Awesome Flash

The last thing we need is a Defense game to consume our time, but The Tower proved too much to resist; your goal: protect a “heart” block using a variety of defensive blocks and spells.

Most of the free games we feature are quick and dirty, but Divine Generals is a strategy game a-la Civilization with armies, buildings and research; in short, plan on a long lunch break.

Don’t let the zen-like music or lack of pieces fool you; Perfect Balance is in many ways harder than 99 Bricks as you try to keep pieces from toppling despite control over the drop point.

Unlike yesterday’s Aliens Must Die, Space Pips is quite a bit more fun and frenetic, with responsive controls, plenty of upgrades and debris that sounds a bit like wind chimes.

With atrocious English and a maddening four-axis control system, Aliens Must Die does get a bit annoying at times; still, it’s fun enough for a quick session during coffee breaks.

What Super Energy Apocalypse: Recycled lacks in graphics it makes up for in depth; it’s a basic RTS where you’re tasked with building a base to defend against mutant alien zombies.

Most games are about shooting, so were a bit surprised at how much fun Dodge is; your goal is not only to avoid enemy fire, but to lead it right back to them for some spectacular kills.

A twist switch on the classic Space Invaders shooter, Split ‘Em Up gives you two gunpods which can be separated into their own units at will; detriment or advantage? Your call.

In the best traditions of “shoot first, ask questions later,” Mechanical Commando is a robotic remake of the classic NES’ Commando; our trigger finger still aches (in a good way).

It won’t be winning any awards for the graphics, but Ragdoll Cannon: Remake is deliciously fun; your objective is to hurl hordes of ragdolls at targets spread across 25 levels.

It’s not yet finished or stable, but Project Cloudwitch is a promising indie effort by C2 Estudio; there’s nothing like Robotech-style combat to get our heartrate up. Note: requires Unity Player.

An oldie but a goodie, Stackopolis lets you build pixel cities using blocks to a Cowboy Bepop-ish soundtrack. Seems easy, until you run out the clock and get your ass handed to you.

Yes, it’s yet another zombie game, but The Last Stand had us hooked for a solid hour trying to survive twenty successive waves of the undead; hint: invest in a good weapon early.

What better way to ring in the new year than with a bid for world domination: Battle Gear offers both offensive and defensive modes, with a vast selection of land, air and sea units.

Black Knight will never replace real chess, but a number of innovations including irregularly tiled boards, unlockable regions, hidden tiles and teleport pads keep things interesting.

Cortex Command may be a work in progress, but it’s already loads of fun: this game is all about the explosions, with showers of debris rendered with a detailed physics engine.

Pyro is a bit like billiards, assuming you set your cue balls on fire and tipped the table over vertically; your objective is to light torches using elastic fireballs and combustible crates.

Vectoroid may be nothing more than a bunch of lines and points, but this homage to Asteroids is a literal blast with upgrades, enemies, hit points and a gun that never stops firing.

We have a weakness for tower defense games, so it’s no surprise we’ve wasted countless hours on Viking Defense; there’s nothing like a horde of pillagers to get your heartrate up.

Fast-paced, mech-on-mech combat, what’s not to like? Robokill is a top-down shooter filled with upgrades and spiffy graphics; the full version gets you over 460 rooms and 10 levels.

A less violent, more vertically oriented version of Bionic Commando, Frost Bite 2 uses a grappling hook that lets you catapult your way up walls and cliffs; it also doubles as a weapon.

Minotaur China Shop takes a bad career choice and turns it into an unusual physics-based game; it’s a bit like walking on pins and needles, but the Rage mode is strangely satisfying.

If you liked Auditorium, chances are you’ll also find Boomshine interesting; you’re only allowed one shot per level to start a musical chain reaction that, when properly timed is very satisfying.