Banana Breakers

Title: Banana Breakers

Genre: Word Puzzle

Completion Time: Easy mode takes me 1-2 minutes to complete--longer before I got the hang of it.

Jayisgames.com described Banana Breakers as "Mastermind Meets Boggle," which is a fair assessment. You're trying to find words in the grid--but it has to be the words they're thinking of. You want to find as many words as you can, though, because that gives you clues about the key words.

Interesting:

Very clever and novel concept, incorporating components from both verbal and nonverbal puzzles. In retrospect the idea seems obvious, which is always an impressive feat. 5/5

Fun:

The idea is incredibly well-executed, with an easy-to-use interface (try typing instead of clicking) and many ways to kick-start your thinking if you get stuck. The three difficulty levels range from "fluid mental warm-up" to "I really have to sit there and rack my brain." Nearly infinite replay value so far. 5/5

Moving:

Okay, apparently I lied in the last post. I'm a sucker for a good puzzle game, emotional content or no. 0/5

A wonderful distraction, whether you're looking for light mental exercise or a real challenge. Will probably be one of my go-tos for quite some time.

The Which? Series

Title: The Which? series: Which?, More Which?, Also Which?

Genre: Puzzle

Completion Time: <5 minutes apiece

The Which? series is a seemingly endless procession of variants on a very simple idea: two seemingly identical circles are presented, and you are tasked with figuring out which one meets the criterion given. This can involve manipulating the circles, manipulating the environment, or any number of other interesting things.

Fun:

Somehow, this type of puzzle never, ever gets old for me. I am always delighted to see a new one up. It helps that they are very well executed. If you get it wrong then you just get a "Mistake!" and a skip to the next level, so you never get stuck. (If you want to go back and retry the ones you missed, replay is very quick.) 5/5

Interesting:

Yoshio Ishii has essentially invented a new genre of puzzle here. It could easily be adapted in exciting ways by other people. If that isn't interesting, I don't know what is. 5/5

Moving:

One of the rare games that draws me in despite having no emotional content whatsoever. 0/5

One of my very favorite series for a quick and engaging mental boost.

Fear Less!

Title: Fear Less!

Genre: Jump and Run

Completion Time: After 35 minutes I had all the upgrades. I am not really skilled enough to reach the ending in a reasonable amount of time.

Fear Less! is a simple jump and run game that is vastly enhanced by its incredibly charming graphics. It's the sweetest little-girl-being-chased-by-Death that you will ever see.

Fun:

Jump and run games are great for getting into flow, where you are totally immersed in the game. Fear Less! implements this pretty well, with smooth gameplay and a good difficulty curve. I really could play it forever without getting bored. Actually beating it (collecting all the medals) was too difficult for me to finish in a reasonable amount of time, but I'll probably be returning to it every now and then. 3/5

Interesting:

As these games go, this is one of the less novel ones. The fighting mechanic doesn't add a ton of depth and the upgrades are extremely simple. 1/5

Moving:

This game is just beyond adorable, and also rather beautiful in a way that . I suggest you take a look for that alone. Facing up to fear is a theme that is close to my heart, so my reactions may be idiosyncratic, but the upgrade menu alone (the little girl training with boxing gloves in preparation for facing her nightmares) completely won me over. I just wish there was more of a developing narrative. 4/5

Pick it up for the charming theme and graphics, stick around for the flow experience.

Grey

Title: Grey

Genre: Simple platformer (no difficult maneuvers)

Completion Time: 12 minutes

Fun:

Grey is not fun in the exciting sense. I didn’t laugh or even smile when I was playing it. But the gameplay carries you smoothly through the game, with an intuitively laid-out world and helpful arrows reminding you where your target is. In short, the gameplay is unobtrusive and allows you to lose yourself in the atmosphere, which is a perfectly serviceable way for a game this pretty to work. Gameplay is repetitive but brief enough that I never considered quitting. 3/5

Interesting:

It’s an extremely simple platformer that uses only the arrow keys, with no puzzles or difficult maneuvers of any sort. It has a mildly novel mechanic that contributes heavily to the atmosphere, but it doesn’t actually affect gameplay so it belongs more under “moving” than “interesting.” 2/5

Moving:

The graphics and music are simple but evocative, suggesting an ambiguous story and stirring up less ambiguous emotions. Once immersed in the game I found myself drifting through my own imagination and memories in a rather affecting way. This was especially true on the second playthrough. 4/5

Grey is really more of a meditation than a game, but well worth the 12 minutes.