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Addicting Internet Games

© Dan Finkelstein

From little Javascript-based games, to Flash games in advertising banners (no, I'm not kidding), addicting little time-wasters are everywhere these days on the Internet. Here's a look at a few web browser-based games that have been keeping my attention off work recently:

1. Scared (http://www.brackeen.com/home/scared/) is a first-person shoot-em-up in the style of Wolfenstein 3-D, the classic game from iD software that would eventually spawn Doom, Quake, and that whole FPS phenemon. Scared is a return to the basics. While the game takes a few minutes to load on a slower connection (pulling up sounds, images, etc. from the site), this Java-based game is a great way to get that quick action gaming fix between meetings.

2. BeJewled (http://zone.msn.com/bejeweled/) gets a mention here simply because the designers managed to fit the entire game into one of those flash banners that are becoming more and more common on the Internet these days. Look out for it -- it could appear on any website, at any time, ready to pull you away from your current task. The game is a fun little Tetris/Columns variety, where you have to pick two shapes and rotate them to create a row of three or more similar shapes. When you do, they're removed and a bunch more drop down.

3. SFCave (http://www.meighan.com/sfcave/) It is odd how addicting this game is, especially since there really is only one control. Here's the concept: You guide a red line though a side-scrolling array of caves. The line likes to go up, so when a wall approaches, your job is to hit the mouse button to make the line go down. Sounds simple enough? Well this RSI-inducing Java game may change your opinion.

4. Kick-Ups (http://www.vectorinternet.co.uk/games/ki... Do not go to this site and start playing this game. Seriously. It is so addicting you may be fired from your job. Another one-key game like SFCave, Kick-Ups pits you against gravity as you attempt to keep a virtual ball in the air by clicking on it before it hits the ground. Enormously difficult and frustrating yet strangly appealing.

5. Jemu (http://dreamwater.net/tech/jemu/) Sure, arcade emulators are nothing new -- they've been around for ages. However, the creator of Jemu successfully programmed an emulator in pure Java. Meaning? You can play some of your favorite arcade games (Ms. Pac Man, Green Beret, etc.) from the comfort of your web browser, with no additional software to install. How cool is that?

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