Playing For Free

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Not enough games for you? Read on for another seven of our favorite web-based and downloadable freebies.

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Dwarf Fortress

"Losing is fun," proclaims Dwarf Fortress, and is it ever right. Although it looks like someone vomited punctuation marks all over your monitor, and learning the game can take weeks, this indie-developed fortress management game is by far the most fun you can have with a dwarf. Once you've accidentally flooded your fortress with lava, cracked open the entrance to Hell, or had your entire dwarf population munched by a bloodthirsty carp, we're sure you'll agree. Take it from us: once a major publisher snaps this game up and releases it on the DS - and it's bound to happen - its developers will be millionaires.

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Nanaca Crash!

Sense is not a quality with which free web-based games are over-endowed. Nanaca Crash is perhaps the game which best exemplifies this fact. The object is to ensure a man, upon being struck by a speeding bicycle, is thrown as far as possible. Along the way you have to contend with bystanders, power-ups, special attacks, and music that steps beyond the irritating and into a brave new world of infuriating catchiness.

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Grand Theft Auto

Believe it or not, there actually were Grand Theft Auto games before number 3. Several of them. Here's the first, released by Rockstar as a free download. It's a 2D, top-down action game that, although it doesn't look much like the more recent 3D console extravaganzas, nevertheless bears many of the hallmarks of the series. Remember: call out Gouranga, and be happy!

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Orbiter

Admit it, you've always wanted to be an astronaut, you've just never got around to filling out the paperwork. No such effort is needed to play Orbiter, and neither do you need to pay an application fee - you just need to download this dauntingly realistic sim. Included are real craft like the shuttle Atlantis, the International Space Station, and the Hubble Space Telescope - everything you need to fly your own NASA missions. Except those cool arm patches. You're on your own with those.

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Fancy Pants Adventure

"Fancy" is right. This superb line-drawn platformer is probably the best presented of all the games on this list, from its painstakingly animated (and stylishly clad) hero to the laid-back, offbeat soundtrack. Maybe this is what Sonic the Hedgehog would have looked like if it had been developed in 2008.

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Portal: The Flash Version

Be honest: would you ever have thought you could recreate Valve's Game of 2007 contender in a web browser? This little masterpiece has it all: all the physics, all the portals, all those cute little cameras that follow you around. Yeah, it starts easy, especially if you've played the PC game, but it'll be kicking your butt before you know it. If you're stuck at work and jonesing for a Portal fix, look no further.

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Thule Trail

You remember playing Oregon Trail in school, right? Well, you probably do if you're above a "certain age." Thule Trail is a modern interpretation of the concept, but instead of settlers heading across the continent in a wagon, you're taking a Prius from Chicago to Atlantis for a music festival. Contend with passengers bickering over music, wrong turns, and cool retro sound effects - but just be sure to get there in time.