Casual

The somewhat dreary history of casual games goes something like: First there was Bejewelled, then there was Diner Dash, then there was Mystery Case Files. Virtually everything successful in the field is essentially imitative of one of those three: match-three games, time-management games, and hidden object (aka "hunt the pixel") games.

Naturally, we do not cover such jejune and imitative dross; Dream Chronicles is, however, original and interesting enough to be worth a look. It does have a "hunt-the-pixel" aspect (there are "dream pieces" in each location you need to find and click on to assemble a "dream jewel," and doing so gives you a clue to a puzzle), but it's not core to the gameplay.

"Fairies in Arcadia" is something of a pun here, since "arcadia" is a term we use to mean "games of a style you might find in the arcade" and, of course, has the conventional meaning of a place of peace and simplicity. It's apt in both senses, since The Great Tree is a simple skill and action game with a charming aesthetic -- and more depth than most games sold into the casual market, though without the degree of challenge that core gamers might prefer.

Splume was created by Steve Swink and Matthew Wegner of Flashbang Studios. It is, in essence, a variant of Bust-a-Move (or, if you prefer, Snood), but with interesting level progression.

PopCap has probably already made ten times what it cost them to build Peggle. This means that, while they wouldn't turn it down, they don't need your money. Considering however that Peggle is pretty much universally liked (though notably not 'beloved'), you can bet that it's worth checking out.

Peggle has more agency than Pachinko, but less than Pinball. Players shoot a ball from the top of the screen, bouncing it off pegs and blocks, trying to collide it with all the orange pegs before they run out of shots. However, pegs and blocks disappear whenever they are hit by the player's ball, meaning that options get fewer and choices get harder as the game wears on. Making everything harder is fact that no human being could possibly predict how a ball is going to bounce past the first two ricochets, which makes whether you win or lose pretty random in the grand scheme of things.

We don't often cover "casual" games, but Out of Your Mind is from Gamelab, one of the most creative and interesting independent game developers -- and its gameplay is original enough to make us pay attention.

From a gameplay perspective, Out of Your Mind is basically an elaboration and extention of Loop (also by Gamelab); in each level, your job is to draw loops around on-screen items, following certain rules about what's allowed inside the loop and what isn't.

You look at Loop and you think: Wow, this is creative; I've never seen gameplay like this before. And also: Who in his right mind thought this was going to be popular?

The look of Loop comes out of Leo Lionni, the children's book creator, and the surrounding media--the girlish laughter when you complete a loop, the cheerful music--reinforces the sense that you've wandered into an alternate universe where people create digital applications for tots without trying to cram branded properties into their brains for future profit selling them licensed crapola--but purely for the joy of creating applications tots will enjoy.

You'll find Virtual Villagers 2 on the casual game sites--but don't let that mislead you. This isn't the usual match-three game, but an extremely unusual--and remarkably compelling--game, in which you help an island of primitives survive and thrive. Unusually, the "world" continues when you're not playing--so, Tamagotchi-like, you need to check in every few days to see what's happening and adjust your strategy.

Virtual Villagers is an offbeat "life sim" game in which you control a village of castaways on what seems to be a South Pacific island, helping them to build something like an adequate life for themselves. What's unique about it in comparison to other life sims is that "time" progresses even when the game isn't running--in other words, if you don't come back to the game for several weeks, you may find that something fairly horrific has happened to your civilization.

Set in the world of Homeric myth, The Odyssey is a level-based casual game in which you have to guide your ships from one end of the level to the other in the face of monsters, storms, and other obstacles. What's interesting (and innovative) about it, however, is the control scheme--you move your ships by holding down the mouse button and drawing in the water to create currents, and by changing the direction and strength of the winds by moving the mouse within a wind-control region of the screen.

2005 IGF Finalist

Okay, so by now everyone is familiar with the interface used in virtually every bowling or golf game, right? Select direction and power, then trigger, and see where your shot goes.

RocketBowl uses the same interface, but this is a far different experience from your usual game. It's played not in a traditional bowling alley, but on a 3D modelled landscape with hills, valleys, obstacles and so on--more like minigolf, in other words, except that you're not trying to get the ball into a hole, but to knock down pins. And the physics engine nicely governs how slopes change the direction of your ball as it rolls.