Zombie Takeover

Sure, we've all got time to kill - but are killing enough time for the undead?

Zombie Takeover is one of those resource management, time-based games in the same vein as FarmVille; you allocate coins and gems to make certain enhancements (which in turn make you more coins), but everything takes a preset amount of time.

The game contains some RPG elements, where you buff up your zombie army (and later vampire army, and werewolf armies) and then battle pesky nearby humans.

Graphics are in the range of the undeniably cute, which is a great fit for the device.  Give this game a shot (it's free, after all)!

Flash Game Friday: Sweatshop

Maybe you don't want to think about social issues while playing a Flash Game.  If so, skip this review and just play this classic.  (No seriously, you should play it, anyway.  It's about not shitting your pants, an admirable goal.)

Sweatshop is a game created by Little Loud to help raise awareness of the high costs of cheap prices, and possibly just be a fun game to play.  The game can, at times, be a bit heavy handed about it's thesis (sweatshops = bad), but at its core, it has a fun story and very non-traditional tower defense gameplay.

Workers have specialties, but children can do anything!

As raw materials come down the production line, you must place workers to craft the items.  As manager, you control the worker's conditions: how fast the belt runs, if there are bathrooms available, etc.  Some of these impact production and sale value, and some are simply for the benefit of your employees' health and wellness.  It is cheaper to hire children and replace the dead ones with new ones, but that's awfully heartless!

The game boasts 30 levels of increasing difficulty, and I found myself into the game for a few solid hours.  Give it a go, if not just to blow off some steam at your comparably easy job, but also to learn!

Flash Game Friday: GemCraft

Have you ever been at work and suddenly realized, "Hey, it's Friday!  I don't want to work, I want to play Flash-based browser games!"  Well, I've got you covered.  Every Friday, I'll review an old favorite, or something new I've stumbled upon; with any luck, you'll be able to enjoy a couple hours of divine pleasure which would ordinarily be wasted on unprofitable boredom.

GemCraft (Chapter 1, Chapter 0, Lost Chapter/Labyrinth)
I don't know who at GenieInABottle.com learned how to number things, but the GemCraft series hasn't been following traditional numbering conventions.  That's okay, because this tower defense game is plenty of fun, no matter which iteration you are enjoying.  Even my husband ended up getting engrossed in the original GemCraft (Chapter 1) back when it first came out.

Like most tower defense games, the objective of these flash-based distractions is defend your home base from ongoing waves of monsters by setting up attacking towers on the path that they travel.  In GemCraft, you give towers functionality by placing gems into them.  Lower leveled gems cost less, but provide less damage.  As you progress with the game, you can make higher level gems, and combine gems (or craft them, shall we say) to form even more powerful attacks.

Gems also have a variety of secondary functions, aside from damage.  Slowing, stunning, or weakening monsters in exchange for high damage rate.  The real fun comes from combining the powers of gems to set up effective strategies. 

As you beat levels, you will gain experience, which allows you to buy upgrades to your crafting skillz, such as they are.  Towers cost less to build, you get more "mana" (the currency of the game) each time you kill a monster, etc.  This introduces more strategies as you continue to play.

Many levels limit you in the types of gems available for you, so you get to work your noggin a fair bit.  Extremely fast monsters might show up on a level in which you don't have access to a slowing gem, or heavily armored targets in an area where you don't have access to armor penetration.  This is a great take on forcing a player to revise his paradigm.  On very few levels will you be able to spam the same uber strategy.  It's fun for a brain tickle, and unique for a flash game!

There's decent replay value as well, as you can try to best previous levels for better scores and more experience.  Some levels only appear if you've completed a level with a high enough score.

The game does plenty of hand-holding, but it's not invasive and easy to skip if you're a grizzled veteran of tower defense games.  If you're completely new, start with Chapter 1, and relax - it's just a game.

The later versions introduce traps and amplifiers, and all sorts of madness.  Chapter 0 is its predecessor, and The Lost Chapter/Labyrinth is the latest released (only recently, at that).  All the games are free to play, though there is additional content for the wealthy among you (okay, not really the wealthy, as it's only a few bucks).