My Casual Games

Mark Gungor is a spiritual and relationship speaker who also happens to be hilarious. Check out his take on relationships, and you just might learn something in between laughs.

Men’s Brains vs Women’s Brains

Ask More Than Once

Men’s Sex Drive (clean despite the title)

He also sells a 4-disk set “Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage” on his website.

The newest Mystery Case Files is Return to Ravenhurst. It’s bigger, with dozens of new puzzles, an immersive soundtrack, and adventure-style play.

Some background on the game: Emma’s soul is free. But her ghost has delivered a dire warning: evil still lurks in Ravenhearst Manor. Experience Ravenhearst’s spectral halls as never before with new immersive adventure-style gameplay and an epic original soundtrack. Feel the floorboards creak as you move from room to room solving puzzles and seeking out clues in over 150 detailed scenes.

Download the free one-hour trial or buy the game for $19.95 here.

Righteous Kill has a violent premise for a game, but it is a good hide and seek with some interesting police-themed mini-games. 

Step into the shoes of Erica Dean as she investigates crime scenes in New York City. It’s a man hunt for a vigilante on a killing spree through 16 locations containing over a thousand hidden objects. With the help of Sergeant Vasquez, Erica will use clues she collects in a number of detective-themed mini games. Inspired by the motion picture film, Righteous Kill features clips from the movie and 15 animated levels.

Although it is “inspired by” the movie coming out in September, Righteous Kill has mostly women in the story (as opposed to the movie, which stars Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro. The production values are good, including the sound and the visuals. Interesting mini-games include a fingerprint search, stopping a computer trace, and determining differences in a crime scene photo. 

Download the game free for one hour or buy for $19.95. BigFIshGames is also running a 40% off back-to-school promotion until September 3rd. Find out more about Righteous Kill here.

And geek week continues, with the Geek Hierarchy Chart.  Ever wonder who’s geekier than Trekkies at a convention? With this chart, you’ll know, and be able to pinpoint just how geeky you are. If you wanna know, I’m sort of in the 3rd tier, with my love of video games, sci fi fiction and lots of sci fi TV.

Another take on the internet community. This is what would happen if Google’s parents left town for the weekend. What kind of party would their kid throw? Very funny video, although not kid-safe at all.

G2 - Geeks Unleashed is an arcade-style game where you try to collect artifacts before your opponent can, thereby winning prizes. You play a geeky collector at a convention, desperately looking for the article that will complete your collection. In order to get that article, you have to “battle” other geeks in a puzzle/arcade game. There are also some mini games to play.

The game is cute and cartoonish, with some spoofs of convention goers. The gameplay is deceptively easy, and you do need to use some strategy to win at higher levels.  With 30 levels of gameplay, the game is short, but the production values are good, and you can play in various modes, including story, quick, and even 2-player.

A fun, funny spoof on geeks, their obsessions, and the conventions that let them be as crazy as they wanna be. G2 - Geeks Unleashed - download a free 1-hour trial or buy it for only $19.95.

This week, my geeky side is coming to the forefront. First up, a funny cartoon from xkcd about the online communities and their relationships. Enjoy! And be sure to look at the rest of the site for other funny strips dealing with some strange stick figures.

Rooms: The Main Building is actually a sequel to a free game released in 2006. In it, you are stuck in a mysterious town with lots of locked doors. Your only hope of escape is to play slider games, and win objects and keys. If you can find the 4 puzzle pieces hidden in the rooms, you can escape the town.

The sliding puzzles are clever. You have to get from where you are placed to the exit door in a set amount of time by sliding squares around a board. The only clue you have is in the background of the puzzle - if the background looks correct, you can get from one room to another. There are obstacles: you need to go up and down using ladders, and there are blocks on some of the pieces. But you also get a few nifty helpers, such as a teleporter and a wardrobe that switches squares.

As you solve the sliding puzzles (80 in all) you also collect items that will help you solve the other part of the game. This is the adventure mode. The street you are on has locked rooms. Once you get the keys to the rooms, you must solve a small adventure-like puzzle (use inventory object A on B, etc.) to find the puzzle piece you need to escape. Both parts of the game are a good mix - challenging and fun, but not too frustrating. The sliding puzzles go from very easy to harder as the game progresses.

One nice feature is there is an option to make your own level or to add a level from someone else.  If enough people play, this could lead to a fun extension of the game, and a chance to be creative with a level.

The production values are good on this game. The audio is very good, with a haunting soundtrack. The video is very nice, although a little dark. The game is made by a Korean company, HandMade Games, and that adds the only flaw to the game: the English translation is a little off, so there are some phrases that took me out o the game. Other than that, however, the overall look and feel of the game is great.

Overall, I liked this game, both because it is different from other games and for the nice way it is set up.  Download a free hour trial of Rooms: The Main Building or buy it for only $19.95.

The original game (called Rooms) is freeware. It is short, and the production values aren’t as good, but it is a good way to extend your sliding game fix. if you want to download it, click here.  Be prepared for a sort-of slow download.

I love the hidden object game Forgotten Riddles: The Moonlight Sonatas! It’s a twist on the traditional seek and find, since you have to solve riddles in order to find out what you can cick on. There are also many challenging mini-games scattered throughout the rooms of the Opera House that you are exploring. This is the second game in the Forgotten Riddles series, but it is, in my opinion, better than the first. The puzzles are good but not too frustrating, the story is engaging, and the technical effects (visuals and sound) are top-notch.

Francis von Amadeus was a child prodigy and talented composer. The city of Godesberg has given you access to his journal filled with secrets and riddles. Use the clues to detect hidden objects within the many chambers of the Moonlight Opera House. You`ll notice a gaunt, ghostly figure still graces the second floor balcony. Can you solve the mystery behind the Moonlight Sonatas?

Click here to download the game for an hour free, or buy it for only $19.95.

Are you ever in the mood for low-budget murder mysteries? The Stickman Murder Mystery site may be just the place for you. Sure it’s violent, but the victims are only stick figures.

You play a homicide detective who solves crimes for the town of Stickville. You interview suspects, collect evidence, examine the body, and profile criminals. Then, when you think you’ve solved the mystery, you submit the evidence to your boss, the Chief. If he believes you, you’re a star! If not, oh boy, do you get humiliated.

It’s a combination of campy detective stories, juvenile humor, and clever stories. All done with bright colors, and stick figures. Now, the graphics aren’t the best, and neither are the sound effects. It’s almost like a trip back to those text adventure stories, with some interactive features thrown in. i happen to love nostalgic games, so I was in detective heaven.

Another caveat: sometimes you have to answer a question to get through a certain point. For example, in order to use the MRI machine on a body, you must answer a question about gambling, pharmaceuticals, or something else. I think that orginally (or maybe even now) this game was used as a way to get people to click on links and sell stuff. I just treat these questions as a way to hone my research skills and be a better detective.

With titles like Stabbing in Stickville,  Drowning in Stickville, Cadaver at Stickville Dump, Arson in Stickville, and Manslaugher in Stickville, you’re in for hours of detective fun. And best of all, it’s free!  Click here to go to begin your detective adventure.