Somersault

Somersault is a platformer, of a sort; each level is traversed from left to right, but extending above and below your entry point, with secret areas. Your goal is to collect gold and silver rings, while avoiding heat, water, and other dangers.

That sounds like any number of other games, but what's interesting, and unique, about Somersault is the UI scheme. You are guiding a bouncing ball, which you do by using the mouse to draw Pong-like paddles on the screen. Basically, when you click, you start a paddle at the point where you clicked; you drag to draw the rest of it. If you release the mouse, the paddle stays in place, but instead you can keep the button down and "swing" the paddle, Ping-Pong-like, to bat the ball. To guide you, a rainbow extends from the ball, showing its future path.

The scheme is difficult to get used to, at first, but difficulty begins fairly low, and the controls are responsive and clear. There's also clearly a physics engine at work -- objects in the world can be knocked over, or swung, and are used to create puzzles of a sort as well.

It's a nicely polished game -- conventional in level structure and overall dynamic, but cleverly innovative in how you interact with the system. And the graphics are charming, as is the game's soundscape.