Geek Tested:

12 Terrific Time-Wasters!

Posted 05/02/07 at 02:42:08 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

Bauns

A real ball-buster of a game

Many of Orisinal’s games seem more like little films, engaging because of their aesthetics rather than their actual gameplay, but Bauns mixes up the equation, offering a straightforward look with addictive action.

A twist on the usual “knock down towers of balls” seen in Bubble Breaker, Chuzzle, and other games, Bauns incorporates a more challenging shooting method and a mix of power-ups; it also has that “just one more game” element that could very well keep you at your desk until 5:07.

Silversphere

A tip o’ the hat to Marble Madness

This game reminds us of the Atari arcade classic Marble Madness. Here, your objective is to roll a silver ball into a blue vortex to complete each level. The action takes place on a 2D maze of squares surrounded by water hazards.

Racing the clock in the initial levels is extremely easy, but the complexity ratchets up quickly, as higher levels introduce golden spheres that explode on contact, crates that must be used to form bridges, sliding ice cubes, and other obstacles.

You Don’t Know Jack

As close as most of us will get to being on a TV quiz show

The online version of Jellyvision’s classic party game looks and plays remarkably like the CD-ROM games of yore, complete with a snarky host, wacky sound effects, fun animation, and—most importantly—totally new, outrageously off-the-wall questions.

Here’s a sample: “According to Dante’s Inferno, which level of hell will David Blaine end up in?” Those who didn’t skip their European lit classes would know that magicians were damned to the eighth circle of hell.

All Hallow’s Eve

Stave off a ravenous horde of zombies

At first, it’s you and your BB gun against a few common zombies. Then the zombies get stronger and you buy better weapons and upgrade your home’s defenses. Before you know it, you’re packing Uzis and laying minefields and razor wire outside your house!

De-Animator

We think of it as a real-world trainer for a zombie attack

If you spend half your water-cooler time planning what you would do in case of a zombie attack, you should probably add a little hands-on training to your regimen. De-Animator is practically the IPSC of zombie training, making you stand your ground with a lowly six-shooter and granny’s shotgun. What the game lacks in color graphics, it makes up for in mood and atmosphere.

COMMENTS:5

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COMMENTS

Love the Mag, but miss the old days
Submitted by scorn4society on Fri, 06/08/2007 - 4:37pm

I have been a long time reader of MaxPC, and i never regret buying the mag, but I do miss the days of old, when you guys not only stepped outside of the box, but crushed it, redesigned it and made it into a computer capable of sending people to Mars. There was an old mag a few years back where you turned a couple of decent (at the time) computers into a Cluster (the 9ghz machine). I read that mag about a hundred times, but haven't seen its like since. Don't get me wrong, still love the mag, still buy it every month, but now everything focuses on the same things. Keep up the work, but destroy the mold the way only you guys are capable of. Show me what a tri-linked cluster with 12gb of ram, and 3x motherboards with dual quadcore is capable of.

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Just another thank you.
Submitted by AeroAtom on Wed, 05/23/2007 - 9:28pm

I just wanted to thank you guys for doing such fantastic work. I love the subjects you choose to address, aswell as the instructional articles you do. I particularly liked the ripping and encoding information you provideed, I have yet to use any of them, but am excited, and plan on using them first thing in the morning. Also, the free web based games were great time wasters, and could only be improoved upon if you were to list more(hint...). Well, I suppose that is enough ass kissing, youo guys rule, take care.

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I have been a Maximum PC
Submitted by ssj4crono on Sat, 05/12/2007 - 9:21am

I have been a Maximum PC reader since the times of boot. Not a subscriber since then, mind you. I was merely in middle school during those days... My father was subscribed to boot. Your magazine was enjoyed by my dad, my older bro, and myself. After the years went by my older bro went off to the Air Force and he subscribed to Maximum PC. Now I am a Marine, and married, and subscribed to Maximum PC. I have always enjoyed reading your magazine because even though its published and it takes time to get home, I still enjoy reading your content with the Maximum PC attitude.

I won't lie, I do surf the web in search for news and hardware reviews, but those sites will never replace the Maximum PC magazine experience. Websites are like "dirty woman". You know, quick and fast. Maximum PC reading is more formal and classy. I like the information presented to me in paper, and having time to read MY magazine...

It broke my heart when I got my JUNE 2007 issue and discovered that I had already read a good 4 pages of the magazine Online...

Why??? :-(

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make that 12 including your
Submitted by ssj4crono on Sat, 05/12/2007 - 9:33am

make that 12 including your fantastic Linux article.....

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