Mac Games – reviews and game downloads

Similar to Word Cross,  Flip Words creates words to fill in the letters so you can guess the familiar phrase. The similarities end there. Flip word is more difficult in that you flip letters up, down, across and diagonally to form 3 letters or more words. This Mac game makes you think up words on the simple grid of red, round letters turning them green.

The first letter of each word needed in the phrase is filled in until you can figure out what the saying is. There is a special bonus when all the letters of the phrase is revealed. Each flip word is a turn, and you must guess the phrase before your turns are over. In order to perk more interest to the game and provide a challenge there are free buttons, double and triple points. The free button does not have to be the first letter in the word to go towards solving the phrase. The points boost your score and at a certain level you get an extra turn which will come in handy for completing levels.  Other extras are the shuffle when you get stuck and cannot find a word to produce, you get different letters to form possible words.

The graphics are simple with bright primary colors, but the music is monotonous, but does not disrupt your play or thinking. Otherwise Flip Words is entertaining and can be used as an educational tool for children or an exercise for mental fitness.

Rating:

Mosaic with its mesmerizing artwork and exceptional graphics is a Mac game puzzle that will piece together the secrets of King Tut’s untimely death by deciphering the royal hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. Work yourself up the Egyptian social rank from lowly feral (it’s lower than a slave!) to (who knows?) pharaoh. Completing each level will increase your chances of life of luxuries.

The play is basically simple. You take a shape descending on the left (the drop zone), click on it and find the matching shape on the game board and click again placing it on the hieroglyph. Once completed you get part of a message culminating in the hidden secrets about the death of King Tut. Each level will give you many glyphs to decipher and put together.

The game has 2 modes of play: Relaxed and Challenge. In the Relaxed mode you play until the glyph is completed and you move on to the next level. The Challenge mode you must complete the glyph before the drop zone on the left fills up with shapes, or you must replay the level. The map will show where you are going and the completed journey. The View Journal stores all the hieroglyphs you have deciphered so far.

The Eye on the lower right hand side of the screen is the help button. Additionally there are many power-ups to assist you in your play. The placement help shows you where to place the shape, shape wipeout removes all shapes on the left column conveyor belt, and the falcon removes a shape from the drop zone if there are no shapes you need. The crusher located on the bottom of the screen will destroy the unwanted shapes one at a time. The shapes with sparks coming out of them are the chain lightning. When you place one on the game board and place another on a space away from the first shape, lightning will connect the 2 and fill in the space in between. A similar shape is the fold out. It will, when clicked, fold out expanding the shape to fill more of the glyphs.

The Obelisk is a fantastic help to have. It is located on the right side of the screen and when it is full of shapes, it will light up and each lit shape will fly off the side and onto the glyph. The Obelisk will fall back down after being used and will start over filling up the shapes again.

Don’t think there are no obstacles to this game because there are many. One being the descending conveyor belt of shapes filling up the column, and another are the snakes. The snakes will appear to eat the shapes and the only way to get rid of them is to place a shape on top of it. If you are lucky, you’ll get a snake stomper to remove all the snakes.

This game has hundreds of hieroglyphs to solve, and these glyphs are based loosely on actual ancient Egyptian characters. The graphics were unbelievable and the artwork beautiful. The music and the sound effects were right on and helped enhance the play. However, the puzzle game did not do it for me and kept me from finishing the game. I think it has a lot going for it such as the challenge in the later levels, the educational aspect of the game and, of course, becoming Egyptian royalty. If you are into ancient Egyptian history, murder mystery, and enjoy a jigsaw puzzle game, this is the challenge for you.

Rating:

With a name like Chocolate Castle you wouldn’t expect more than a child’s game, and that is exactly what you get at first.  Chocolate Castle is about 4 small, adorable animals trying to eat 4 different chocolates in a room to advance to the next level in the castle.

The gameplay is pretty easy to get used to.  Each animal is a certain color and can eat the corresponding color of chocolate.  To complete each puzzle you have to touch all the same colored chocolates and then use the animal to eat the chocolate.  Once you use the animal it explodes and cannot be used again.  As easy as that sounds, there is more to it than that.  There are walls which you cannot move, Turkish delights to explode, and watch out for the snakes.

It appears that this game has a children’s theme, but with the difficulty level starting almost immediately, it  had me puzzled at times.  The hard difficulty is way too hard for little children making this game unplayable for them, however, it it a great challenge for everyone else  So forget about the theme and the retro, cute characters, and  you’ll find a complex and challenging puzzle.  I give this game 2.5 stars out of 5, but if you are a child at heart  and love chocolates you can have some good fun with this game.

Rating: