Call of Atlantis is an upcoming puzzle game by Playrix Entertainment for the PC. It is the third “Atlantis” game Playrix has released, the others being Atlantis Quest, and Rise of Atlantis. In this game, you must travel through seven ancient lands, such as Troy, Rome, and Egypt, and uncover the magic gems of power hidden in each.

As you travel through these lands, you progress by uncovering hidden artifacts on a Bejeweled like “match three” game board. Each artifact is split into pieces which you need to reassemble by moving them down to the bottom of the game board by eliminating the tiles beneath them. If you can match four or more symbols together, you can charge a special ability that will help you out by destroying random tiles on the board. Other abilities and power-ups are available to aid you in your journey as well.

In between the match three games you can find a hidden object mini game, where more artifact and treasure segments have been hidden, Where’s Waldo style, on one of several backgrounds. You need to simply click on the segments with your mouse to reassemble the treasures; once you have found them, that is.

The graphics are sharp, with great attention to detail for a match three type of game, especially during the hidden object sections. The different zones are bright and colorful, each having a distinct look and theme. While background to each game board is mostly stationary, occasional animations, such as weather effects, pop up from time to time and add to the over all feel of the game.

An added wrinkle to the match three strategy comes from the game boards themselves. While most match three boards are simple squares and rectangles, the boards in Call of Atlantis come in many different shapes, and the added angles and corners change the game play in interesting ways.

Call of Atlantis is more than an average match three game. If you enjoy puzzle games with more depth and challenge, such as Puzzle Quest, then you will definitely like Call of Atlantis. It is set for a November release.

Imagine living in a small, crowded apartment and receiving a call that states you have been left property in a will. You really aren’t sure who your uncle Henry, the person that left you the property, is, but you are glad you inherited property and can move out of your cramped apartment. You are all excited, but then let down by the cruel reality of the situation. The property is an empty lot and does not contain a better place to live.

Luckily you have great friends, such as Flo, and she suggests you turn the empty lot into a much needed parking lot. This is exactly the scenario in Parking Dash, the next big release from PlayFirst. Players help Karma, the main character, run a parking lot from the ground up. Players start with a few spots and turn into a grand parking lot.

I got a chance to play a preview version of Parking Dash and it was a great twist on the time management genre. Players have to manage a parking lot and keep the customers, whom drop off their cars, happy to get bigger tips. But, the twist is the puzzle part of the game. Each customer has a certain amount of time their car will stay in the parking lot. With only so many spaces and a lot more customers than there are spaces, it becomes challenging to manage all of the cars.

Customers show up at the parking lot and you have to take the customer’s car and park it in a spot in the parking lot. The customers all stay for different amounts of time, which is displayed by a clock with a shaded area above their heads. There are only so many spots and many more customers. When a customer comes back to get their car you can click on them and the car they own will be highlighted. The player gets the car and returns the car to the customer. The customers leaves a bigger tip the happier they are. The level is complete by attaining the allotted amount of money.

Parking Dash has different levels of challenges. Players have to deal with the time issues each customers have. They have to deal with Limos and other vehicles that take up two spaces and the fact that cars need to be moved around, which means you need to leave one space open so you can shuffle the cars around. As you can see, there are a lot of things that need to be thought about before just parking a car in a space.

The other challenge, besides the ones that have been mentioned, are the customers. The customers that would like their cars parked have all different personalities. Some customers are patient and other ones are in a hurry and needed their car yesterday. The cell phone guy is back and just as annoying as ever. His car makes noise, which makes all the other customers angry. Luckily, you are able to hit the car to make the sound stop.

As players complete the levels, they can pick upgrades for their parking lot. The upgrades make your parking lot look better, others help Karma move faster and some increase the customers patience. One upgrade is chosen at the end of each level, until all of the upgrades have been used.

The graphics are similar to other PlayFirst time management games, a mix between real life and cartoon looking. The parking lots look like parking lots and the upgrades make them look more aesthetic and more like a parking lot with cones and such.

Parking Dash was a lot of fun to play and the added puzzle element to the time management genre kept it interesting, but also added more challenges to the game play. Not only does the player have to keep the customers happy, they have to manage the space limitations of the parking lot. I recommend trying out Parking Dash, you won’t be disappointed.

Parking Dash will be released this month (September).

Little Farm is a puzzle matching game released for the PC by MumboJumbo. Little Farm is a vastly different from other matching type games. The story follows The Norman family as they were left a farm and have to make something out of the overgrown land. Lucky for the Norman family they have a friendly neighbor to explain the intricacies of farming.

Players need to match vegetables to fill up a truck before time runs out. As the game progresses, you need to fill up more trucks with different types of vegetables in each truck. Players match vegetables by making a square with the same type of vegetable in each corner of the square. You click and drag to make any type of shape with four corners that match. The shape doesn’t have to be a square it can be a rectangle as well, but the most important part is all four corners are the same type of vegetable. The vegetables in between the rectangle or square are all taken off the board. The vegetables that are not needed go to a waste heap and the vegetables that are needed go to the truck and fill the meter on the truck.

Little Farm provides more challenges than just finding matches. Players have to manage such things as the waste pile that accumulates and get rid of the bugs that show up in later levels. The bugs can be swatted way with a click of the mouse, but they fly to the next vegetable and need to be swatted away again before they leave for good. Things get hectic between trying to find matches and stopping the bugs from eating the vegetables, but there are items you can buy to make life easier. The trucks bring your vegetables to the market and receive money for them. Players can buy different seeds as the game progresses, which make more money when sold at the market. The items help out a lot, but are fairly expensive and some items can only be bought later in the game.

Little Farm is extremely fun to play. The story is intriguing and the game play is original and challenging enough to keep you interested, but not too challenging that you get frustrated with everything. Little Farm is available for download today (May 20th). Check out Little Farm, you won’t be disappointed.

Money Tree is a creative click management game for the PC. Money Tree is developed by ITT Territory Nord and will be published by MumboJumbo in the latter half of May.

Money Tree throws you into the shoes of William the Gardner. You have the hots for Elizabeth, the daughter of your boss. William finds out he has been left a house by his dead uncle. The house needs some work William decides to do what he knows best, gardening. William needs to raise the money to fix the house and impress Elizabeth.

William has to make money growing fruit. The player starts out with a bare tree and needs to put leaves on the tree. The leaves are falling from the sky and you click on them and place them on the tree. The more leaves that are put on the tree the bigger the tree gets. After the tree is big enough, the tree starts to flower and bear fruit. The fruit start out small and get bigger. Players need to pick the fruit at the optimal time to make the most amount of money. The best time to pick the fruit is right before it falls off the tree or as it is falling off the tree. If the fruit hits the ground you will get the least amount of money.

Leaves are not the only thing falling from the sky. At times, money will fall from the sky. Players grab the money just like a leaf and place it on the tree. The tree will grown bundles of money from the money leaf. One money leaf only yields two bundles of money, but who can argue with growing money. The money helps players reach their goal. Each level requires players to reach a certain amount of money before the level is complete. On top of the money goal, there is a time limit to get the allotted amount of money.

Of course, there is more to do than just grab leaves and grow fruit. The weather is different from scenario to scenario, which requires you to keep the water level and temperature levels correct. Players can buy items to make their job easier, such as sprinklers, bug spray and heating lamps. The items you buy are present through out each scenario and they can stack. In other words, you can buy a sprinkler and a heating lamp and they will both be available to you. Players have to manage the weather and the fruit trees and as the levels progress there are more fruit trees thrown into the mix, which means more items for the player to manage.

Money Tree is an extremely fun game to play. Not to mention, Money Tree is very different from other click management games. You have to juggle between multiple items at once, but in this game you actually get to grow money. Money tree is a great game that any casual gamer will enjoy.