The Digital Entertainment Series is supported by the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10, the seriously entertaining smartphone that knows how to have fun. Check it out here.
It’s officially freezing outside, and you cannot be faulted for wanting to stay in — unless of course, you’re on the West Coast or at Mashable SF.
For the rest of our audience, the holiday season also brings those winter doldrums. To help you get through, we’ve picked five web games that are sure to keep you happily busy. Some are innovative; some will make you think, or even re-think what a “game” is; and others are just plain fun for whiling away a couple hours with a cup of hot chocolate.
Read on for our picks and let us know in the comments which web games are keeping you busy, or which games we should be keeping an eye on for the future.
1. Ninja Saga
This game probably isn’t going to break the creativity meter, but it’s had a steady presence on the top Facebook games list month-to-month and has earned a spot on the fastest growing list as well. The game has you, a ninja, searching for the five guardians of different kages, or clans, based on the elements. You can train your avatar, recruit — or fight against — other players, and customize yourself with skills and gear.
Sure the plot is a little overblown, but it’s nice to see a web game with an actual narrative arc as opposed to objective-based, or PVP driven story lines. Best of all, new content including skills, missions, and challenges are added on a fairly regular basis. Kapow.
2. Pet Society
Pets are awesome. Unfortunately you need to actually take care of them in order for both of you to get something out of the relationship. Slackers, rejoice. Pet Society offers a cavity-sweet take on having a pet if that pet could also go shopping and own its own pets, called “petlings.” More a fuzzy avatar than a full-blown pet simulation, Pet Society has been a top game on Facebook for some time with a healthy base of active users to interact with.
If you liked the cuteness of FarmVille but could go without all that farming stuff, or if you ever wondered how you’d look (or behave) as a dog, Pet Society has a full suite of activities and options to keep you busy and wagging your tail.
3. CityVille
CityVille is the most recent game from FarmVille creator Zynga. While there is an odd amount of web games with the suffix -Ville, this one does manage to stand out, a little bit. While CityVille offers many of the same lures (character customization, social network integration and emphasis on cooperation and skill-sharing) as other sandbox games, CityVille is also interesting as a vehicle to keep FarmVille, its predecessor, relevant. The web game giant has been losing active users of late, and its graphics engine is starting to show its age.
CityVille has boosted its graphics in 3D, while offering many of the same activities in an urban (although still adorable) context. This includes farming. Essentially, FarmVille is a sub-section of the larger play mechanics in CityVille, complete with a built-in invitation system for your FarmVille friends.
4. Clock Blocks
Yes, we get the wordplay in the title. And yes, it actually makes sense with the game. Clock Blocks comes as a web game or an iPhone app and tasks the player to clear the screen of a set of rotating clock hands. By clicking, you have to send a small dot from one clock to another without completing a full rotation. It takes about 10 seconds to figure out how to play and it grows on you.
Despite its Inception-worthy tag line, “Align Your Mind,” Clock Blocks probably isn’t going to teach you much about how clocks work or provide any type of necessary information — it is, however, strangely addictive with a nice, clean aesthetic. It’s also nice that 80d Games, the team behind Clock Blocks, provided a web-version of its largely mobile offering. Hone your skills on the eight levels or tackle the “Quest Mode” for more of a challenge. Happy spinning.
5. Sleep is Death
Sleep is Death doesn’t come packaged with the most inviting name, compared to other choices on this list. It is, however, one game — and one game designer — to keep an eye on. From the mind of Jason Rohrer, Sleep is Death is as open-ended and customizable as games come. One player acts as a director, creating an environment out of crude, 8-bit models, that another player willingly jumps into. The two take turns sharing the same screen. Each player gets 30 seconds to type dialogue or move about the environment. That’s it.
Skeptical? It’s hard not to be, but some of the examples and flipbooks (essentially just screenshots) of player interactions show a game that can register and inspire real emotion and create sometimes silly, often strangely poignant stories. Rohrer, first known for his five-minute life simulator Passage, has built a reputation for bizarre, addictive, beautiful games. Clock Blocks this is not, but for the right crowd Sleep is Death is a sleeper hit.
Series Supported by Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10
The Digital Entertainment Series is supported by the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10, the seriously entertaining smartphone that knows how to have fun. Check it out here.
More Gaming Resources from Mashable:
- 6 Emerging Social Games Taking the Web by Storm
- Minecraft: How Social Media Spawned a Gaming Sensation
- 10 iPad Games Worth Paying For
- How Social Gaming is Improving Education
- “FarmVille” vs. Real Farms [INFOGRAPHIC]
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, bo1982
More About: casual games, cityville, clock blocks, facebook, facebook games, game, gaming, jason rohrer, ninja saga, passage, Pet Society, sleep is death, social games, video games, web games
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