Casual Corner

It’s the last day of January and thus it’s time for the Casual Corner. Good thing I waited so long, though, because one of the games only came out yesterday and the other arrived at the portals (except for Alawar, where the game was developed). This month’s Casual games are ‘Grave Mania: Pandemic Pandemonium,’ ‘New Yankee in King Arthur’s Court 2,’ and ‘Gardens Inc: From Rakes to Riches.’

‘Grave Mania’ is both a sequel and a Dash-type game. This means a lot of dragging people around (in this case zombies you prepare for final burial), quite a bit of balancing between the stations, and quite a bit of stress. The game has a nice, cartoonish look and gets challenging soon. On the other hand, though, it also has mini-games that can be annoying sometimes. On the whole the ‘play level, buy upgrades, play next level’-principle works and makes this a fun game.

‘New Yankee 2’ obviously is also a sequel. Like the first one, it’s a builder game with a certain charm and a lot of humour. While the main character was pulled into the past alone last time, he brings his wife with him in the second game. She’s now doing the magic stuff and he fights the enemies while the workers do all the work. The game itself is quite long and a lot of fun. It also has achievements now (that seems to be something everyone wants in their games these days) and the levels are a lot of fun. The game is cartoonish and rather well balanced.

‘Gardens Inc,’ the last game of this month’s casual corner and was the last one that came out. It’s a nice variety of the MKFTP-type games, instead of building roads, you create gardens, making your way through them, planting stuff, gathering tools and wood and rocks and seeds. The game includes a bonus goal in almost every level and gets tough rather quickly. It’s beautiful in looks and breathes a new life into the genre.

All three games this month are TM games, a genre that has to struggle quite a bit right now. Enjoy them and see where they are so much more challenging and fun than the umpteenths HOG.