More Fun Windows Games

This month sees the return of the popular "Fun Windows Games" column, a list of some of the best games in the most-ignored-genre of computer gaming, Windows Games! Hope you enjoy them. Next month, I promise I'll have a real review for you guys, but I've been pretty busy with the start of school so haven't really played anything new.

1. Chip's Challenge Part of the original Microsoft Arcade Pack (which comes pre-installed with many new computers these days), Chip's Challenge is the Windows conversion of a game created by the now-defunct game company, Epix, for the now-defunct hand-held gaming system, the Atari Lynx. The game was probably the only good thing about the Lynx (despite its color screen, the high price tag prevented it from competing with Nintendo's Game Boy), and fortunately Microsoft has converted it and included it in their Arcade Pack. The game itself is a mind-bending adventure, where you lead a little man named Chip through a maze in an attempt to gather all the microchips scattered about. Along the way, you need to avoid monsters, get keys, and push blocks to make paths. The game provides hours and hours of sometimes-frustrating challenges (personally, I've been stuck on the same level for about 2 years), and its tiny tiny size will makes it a permanent fixture on your hard drive.

2. Space Cadet Table
This game was created by Maxis software (the SimCity people) for Microsoft and shipped with the Microsoft Plus! Pack for Windows 95 awhile back. There are tons and tons of pinball games for the PC, but the simplicity of the Space Cadet Table makes it a favorite of mine. Music and sound effects are great, and its small size means it won't take a giant chunk out of your hard disk space. The ball physics and animation are done very well making this game a perfect substitute for the real thing, and a great time waster.

3. Pipe Dream
Ahh Pipe Dream, a seminal classic, released by LucasFilm Games (now LucasArts) several years ago and then (apparently) handed over to Microsoft for inclusion in their Microsoft Arcade Pack. Pipe Dream is, according to the documentation, Pipe Dream is "a fast-flowing game of speed, strategy, and plumbing." A tricky puzzle game, it requires you to place plumbing pieces down on the board, creating a continuous pipe, before a strange green fluid begins to flow through it. Make the fluid flow far enough, and you get to the next board.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic