10 Must Play Casual Games

Gaming isn’t all about blowing up heads with your shotgun or chopping limbs off alien invaders; there’s a lighter side to gaming as well, which is surprisingly popular since it appeals to the wider audience that craves some sort of escape from their mundane daily routine. If you’re one of the million people out there who enjoys such games, we’ve got a treat for you – a list of 10 casual games that’s guaranteed to satisfy the casual gamer within.

Bejeweled 2 Deluxe

Let’s start off with the only casual game I’ve ever been addicted to – Bejeweled 2 Deluxe. The game requires you to place 3 or more similar colored cubes in a horizontal line by swapping two cubes at a time to make them disappear and score points. If you manage to get 4 or 5 cubes together, you make special cubes that can be detonated to score faster. The best part about the game is that as you keep moving ahead, the game’s difficulty level increases a good bit (along with the amount you score) making it a real challenge to score big. Before you know it you’ll be competing with your friends for a higher score than theirs and there’s no better feeling than kicking their asses with a humongous high score.

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Big City Adventures – San Francisco

An amalgamation of many puzzle based mini-games, Big City Adventures – San Francisco is sure to please the puzzle addict in each one of you. The best mini-game of them all is one that requires you to spot different objects in a collage-like scene, which is quite challenging to even the most observant gamer. The thing I love most about the game is the way it flows, giving you a good number of different puzzles to keep things fresh and to keep you challenged. Even though the game’s difficulty doesn’t seem to increase as you cross levels it still manages to keep monotony (which plagues most casual games) at bay, which is truly commendable.

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Luxor 2

Luxor 2 is an Egyptian themed action-oriented puzzle game that requires you to blow up spheres by getting three or more of a similar color together. You shoot spheres from a scarab at the bottom of the screen that you can move along horizontally to align a shot on a zig-zag line of spheres that come marching towards you (if they reach you, you’re toast!). If you manage to destroy a certain amount of spheres successfully, additional spheres stop spawning and after all the remaining spheres are destroyed you complete a level. The game is so painfully addictive (in a good way) that it’s made its way to many popular platforms including PC, Mac and the Xbox 360.

Zuma

Zuma is a lot like Luxor, except the spheres here move all around you instead of above you only. This adds an extra dimension to the game making it more appealing to those who’ve already played Luxor and those that simply love fast paced puzzle games. Zuma grew even more popular than Luxor did, spawning ports on every platform from the iPod to mobile phones. Although the game lacked additional modes it made up for this with its innovative level design (each of which feels different) and the awesome special power-ups such as one that slows the marching balls, and one that quickens your shots.

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Super Collapse! 3

Exceeding the success its predecessors enjoyed, Super Collapse! 3 made an appearance last year and got rated amongst the top casual games of 2006. The game gives you a plethora of challenging modes and mini-games, all of which are structured around a central game that’s a mix of Jawbreaker (a.k.a Bubble-pop and Bubblets) and Tetris. You’ve basically got to clear the screen of blocks by clicking on clusters of three or more blocks of a similar color adjacent to one-another and the bigger the cluster, the higher the score. What makes it more interesting is that layers of blocks keep pouring down and if you don’t get them out of the way in time, it’s game over for you.

Diner Dash 2: Restaurant Rescue

The Diner Dash series put you in the shoes of a dedicated restaurant waitress named Flo who’s determined to change the world, one restaurant at a time. What that really means is that you’ve got to have her shuffle around a restaurant (which seems grossly understaffed) to take orders from tables, seat customers, bring them their food on time, and get rid of the dirty dishes; all while ensuring that your customers don’t get pissed off. Diner Dash 2: Restaurant Rescue gives you access to quite a few new features such as spills to clean up, new power-ups and getting high-chairs for those annoying children, making the game far more challenging than its predecessors. Now I understand that playing the role of a waitress might sound a little boring to you but trust me, this is as glamorous as a waitress’ job gets.

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Lemonade Tycoon 2

A prime example of how something small can churn in the big bucks - Lemonade Tycoon 2 makes you start off as a small road-side lemonade vendor that works his way up the lemonade vending hierarchy into stadiums and the like, to quench the thirst of a thousand lemonade cravers. The game allows you to alter your lemonade recipe to the liking of your customers, after which you can start making your fortune and invest in different upgrades such as a cash counter, a bigger lemonade stand, a powerful lemonade juicer, and of course, more lemons. Lemonade Tycoon 2 is the best amongst all Tycoon games and is a must play for anyone who enjoys management games.

flOw

flOw started off as a research project on DDA (dynamic difficulty adjustment), before it grew into one of the most popular casual game of its time. In flOw, you start off as a single celled aquatic organism that keeps evolving by devouring other organisms as it moves deeper into the murky depths of the oceans; the best part is that depending on what type of creatures you eat, you evolve differently. Although the game is Flash based, its simple yet sharp design (visuals as well as sound) makes it look and feel awesome. The game’s popularity caught the eye of Sony too, who’ve made a graphically enhanced version of it available for download on the PlayStation Network.
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Rise of Atlantis

Playing Rise of Atlantis is like playing Bejeweled leagues under the Sea, in the mythical world of Atlantis. The thing that separates it from Bejeweled however, are the varied objectives in store for you such as collecting pieces of a puzzle for instance, which keeps things different and fresh. While being straightforward enough for anyone to pickup, Rise of Atlantis manages to keep the game’s difficulty scalable enough to challenge even the most hardcore casual (an oxymoron of my own!) gamer.

Insaniquarium Deluxe

Insaniquarium is a rather fishy game, where you own a fish tank and start off with a small number of fish. Your job is to ensure that your fish stay healthy, so that they can crap out coins (I kid you not!) that you can use to buy new fish, new feed or upgrades for your tank. This virtual tank game has many modes including Adventure, Time Trial, Challenge and Virtual Tank (which is a sand-box-ish mode) to choose from. The colorful visuals and the light-hearted theme makes for a rather pleasant experience that’s sure to give you that warm-fishy… err strike that, I meant that warm-fuzzy feeling.