Casual Gaming gets infectious...

There are times when you just want to have a little fun.  Yes, there's no doubt that it's a blast to frag your opponents in Battlefield 3 or send a flaming ball of plasma at a rival racer in Blur.  However, both of those require a commitment that you're not always in the mood for.

Sometimes you just want to shoot stuff or in this case infect the globe with a dastardly contagion.

A friend of mine reminded me of that the other day when he sent me a link to the latest incarnation of the casual game, Infectionator 2 by Armor Games. 

Infectionator 2 is just one of hundreds of casual web games available from armorgames.com  They have a long history of showcasing addictive game experiences from independent developers.  Requiring  little more than a browser and some time to kill these creations can smooth over the doldrums.

I'm sure you're aware of the phenom, Angry Birds.  Head over to Armor Games and play a few rounds of Crush the Castle and you'll see more than a passing similarity.  That's because the developers of Angry Birds first tried out the concept with Crush the Castle.

Infectionator 2's premise is simple, infect the world with a killer germ that can turn people into zombies.  As you progress you gain access to special items and zombie characters that aid you in your quest to destroy civilization.

Points are earned for dispatching innocent citizens as well as collecting gold dropped by  the recently departed.  Bonuses are awarded for achieving objectives as well providing critical resources to pursue your research into even better mayhem.

Being a browser based game you shouldn't expect cutting edge graphics or sound.  In fact most games on the Armor Games roster bear a strong resemblance to those great 8 bit arcade games of old.  Where Console and PC gaming constantly reach for greater realism browser games focus on the gameplay.  A point often lost on the big development houses.

Games like Infectionator 2 are simple pastimes much like those old arcade classics you may have lost all your quarters to in your youth.  It's no surprise then that many of the titles in Armor Games repertoire borrow heavily from those coin operated memories.  

Perhaps that's why casual gaming has become so popular.  Gaming doesn't always have to be photorealistic or in strict harmony with the laws of physics to be entertaining.    

After all it's a game not a vocation.  Give yourself permission to accomplish absolutely nothing once in awhile.