There's some sound, but it's not necessary.

For our final trio, Shooters. More relaxing, with less in-depth brain activity required, but faster reflexes are a help.

Let's start with the game that fits the "Shooter" description the least: Super Smash Flash. It's one of my favorite video games ever, converted to Flash! Sadly, it's not a perfect conversion of Super Smash Bros. Melee, but it's still wonderful.

I'll warn you now: mouseover "View Controls" while the game loads, because you can't get that information later. I'll tell you, though: Player 1 uses the arrow keys to move, plus 'o' to jump and 'p' to attack, while Player 2 uses the "WASD" keys, plus 'g' to jump and 'f' to attack. I've only played the single-player mode so far.

Choose your character by dragging your token onto the appropriate square, and then prepare to fight against a variety of Nintendo characters — including yourself! Each character has unique styles of attack, and there are special combo moves. They seem to work, though they're not as well-represented onscreen as the original game.

Hey, you can buy a Nintendo GameCube and four controllers (with rumble packs!) and Super Smash Bros. Melee pretty cheap these days. You should check that out!

There is sound and music.

Square Divide casts you as a small green triangle, shooting red rectangles. Every time you shoot one, it divides into two smaller rectangles, until eventually it turns into a yellow star, which you can collect. Touching one of the red squares is instant death, of course.

The difference between Easy, Medium, and Hard is how many times the rectangles will divide before turning into stars. On Easy, they'll divide a few times, but on Hard they'll divide until they're almost too tiny to aim at. Each time you complete a level, you'll unlock a new prize, like "colorful squares."

The game has music and sound, with no way to turn it off. It also remembers where you left off, so your prizes remain unlocked and your personal high scores sit and taunt you.

I know what you're thinking. You think I've featured this game before, but I haven't. It turns out that the "stick figure first person shooter" field is crowded, and Xiaoxiao: Police is the latest entry.

Article Author: Phillip Winn

Phillip Winn is the Chief Geek for Blogcritics, and a blogger since 1995. He may currently be found and followed as @pwinn on Twitter.

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