Friday Flash Games is a weekly feature in which I present, every Friday, three or more browser-based casual games. They all rely on the Adobe Flash Player, which should work in the browser of your choice, as long as you make a wise choice. Mosaic is not a wise choice; Firefox is. Lynx is not a wise choice; Internet Explorer is, at least from the perspective of Flash gaming. Safari is a wise choice in more ways than one.
All of the games work on Mac, Windows, or any other Flash-capable platform. I'll note whether a game has sound or music, so that you can adjust sound levels before clicking.
Enough babbling, let's get started!
Arctic Blue is an oldie but a goodie. Ferry Halim is one of the masters of casual gaming, as far as I'm concerned, and here he demonstrates this well.
You actually control the blowhole of a whale, and no, I'm not kidding. Every time you click, you sent a short burst of water up from the whale's blowhole, which happens to propel a boat into the air. The boat faces occasional icebergs; you can send repeated bursts from your blowhole to lift the boat over the icebergs safely. There are also boxes, some floating and some dropping via parachute, that the boat can collect for points. Again, get that blowhole squirting to get the boat into just the right spot at just the right time. Watch out for airplanes!
Who else thinks of this stuff? A whale's blowhole? But it works, and it's fun, and it's easy — my kids play this sometimes. It's also beautiful, with great music and sound. The music and sound don't start until you click "Play" (after clicking "Start").
If you can move quickly enough, try Spaceworms. It's a keep-away game in which you control a dot while another dot chases you. The trick is, the other dot is fast than you are. How, then, do you survive?
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Of course, *after* publishing this article, I was able to get all three of the chasers on level three to form a group. Sigh.
2 - Phillip Winn
My previous comment should be applied to Spaceworms, by the way, where level eight is a challenge.
3 - Aaman
A golf game has eighteen levels? Tiger's on level 19, I think:)
4 - Aaman
I love the worms game, but can't get past Level 3 - yet
5 - Phillip Winn
Once you get past it, I think you'll find that you can get past it again. At higher levels, the trick for me is surviving the first few seconds. After that, the wide-circles routine works pretty well.
6 - Craig
What I know about Mini-Golf is that, +3 is Triple Bogey, +2 is Double Bogey, +1 is Bogey, 0 is Par, -1 is Birdie, -2 is Eagle, -3 is Albatross, and -4 is Condor! Thanks for learning all about it!