Casual Friday: Update for January 16 – 22, 2010

It’s Friday again, which means it’s time to let your brain take a vacation over the weekend and play some casual games. Or you could find some casual games to play next week when you should be working or doing homework. (I won’t judge!)

There’s a nice variety of six new games released this week, and they represent three of the casual game staples. I’m talking about match-3, hidden object and time management. So no matter what kind of game you prefer, you’ll hopefully be able to find something interesting for you.

Sadly, this is yet another week without the release of a new, casual game for Macs. There’s hope though! Reflexive Entertainment’s Simplz: Zoo will have a Mac version coming out soon.

This week’s best bets are: Rhianna Ford & The Da Vinci Letter (PC) and Simplz: Zoo (PC, eventually Mac)

Wizard Land
Genre: Puzzle (Match-3)
Availability: Big Fish Games, Harmonic Flow
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: The Last Battle of Wizard Land has devastated the world and its up to you to save the world with your match-3 puzzle skills.
Demo Available: Yes

Cocktail Mania
Genre: Puzzle (Match-3)
Availability: Big Fish Games, Harmonic Flow
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: Start as a bartender fresh out of school and work your way up to becoming one of the best bartenders ever by playing drink-matching, match-3 games. It also has cocktail recipes with it, though you probably won’t want to mix drinks near your computer.
Demo Available: Yes

Fix-It-Up: World Tour
Genre: Simulation (Time Management)
Availability: Big Fish Games, Harmonic Flow
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: Kate is tasked with establishing car repair shops around the world this time around! Help her find cars, improve them and sell them at a profit.
Demo Available: Yes

Simplz: Zoo
Genre: Puzzle (Match-3) and Simulation
Availability: Reflexive Entertainment
Retail Price: $9.99
Platform: Windows XP, Vista and 7 (Mac version coming soon!)
Premise: You create a zoo and stock it with animals, but to maintain and expand you’ll need to play match-3 puzzle games to earn money and building materials.
Demo Available: Yes

Mortimer Beckett and the Lost King
Genre: Puzzle (Hidden Object)
Availability: GameHouse, Harmonic Flow
Retail Price: $19.99
Platform: Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7
Premise: After closing the Time Paradox, Mortimer found himself trapped in a different world, and now he has to make his way back to his home by finding the Lost King so he can stop the evil general.
Demo Available: Yes

Rhianna Ford & The Da Vinci Letter
Genre: Puzzle (Hidden Object)
Availability: Big Fish Games
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: Rianna Ford has been sent to Rome to investigate a recently discovered letter written by Leonardo Da Vinci. But is the letter real? You’ll have to find out for yourself, by solving hidden object puzzles.
Demo Available: Yes

Editor’s Note: Due to so many casual games sites offering game plans or preferred member prices, which can cause a game to have multiple price-points, the games’ average retail prices is mentioned in Casual Friday.

Site [Big Fish Games] Site [PlayFirst] Site [GameHouse] Site [eGames] Site [Alawar Games] Site [Amazon] Site [Reflexive Arcade] Site [Harmonic Flow]