happening. -Indiegames

Heart of Ice
Action-adventure platformer.

K.O.L.M
Quirky experimental platformer

Magnesian
Unreal 3.0 based side-scrolling platform-puzzler game in which the player uses magnetic abilities to move blocks and launch their character around. -Indiegames

Moby Dick: The Video Game
Fun little survival game where you play as a killer whale.

MooD: Waist-High in Hell
A top-down shooter that features enemies from Doom 3.

My First Quantum Translocator
A clever puzzle platformer that is centered around the concept of teleportation and inertia, created by the two brothers (Teddy and Kenny Lee of Cellar Door Games) who first came into the spotlight with their quirky text adventure game Don’t Soil Your Pants. You play as an unnamed test subject that had just applied for a translocator device experiment, helped along by an observer named Steve who offers advice on how to survive the challenges ahead with your newfound teleportation ability. -Indiegames

Paper Venture
An entertaining platformer in which you control a platform rather than the hero. Our little guy has fallen down a hole and needs to get back to the surface, but he’s a bit of a lemming. -Indiegames

Ray Ardent Science Ninja
Cute little ninja platformer.

Red Riot
An arcade-style blaster in which you zoom around the sky, laying waste to tanks, towers and UFOs with upgradable lasers and special powers. Levels become progressively more difficult as you go along, although a lot of the unlockables require you buy nasty Mochi points which is a bit of a downer. It’s also a little strange that there is no real indication of how much energy you have left – instead, Red Riot is suddenly start smoking, then die with just a couple more hits. -Indiegames

Road of the Dead
Road of the Dead puts you in the seat of a car speeding down a straight highway, attempting to escape both the army and a zombie outbreak. -Indiegames

Running Ink
Unique parkour platformer.

Sky Serpents
Crazy arcade action game

Sp.A.I
A slick puzzle-platformer in which you hack firewalls, decrypt files and try not to activate the security protocols. -Indiegames

Super Crate Box
Super Crate Box is coming to bring back the glory of the golden arcade age, when all that really mattered was getting on that high score list. Grab your baseball cap and loosen your pants, it’s time to fight endless hordes of enemies and collect every weapon crate you can. Prepare for an arcade delight with interesting, refreshing game mechanics, cracking retro art and a terribly hip chiptune soundtrack.

Training Set
A 2D platformer that features unconventional controls to learn about, where the only way you can acquire new skills is by conversing with spooky silhoutted characters for some useful wisdom and advice. There’s no text to read and instructions to play are near non-existent, but the game does provide just enough clues for you to overcome one challenge after another at a very steady pace. -Indiegames

…But That Was [Yesterday]
…But That Was [Yesterday] follows the story of a guy who is trying to push back horrible memories from his past and move forwards. At least, that’s what I think it’s about… but whatever the case, it’s very powerful stuff. -Indiegames

Activate the Three Artefacts and then Leave
Freaky exploration game

Apples in the Tree
Surreal exploration game.

Aurora
Beautiful adventure game set in the old west.

Cave Trek
Isometric maze exploration game.

Corporate Climber
In Corporate Climber you play as a working man who is trying to get to the top of the corporate ladder, having started his first job without even a piece of clothing to his name. To climb to the top of the building you would have to reach the elevator that takes you to the next level, and every new floor presents a different challenge or another puzzle for the player to solve. -Indiegames

Dark Visions
Horror mystery adventure.

Earl Grey and This Rupert Guy
Beautiful and polished adventure game.

Gretel and Hansel Part 2
Second part of beautifuly twisted and dark adventure game.

Haunt The House
A game where you play as a ghost and your goal is to scare people away from the house.

The Infinite Ocean
New version of 2003 sci-fi adventure game with great plot and atmosphere

Morbid 2: the Cure
Spooky horror adventure game.

Next to Evil
A short 2D adventure game created in under four weeks for a monthy AGS competition, featuring only five locations to explore and a roughly the same number of simple puzzles to solve. Here you play as a woman named Duet who possesses the power to split herself into two personalities whenever she desires it. A chance encounter with a hooded figure has spurred her on to investigate who this mysterious character is, leading her to seek an audience with the rest of her royalty siblings residing in the same castle. -Indiegames

Organ Trail
Organ Trail is a zombie homage to the classic Oregon Trail game. Amidst a zombie outbreak, a small band of friends grab a station wagon, stock up on supplies and hit the road in an attempt to reach a safezone all the way across America. -Indiegames

The Outbreak
Interactive movie horror game

Sneak Thief 2: Second Strike

StormWinds: The Mary Reed Chronicles
Short, but fun pulpish adventure.

The Trader of Stories: Bell’s Heart
Visually stunning adventure where you Myosotis, a barterer of tales, if you will, who’s on her way to a place called The Cradle.

BrainSplode!
A physics-based puzzle game which puts you in control of a rocket launcher that can be used to fire missiles at pink-coloured brains. The objective here is to destroy all of the brains in the area (marked as green squares on the mini-map) so that you may progress to the next stage, where more brains await for their eventual annihilation at your hands. -Indiegames

Doodle Devil
Unique, but extremely fun puzzler

Q.U.B.E.
is a clever first-person puzzle game that tells the story of an unnamed protagonist trapped inside a maze, equipped with a pair of gloves that allows him to extrude or contract multi-coloured cubes by willpower alone. Manipulating the cubes is as simple as targeting them before pressing the left or right mouse button, although cubes will stop responding to your commands when they have reached the limit of their extension or contraction capabilities. -Indiegames

Rolling Fall
Physics puzzler where you kill zombies with metal balls.

Coaster Racer

Krautscape
A multiplayer racing game that features procedurally generated tracks, where every new piece of the track is built by whoever currently occupies the pole position. A floating arrow always point to either the leader of the race or the next striped pillar to reach, and the player who reaches the required number of checkpoints first (determined when the server is created) will be declared the winner. -Indiegames

Best Friends Fighter
A simple fighting game between robots made up of lots of blocks with faces. -Indiegames

Corporation Inc.
Nifty little managment game.

Warlords 2: Rise of Demons

2010 GAMES

Battlefield Academy
I like what Battlefield Academy tries to do: bring traditional hardcore wargaming to a larger audience. (…) It’s a fun temporary diversion from more hardcore strategy offerings. - 7.5 from Out of Eight website

Stronghold Kingdoms
Browser adaptation of Firefly Studios’ most well know series.

The Settlers Online
Browser adaptation of classic series.

Cultures Online
Browser version of popular city building series.

Rainblood: Town of Death
Rainblood: Town of Death provides wonderful RPG gaming with a great storyline and paramount battling to boot. If you don’t mind the brevity of it all, this is well worth a playthrough.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Drawn: Dark Flight
Gorgeous, whimsical scenery will draw you into Dark Flight’s living world of art and imagination, and its well-integrated gameplay and user-friendly help system will get you through some of the rough spots. - 8.0 from Adventuregamers

Hazard: The Journey Of Life
First person exploration puzzler that’s a commercial follow-up to one of best UT3 mods ever made.

The Next Big Thing
New adventure game from Pendulo Studios. The last game from this team (Runaway: A Twist of fate) scored 8.0 at Adventuregamers.

Razor2: Hidden Skies
Razor2: Hidden Skies is a decent shooter with good production values, such as the excellent score.- 7.5 from IGN

Dead meets Lead
Indie zombie action game.

Football Manager 2011

Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker
If you haven’t been interested in any of the previous DLCs because they only offered self-contained stories, start getting excited about Lair of the Shadow Broker. There are a few reasons to snag this and play through it immediately. First, this is the only downloadable content so far that will actually influence Mass Effect 3. Second, if you romanced Liara in the original game and want to re-kindle that flame you finally can. And third, there’s a great narrative complemented by fun combat. If you can only afford one piece of extra content for Mass Effect 2, this is the one to spend your money on. - 9.5 from IGN

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
A recommendation for Dog Days isn’t hard, though it is filled with qualification. (…)But if you appreciated the promise of the last game, or you’re looking for something darker and more sophisticated content-wise than your usual shooter fare, then Kane & Lynch 2 is just the thing.- 7.5 from IGN

Bloody Good Time
New multiplayer action game from makers of The Ship.

Swords & Soldiers
Side scrolling RTS. Wii version scored 8.7 at IGN.

Create
Sandbox puzzler from Electronic Arts.

NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits
Side scrolling platformer. Wii version scored 8.5 at IGN.

Robin’s Quest: A Legend is Born
Robin’s Quest: A Legend Born is a fun retelling of a familiar tale, adapting well-known characters to a new and inventive adventure. Say it with me now, everyone: For England!- 9.0 from Gamezebo

My Kingdom for the Princess 2
All in all My Kingdom for the Princess 2 continues to impress and greatly improves on the unique formula set out by the first game. Flaws are rare to come by and are greatly overshadowed by the positive points and enjoyable features. Similar titles who will try to surpass this series will have to do more than just copying that formula, particularly because My Kingdom for the Princess 2 has just increased the standard notably.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Samantha Swift and the Fountains of Fate
The Samantha Swift series has always provided rock-solid hidden object experiences, but each iteration improves on the last. Fountains of Fate is colorful, bold, clever, and expertly-crafted – my one regret is that my time with Samantha was over just a bit too quickly. Or perhaps it just seemed that way because I couldn’t stop playing.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Academagia: The Making of Mages
While the slow pace and insane amount of depth may turn off some, they’re also what make Academagia so engaging. It’s so easy to lose hours of your life tinkering with your character, trying to complete quests or explore the Academy or catch up on botany lessons. It’s the kind of game that’s aimed at a very specific niche of people, and for them, it’s perfect. Academagia allows you to enter an extraordinarily well thought out world of fantasy and be whoever you want to be. It’s the next best thing to catching the train at platform 9 and 3/4.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Totem Tribe GOLD
Totem Tribe Gold offers everything you would expect from a real hit: Beautiful and diverse graphics, gameplay that oozes innovation, a playtime of easily 30 hours and more, replayability that other games can only dream to offer, and an exciting storyline as the icing on the cake. With all the new additions it is definitely worth a look for everyone who enjoyed the original Totem Tribe, and gamers who haven’t played the original should try it too.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Snark Busters: Welcome to the Club
Snark Busters is fantastic. It offers about three hours of very enjoyable play time, with tons of hidden object searches, puzzles and mini-games that make you feel like you’re actually solving a mystery and a very high level of polish from start to finish. Will you catch the Snark? I don’t want to spoil that surprise for you, but as Ian Gillan told us back in 1984, it’s not the kill, it’s the thrill of the chase. And Snark Busters: Welcome to the Club is one chase that delivers in spades.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Echoes of the Past: The Castle of Shadows
Put plainly, Echoes of the Past: The Castle of Shadows is one of the best hidden object games I’ve played this year. Great production values, challenging tasks, and a healthy duration add up to terrific value. It’s a must-play for fans of puzzles, adventure, and hidden object hunts.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Nightfall Mysteries: Asylum Conspiracy
Asylum Conspiracy is a wonderfully spooky mystery with over-the-top characters and a great aesthetic. If it weren’t for the endless backtracking – really, hitting the back arrow twelve times to get from one room to the next is not a recipe for fun – and the deja vu of some of the searches, it would pretty much be a perfect experience. As it is, it’s merely fantastic.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Enlightenus II: The Timeless Tower
If what you’re interested in is a new take on the old HOG genre, then Enlightenus 2: The Timeless Tower might be right up your alley. With top-notch production values, an engaging story and even a bit of a heart-warming moral at the end, it doesn’t just do something different, it does it all very well. It’s not a perfect game but it’s awfully good and absolutely worth giving a try.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Puzzle Quest 2
Puzzle Quest 2 is much more than a simply slapping a fresh coat of paint onto the first game and calling it a sequel. Fundamental changes have been made to both the RPG and match-3 portions of the game with the result that emphasis seems more on combat than role-playing and exploration. Players who thought Challenge of the Warlords got bogged down under the weight of its epic fantasy setting will appreciate Puzzle Quest 2′s more streamlined approach. Personally, while I found the match-3 as addictive as ever (the “one more round” hook is still firmly in place), the streamlining of the world around it made the game seem like that much more of a grind.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Ski Resort Mogul
Ski Resort Mogul should be a blast for all fans of building simulations, and especially for those who already loved the previous parts of this series, because it continues to improve in quality. If you can overlook the shallow and cliched storyline and don’t mind a cumbersome hidden object scene every once in a while, this game will convince you with good replayability, the requirement of planning ahead and a fast pace that will keep you on your toes.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Redrum: Time Lies
Redrum: Times Lies is “horrible,” and that’s what makes it a whole lot of fun. The gameplay can start to feel repetitive after awhile, but it’s very well put-together and the outstanding production values help keep it feeling fresh. But ultimately, it’s the dark take on the hidden object genre that really makes this game interesting. Most hidden object games are sanitized and safe, so that even those built around murder most foul tend to stay within kid-friendly boundaries, but you’ll find no such protection here. Redrum: True Lies is macabre and grotesque, the sort of game your teenage son would be proud to see you play. In this case, that’s a good thing.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Bee Garden
While this game works a lot like other farming titles (ie. Country Harvest or Ranch Rush), the charm of the story and the focus on bees and tasty honey makes it special. Things start on the slow side with a somewhat lengthy tutorial and a lack of challenge, but the gameplay steps up rather quickly afterwards with the inclusion of new pests, stricter time limits, and the addition of power-ups. Bee Garden: The Lost Queen is an addictive title that will be worth your while if you’re into time management adventures with a touch of personality.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

GabCab
GabCab is definitely an entertaining game, highly original, and proving how to make a real stand-out sequel. The game does not simply improve the experience of Airport Mania, it creates a totally new experience that still resembles the other game enough to satisfy older fans and newcomers. GabCab receives four stars and a recommendation from us, so enjoy the ride.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

2011 GAMES

Might & Magic Heroes VI
New entry in one of the most beloved turn based strategy series of all time.

Age of Empires Online
The rebirth of one of the biggest RTS franchises of all time.

Tropico 4
Another entry in this great city building series. Tropico 3 scored 8.4 from IGN

Cities in MotionT
Spiritial successor to Transport Tycoon from Paradox Interactive.

Jagged Alliance 2: Reloaded
Remake of a classic tactical TBS.

Dungeons
Spiritual successor to Dungeon Keeper.

The Sims Medieval

Real Warfare 2: Northern Crusades
Continuaton of XIII Century: Death or Glory, which scored 7.2 at IGN./

Blight Of The Immortals
Web based strategy game set in fantasy universe. It’s being made by Iron Helmet, a small australian company formed by ex-Irrational Games people who already made Neptune’s Pride.

Six Gun Saga
A primarly singleplayer card strategy game from Cryptic Comet, creators of Armageddon Empires and Solium Infernum.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution
Second add-on to this great RTS.

Dead State
Indie zombie RPG from ex-Troika and Obsidian designers.

Torchlight II
Sequel to a hack and slash RPG that scored 8.6 at IGN.

Drakensang Online
Cooperative online RPG.

Neverwinter
Online cooperative RPG with powerful adventure building tools, from Cryptic (makers of City of Heroes and Champions)

Rift: Planes of Telara

Saturated Dreamers
Indie exploration game from makers or Immortal Defense

Depth
Indie aquatic stealth game running on Unreal Engine 3. The team is filed with people who created the first version of Killing Floor.

Contagion
Single and multiplayer horror FPS from makers of Zombie Panic! Source mod.

Microsoft Flight
Finally, a new flight sim from Microsoft.

Steel Armor:Blaze of War
Mew tank sim from the makers of Steel Fury (which was one of the best tank games of all time)

Operation Flashpoint: Red River

Cargo
New puzzle game from makers of Void and Pathologic.

Orion: Prelude
Commercial follow up to a popular mod.

Top Spin 4
New entry in the best tennis series of all time.

Section 8: Prejudice

Bastion
Inie action RPG from ex-EALA team members.

Captain Morgane
Semi sequel to adventure game So Blonde, which scored 8.0 from Adventuregamers.

The Haunted: Hell’s Reach
Multiplayer horror action game that’s a commercial follow-up to a mod that won Make Something Unreal competition.

2012 GAMES

Secret Files 3: The Archimedes Code

Crusader Kings II
Epic strategy game from Paradox Interactive

Bioshock: Infinite

MODS

HaloRTS for Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

Old Republic at war for Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
Mod based on Old Republic era.

Cross of Iron for Company of Heroes
A realism/balance mod that aims for a better gameplay experience without making significant changes to the original CoH gameplay.

The Escape for Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Puzzle centric singleplayer mod.

Babylon 5 Mod for X3: Terran Conflict

Supercars II Mod for Half-Life 2
A retro remake of the original Supercars II game from 1991.

One 4 Nine for Left 4 Dead
“In the Nevada Desert, the U.S. Army have built a Military base around an ancient ‘alien tomb’ and after years of trying have managed to open it. Four survivors heard rumors of a fortified safe zone in the base, but have no knowledge of the tomb nor what will await them upon arrival…”

Carried Off for Left 4 Dead 2
“The survivors find themselves on a riverbed and follow a road to the town. Then they must fight to the top of the office building where the rescue helicopter awaits.”

Lost for Left 4 Dead 2
“After the railway accident, the survivors fall into hidden from the people town, where the infection occurred.They caught up the storm,flooded the town…”

Alcheringa for Neverwinter Nights 2 with Storm of Zehir add-on.
“This module is built around the concept of entering the dreams of other people, as well as your own.”

The Maimed God’s Saga for
“Intrigued by a cryptic call for heroes from a rural priest, you arrive in the hamlet of Riverford on the Delimbiyr River. There, you learn of the cries of a woman, the last of her line from a village high in the Greypeak mountains. As a champion of Tyr, The Maimed God, your mission is clear. You must rescue this woman from a centuries-old curse and restore the light of Tyr to a dying town lost to the ravages of time”

FREEWARE GAMES

5xMan
Puzzle platformer based on a concept of controling multiple versions of the same character.

The Balls
Online multiplayer mess-around (…) where up to 100 players take control of small balls of fur, and must complete a series of tasks by sticking to and climbing up surfaces. – Indiegames

Big Pixel Zombies
Fun little mindless zombie slaughtering game.

Catapult Madness
Arcade game where you use catapult to shoot your servants as far as possible.

Doooors
Alatforming puzzler by Hempuli aka Arvi Teikari, in which you need to reach the crystal in each level. This involves picking up doors, throwing them into useful spots, then going through them. – Indiegames

e7
2D platformer with some really clever puzzles.

Epic combo
Action game where you try to hit 10K points combo as fast as you can.

Frogatto
A 2D platformer which stars a frog that can swallow and spit out enemies as projectiles. – Indiegames

Gunbot
Nice mix of platformer and shooter.

The Illusionist’s Dream
Puzzle platformer where you can take shape of every animal you encounter.

Liferaft: Zero
Stylish and addicting platformer.

Momodora
Polished 2D platformer.

Mind Jolt
Arcade bullet hell shooter.

Mt
A procedural-generated climbing game.

Not-So-Massive Action Game
Simple, but fun 2D shooter.

One Button Arthur
Fun little one button action game.

One Step Back
A 2D platformer that deals with the consequences of time travelling, where players have to guide their on-screen character to the exit without running into their other selves. For every few steps you take, another version of yourself will appear from the entrance of the level and retread the same path that you walked on just seconds ago. The current level resets if you accidentally touch any of your past selves, so you’ll have to figure out ways to avoid them until enough time passes for the exit door to unlock – Indiegames

Privates
Crazy side scrolling shooter.

Radial Plus
A lovingly polished space shooter with a twist – you can’t shoot directly an enemies, but instead you must bounce your shots off a wall and into them. – Indiegames

Sandy Evolution
A horizontal shooter in which players can collect fragments and pieces of the enemies they defeat to evolve into a stronger creature. This effect only lasts for a couple of seconds, forcing the players to change forms constantly and not just stick to the strongest ability throughout the entire game. – Indiegames

Sieger
Nice Crush the Castle clone with a unique twist- here you shoot the projectiles from first person perspective.

Sombreros
Top down shooter where you play as a Mexican gunslinger.

Tales of Unspoken World
Great FPP run and jump action game

Together
Beautiful exerimenal arcade art game.

Worm Food
Beautiful exerimenal arcade art game.
Great action game from Nitrome where you play as a gigantic worm devouring poor helpless villagers.

8:Capsule
A puzzle game in which you solve puzzles by throwing objects at other objects. Not everything on screen can be thrown, and you have to click on a moving object first to make it motionless in the air before you can hurl it at anything else – Indiegames

Electric Box 2
Vastly improved sequel to a great puzzler where you build devices that are powered by electric energy.

Fib
Unity engine based puzzle game (…) where players get to control a character who can subtly influence the actions of his peers by complementing or insulting them. – Indiegames

GROW Valley
GROW Valley follows the same format as the rest of the GROW series, providing buttons and asking you to click them in whichever order you feel inclined. As you click each one, components will be added to the main scene via small, faceless people. – Indiegames

Lost Head
Physics puzzler.

Madris
A puzzle game that plays like a variation of Tetris, where each block is either a room or a corridor for you to arrange somewhere on the screen. Some of the rooms will have occupants in them, and your task here is to join up rooms or corridors so that these people can get to the amenities that they desire. – Indiegames

Sand Trap
A puzzle game where you rotate a box to pour the sand trapped within into a pail.

Save My Robots
Turn based robot programming game.

Alice is Dead: Episode Three

By the Numbers
Unique and very well done adventure game centred on interrogation.

Cat Poke

Dreamerz

Enemy of the Solid State
A visual novel which sees the player taking on the role of a scarf-wearing spy, waiting for his contact to arrive with a special package that he is supposed to collect. – Indiegames

Escape from the Big Windows Room

Escape from Boss Room

Escape from Restaurant Minshio

The Fog Fall 3
Post apocalyptic adventure game.

Hard Space: Conquest of the Gayliks
Humoristic science fiction adventure game,

Howard Glitch
Very unique adventure game based on series of Youtube videos.

Hummingbird Mind
An interactive story from the developer behind I Can Hold My Breath Forever. It follows a day in the life of a man who suffers from attention-deficit disorder, as he tries to do anything else besides work. – Indiegames

The Journey Down, Chapter 1: Over the Edge
A point-and-click adventure game that tells the story of Bwana and his friend Kito, two individuals who run a gas station but were forced to find other means of making money when the power company threatens to cut their electrical supply off. Fortunately at about the same time a young woman arrives at your doorstep looking for a book, and she willing to reward you handsomely should you be able to help her out with an errand. – Indiegames

Legacy
Extremely well done and unique adventure game that’s bassicaly interactive audio drama.

Reincarnation: Let The Evil Times Roll
Humoristic adventure game

Sanatorium
Horror adventure game.

Sneak Thief 1: Prime Catch
Polished point and click adventure game

Submachine: 32 Chambers
Another great SF adventure game from Mateusz Skutnik.

Symon
Apuzzle game that tells the story of a bedridden hospital patient who sorely misses his home and family. The only thing he can do is to sleep and dream, which leads him to a place inside his imagination that is populated by a cast of unusual characters to meet and run errands for. – Indiegames

Under the Garden
A sandbox-style exploration game set in a harsh winter environment, where supplies are limited and resources such as food and lumber for your fireplace have to be gathered from the land. Here you’ll learn how to hunt, mine for valuable items, cut down trees for wood, and construct buildings or bridges out of bricks and boxes. – Indiegames

Dino Strike
Sidescrolling beat’em up.

Strap-on-bomb Car
Single button racing game

Tricky Truck
A new physics-based simulation game (…) where the objective is to maneuver your vehicle around bends or walls before parking it safely at the designated spot. – Indiegames

Victorian BMX: Death on Wheel
Puzzle vehicular game where you play a bicycle riding grim reaper racing to collect souls.

Epic Battle Fantasy 3

Cities XL 2011
Upgraded edition/reworking of a game that scored 8.1 at IGN

Conquest of the Americas
News trading game from Nitro games. THeir previous title (East Indie Company) scored 7.7 at IGN, this one promises to take the same concept and improve it greatly.

Star Ruler
Indie 4X game.

Trapped Dead
Commandos-like zombie game

Worms Reloaded
Return to 2D formula.

The Dream Machine
An indie Point & Click adventure game made out of clay and cardboard

Recettear
Indie japanese game about running an item shop in typical fantasy RPG setting.

Delve Deeper
It would have been nice to have some sort of main story mode to accompany the single battle mode, but even without this Delve Deeper is highly enjoyable, even if you aren’t a huge fan of strategy games – and with such a modest price tag, this really is one experience you should look into.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

The Oil Blue
A puzzle simulation game about the the beauty of ocean oil driling

Puzzle Dimension
For those who are able to curb the frustration that meets repeated failure and learn from their mistakes, however, Puzzle Dimension is the kind of addictive encounter that sends your brain into overdrive – foxing you while you’re actually playing it, and dominating your thoughts while you’re not.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

ColorCube
There’s certainly challenge enough in the levels ColorCube serves up of its own accord. Balancing out the need for complexity with the prudence required to keep people on board, the game’s grid-based play is one quandary it’s worth finding the key for.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Tidalis
Indie puzzle game from the makers of AI War.

Wake
With its dark yet gorgeous atmosphere and huge environment to explore, Wake captures the dire situation perfectly and will make you feel the kind of anxiety you never thought possible from a video game – but in a good way, of course.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Beat Hazard
Beat Hazard is a short and sweet ten-dollar investment that is given solid longevity as long as you like the tunes in your music library. .- 7.6 from IGN

Dogfighter
Indie action flight game.

Evochron Mercenary
Another entry in great indie space sim series.

FIFA Manager 11

Classic Adventures: The Great Gatsby
Classic Adventures: The Great Gatsby turns the rapidly growing stale HOG format square on its head, creating something that’s familiar yet also brand new. Even if you don’t enjoy the source material (I can’t stand it, personally), if you’ve ever thought for a moment that you might want to try a hidden object game, make sure it’s this one.- 9.5 from Gamezebo

A Gypsy’s Tale
You’ll probably see the climax to A Gypsy’s Tale coming a mile away, but you’ll have had such an enjoyable time getting there that you’re not too likely to care. The finale sets the stage for a sequel, which I’m hoping comes along sooner rather than later.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

KrissX
Although there are some hiccups in some of KrissX’s incidental content, the meat of the game is executed very well, and makes this game a worthwhile purchase for any word game fan.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Soccer Cup Solitaire
If card games are your forte and you’re keen on football, this may just be a match made in heaven. Soccer Cup Solitaire is addictive fun for both children and adults alike. Make sure to check out the demo featuring one hour of play.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Burger Bustle
Burger Bustle is a game with a lot of depth that constantly switches things-up to keep you from getting bored. That said, it can be frustrating further along in the game when customers simply just don’t order the foods you need to meet order quotas in a timely manner. This will sometimes prevent you from achieving the gold and silver time medals needed to boost your score quickly. Otherwise, the gameplay is varied and exciting, and the upbeat visuals and charming customer shenanigans balance out the focus-intensive juggling act.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

The Clockwork Man: The Hidden World
My grips with The Hidden World are few. The cutscenes drag a bit because rather than clicking on a bit of dialogue to advance to the next part, you have to wait for the voice-over to finish. The story is a tad trite too, although better than most hidden object fare. In short, fans of hidden object adventures can download this one with confidence.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Elixir of Immortality
The story of Elixir of Immortality is immensely fun, with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. If only there were more to it. Even taking your time, you’ll be done with the game in two or three hours at best. They’ll be very enjoyable hours, though; consider Elixir of Immortality to be the beach reading of hidden object games.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Brunhilda and the Dark Crystal
Brunhilda and the Dark Crystal is wonderfully polished, with a funny story and charming characters, but its item searches are frustratingly repetitious and the endless backtracking really got on my nerves. It’s worth trying if only to see how lovely it is – just be ready for some serious déja vu.- from Gamezebo

Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers
While it may be different from what Magic fans expect, is still an entertaining brand of card battle game, with plenty of depth, complexity, and unpredictability to keep you drawing from your library again and again.- 7.5 from IGN

Mass Effect 2: Overlord
The whole package is quite fantastic, but again I have to remind you that it is a bit short. My playthrough clocked in at somewhere around one or two hours. All it took was one easy afternoon and I’d had my fill and earned 15 of the 25 new achievement points. Even so, Overlord is a winner and one of my favorite sets of Mass Effect missions yet. Go give it a try.- 9.0 from IGN

Transformers: War for Cybertron
Transformers: War for Cybertron has taken the magic of playing with plastic and metal toys that turn into cool s**t both alone and with friends and have distilled that into something pretty special. This is a surprise, dark horse contender for best way to spend your time online this summer.- 9.0 from IGN

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is a love letter to fans of the Boy Who Lived. The comedic cutscenes toying with canon, the hundreds of hidden things to find, and the general sense of a great LEGO game paired with a great series really makes this game a standout. There are still a few issues to buff out, but there’s plenty in LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 to keep you coming back for more.- 8.5 from IGN

Toy Story 3: The Videogame
Toy Story 3 is an example of when a license game is done mostly right. The cooperative story mode is a nice touch, and the Toy Box mode is still fun despite it’s rather limited customization options, I just wish it’d have had a cooperative options like the other console versions do, as it’s less family or party friendly. Older players might be occasionally bored by how simple the game’s quests can be, but in general TS3 manages to be most everything your kids (or your own inner kid) wanted out of a Toy Story game.- 7.5 from IGN

Dragon Age: Origins – Leliana’s Song
It’s short but packs in a lot of plot twists, fully voiced cut scenes and a number of conversations, as well as experience gain, room to level up, and the opportunity to customize your party to a degree. It’s nothing revolutionary, but a solid addition to the ever expanding stable of adventures in BioWare’s Dragon Age.- 7.0 from IGN

Burn Zombie Burn
Indie action game. PlayStation 3 version scored 8.3 at IGN

2011 GAMES

A Game of Thrones: Genesis
Epic strategy game based on legendary novel series. It’s being designed Cyanide, which is the studio that made Blood Bowl videogame adaptation.

Project MyWorld
A virtual recreation of the real world combined with 3D gaming and social media.

Asylum
New horror adventure game from people who created Scratches, which scored 8.0 at Adventuregamers.

Darkspore
Hack and Slash from Maxix (makers of Sim City, Sims and of course Spore)

Starport Gemini
Space based indie RPG.

Stellar Dawn
Sci-Fi MMO from makers of Runescape

E.Y.E
Indie FPS/RPG hybrid running on Source engine. People who work on it previously made great Half-Life mod called Syndicate Black Ops

Minecraft
Indie retro action and sandbox construction game.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine PC
Action game from Relic.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Fantasy RPG from Big Huge Games (makers of Rise of Nations) and lead designer of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Vessel
Indie platformer which gameplay based on manipulating fluids.

2010 MODS

Alchemist for DarkMod
“A city/mansion FM that follows on from Heart of Lone Salvation”

Awaiting the Storm for DarkMod
“An antiquities trader is staying at the local tavern. There’s a storm brewing. They’d better keep watch tonight”

The Beleaguered Fence for DarkMod

No Honor Among Thieves for DarkMod

Ragnarok Arena for Half-Life 2
“A sidescrolling multiplayer shooter developed on the Source Engine. “

Firearms:Source for Half-Life 2
A team based first person shooter set in modern times.

Slums 2 for Half-Life 2
A short horror campaign with great level design.

Coven for Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
Vampires vs hunters multiplayer mod.

Heaven can wait for Left 4 Dead
“After surviving an air crash, the survivors turn out to be in most epicenter of the contamination. The Military has already left all attempts to rescue survivors in the region.”

Dam it 2! for Left 4 Dead 2
Three maps long campaign set around massiee dam.

Detour Ahead for Left 4 Dead 2

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Zombies for Left 4 Dead 2
“A recreation of the Indiana Jones Adventure ride at Disneyland. Hundreds of custom assets and randomized events, just like the ride!”

We Don’t Go To Ravenholm 2 for Left 4 Dead 2

Portal Memories for Portal
Very well made map-pack.

Portal Pro for Portal
“Portal Pro is a set of test chambers focusing on solving puzzles locally rather than using complex fling techniques. The goal here is that the solutions are hard to come up with but easy to actually do.”

Ordnance Project for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Raven Shield
Adds new weapons, gadgets and features (ironsights, picking up weapons from the ground etc).

Star Trek: Sacrifice of Angels for Homeworld
“Sacrifice of Angels is a mod for Homeworld set during the Dominion War that ravaged the Alpha Quadrant during the last few seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The mod uses the Homeworld engine to render fast paced starship combat in full 3D, and includes over 80 different starship types seen in or inspired by the Star Trek phenomenon”

German Soldiers Mod for Men Of War
Mod that noticably enchances game’s realism.

2010 FREEWARE GAMES

60s to Save the Queen
A single-screen 2D platformer where you have 60 secons to save the queen from a collapsing castle.

Action Turnip

Arvoesine
A tough NES-style platformer in which you play a Roman soldier, throwing spears and swiping your sword at the enemy.-Indiegames

Coma
Incredibly beautiful and engrossing platformer.

Cordy
Prototype for very promising (and beautiful) browser platformer.

Dale and Peakot

Fishbane
A challenging platformer about a diver who explores the murky depths in the search for golden harpoons and goldfish.-Indiegames

Galaxy Jumper
Great little puzzle platformer

Illuminator
An action game which tells the story of a boy who has to rescue his kidnapped sister, captured by ghouls that travel from house to house by tearing through the fabric of space. Your objective here is to find the hole in each house, then kill enough monsters to weaken the stitches on the portal that prevent you from using it to travel to the next house.-Indiegames

Pixelotl
Puzzle platformer based around manipulating gravity.

Ricochet Kills 2
Puzzler where you need to kill everyone on the level by bouncing bullets around obstacles.

Rocket Jockey
Crazy action game where you play a herder equiped with a space ship, who has to retrieve floating through space cattle using electric lasso.-Indiegames

Storm Over the Desert</a

Stream
Time bending platformer.

Treasure Tower
A WarioWare-style 2D platformer in which you have thirty-six seconds on the clock to climb to the top of a tower and acquire a rare treasure. -Indiegames

Wine Pong
A pimped out version of the popular party game beer pong, where players on either side of a table try to place ping pong balls inside all of their opponent’s glasses-Indiegames

The Ultra Mission
An arcade shooter game in which you play as a soldier who has to rescue civilians from a group of armed kidnappers. -Indiegames

Black and White
A puzzle platformer in which you control two onscreen characters at the same time, with one of them performing the exact opposite of whatever you instruct the other to do.-Indiegames

Crush the Castle 2

Easy Joe
A charming little Flash game where you solve puzzles by clicking on objects in the correct order, progressing from one screen to the next until you reach the conclusion of Joe’s adventure-Indiegames

Hero! Defeat the Devil!
Puzzle game where the noble knight has to defeat lower-level enemies first and gain enough battle experience before taking on the stage boss.-Indiegames

IQ Ball
Great physics puzzler.

Norapoly
An interesting take on the popular Monopoly board game, in which two or more players upgrade their onscreen characters by buying up the different types of houses on the map.-Indiegames

Sushi Cat The Honeymoon
New levels.

Escape from the Garden
Charming little escape game.

Choc-Mint
Easy and relaxin escape game.

Eternal Elements
Fantasy adventure game.

Imagia Part 1 – The Tower
Exploration clicking game.

Inside a Dead Skyscraper
Experimental art game

Looming
Bizzare, but charming art game, where you explore gigantic graveyard filled with mysterious objects left by people who used to live there.

pOnd
Beautifuly relaxing art game. Truly unique.

RE: Alistair++
RE: Alistair++ is an incredible addition to the visual novel genre, indulging the player in some top quality storytelling and pleasing art. It’s also completely free to download, so if interactive stories aren’t normally your cup of tea, it’s still worth checking this particular title out.- Gamezebo

Renegade’s Sleeping Beauty
Comedic adventure game.

Sanctuary 17
Atmospheric exploration game

The Scene of the Crime: Golden Doll
Atmospheric noir decective game.

The Silver Linging
Fan made sequel to King’s Quest

The Usher
INtroguing interactive fiction where you play Lalu, a young woman who is buried alive—entombed. Your job is to lead the dead queen to the afterlife.

CellCraft
Unique mix of strategy, action and managment game based around the concent of cellular growth

Epic War 4
Side scrolling defense strategy game.

Epos
Combat-centric turn-based RPG.

Mardek 3
Long old school japanese-styled roleplaying game.It includes improved versions of two previous games in the series.

Wonderful World

2010 GAMES

Men of War: Vietnam
Single centric stand alone expansion to Men of War (great tactics-heavy wargame that scored 8.0 at IGN)

Men of War: Assault Squad
Multi player centric stand alone expansion to Men of War (great tactics-heavy wargame that scored 8.0 at IGN)

King’s Bounty: Crossworlds
Second add-on to one of best PC games of 2008.

Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures
Casual Star Wars MMO full of mini games, from makers of Free Realms (also MMO, it scored 8.8 from IGN).

Vindictus
Promising MMO with action-game like combat.

Battlestar Galactica Online
Space combat MMO

The Ball
Unique mix of First Person Action Game and Puzzler. It’s commercial continuation of mod that was awarded 2nd place in finals of Epic Games’ Make Something Unreal contest.

Sanctum
Interesting mix of FPP action and tower defense, running on Unreal Engine 3.0.

Pool Pro Online 3
Pool Pro Online 3 is the complete pool hall experience. Even if you have a passing interest in the game, rack up Pool Pro Online 3 and give it a break.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Death to Spies 3
Stealth action game heavily inspired by Hitman and set in Cold War era.The first one scored 8.0 at IGN.

Driver: San Francisco

F.E.A.R. 3
First one scored 9.2 at IGN, while the second got 8.2 on the same site.

Magic: The Gathering – Tactics
Videogame adaptation of classic card game.

Off-Road Drive
Off road racing simulator.

Skulls of the Shogun
Turn based strategy game from ex-EALA developers.

Word Pirate
One of the most refreshing and unique takes on word puzzle gameplay in what has become an otherwise very stale genre. The story mode takes a handful of hours to complete, and because of the nature of the core gameplay and the captivating story, it never feels trite or boring. Word Pirate is an excellent choice for anyone who likes word puzzle games and also has a soft spot in their hearts for swashbuckling adventure.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Puppet Show: Souls of the Innocent
About as good as hidden objects get. Its scenery is stunning, and while there is perhaps a bit too much backtracking, its puzzles are top-notch, satisfying, and clever. The solutions to the puzzles aren’t always as intuitive as they could be, but so long as you just look everywhere (which you’re going to want to do anyway because the game is so gorgeous) and try everything, the moments of confusion should be brief. It’s a masterful showing and an absolute must-play for anyone who likes their villains good and creepy.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Robinson Crusoe and the Cursed Pirates
Robinson Crusoe and the Cursed Pirates is a stunner of a game; the hand-drawn art is beautifully detailed and the pirates themselves each feel like distinct individuals, rather than just The Next Guy On The List. My own sole regret is that the game felt like it was over almost before it began, though that has more to do with how much fun it is to play rather than it genuinely being too short. (But, hey, if the developers would like to make a sequel, I’m not about to complain!)- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Agatha Christie 4:50 From Paddington
Agatha Christie 4:50 From Paddington is another excellent contribution to the mystery author’s hidden object library. The searches are well constructed and there are enough intriguing twists in the expected gameplay to keep it all feeling fresh.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Midnight Mysteries: Salem Witch Trials
Salem Witch Trials plays a lot like The Edgar Allen Poe Conspiracy –with dark, beautiful graphics, a compelling story, and a solid mixture of HOG and point and click adventure elements — but also fixes most of the issues the first game had. The puzzles are more logical this time around and the HOG scenes don’t feature clues with multiple solutions. All this amounts to a wonderfully spooky game that, while a little on the easy side, is still incredibly enjoyable. Salem Witch Trials manages to overcome the sophomore curse and offer up an experience that’s even better than the original.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Flux Family Secrets: The Rabbit Hole
The Rabbit Hole doesn’t do much that you didn’t already see in the first Flux Family, instead it builds upon that foundation, helping to further expand Jessie’s story and the mystery of the time travelling Flux’s. It also offers up quite a lengthy adventure, encompassing 12 chapters that will take several hours to finish. And what it loses in originality it makes up for with quality, offering a fun adventure that sure to please HOG fans.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Slingo Quest Egypt
Slingo fans can buy with confidence, Slingo decriers can avoid without worry, and newcomers should give the one hour free trial a shot to see if this popular franchise is their cup of tea.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Rachel’s Retreat
we highly recommend Rachel’s Retreat to all fans of the genre and newcomers alike. The graphics and the way you improve your spa are enough to distinguish this new release from older, similar titles, and apart from some minor flaws the game presents an entertaining gaming experience of high quality. We cannot say for sure whether you will hit nirvana while playing it, but you will enjoy it without a doubt.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Fishdom 2
The play has been so expertly executed and with such artistic verve that I really doubt many people will begrudge this sequel’s lack of original concepts. If you’re a fan of match-three games, Fishdom 2’s intuitive design, relaxed pace, and visual and auditory stylings are almost certain to appeal.
- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Special Enquiry Detail
It’s worth making the effort to tune out the voice acting and overlook the few minor mistakes here and there, though. It’s not perfect, but Special Enquiry Detail is a very smart and satisfying adventure for mystery junkies.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Strange Cases: The Lighthouse Mystery
Strange Cases: The Lighthouse Mystery is very impressive and goes well above and beyond merely hitting all the usual HOG touchstones. It’s fun, it’s challenging, it looks great and it even manages to tell a reasonably coherent story, and at around three hours of solid gameplay it’s got some decent staying power, too. It all adds up to a very solid, entertaining game that hidden object fans should definitely give a second look.
- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Buried in Time
Buried in Time’s clever gameplay, great story and attractive graphics makes it one of the more charming digital downloads of the season.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Paige Harper and the Tome of Mystery
Even if Paige Harper and the Tome of Mystery wasn’t wonderfully inventive, clever, and cheeky, I’d tell you to play it simply because it is so incredibly beautiful. Each chapter is simply gorgeous and immediately recognizable to anyone familiar with that particular story, but everything in the game is lovely, even the main menu. If you’re looking for a beautifully polished HOG experience, Paige Harper is the way to go.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Build-a-lot: The Elizabethan Era
nyone who loves the earlier games will find The Elizabethan Era is just as absorbing, and visiting the past does make you look at the gameplay in a slightly different way. It feels both completely new and comfortably similar at the same time. In addition to the main campaign and a more relaxed casual mode, the premium edition also features an additional campaign with many new levels to explore. There’s a whole lot of game here to enjoy, and it’s a blast to the real estate past we can heartily recommend.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

2011GAMES

Shogun II: Total War

Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online
MMO set in WH40K universe.

Avadon: The Black Fortress
New RPG from makers of Geneforge and Avernum series. This time Spiderweb finally has completely redesigned their graphics system.

Tera
Beautiful MMORPG with action-game like combat, by ex-Lineage devs.

Black Mirror 3

Bounty Arms
Indie platformer running on Unreal Engine 3.0.

Trine 2
Sequel to 8.2 platformer.

Rock of Ages
A head-to-head, real-time tower defense game in which two players alternate between defending and attacking. When attacking you control a big-huge boulder that’s rolling towards your opponent’s gates. If you’re the one on the defense your attempt to slow and divert your boulder by placing towers, fans and units in boulder’s path. It’s being made by ACE Team, makers of Zeno Clash (which got 8.4 from IGN).

Dust
Spiritual successor to Populour created by Eric Chahi, the designer who made Another World (known as Out of this World in USA).

Red Faction: Armageddon
The previous entry in this franchise (Red Faction: Guerrilla) scored 8.0 at IGN.

Dungeon Siege III
THird entry in the popular hack and slash franchise. This time it’s being developed by Obsidian Entertainment, known for creating RPGs like Knights of the Old Republic 2 or Neverwinter Nights 2.

Kings and Castles
Fantasy RTS from Gas Powered Games, makers of Supreme Commander series (on IGN first one scored 8.9, while the sequel 8.4 got).

The First Templar
Co-op centric action-adventure from Haemimont Games, makers of games like Tropico 3 (8.4 from IGN) or Celtic Kings: Rage of War (8.2 on the same site) and The Punic Wars: A Clash of Two Empires (8.0 from IGN).

Dead Space 2
The first one got from IGN

MODS

I Hate Mountains for Left 4 Dead
Incredible fan-made campaign that easily rivals what Valve itself has done for the gamne,

Death Sentence for Left 4 Dead 2

Night Terror for Left 4 Dead 2
Port of great Left 4 Dead campaign.

Welcome to Hell for Left 4 Dead 2
Polished 5 maps long campaign.

Call of pripyat Reloaded for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Mega mod that improves both gameplay and graphics.

DaggerXL for Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall
Updates the game to run on modern hardware and adds tons of new features like texture filtering. Bassicaly it gives you a way to play Daggerfall today without all the headaches you could expect from a game as old as this one.

The Caravan Club for Neverwinter Nights 2
Polished adventure with lots of detective elements.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes for Sins of a Solar Empire
Total conversion based on classic japanese space-opera.

Mongol Invasion for Medieval 2: Total War with Kingdoms add-on.
Mongolo-Tatar modification tells of the tragic moment of history about the Mongol invasion on the land East Europe (Poland, Lithuania, Russian Principalities, Turkey, Balkans, Baltic regions)

FREEWARE GAMES

Breach

Chubby Ninja
Fun little platformer where you constantly need to go up.

Composition Piece
A short 2D platformer that tells the story of a composer who is writing a piece of music for a girl he is infatuated with.-Indiegames

FiNCK
In Nifflas’ 2D platformer you play an unnamed protagonist who has the ability to pick up blocks and enemies to use for solving puzzles. Heavy blocks are perfect for stacking, while blue blocks can slide through small corridors that you would normally have problems squeezing into. An enemy behavior also determines what kind of ability you would get when you grab one with your bare hands.-Indiegames

Death Row Diner
Satirical Dinner Dash clone set in prison.

Heir
Retro platformer inspired by Shadow of the Colossus, where you have to climb up on gigantic beasts’ bodies to reach their weak spots.

Larry and the Gnomes
A side-scrolling hack-and-slasher.

Loved
Interesting experimental platformer.

Transformice!
A hectic online multiplayer game which is part co-op, part everyone go ballistic. On each level there is a piece of cheese and a mouse hole, and the idea is to run and grab the cheese, then take it back to the hole.-Indiegames

Hold Your Ground
Puzzler game where your goal is to built castle that will witstand barrage of cannon balls.

Lackadaisium
Surreal puzzle game.

Ragdoll Cannon 3
Physics puzzler.

Soccer Balls
Physics puzzler where you have to shoot the soccer ball in such way to make something hit the referee.

Take Something Literally 2
Collection of abstract puzzle challenges bound together by unique art style

Unnatural Selection
A mix of puzzler and life sim.

Grace’s Diary
Great visual novel, with suprisingly good writing and graphics.

Heart of Tota
Indiana Jones inspired adventure game.

The Life Of A Pacifist Is Often Fraught With Conflict
Funny visual novel.

Rein
You play as one of the staff involved in a secret bioengineering project inside a research facility named Fraxto 21. At the start of the story the entire building is already collapsing all around you, so you must make haste and try to escape from the place in one piece.-Indiegames

Submachine Network Exploration Experience
Another amazing SF adventure from Matuesz Skutnik.

Protector IV: Mercenary
Very well done tower defense game.

Distant Worlds
Grand strategy and classic 4X mechanics combine in a vibrant world made easier with optional automation (…) Distant Worlds features uninspired diplomatic options and lacks multiplayer, but these are insignificant complaints in what otherwise is a hallmark 4X strategy title.- 9.5 from Out of Eight website

Sol Survivor
As far as tower defense games go, Sol Survivor is in the upper echelon of quality. This is mainly due to the inclusion of multiplayer:(…) The game does suffer from a relaxed pace; Sol Survivor could benefit from time acceleration to power through those times where your defenses are stout. Still, Sol Survivor is quite an enjoyable game for fans of the blossoming tower defense genre thanks to its multiplayer features. – 7.5 from Out of Eight website

Sleep Is Death
An experimental gaming experience gone very, very right. (…) Sleep Is Death is the ultimate in non-linear gameplay, as the director must adapt to the player in real-time to construct a cohesive story. The extremely high replay value makes this a must-have title. To use a tired cliché, Sleep Is Death is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get.- 8.5 from Out of Eight website

BugBits
The strong and addictive gameplay is enhanced substantially be the gorgeously designed battlefields and maps(…)If you can look beyond a few minor issues with the plot and text dialogue, and you’ll find BugBits is an excellent debut game from this promising indie studio. It’s a fun action strategy game that you won’t regret playing.
- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Ranch Rush 2
Alongside the main casual mode, you can also unlock expert and free-play modes that switch up the difficulty a bit. Other features like achievements, trophies, and optional Facebook connectivity further round out this stellar time-management game. Ranch Rush 2 simply looks great, plays great, and is a perfect example of a time management done well.- 9.5 from Gamezebo

Deadtime Stories
My sole complaint about Deadtime Stories is that it’s a bit short, clocking in at perhaps 3 hours. The story was so enthralling, it felt like I was done in five minutes, however. The one consolation is that Jessie’s tale seems to be the first in the Deadtime Stories series; there are many other ghosts in the graveyard, after all, each with their own story to tell.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Unsolved Mystery Club: Amelia Earhart
MC: Amelia Earhart is one of the best hidden object games I’ve played in a long time. The searches are fun, the pacing is excellent and the presentation and polish are absolutely second to none. There’s no mystery here: Unsolved Mystery Club: Amelia Earhart is one game that every hidden object fan needs to try.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Masquerade Mysteries: The Case of the Copycat Curator
Masquerade Mysteries is a bit better than your average HOG. It’s not particularly replayable, but the three-to-four hours I spent with it felt adequate and satisfying. By no means essential, but it should prove a decent fix for ravenous HOGgers.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box
Shortcomings notwithstanding, Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box is a very good HOG with plenty of minigames, an enjoyable story and high production values, including impressive artwork and music. It might not be for everyone (read: men), but considering most video games are designed for guys, a female-focused game is a welcomed change.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Life Quest
Life Quest is a triumphant combination of multiple genres, wrapped in a great-looking game that drips with personality. If Big Fish Games could address some of these issues they might just have a new and successful casual game franchise on their hands.
- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Escape the Lost Kingdom
3D is a nice touch, but in the end the game succeeds not because of dazzling effects but because it’s a lot of fun to play. It’s challenging but never outright difficult, and there’s enough variety to keep things fresh from start to finish. Gogii Games has done a nice job of blending the individual components into a sharp, entertaining overall package that has a lot to offer hidden object fans and adventure gamers alike; the 3D element may not revolutionize the casual game genre, but Escape the Lost Kingdom is good enough that it doesn’t have to.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Fable 3

Nail’d
Off road racing game from Techland, makers of Xpand Rally (8.0 from IGN)

Puzzle Agent
Adventure game from Telltale, makers of Sam and Max Episodes and Tales of Monkey Island

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2

2011 GAMES

End of Nations
MMORTS from Petroglyph. Their last RTS was Universe at War, which scored 8.0 at IGN.

Stronghold 3

CHIVALRY: Battle for Agatha
First-person medieval online combat game running on Unreal Engine 3.0. It’s being developed by a team behind Age of Chivalry mods.

Rising Storm
First add-on to Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad, made as colaboration with mod teams.

MODS

Mandate of Heaven for Crysis
“Mandate of Heaven is a custom singleplayer level for Crysis. Its action takes place in a public park invaded by chinese army renegades. The goal of the mission is to infiltrate the park and eliminate their commander, who established his headquarters in a sacred temple on the coast”

King’s Story for Thief 2: the Metal Age
Great fan mission inspired by figure of Ludwig II.

Contact for Left 4 Dead 2
Amazing science fiction map.

Deceits for The Witcher
Great adventure, long and very polished.

Heart of Lone Salvation for DarkMod

The Builder’s Influence for DarkMod

Zombie Zoo Chapter 1 for Half-Life 2
Completely crazy mod that’s just plain dumb, but in such way that it glues you to a screen. Pure riot!

Battle Grounds 2.0 for Half-Life 2
A multiplayer modification based on the revolutionary war.

Resistance & Liberation for Half-Life 2
Multiplayer mod, which’s goal is to realistically portray the events and actions taken by the 82nd Airborne during their stay in Normandy.

Angels Fall First: Planetstorm for UDK
Standalone demo of Planetstorm’s upcoming UDK release.

FREEWARE GAMES

Action Fist

AutoCannibalism
Quirky platformer

Chisel
Great arcade drilling game with a bit of puzzler element.

Ghost Guidance
Nice cartoonish shump with a fun twist, here after your ship is destroyed you turn into ball of AI power that can then infect enemy ship.

Greek & Wicked
A short, experimental homage to old Game & Watch titles. Take control of Mr. Game & Watch as he attempts to kill the invincible hydra monster.-Indiegames

Homerun in Berzerk Land
Hit-people-with-things simulator

Poto & Cabenga
Great one-button game with a twist: here you control 2 separate characters.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Great side scrolling action-heavy platformer.

Quietus
Quirky retro platformer full of black humor.

Orton and the Princess

The Sound Walk
Eerie rhythm game.

Space Paranoids
Vector based 3D shooter.

Streemerz

Subsonic
2D stealth action game.

Tremerz
Arcade homage to old horror movie.

Undead End
Side scrolling zombie shooter.

Zombie Movie
Zombie Movie puts a great twist on the rather tired zombie-killing genre. A helicopter flies overhead, filming your every move, while you plough your way through hordes of the undead. Move too far away from the helicopter, however, and you’ll find a fate worse than having your brains eaten. That’s right – you’ll get FIRED.-Indiegames

Labyrinthos
Old school dungeon crawler in vein of Dungeon Master.

Before the Law
Before the Law is a very short interactive story which plays out the original tale by Franz Kafka. A man from the country wants to read “the Law”, but a gatekeeper stands in his way.-Indiegames

Digital: A Love Story
Amazing retro hacking game with truly great love story.

Eternally Us
Eternally Us is a short 2D adventure game that tells the story of Fio and Amber, two friends who have known each other since childhood. An incident occurs that separates the both of them while they were feeding birds in a park, so it is up to the player to help reunite the best buddies together again.-Indiegames

Ninja-Pi-Ro

Otomaco: Last Jade Journey

P.I. Chronicles: Skull Island
Fun little escape game.

Saturn
SF adventure game with strong escape the room elements.

Tombscape 2

Witch

Hoshi Saga Ringoame
A collection of twenty-five puzzles from Yoshio Ishii in which the player has to find a star hidden somewhere in every stage-Indiegames

Magic Orbs
A gorgeous puzzler set in a maze-like temple. A series of rooms need to be navigated by grabbing orbs and placing them on pedestals.-Indiegames

Cursed Treasure
Polished tower defense game.

Necronator

Nob War: The Elves
Quirky mix of side scrolling platformer and RTS game.

Trafalgar Origins
Fun naval wargame.

Voyager
Browser based space trading game.

Skid MK

Today I would like to rant a little about something that’s been bugging me lately. Look at the picture above – it’s densely filled with „big, important games”. All those titles were released in a span of a mere month. Starting from Anno: Venice in late February and ending with Mount&Blade: Warband in late march. It might seem silly to complain about having too many good games to choose from, but let’s think for a while and consider the situation from perspective that’s outside of our own enjoyment. It’s true that PC games generally sell slower, but more steadily than console ones. Most Xbox 360 games achieve majority of their lifetime sales in first two-three months. Still, even with pc games the first month is still crucial for a success of most games. So why publishers release so many good pc games so close to together? Can’t they spread them out more? I can understand console centric publishers not taking into account the situation of PC market, but what about pc-centric games? Why artificaly create competition for yourself? One that has a chance of severly damaging your sales.

The biggest offender is Ubi Soft. They’ve released Anno: Venice, Silent Hunter 5, Assassins Creed 2 and Settlers 7 in a span of 30 days. That’s almost their whole pc line-up for 2010. All they have left this year are some ports from consoles. Why the hell compete with your own products? Especially since Anno fans consist largely of the people who also find Settlers appealing. Couldn’t they spread out the releases more? Especially since rushed release basically killed Silent Hunter 5 (I will blog about it later on, for now let’s just say this ship was launched with so many holes, it sank to the bottom of the ocean right after leaving the harbor). In April the only pc title Ubi will release is newest Splinter Cell, which was pushed till the end of that month anyway. And after that there’s just R.U.S.E in July and new Prince of Persia and Ghost Recon later this year.

Why put so many pc-centric games on the shelves at the same time? Was Ubi Soft trying to deliver a knock out punch with their DRM scheme? A punch so strong, most people will just grind their teeth and buy those games anyway? I know I did. I can boycott games if I want to. I did it with Modern Warfare 2, I was tempted as hell every time I walked past those shiny boxes in stores, but I resisted. And while I could have managed to do the same easily with Assassins Creed 2, there’s just no way I could miss Settlers and Silent Hunter.

And it’s no the first time things like that are happening. Last year we also had multiple releases close to each other, maybe not as many as this year, but on the other hand they were all strategy games. Once again Ubi acted the same way and competed not only with other big strategy games (Empire: TW, Dawn of War 2, Panzers: Cold War), but also with it’s own games, by releasing PC version of End War and World in Conflict: Soviet Assault around the same time. Oh well, I guess it could be worse, like in 2004, when publishers thought that it would be a great idea to release Rome: Total War, Dawn of War and Kohan: Kings of War to American stores on the same damn day. We know the result, Total War and Dawn of War managed just fine, but Kohan was crushed. The result of it is that TimeGate Studios turned from great company making quirky but awesome RTSes into a team that mostly handles ports to other platforms, add-ons and releases weak.

I’m sure this method provided plenty of entertainment for ancient Romans, but it might not be the wisest choice in modern pcgaming market.

I guess we should be greateful that at least for now we aren’t hearing the complains that it’s all piracy fault. Even if sales for march games will be lower than expected Ubisoft (who was crying the most about piracy) can’t really do anything, considering they are still pretending their DRM system hasn’t been cracked yet.

]]> http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/tttt-thunderdome/feed/ 4 adrianwerner http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/update-16th-april-2010/ http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/update-16th-april-2010/#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:09:28 +0000 adrianwerner http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/?p=783 ]]> 2010 GAMES

Virtual City
Virtual City takes good aspects from previous city builders and combines them into an effective package. The resource chains are complex enough to keep the game interesting, but simple enough to reduce confusion of newcomers. The interface helps the learning process, clearly displaying what each truck is transporting and areas of the map that need attention. I’d like to have a comprehensive list of all buildings and auto-bulldoze trees when placing new structures, but these are minor complaints overall(…)Fans of economic city builder games will find great value for $10. 8.5 from Out of Eight website

Royal Envoy
The lure of trophies provides good reason to go back and replay levels for better times, which helps extend this game’s already impressive length. And I’ll take any excuse to head back in and construct a few more villages in this great little city builder- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Rise of Prussia
If you like any of AGEOD’s previous efforts, then you will like Rise of Prussia. If you hated any of AGEOD’s previous efforts, then you will hate Rise of Prussia. If you were intimidated by any of AGEOD’s previous efforts, Rise of Prussia is a good place to start- 7.5 from Gamezebo

Empires of Steel
As strategy games seem to increasingly favor more complexity, it’s nice to play a game that is a bit more straightforward. Empires of Steel is that clear-cut, and the turn- based game is a good choice for novices. The interface is effective, clearly indicating idle units and buildings, while the graphical style if nice to look at. The game does come with some nice customization features, like editors for maps and the game rules, and randomized map layouts always increase replay value. The AI is a competent opponent, though typically not terribly aggressive. The game is really designed for multiplayer, so it’s too bad that there aren’t very many people online to play against. – 7.5 from Out of Eight website<

Patrician IV
New entry in one of the best managment games series of all time (Patrician III scored 9.3 at IGN).

Heroes of Graxia
Board-game like strategy title from Petroglyph (makers of Star Wars: Empire at War)

Hearts of Iron III: Semper Fi
First add-on to Hearts of Iron III (8.5 from IGN)

Drakensang: Phileasson’s Secret
First add-on to rakensang: The River of Time.

Eden’s Quest: The Hunt for Akua Review
There’s a great variety to the puzzles that are thrown at you over the course of the game and, despite the occasional frustration, Eden’s Questis both fun and beautiful. It evens ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, which suggests we haven’t seen the last of Ms. Eden Hunt.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Deep Blue Sea 2
Many of the upgrades and additions in Deep Blue Sea 2 are well thought out and smartly implemented. The effort The Game Equation put into actually figuring out areas it could improve upon is something I’d like to see mirrored in more casual title sequels. It’s a fun game that goes far beyond slapping another set of levels on the same old mechanics.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Dark Parables: Curse of the Briar Rose
Dark Parables: Curse of Briar Rose will only take you about three hours to finish, but waking Sleeping Beauty unlocks Hard Mode, and the Collector’s Edition offers extra side puzzles, too. The final showdown seems to come out of left field, but it’s the sole knock against an otherwise marvelous game that’s worthy of your attention.- 9.0 from Gamezebo

Nora Roberts: Vision in White
Aside from these issues, which are minor in the face of everything the game does right, Nora Roberts: Vision in White is a solid choice for hidden object game fans that don’t mind being challenged a little.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Treasure Seekers: Follow the Ghosts
Treasure Seekers: Follow the Ghosts is an exceptional game that certainly raises the bar for HOGs in terms of visual appeal and good gameplay. Big fans of HOGs shouldn’t miss it, and it might be good enough to make a convert out of someone skeptical about the genre. This is the rare game that can offer real challenge on Advanced without being pointlessly confusing. Played on Normal, it’s a perfectly seamless casual experience.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Magic Encyclopedia 3: Illusions
Magic Encyclopedia 3: Illusions should satisfy fans of casual adventure games who enjoy searching for “fractured” objects that all have a purpose rather than laundry lists of random clutter. And while the game does have a satisfying ending, the door is left open for even more adventures to come.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

The Mystery of the Crystal Portal: Beyond the Horizon
Mystery of the Crystal Portal: Beyond the Horizon is a stunning, well-designed hidden object experience. It has a few mildly annoying quirks, but the pros far outweigh the cons.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

The Dream Voyagers
The Dream Voyagers is also just bursting with personality. Its cartoony style is eye-pleasing, colorful, and charming, making it a pleasure to tour around the dreamscapes of the townsfolk. Everything about the game is clever, charming, and polished, which brings me to my one sole complaint – there’s just not enough of it. Well, that’s not really true. The game itself will take you about three hours to finish, but the Bonus Rounds and Déja vu mode – which lets you replay completed levels – add an hour or two onto that. But I wanted more, just the same. Call me greedy if you like, but I blame it on GameHouse for making something so darn fun.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

The Lost Cases of 221B Baker Street
Armchair sleuths who enjoy HOGs and other head-scratching puzzles will find this detective adventure a gratifying download.
- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Mahjongg Dimensions Deluxe
Small technical quibbles and missed opportunities aside, Mahjongg Dimensions Deluxe offered up a wonderful new experience in the traditionally tried-and-true world of mahjong solitaire. Massive three dimensional puzzles that force you to spin the playing field offer up a new challenge all on their own, and the addition of a swift but fair timer means that the game remains challenging even when you’ve mastered its unique twist. Mahjong fan should stand up and take notice – this is the biggest thing to happen to the genre in a long time.- 8.0 from Gamezebo

Pontifef III
Sequel to one of best indie puzzle games ever made

Starters Orders 4
If you are looking for a horse simulation, Starters Orders 4 is a good choice. The game features all of the options needed for a complete sports management game, only in equine format (…) Starters Orders 4 delivers good value for fans of the genre. People not interested in horse racing will be bored to death here, but if the prospect of raising and racing a cavalcade of horses is interesting to you, then Starters Orders 4 wins the roses. 7.5 from Out of Eight website

Cyber-Wing
Cyber-Wing is successful at what it attempts to do: bring Herzog Zwei into whatever century this is with 3-D graphics and online multiplayer(…)Those looking for a more action-oriented approach to strategy gaming should check it out. 8.5 from Out of Eight website

Combat Helo
Indie heli sim.

Wings of Luftwafe
First add-on to Wings of Prey (WWII flight sim that scored 8.3 at IGN)

Darksiders

Plain Sight UK
Plain Sight is a collection of lovely ideas presented with flair and character, and if it could tighten up its fussy controls a little it’d have a good chance of being one of those break-out indie hits that quietly earn its creators a deserved fortune. The currently small number of servers and the relatively hardcore-favouring rich-get-richer nature of the combat are probably telling signs of its destiny – adored by a few, ignored by the many. The price is right and the robo-ninja carnage is guaranteed, however.- 8.0 from IGN

A Kingdom for Keflings
If you’re in the mood for a laid-back game with serious depth, A Kingdom For Keflings is the perfect choice. NinjaBee’s downloadable world-building game is whimsical, humorous, unique and has none of the high-pressure feel of your typical strategy game. Although it has some presentation quirks, Keflings rises above them to achieve a Zen-like quality of pleasant addiction.- 8.5 from IGN

Mass Effect 2: Kasumi’s Stolen Memory
Kasumi’s Stolen Memory is a great little quest, but for most the “little” part will be a sticking point. - 7.5 from IGN

Portal 2

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge — Special Edition

Sam & Max Season 3

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

F1 2010

2011 GAMES

XCOM

Bulletstorm
SF FPS from People Can Fly, makers of Painkiller.

MODS

Arcadia Demade for Doom 2
Arcadia level from Bioshock remade in Doom 2 engine. Awesome retro.

GraviNULL for Half-Life 2
Multiplayer first person Zero Gravity mod for Source.

Kingdoms Collide for Half-Life 2
TPP fantasy multiplayer mod.

2 evil eyes for Left 4 Dead 2
Five maps long beaitiful campaign set in swamps.

Deadly Dispatch for Left 4 Dead 2
“The survivors find themselves holding out above a small garage. They must fight there way through the dark urban area’s and reach the local evacuation station located in warehouse seized by CEDA. “

The Great Class Dash for Team Fortress 2
Turns TF2 into crazy platformer.

Babylon 5: Conflicts of Loyalty 2 for Nexus: the Jupiter Incident

Nexus: Battlestar Galactica for Nexus: the Jupiter Incident

Stargate Mod: War Begins for Nexus: the Jupiter Incident

Aristeia for Rome: Total War with Alexander expansion pack.

Rome Medieval for Rome: Total War
“Rome Medieval converts the original RTW game to a medieval game,with medieval environment,units,maps,battles and gameplay.the time range is from 1180 AD to the last days of the medieval age”

Fragments of Ferelden for Dragon Age
3 hours long adventure.

The Sith Lords Restored for Knights of the Old Republic 2
THis massive mods restores all the content that Obsidian had to cut out of the final game to meet the deadline.

Star Wars Conquest for Mount & Blade

Planescape: Purgatorio for Neverwinter Nights 2 with both expansion packs.

F1 1985 for rFactor

IZOD IndyCar Series 2010 for rFactor

FREEWARE GAMES

Chaos Faction 2
Very fun action brawler.

Globetrotters
A one-button multiplayer game that is intended for release on the iPad, although a fully-featured build is already available online for everyone to play. Up to four players can participate in a game, and it is a race to see who gets to a thousand points first.-Indiegames

That Gravity Game
Puzzle platformer.

Hippolyta
Beautiful action game set that uses greek mythos setting

Jump, Copy, Paste
A 2D platformer in which you overcome obstacles by copy and pasting parts of a level to build new platforms or create a passage through a wall.-Indiegames

Knight Elite
Cute defense-centric action game

Mamono Saber
A one-button arcade game where you are in control of a knight who can only move forward at a steady pace, determined to rescue the princess and save the kingdom once again-Indiegames

Maru
Simple platformer.

Redder
Exploration heavy retro platformer.

Ric Rococo: International Art Thief
Side scrolling stealth game.

Specter Spelunker Shrinks
A Unity-based platformer in which you overcome obstacles and challenges by growing or shrinking the size of the main character.-Indiegames

Stickvania
A browser-based remake of Konami’s Castlevania with stickmen graphics used for every art asset in the game.-Indiegames

Teleportower
Puzzle platformer.

They Need to be Fed
Gravity centric puzzle platformer

Tiny Castle
Awesome single screen platformer in vein of Donkey Kong.

Air Pressure
Visual novel with unique art style.

Daymare Town 3
Quirky adventure game.

Dead Frontier: Outbreak 2
“Choose your own adventure” styled game about zombie apocalypse

Escape to the Spa
Escape the room adventure game.

Hetherdale

I Can Hold My Breath Forever
Underwater exploration game.

ImmorTall
Beaitiful and sad art game.

Party Foul
Interactive fiction adventure game

Roofed
Great interactive ficton, with awesome writing and setting.

Run Jesus Run
Experimental browser game where you’re faced with a challenge to figure out what to do in each screen before the time runs out.

Lord of Ultima
Great browser based city builder

Nicemetal
A tower defense game with an interesting gimmick, originally created by babarageo for distribution at Comiket 76. There are a number of unmanned defensive structures in each map, and you have to send out soldiers to operate them for a short amount of time before they’d return back to base.-Indiegames

Steambirds
Turn based aerial dogfight game

The Challenging Stage
Video games themed quiz.

Jolls
Physics puzzler.

Picture Cubes
Quirky puzzle game

Starlight 2
Beautiful star gazing puzzler.

Tikei no Kami
Lemmings-like puzzler.

Synopsis Quest Deluxe
“A collection of RPG-themed mini-game gags”

Drift Runners 2

Tiger Woods Online

World Golf Tour