This game is one of the biggest reasons that I love Newgrounds. Seriously–I LOVE this place exactly for games like this.  It’s called Survival Lab, and it may well be one of the best little games that you’ve never played before.  But that’s why I’m here, to point you in the direction of some of these nifty little titles that you may not have otherwise stumbled upon.

Survival Lab is, essentially, a volunteer test subject locked in a small room with a variety of automated weapons, all of which will be firing various kinds of projectiles at you.  Your job is to survive and collect coins as they appear.

The interesting part of this is, the longer you survive, the more you’re allowed to “learn” from your time in the lab.  You can purchase upgrades for yourself that allow you to move faster, jump higher and take less damage.  It’s a small, very simple game that manages to pack a lot more gameplay and variety than you’d expect, and thus, it’s well worth playing.

Water Rocket, one of the newest games at Newgrounds, poses an interesting problem–how to maneuver a small rocket through a collection of obstacle traps in search of water.

That’s also the entire plot of the game–your home is running out of water at a catastrophic rate, therefore you’re off to collect it in your rocket ship, which you’ll be able to upgrade to improve shield dynamics and fuel consumption of your lateral thrusters, as well as your rate of fall when the thrusters are cut.  You’ll also be able to repair any damage you’ve taken, but at the cost of not being able to upgrade rocket components, so there’s a real premium on avoiding damage.

It’s a strange mix of action and puzzle as you figure out how to negotiate levels of progressively greater difficulty , and this highly unusual combination adds up to plenty of fun for anyone willing to give it a try.

If you’ve ever played Patapon, you’ll be happy to know there’s a free to play version of Patapon 2: The Art of War out there, and you’ll be happy to know that it’s available on Newgrounds.  Not in fact stolen, but rather created as a public service for Sony to use to promote Patapon 2.

In Patapon 2: The Art of War, you’ll take command of a legion of tiny little creatures and send them marching off to battle.  You’ll have essentially two commands, executed by a drum rhythm–march forward with pata pata pata pon (left left left right on your keypad) and attack with pon pon pata pon (right right left right on the keypad).  You’ll gather an army, take out a tower and kill a dragon in your three-stage sample quests.

Simple, clever and catchy beyond all reason or common sense, this short game should get somebody a job with Sony, because it’s pretty sweet.  It’s got ME interested, and music games are not normally my speed.

One caveat, however–the title is NOT just hyperbole in headline form.  The tune WILL lodge in your head.  Good luck getting it out; took me nearly two days to forget pata pata pata pon…oh great.  Now it’s BACK.