Casual games come in many forms and one of the more common themes involve the changing a trajectory and then firing something at something else. It is that format that has kept Team 17 (of Worms’s fame) in business for years, so it was with some interest that I decided to take a closer look at Raftwars.

First impressions? Well a story line! It’s almost of Hollywood epic proportions. A classic rags to riches story of a young child finding buried treasure and then fighting for it. (Well it did help that I watched Goonies last night). Who needs script writers? Golden Globes? bah! Ok maybe I did get a little carried away there. The graphics are bright and crisp. Imagine a number of little baby Cartman’s (Southpark) sitting on a raft, and then they fire a number of weapons at a selection of devilish little characters.

I have to say that I found the Savages were my favorite characters, it brings back memories of fighting cannibals in the deepest darkest (and for PC sake non-descript) jungle, but that was of course back in my “twenties stage”.

Well the controls are very simple, you move the mouse left and right and this alters a red dotted line which indicates the power. Then you move the mouse up and down to alter the trajectory and when you are happy with the shot, click the mouse button and your character will take the shot.

If your shot hits the target then you are rewarded with an angry looking character who then tries to take a pot shot back at you. However more than likely, you will miss and just incase you aren’t sure that you missed, a little high pitched voice taunts you with the words missed!

You can upgrade your raft and also you get a choice of a couple of weapons. It won’t be long before you hitting some quite hilarious trick shots and then you are rewarded with some extra points if you knock off your opponents beating the par of the level.

There are some very funny characters and a funny twisty storyline where…… wait I can’t spoil that for you. You will have to complete the game to find out. I was quite disappointed to see my score of around 18,000 didn’t even make the leader board, so if you can’t beat that then shame you and no doubt you will be back playing again.

A really fun game that will have you hooked in seconds. Enjoy!

As a youngster before the likes of satellite TV we had well, terrestrial TV and that was it. There would be a couple of hours of The Monkeys (not to be confused with the kung-fu fighting monkey of BBC2!) and the Bananananananana Splits and that was is it. Then we were left to our own devices. There weren’t any consoles so it meant the choices were going out and hanging around street corners and setting fire to the occasional car or there were puzzle games. Luckily having both parents as teachers, it meant it was puzzle games for me. I had a kind of love hate relationship with them as I seemed to be not particularly any good at them, but I persevered and well, it made the time go by. Then along came computers and I waved goodbye to the puzzle game.

A couple of decades went by, governments changed, aliens landed and then decided we weren’t much fun and disappeared back through their own portal and in that haze of studentdom and that period of time I simply refer to as my “twenties stage” there was one shining image. That image was of Carol Vorderman. Suddenly the worlds of puzzles had a champion. A sort of intellectual She-Ra who could convert numbers in to well other numbers, but it was the fact that she did it unaided in the world of the pocket calculator.

Now I could go on about Carol Vorderman, but it is actually detracting somewhat from the original point. Carol Vorderman started to champion Sudoko, now quite frankly I hate that game because.. ok ok I admit I am hopeless at it, however there are other numerical based puzzle games which have been around in various forms for some time now and Picross is one that falls into the category.

One of big problems puzzle game have, is their presentation. We live in the world of Halo 3 where bigger is better. We want and explosions and…. well that’s something puzzles games don’t have but they are easy to pick up and play, so the casual gamer (as the media has now seen fit to label us) needs to approach things at a more sedate pace.

From the minute the game loads in your browser you are met with a soothing selection of easy listening music. The sort of thing you use to hear in the background whilst Ceefax was on your TV or you were waiting for a schools and colleges program to start. It welcomes you into the environment and the graphics are nice, crisp and functional.

The screen is set up in an easy to follow format and the text is easily to follow. It is these sorts of things which seem simple, but are actually often over looked. I decided to read the instructions for once in my life and that was is it I was ready to go. Basically you have a grid with a selection of numbers on either axis. The number refers to how many tiles there are on the grid. So for example on the horizontal grid you may have the number 1,1,1. This means on that line there are three tiles that have a space of 1 between them. Then you compare that against the vertical number and it will help you to fill up the tiles on the grid. Once you have successfully filled up the grid, it gives up the image of the shape at the end of it. It also kind of explains why the game has the name it does! If you are clever clogs and complete the challenge in the allotted time, then you can also unlock extra packs and challenges.

So then I have read the instructions and I am ready to start the first challenge. The house challenge. Well that looks easy enough, and ….. Damn ok that was stupid of me I got it wrong. Let me try that again. Ahhh! I see what I did wrong, I wasn’t following the instructions! It all sort of makes sense now. Ha! a time of 55 seconds, until my wife came in and did it in 25 seconds. Gutted! And then it happens. The game begins to get up hooked. I pass the Titanic and Family Talk and then suddenly it becomes a lot more difficult.

Suddenly I don’t feel the urge to smite people on Halo 3 because I my wife has hurt my pride and thrashed my times. So back I go. So in the space of I would say 20 minutes, a very simple game has got you hooked. Damn you Picross!!

A simple but addictive game that is very well presented. I defy you not to go back and challenge your own times!