The Sawbuck Gamer column, our recurring roundup of free and dirt-cheap games, is notorious for destroying readers’ productivity with the siren song of interactive procrastination. While you’re home for the holidays, however, it can serve an even nobler purpose: helping you ignore your relatives. Below are our favorite free browser games from the year in Sawbuck. The list contains more than enough instant-gratification gaming to distract you while your right-wing uncle rants about Hawaiian birth certificates, your sister preaches the benefits of raw-locavore veganism, and everyone has the annual argument over what to do about Grandpa. Just bury your nose in these links until the holiday season is over, at which point you can resume goofing off at work.
Pica Pic
Originally reviewed in the April 4 edition of Sawbuck Gamer
Hippopotam’s digital replicas of ’80s portable games may lack the “handheld” feature of the originals, but they have other advantages. The batteries never die on the Pica Pic site, for instance, and the buttons won’t stick. Otherwise, the recreations are meticulous, reviving forgotten gems from what is essentially the medium’s magic-lantern era. With barely more technological firepower than a Casio wristwatch, these devices compress classics like Zelda to their barest essence, often in clever, unexpected ways. That ingenious simplicity makes for games that are pure reflex and, better yet, have practically no learning curve.
58 Works
Reviewed July 18
The “escape games” at 58 Works are either the best or the worst remedy for holiday cabin fever. Each of these Japanese curios traps you in an enclosed space and dares you to get out by solving weird logic puzzles. “Let’s escape from the submarine cave which went with the midget submarine,” says one, before presenting you with your initial set of tools: a bar of gold, a tree frog, and a Buddha statue. It’s like MacGyver on shrooms. The fun is in discovering the twisted logic behind each mini-adventure. Not every game has an English translation, but most don’t need it. The star ratings on the site indicate difficulty, so start with the low end.
Kingdom Rush
Reviewed Aug. 8
A winning combination of slickness and cuteness helps Kingdom Rush stand out from the gigantic pack of similar tower-defense games. The mechanic is entirely standard, except that as you build towers, they produce tiny fighters, who get tougher and gain powers as you upgrade. A robust, varied skills tree, authentically tough levels, and side goals (free a sasquatch and hire it as an agent; man and fire a crystalline weapon) keep things lively. Mostly, though, the combination of wee, game-for-anything RTS armies with a tower-defense game is clever. Plus, the beautiful design comes with a sense of humor: Just try clicking on the little sheep and goats scattered around the levels, or catching a fish as it jumps out of the water.
Cat God Vs. Sun King
Reviewed Aug. 8
There’s much less to Cat God Vs. Sun King than there is to the big, elaborate adventure-wending stories of many of these games, but what the game lacks in nuance, it makes up for in cruel fun. You’re an irritated Egyptian god smiting a rival’s followers with lightning, meteors, the angel of death, and many other colorful forms of doom. The entire game functions as a gleefully gory, cartoony stress-ball: Instead of listening to whalesong or burning a vanilla candle when life gets you down, consider taking time out to obliterate a bunch of hapless laborers with a giant fanged sandworm, or dropping plagues on their heads, or mowing them down by the dozens with a flying ghost knife. It’s satisfying and cute.
Mushroom Madness 3
Reviewed Nov. 21
The third iteration of Mushroom Madness doesn’t improve on the basic design or play of the first two games, but that’s fine—by the second round, it was already close to perfect. Essentially an elaborate, well-thought-through variation on whack-a-mole, the game is a short but frantic clickfest, and new types of enemies, weapons, levels, and goals keep this latest iteration fresh and absorbing. It makes smart use of all the bells and whistles that make casual games addictive these days: unlockables, upgrades, adventure progressions, and a tough survival mode on the side. But even the base game on its own is a lot of fun, thanks to adorable animations with plenty of variety.
The Great Gatsby
Reviewed Feb. 21
Any guess at what The Great Gatsby would play like as an old-school Nintendo game would be only half as good as this resulting title. Nick Carraway inhabits a Castlevania-style world, tossing his hat at flappers and floozies as the story seamlessly progresses around him. Iconic scenes from the book are recreated in 8-bit glory, and some, like the encounter with the eyes, even play out like boss battles. The retro soundtrack and interspersed dialogue transport you to the days of cartridge consoles and high-school English class simultaneously.
Silly Sausage et al.
Reviewed June 6
The browser-game auteurs at Nitrome have released 100 games since they started pushing pixels six years ago, and 2011 saw their most diverse and inspired output yet. Among the best was Silly Sausage, in which you play a dog who can stretch himself like taffy to worm around tight corners and collect precious gems. But the year was full of other Nitrome treasures (especially for NES nostalgists), including The Bucket; Mega Mash; Test Subject Blue & Test Subject Green; and a two-player game for their 100th, Nitrome Must Die.
High Tea
Reviewed Feb. 21
Educational games go down a little easier when they allow you to play as a ruthless son of a bitch—like High Tea, which places you in the role of an 1830s British trader operating in the opium triangle. Sure, you learn about this historical moment—somewhat under-discussed outside the U.K.—but High Tea never feels pedantic. Instead, this elegantly designed simulation invites you to prey on the addictions of Western peoples, whether it’s their relatively benign passion for tea or their troublesome opium habit.