Bud Redhead is an action-packed, side scrolling fun platform Mac game for all ages. Its story begins with Bud and Rachel strolling through a park, and a green creature appears through a light and kidnaps poor Rachel. Bud could only grab part of the creature’s arm before the two disappear through another light. Bud is then approached by 2 grey aliens who explain to him that the green monster is Feyatta, and they, from the Cosmic Federation, are chasing him for galactic evil deeds. The electronic piece Bud grabbed from Feyatta will prevent the creature from escaping to his space ship and leaving for the unknown. They could track Feyatta, but the 2 grey men cannot chase the criminal on earth due to galaxy restrictions in interfering with earthlings. It is up to Bud to help Rachel get back and put away this desperate galactic criminal.

Bud’s adventure will take him to 4 different locations and 4 different time periods. Music also changes in each location. The places vary from a forest over 8000 years ago to a spaceship orbiting Saturn way into the future with Medieval Castles and Ancient Egypt in between.

The play is easy to pick up using the arrow keys and jumping with the control button. There are helps in forms of monitors along the way. You can stop and view them or you can ignore them. There are thousands of coins (which you need to exit the portals), jewels and fruit to get for your score. This is your basic run and jump game where you will find secret areas in each land, moving platforms, many tiered trees, levers, ropes and the dreaded but fun slippery floors.

Bud Redhead is an awesome play in the style of the Mario games. The artwork and graphics were great, and some of it reminded me of Japanese anime. The backgrounds were drawn in detail and rich colors. The ending is a big surprise. So if you are looking for an excellent family fun, try Bud Redhead and venture out into the timeless unknown.

Features of Bud Redhead:
-20 Levels of Adventure and Fun
-5 Levels per Different Worlds
-Thousands of Coins, Jewels, and Fruit
-Secret Areas
-Big Boss Levels

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Jump into the big blue ocean and swim your way to the top of the food chain in the Mac game Feeding Frenzy. Andy the angel fish must eat smaller sized fish in order to grow and reach the top of the fish kingdom. When you are small you are eaten by the larger fish so it’s imperative for you to quickly work and eat as much as possible and grow larger while keeping away from the bigger predators.

There are 2 modes of play in Feeding Frenzy: New Game and Time Attack. New Game is easier way to the top, however has limited lives. Time Attack is more difficult with unlimited lives, but it is timed. You use the mouse to guide Andy through the blue waters of the sea. By using the left click you can speed the feeding action faster using the Fish Dash attack, but you must beware of the larger fish or Andy will get eaten very quickly. The bubble above Andy’s head will let you know when you are large enough to eat bigger fish. When going on to the next level, there are interesting and educational facts about the sea. You are so into the game, you have to scan these facts quickly so you can get to the next level faster.

The bonus stage allows Andy to eat all minnows before time runs out for points. The Frenzy Meter will fill up for double points. The starfish do not help him grow but will give you points. Watch out for the Lion Fish, it can chase Andy down. Pearl will give you extra points also, but the clam can clamp down on him for lunch. Eating a school of fish will garner you 500 points.

Although Feeding Frenzy is a very simple Mac game, it is darn fun. When you have a few moments to spare, play this game just for enjoyment. You only have to think when you have to avoid the big fish. I was so into this game I didn’t check out the screen savers. This game is fun and addictive for everyone.

Features of Feeding Frenzy:
-Eat to the Top of the Food Chain
-Many Levels
-Sea Life
-Power-ups
-Screen Savers

You may also like:
Tasty Planet

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Fairy Treasure has it all—it is a breakout, action game, it has 120 levels, power-ups, magic, fairies and trolls. This Mac game is a good time no matter how you look at it.

Fairy treasure given to the good knights of Trollandia from the Fairy Queen upset the evil troll Dronk who raided the villages plundering food and precious items from the homes. He became bolder and invaded the castle for the fairy treasure. Knights and magicians were sought to recapture the royal gems. This is where you come in and save the day. You travel along the Fairy River fighting hags, goblins and evil things. Your only assistance is from the river fairies.

The play is to move the bat at the bottom of the screen left and right hitting the stone up to walls, power-ups and extras in order to pass the level. If the ball should fall into the water you lose a life. By hitting the rock up to the bricks the level will be completed when all the bricks are gone. By hitting the bat’s right side will move the orb to the right and hitting the bat on the left will move it to the left.

There are many bonuses to garner in the meantime. The extra bat either left or right, extra bat, 3 balls, fast balls, slow balls, extra life, strong balls and fire balls are among the few of the extras you’ll need to complete a level. In addition, there are magic bottles: the blue one is magnetic, red one is wacky and fire is explosive. Mushroom spores makes the ball sticky and the brown mushrooms explode when hit.

On top of all those bonuses there are more good and bad extras. The magic scroll if you get 8 you can enter the bonus level. The chain ball can be unlocked by collecting 5 keys, and be sure to get all the gold coins because 100 will get you an extra life. Frogs can be good or bad so beware, and fairies can be good if you release them from their bubble.

If you can believe it, there are more extras to discover in this action-packed fun game. All these bonuses and the fairy theme remind me of the Mac game Pixie. However, the 2 games are completely different, but both are fun to play. I enjoy playing this breakout arcade game with its flying bat breaking the brick walls. Moving the bat back and forth is reminiscent of the old time game Pong.  The graphics are good, but I can’t remember the sound effects or music due to the engrossing play of Fairy Treasure.

-Features of Fairy Treasure:
-Fairy Themed Breakout
-120 Levels
-Power-ups and Bonuses
-Bonus Levels

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Phelios the maker of Pixie, Doulber Gold, Kaijin and many more  Mac games made Abracadabra a few years ago. We are reviewing this simple but popular game for all those who may have missed it the first time around.

Abracadabra is an action packed arcade platform puzzle game. You take the little wizard through a magical trip finding gold, potions, keys and evil creatures. The wizard with his enchanted wand uses it to make or break bricks and can help save his life. You do not want to see him die. You use the arrow keys to direct him through all the mazes with many obstacles to prevent him from proceeding to the next level. Find the key and exit through the door. The space bar will let you use his wand, and use the arrows with the wand to direct the appropriate action to the right object or creature.

It takes a little practice for non-gamers to get used to the key movements but can grasp the play very quickly just by doing. It is a great starter game for all who are new to Mac games or video games, because the tutorials (in many languages) will take you step by step through the play. However, the higher levels are quite challenging and entertaining enough for even the seasoned gamers.

This game is reminiscent of the very first 2D Mario games, and you know they are always entertaining to revisit and play again. Abracadabra is just a fun play when you do not want to think too hard. I say too hard because there are some mazes you have to strategize to exit the platform. An added bonus is the easygoing jazzy music and colorful scenes to enhance your mood to play. So meet the spellbinding challenge with Abracadabra and spend some time playing this old time Mac game.

Features of Abracadabra:
-115 Levels
-Fun Arcade, Action Puzzles
-Wizards and Mystical Creatures
-Tutorials in Many Languages

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Peggle Nights is the second installment in the Peggle series, after the original Peggle Deluxe. Although not much has changed, the developers of Peggle have definitely done something right. This game is awesome and as much as it is luck, it takes a good amount of skill to complete this game. Peggle is at heart, a pachinko game but revolutionizes the genre. Instead of dropping the ball into the game, you shoot at your target and let the ball control the rest.

The goal of Peggle is to remove all the orange dots on the board. Once a pinball hits the peg, it disappears during the next turn. Once you hit the last orange peg (there is a cool Matrix-style bullet time) wherever the ball falls in the bonus, adds to your total. You can only complete the level if you get rid of all the orange before you run out of pinballs.

There are other colored pegs as well in Peggle. Green pegs have special powers, depending on who your character is. In the beginning, you start with an unicorn that has a special bounce vision that tells you where your ball will go after hitting the first peg. The next stage is a gopher who shoots a second ball out when you hit the green. There are about 10 different characters, each with his or her own special bonus. There are also purple pegs. These are not quite as interesting but give you a boost in points (when you hit a certain amount each shot, you get a free ball). Finally, there is a bumper at the bottom of the screen. If your ball falls into the middle hole, you get a free ball.

This was one of the best MacGames that I have ever played. It was both fun and interesting, as the gameplay was simple, yet absorbing. I could not stop playing once I had begun and even though it was easy at first, it got much more challenging as the game progressed. I would absolutely give Peggle Nights five out of five stars.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

There’s no stopping the little goo creature from eating everything in sight from the present day to the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth in Mac arcade game Tasty Planet: Back for Seconds. This is the sequel to the popular Tasty Planet that has been out for a number of years now, but is still enjoyed by casual gamers.

This time the scientist accidentally developed the grey goo. It can eat anything smaller than itself and should be contained and not fed. Unknowingly, his assistant felt sorry for the little guy because he looked hungry and gave him some candies. This is where the fun starts. The goo gobbles up all the colorful sweets and more.

The play is to move the blob towards the arrow with either your mouse or pad toward objects smaller than the goo before your time is up. Just stay away from bigger animals who may want to eat goo. You can play it untimed but what fun is that? In addition, stay away from the larger beings trying to gobble the goo. The top left corner will show you how big the goo is and how fast it is growing. When it is large enough, it will swallow the time machine the scientist is working on at the moment. This triggers the little guy into 6 different time periods: present day, late Cretaceous, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Feudal Japan and into the far distant future.

Keep eating away until the level ends and it will cap your total in a nice, neat summary of how many different objects the goo has eaten. There are candies, mice, dinosaurs, butterflies, bushes, bones, cats, mummies, gladiators and flying saucers. There are side puzzles like eat 110 eggs or figure out the maze of bones to complete a level. These mini games are good for breaking up the constant eating machine even though it is similar.

The music accompanying the crunches, meows, yelps of creatures being eaten is lively and reminiscent of a jazzy, country honky-tonk guitar and 60ish cool movie music. I may be wrong but that’s my take on the tunes. They are great at first but if you keep playing Tasty Planet for a long time, it does repeat a lot. In that case, just turn the sound off. The play is addictive but like the music can get repetitive. The differences in the play are very little. The goo can span from small to large in one level. When the goo is tiny, the surroundings are huge, but when it grows into a large goo, the picture will zoom out to encompass the larger objects like the dinosaurs. The dinos at this scene look like ants. The other new aspect of the sequel is that you can play with another person. You each will get your own goo. Take a look at the videos: Trailer and Co-op play. Even though the play is very similar to the first game, Tasty Planet: Back for Seconds is still an pleasant, exciting arcade game for all casual gamers. The cartoon strip will keep moving the story along and is quite amusing. A great break from hidden object or sim plays. I give it a 3.5 out of 5.

Features of Tasty Planet: Back for Seconds:

-6 Time Periods

-Bonus Modes

-Fast Action Arcade Play

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The goal is to whack as many green zombies as you can and garner as many points as possible. However, if you should whack the living lady, the cemetery man (both with skin tones of the living) and the normal brown moles, you’ll lose points. You can see that some of the moles have glowing zombie eyes and you will need to whack them. Power ups will gain you weapons for extra points and time. The sound effects are realistic so you will know you got the pistol versus the shotgun bonus. Grab the grenade and click on it at the lower left corner to activate and destroy all the zombies in one go.

You know you loved whacking the moles with the hammer. You got out your frustrations and stress out by merely hitting those dusty brown creatures on the head. Now you do not have to go to the arcade (if they still have them) to release your irritations and oppressed feelings. You can whack zombies (the new moles) to get the same relief and fun out of slamming the undead. The cartoon characters are just scary enough to make the zombies different from the living. There’s no fear factor involved in this game even with the eerie music (it’s not overwhelming and you can shut if off). I suggest you keep the sound effects on so you know by hearing the gun and explosions what you have or even the agonizing yell from the living people you accidentally whack. The snowmen will freeze all so you can whack them good if they are zombies. Get the guns and grenades for extra time and higher scores. Keep in mind that the points you earn vary based on which weapons you've used!

Whack the Dead is nothing new but rather, a different digital twist on the classic game yet updated and loads of fun. Every now and then you need to really unwind with a minimal thinking game so you can clear your mind and any annoyances you may be encountering at the moment. So, whack away, take a break from problem solving, and enjoy the fun in this action arcade game full of surprises in time for your Halloween treats. Post your high scores on Twitter and Facebook to compete against your friends and family.

It’s free on your Mac but Whack the Dead is only 99 cents for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch at the App Store. This spooky game is brought to you by Indie developer Phelios with art and design by DoomCube.

Features of Whack the Dead:
-Fast, Fun Zombie Arcade Game
-Many Powerups
-Great Artwork, Music and Sound Effects

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The magical forest of Phantasia is under siege by the evil wizard who captured and encapsulated the peaceful nation of dwarves in bubbles in his ominous towers in his dark and dingy castle. Alas, one, lone dwarf managed to escape and find you to assist him in rescuing his fellow citizens. It is up to you to save the lives of these wonderful dwarves and bring them back to the land of Phantasia.

If you should accept the challenge, you will be shooting balls up to where the dwarves are encased. You shoot at 2 or more of the like color balls to pop the bubbles, release the dwarves and catch the gold and silver coins. The coins will boost your score. The dwarf who found and convinced you to help him will provide you with bubbles on the lower left of the screen. You will see the colors of the balls coming down the conveyor belt so you can strategize your next move. The castle is large and there are many levels to conquer in this game.

The power-ups are the bombs (will destroy the balls around the area you shoot), fireballs will shoot straight up and rid all the balls in its path, one color ball (changes color of one ball), change balls, one row destroyer. In addition to the bonuses, there are stone balls to block your successful rescue. Of course, the bubbles on the game board are continuously descending to prevent you from winning. This action is similar to the Mac game Abundante!

This arcade game is a fun way to spend a few hours in the afternoon with the kids or alone. Keep an eye out for the funny characters popping in and out of the top and bottom of the screen.  The play is easy enough for children and casual gamers, and the story line is amusing. I think the only thing that bothered me was the pleading of the dwarves in the bubble. You feel a little guilty when you do not save them fast enough because you are trying to figure out the best possible way to release the most balls. So shoot away and save the nation of dwarves in the land of Phantasia.

Features of Phantasia:
-Valuable Coins
-Bonuses
-30 Unique Levels
-Hall of Fame

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Take a blast from the past with Titan Attack, as Space Invaders returns revamped and more intense than ever. Instead of popping in quarters to a machine, now gamers can easily start up a crusade against the alien onslaught in the comfort of their own computers. The classic scrolling across the bottom of the screen shooter has the same feel as the classic Space Invaders but with an arsenal of new twists that has gamers gunning for more.

In Titan Attacks the fate of the world lies in the hands of a lonely tank left running back and forth trying hard to repel an alien barrage. That tank has slow left to right movement, a single laser beam, and 2 bars of health. Doesn't seem like a lot as the alien enemy seems to evolve and expand at every chance it gets. The solution to the dilemma: Upgradeable tank with the money from killing aliens. Simple yet an effective way to get me to play the game more and more. Each level I finish I see how much money I need for more shields, bombs, cannons, or lasers, or a faster moving tank. It's addicting. On top of the weapons shop a high score bulletin to top off a meticulously played game seals the deal for gamers to fight for the human race.

Titan Attack has a look that is new and sleek but a feel that is comfortable and recognizable. Game play-wise a score multiplier adds to the need to continue playing the game because it only increases if the tank does not take damage and kills aliens. As more aliens drop, reverse movement, and get a little faster someone is going to have to take the call for humanity. Titan Attack gets a 4.5 out of 5 because it makes me answer that call whenever I don't want to do anything else in the world but recall Space Invaders and destroy that last quickly flying alien.

Features of Titan Attack:
-100 levels of Frantic Shooter Action
-Upgrade with Cannons, Rockets and Lasers
-5 Giant Boss Motherships
-Prizes

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

While watching the Boston College Eagles win their first football game of the season, it reminded me that I need to write a review for Phelios’ action packed arcade game Kaijin. There are 3 modes to play: Way of the Eagle (see the connection?), Way of the Tiger (not that Tiger) and Way of the Dragon. Kaijin is a homage to Galaga where aliens are not in short demand as they come at you in rapid succession.

The year is 2546 on Planet Terria. The Terrians survived on their own wits growing their own foods not genetically modified. All others destroyed their central neuron system by eating bad flesh. These beings went to a dark place and turned into mutant insects. These demented beings are planning to take over Terria. Your job as the best Terrian fighter pilot must battle these evil forms and save the good people of Terria and their pure and happy way of life. Kaijin is your trusted ship. The Japanese connection is another salute to the Galaga link.

The way of the Eagle will allow your ship to go to every part of the screen. You are not limited to the bottom. The Way of Tiger is the classic play a la Galaga where the ship is at the bottom of the screen moving from back and forth. The way of the Dragon is full on action with 3 levels of craziness. Tiger and Dragon are locked for the demo version. It's like getting 3 games in one.

The enemy will come at your ship in wave patterns, and not only must you destroy them, you must be sure to get rid of the eggs laid by some of these creatures because if you do not, they will burst into more aliens. In addition, there are bosses that you need to contend with and you know how hard it is to annihilate them.

At the bottom of the screen you will see the shield guards. Every time you get hit by an alien, the gage will decrease, but every time you hit an enemy, it will increase. The more energy you get, the more firepower is available to you. There are bombs, shield recharges, extra points and more bonuses. Your weapons are based in the shield level and can include lasers, blasters, fireballs and more.

Just like in football, you are attacking and moving forward except in Kaijin it’s not that easy. There are so many aliens flying up and down, in circles, exploding into more mutants and never stopping. When you think you can catch your breath, more enemies come swooping down. Kaijin is an intense, solid arcade shooting Mac game for experienced gamers and gamers who are willing to practice and play until they are experienced. The scenery and is simple but you do not want to be distracted with background art when you are fighting these evil monsters. I was too busy to notice the sound effects, but I am sure it was fine because the whole experience was great. I give Kaijin a 4 out of 5 for an awesome Shump (shoot em up) play.

Features of Kaijin:
-20 Types of Mutants
-4 Worlds
-3 Modes
-146 Levels

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

How can you go wrong with a name like Pirate Poppers? Aaargh! With its pirate theme and music what else is left but a treasure map and riches? You need to piece together a map for the location of the legendary treasure of Isla Calabera.

There are 3 modes to play in this pirate game: Adventure, Puzzle, and Arcade. The Adventure mode has 77 levels of play. In the Puzzle mode you must clear the row of balls with only a limited number of cannons, so you must figure out exactly how and where you will place these balls on the rail. In the Arcade mode you get a number of lives before losing a level.

The play is to simply shoot cannon balls at groups of colorful balls rolling on a track towards a barrel. You must aim for like color balls and shoot while the chain of cannons continues to move forward. When the balls are blasted and disappear, the cannons on either side will come together and if they are the same color and are 3 or more, they may also explode and clear the game board.

There are a lot of power-ups in this game. Some of the extras will change the color of the balls to blasting a whole slew of cannons with an explosive one. With some of the other features, the balls will move backwards giving you extra time to figure out your strategy. There is a spyglass when you are able to shoot faster and more accurately. On top of all that there are many extras you can catch with your cannon. The many jewels and treasures will give you extra points and the skull medallions will increase the number of lives.

Pirate Poppers is very similar to Zuma, Sweetopia and Luxor where you shoot at orbs coming down a tube-like conveyor belt. This is an action packed arcade Mac game with pirate cannons, treasures (gold, silver and jewels) and much more. You’ll have fun just sitting back and shooting cannonballs out into the chains of multicolored spheres. This game takes some strategy and thinking, but on the most part it is just an enjoyable game to kick back and shoot.

Features of Pirate Poppers:
-Pirate Theme
-6 Power-ups
-Treasure
-77 Levels

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Have you ever wanted to go back in time to the 80’s and relive the retro games of that era? Well, now is your chance to play an exciting old time feel arcade game Varmintz. This game with its 2D scenes and colorful characters will take you back to that time where things were a lot more simplistic but still fun and exciting.

With that said, this game is no walk in the park. There are more obstacles and enemies blocking your Varmintz’ way. The goal is to get 5 of your cute critters across diverse environments to their den and safety. When you accomplish this feat, more worlds will unlock. Use the arrow keys to move each one from side to side and up and down avoiding crazed dogs, joggers, skateboarders, mean looking lumberjacks, crazy cowboys, mad ducks, people with shopping carts and more. To speed up the pace use your spacebar. Travel through different environments gathering golden eggz as you go along. Get large points and an extra life for every 50 eggz. This may sound easy but when you are faced with crossing a highway full of speeding trucks, cars and motorcycle, you have to be extremely careful. Other dangers are water, cliffs, and construction sites. Each level has its own obstacles and dangers to face with its own set of enemies. Helps you will find along the way are platforms where you can jump on to get to another place, potions to get you passed enemies and freeze them with another potion.

There are 4 major environments: Suburbia, Old West, Forest, and Highway. Within each colorful scene you’ll find quirky enemies and baddies attempting to stop you at every turn. Your 5 wards are Binki (clever, daring), Shady (sneaky, devious), Lulu (sweet, fast), Bean (shy, kind) and Rubin (happy, strong, burly). All with their own individual personalities and sounds. It’s purported that each one of the Varmintz represent the 5 developers.

Varmintz is a great game with colorful scenes, fun characters and a purpose to traversing through dangerous routes. The music is upbeat and happy. Get your fingers limbered and get the 5 critters back to their den safely. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 for one awesome retro game. Give it a try and save Binki, Shady, Lulu, Bean and Rubin.

Features of Varmintz:
-50 Exciting Levels
-Many Fun Obstacles and Enemies
-Amazing Environments

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Pixie is a new, exciting Mac game produced by independent game developers, Phelios, Inc. and EMV Software. It was created with the PTK Game Engine. Phelios is a popular maker of PC and Mac games such as Doulber Gold, Kaijin, Abracadabra and many more. A couple of EMV Software’s best selling games include Warblade and Deluxe PocMon. The two developers collaborated and created Pixie, an exceptional and varied game play with sophisticated graphics and animation by Paul Conway, music and sound effects by William Lamy at audiobank.fm.

The game begins with Pixie, the main character, spending her day playing,  flying in the magical forest and meadows not realizing that nightfall has quickly befallen her. Not only is it dark and scary, there are a lot of ominous looking creatures following her. In order for Pixie to escape this dark and dreary environment and return to her lovely home and friends, she must use her magical beam to surround the creepy crawlers and buzzing flying insects in the maze and create a beautiful garden filled with flowers, butterflies, leaves, mushrooms and colorful patterns, and in turn, destroy the night bugs. After filling 85% or more of the maze with Pixie’s magical powers using her rays (the direction of the beams can be changed by right clicking the mouse or by pressing the space bar) she moves on to the next level/maze.

In the process of killing off the creepy crawlers and frantic insects, she can collect gold coins and different magical powers. If enough gold coins are collected, they can be used in the magic shop to purchase different levels of power. The shop is available at every 5th level if she has 3 or more gold coins. Hitting the return key will reveal the contents of the purchases from the shop. There are some great items in the store such as Extra Life, Smart Bomb, Shot Speed, Freeze, Ghost, Shield and Health potion. It’s really advantageous if you have a lot of coins to spend on these worthwhile helps. They can extend and add to your play.

In addition to the shop powers, there are bonuses flying all around, both good and bad, to enhance or hinder Pixie’s power. These bonuses can be extremely powerful, such as the smart bombs which will destroy many bugs in it’s path and turn them into gold coins, but she must be wary of the red bombs which will destroy all the good patterns that Pixie has already covered. Another great bonus is the reverse filler. When Pixie aims her beam to cover a small area, this bonus will cover the larger area or the opposite, bigger space. A good bonus is the fast shot, but Pixie must watch out for the bad bonus the slow shot or speed. When Pixie is moving in slow motion, it is extremely frustrating to avoid the insects or maneuver her shots so don’t get caught in that bonus, because it is not a good thing.

Another way to cover the dark game board is to aim Pixie’s beam to divide exactly 50% of the space and by doing so, the entire board will fill with the beautiful flowers and good things in life. This is a fast and rewarding way to finish one level. Only if all the levels were like that, but if they were, then the game would not be as challenging and exciting as it is with the different shaped (rectangles, circles, irregulars, houses, faces, etc.) game boards and the many and varied evil villains both crawling and flying. The developers have balanced the frenetic speed of the play in each level. Some will be fast paced and the speed of other levels will be almost relaxing, but you always need to be wary of the insects.

Each level becomes more and more difficult to beat the ever increasing and faster bugs. Yuck. When Pixie begins to get a rhythm and is avoiding the deadly flying insects, an insignificant caterpillar will come along and destroy her, or she will get entangled in the deadly spider webs making it almost impossible to collect the gold coins, or a nasty bug will undo all of Pixie’s beautiful work. Eventually she reaches 2 boss levels. This is when the fun is exponentially increased to a whole new level. All the gamers out there will be pleasantly surprised or dismayed, but will quickly get into the swing of things by trying to figure out your strategy. You will have to use all your past gaming knowledge in order to destroy the bad guys. I won’t go into it any further so as not to ruin your fun, but you’ll know when you get there what I’m talking about.

Pixie will become a classic game like Mario with all the expertise needed to conquer all the evil arthropods created by the manic game developers who have put together one awesome game. Don’t let the cute and petite Pixie fool you. She can be very powerful and deadly with her magical aim. Casual gamers and children will be able to go far in this game, and by doing so, will develop more skills in order to reach Pixie’s home, and hardcore gamers will find the challenge and difficulty levels as well as a fun, reminiscent and exciting play.

*As of 4/09 there are new upgrades: new bosses, new bonuses (incl. a 100% fill bonus!), new effects, more gold coins.

Pixie Features:
100 levels
2 Boss levels
Gold coins
Potion Shop
Good and bad bonuses
Online high scorers
Great graphics, sounds effects and music
Upgrades are free

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Have you ever wondered where teddy bears come from? If you have, you’ll find out in this cute and fun sim time management game made for the entire family. It takes you to an unusual factory of moving parts to put together.

Sally is a kindhearted person managing an orphanage. She makes sure each of the children has a teddy bear to sleep with at night to keep them company. Her uncle’s factory makes the cuddly toys for her and when she needs more teddys, she calls him. This last time she called, she found out that her uncle went bankrupt and no longer owned the company. However, the man who now owns the business told Sally she can work in the factory and if there are any extra bears, she can keep them. Well, Sally rolled up her sleeves and set to work her skills on putting together the bears for the sake of the orphans.

The teddy bear parts come down a winding conveyor belt in any order and colors. You click on a bear part and then click on the other parts to make an entire teddy with a head, body, right arm, left arm, right leg and finally a left leg. I like to start with the body and click the head, arms and legs to finish, but you can style your bear any way you want. With the time clocking away, you have to work quickly and efficiently in this fast paced game and you cannot afford to wait for the parts you need. As the levels increase, different color parts come down the belt faster. You need to fill your tasks as outlined at the top right in order to reach a higher rank (rank at top left). The different levels will have different conveyor belt configurations. In addition special bear parts will come down the assembly line like the Elvis Bear and you will need to put it together for your Trophy Room.

You need to decide at the beginning of the game what speed best suits you from Easy (the conveyor belt will stop before it reaches the exit), Normal to Hard. There are 2 modes to play: Quest and Survival. The Quest follows the story of Sally and Survival has the conveyor belt continuously flowing down with parts to put together as quickly as possible before the parts reach the exit gate and the game will be over. In Quest you must please the kids at the bottom of the screen requesting different color teddy bears. Make them happy and your points will increase.

The great helps come in form of rainbow color parts that can be used on any color bear. The different levels have different shaped conveyor belts.

Teddy Factory is similar in play, format and appearance to Santa’s Super Friends. Except for the holiday themed parts for the toys, the game is almost identical with the parts of different toys traveling down the winding conveyor belt. If you are coordinated and fast, you will like the challenge in the Hard mode. If you are learning, young or want to relax, try the Easy or Normal mode in this fun and addictive game. Sometimes it’s nice to change it up a bit with a different game play. Try it out and help Sally and the orphans!

Features of Teddy Factory:
-Fun Match/Puzzle Arcade Game
-Colorful Artwork
-Easy to Learn

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Monster Town is under attack by evil monsters in Mac game Zak and Jack: Showdown at Monster Town. It is a colorful, fun shooter game full of action and speed. There are good monsters and bad monster in this comical play, and you must help Zak and Jack, two good monsters, defend their beloved Monster Town. The 2 of them are creative inventor types who can rig up shooting machines in order to beat down the massive invasion of the enemy.

The play is simple and straightforward with the crazy contraptions used to defend the town. Just click to shoot while you move Zak and Jack up and down on their invention. It’s not as easy as it sounds because the evil villains constantly at different positions keep coming at you until you shoot all the monsters. After each level the swarm of bad guys increases exponentially rising high and low.

In addition to this mega invasion there are the bosses who can cause much harm and havoc to the invention causing you to lose the level and restart. Don’t fret, keep at it and you’ll eventually beat the levels getting a high percentage of accuracy. This percentage is important to complete each level so don’t shoot willy-nilly at anything. You can always get good power-ups to assist your fight, but beware of the red ones. They are not helpful.

Zak and Jack: Showdown at Monster Town is an arcade, shooter Mac game with so much action you’ll need to take breaks after so many levels or you’ll get completely exhausted with finger cramps. You need to be able to think fast and act even faster in order to outsmart the countless invasion of evil monsters. Take the challenge and help Zak and Jack defend their Monster Town.

Features of Zak and Jack: Showdown at Monster Town
-5 Episodes
-Lots of Monsters and Bosses
-Power-ups

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Air Assault is a game that is really retro and really cool. This action-arcade helicopter shooter reminds me of the classic arcade shooters where you basically shoot at will to destroy everything in your path. Air Assault is very simple and easy to play, the only directions that are needed are given at the beginning of every game. You use the mouse to control the airplane, left click shoots bullets, and right click shoots missiles. I would recommend turning down the sensitivity of your mouse (if it is up too high) because the helicopter does fly around wherever you drag the mouse.

What makes the game interesting is the ten different types of power-ups that are provided. These include blue wrenches that fix your helicopter, blue shields that add strength to your hull, a yellow lightning that makes your guns more powerful, a yellow double gun that adds a second gun, orange rockets that add more rockets, purple squares that auto aim the guns, purple stealth bomber that gives you invisibility and a secret purple marker that you will have to play the game to find out what it does.

Gameplay is simple. Try to make it through the level as you destroy as many enemies and scenery (barracks, bridges, antennas, etc.) to gain as many points as possible. Like all arcade games, you have a certain amount of lives to make it through the level. You can see the damage to your helicopter in the lower left corner, as green means your ok and red means you are in bad shape. I thought this was a cool feature as most games like this would generally only have a gauge that calculates the amount of life. Air Assault tells you where and how bad certain parts of your aircraft are damaged. Just a neat little feature that enhances the game. Although I only played the demo, I thought it seemed a little easy, but I think it gets progressively harder as the game continues. Other than that, I had no other problems and give Air Assault four and a half stars out of five.

Features of Air Assault:
- Classic Arcade style Helicopter shooter
- 32 different enemy types
- 10 different upgrades

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Hit the grass courts and fire off an ace in a high speed match of Smashing Tennis. The game is clear: win sets to win matches. Now all you have to do put your own skills to the test and see if tennis is indeed your sport of choice. The key to this sports game in particular is skill.

Smashing Tennis requires skills with the use of two hands on different keys of the computer. If a gamer fails to play well on their first try and decides to just give up and complain about it on other people's blogs, then they missed the whole concept of Smashing Tennis in the first place. Smashing Tennis is not supposed to be mastered when someone presses start, it evokes a determination to evolve in skill level as players and tournaments are conquered one by one. To rise to the top of the International Tennis Association, it takes a lot more than scrolling and clicking a mouse.

Tennis is personally not my favorite sport. However arcade games of tennis  are always amusing and tons of fun. Smashing Tennis in particular is pretty entertaining as it reminds me of a 2D version of Mario Tennis. Overall I would give Smashing Tennis a 4 out of 5 stars.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Even 1000 year old forest wizards need a break now and then. This is the case in Mac arcade game Youda Fairy where the wizard protecting the people in the village is ready for a vacation of sorts. You are to train as his assistant learning to cast spells, create fairies and such to ward off the evil witch and her henchmen.

The main play is situated in a marshy, wet pond where you need to catch fireflies to make fairies. Never knew that’s the way you create fairies. You click on the lily pad with the same color flower as the fireflies and click on the bug to catch them. The flower will shoot out and gobble up the firefly. Stay away from the spikey firefly or it will decommission your lily flower for a while. So you have a blue lily flower on a pad and that flower will catch only blue fireflies. Pretty straightforward, right? Well, as in all time management type of game, it gets crazy or at least, frustrating in higher levels. Different colors will start popping up in later levels and you have to alternate colors to catch your insects. After the pad has its fill, you click on the pad to release the like color fairy. You click on the fairy and drag her to the like color lantern down at the bottom of the screen. Make sure you click on the gecko and frogs to shoo them away. The frog will incapacitate your flower and the gecko will eat your fireflies. There are more natural barriers as you go higher in the levels. Fortunately, you have helps like the sneeze spell to create more fireflies, spiders when dragged will collect all the same color fireflies in one scoop and a shield for your lily pad to ward off the pests.

Once you meet your goals (# of fairies in each color), you go to village to protect the town’s people from the destructive witch. The villagers will let you know when they need a fairy of a certain color to help them. Each time a heart of the fairy color pops up above a home, you need to click on the lantern with the same color fairies and then click again on the home before the hearts disappear. In addition to being fast on your feet, you have to deal with the nasty bad guys (witches, goblins and trolls). This part of the game reminded me of the Mac sim time management game Sushi to Go Express.

Although the game sounds easy, it is not; especially when you get up in the higher levels. I found it frustrating when you did not have a sneeze spell to create more fireflies to meet your goals. I found sometimes I was waiting around for the bugs. The pests though distracting helped move the play along. Another distraction to the main play is the building of the village with your earned points you can buy a cottage, bridge and many more sections after unlocking the upgrades.

As always, Youda developed a beautifully drawn game with deep, rich colors, but the play, although original, missed the mark for me. I would rather play Peggle without much of a story line than catch fireflies. I guess I was expecting more action than time management play. It wasn’t for me but you may enjoy this type of game. I give it a 3.0 for great artwork and originality.

Features of Youda Fairy:
-Original Play
-Help the Villagers
-Create Fairies
-Challenging Levels

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Fly away in the fast paced life of space and aliens in the intense shooter Warblades. Closely related to old arcade scrolling shooters, waves of enemies flow down the screen firing at your ship as you duck and fire while moving left and right. As levels progress, more enemies with more firearms along with more power-ups appear. Warblade takes Space Invaders also a little farther by giving the spaceship the ability to upgrade with money earned from certain dead enemies.

Warblade is a quality game with a lot of replay value. The high score system and fact that players can set high scores with only three lives makes the craving of the game all the better. Two-player mode also makes the player feel they are back in the arcade mashing buttons with their buddy all those years ago. Warblade takes a traditional style of games and does not go off so far as to ruining it.

Personally I would give Warblade a 4.5 out of 5 stars due to appreciation of similar games and the fact that it was down right fun. Warblade is a pure arcade game that deserves praise and status as a competitor for all the past scrolling shooters that have come and gone in the video game world.

Features of Warblade:
-100 Levels
-Uncover Secrets and Bonus Games
-Use Strategy
-Beat the Bosses

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

“Episode IV, greatest adventure yet to come” is the claim in this 4th edition of the fantastic series of Chicken Invaders. Chicken Invaders 4: Ultimate Omelette continues the fight against the alien chickens in outer space with addition enemies and bosses threatening everyone in the galaxy and beyond. This time you will have help from Hen Solo.

Hen Solo comes to you and warns of a grave danger coming from a distant galaxy far, far away. After traveling warp speed through a black hole you view the deadly Egg Cannon. It’s in the testing stages now, but will soon be ready to engulf earth and every planet that gets in its way. Before you can escape unnoticed some of the new up and coming recruits spot you and attack. You must fight these chicks the same way you took out their older relatives one chick at a time.

Move your ship all around the screen unless specifically given a safety zone, and if so, stay in that zone to avoid any mishaps like losing your life. Move away from the bosses to evade their powerful weapons. The play is the same as all the other Invader games that came before this one but with added bonuses and more fun. Is that possible? Yes, it is still challenging and more fun with more weapons, chickens and bosses. In addition, Hen Solo will shadow you and help you fight the chickens. You will get parts for your tiny ship to enhance its power, but don’t be fooled because the more power-ups you get the stronger the chickens become especially the boss levels. The robotic crab ship shoots out chicks and chickens alike and is difficult to beat. Keep at it and defeat the manic looking crustacean airship with its many arms.

Chicken Invaders 4 is just as humorous as the other games with more gift wrapped weapons and waves of chickens to fight. Laugh your way through the many levels picking off the enemy. Win your many medals, points and unlock secret weapons for more entertainment in this fast and furious shooting Mac game. The chicken series is one great play. Any one of the games is a good thing so try them all for an exciting arcade shooting game with great graphics and sounds.

Features of Chicken Invaders 4: Ultimate Omelette:
-Go Beyond the Milky Way
-Egg Cannon
-Unlockables

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars