Three Free Online Computer Games Before Back to School

While I am fascinated by all these new computer and video games that surround us each year, I don't have time to keep up with all of them. I guess in a way, I'm a bit old-school; I still enjoy tetris, Pacman, and other classic games that despite being so simple, they never fail to entertain me.

For those who are like me, I have three game suggestions for you to play with kids. I specifically focused this article as games to play with kids not because they are games for kids, but rather, they are games that adults can play without being overwhelmed by complicated game play and visuals. Of course, I certainly don't mean that adults cannot play these games. But, I think it's fair to say that adults are busier than kids when it comes to finding time to learn how to play intricate computer and video games.

Suggestion 1: Radical Soccer

If you are a fan of World Cup, this is the game for you. If you enjoy football and tend to stay away from soccer, maybe, this isn't for you. But regardless, this free online soccer game just uses arrows and just "z" and "x" in the keyboard to play. As in any other soccer game, your objective is to score more goals than the opponent and progress to the next round. Unlike the real World Cup though, if you lose any of the games, including the first one, you are finished.

Pros about this game:

- All the teams in each World Cup do correspond to the actual teams from that World Cup (as far as I saw).

- There are many fun things to do such as long distance shots, corner kicks (that are actually easy to use and control), and crossing the ball from another side or same side for a header into the goal.

- Each country comes with stats so you can start by playing good teams and challenge yourself by playing not so good teams against challenging ones.

Cons about this game:

- As in some basic soccer games, you cannot control the goalie or direction of shots or headers.

- If you are a fan of free kicks, sorry. This game does not have any foul (or cards), so no free kick. Only corner kick is available.

- You cannot change the amount of time in this game, and there is no shoot-out. Just one golden goal.

Suggestion 2: Tennis Game

Whether you are looking for free games on computer or video games to play in a console, a good tennis game is hard to come. I know there is a tennis game in Wii, but as far as I know, there isn't a great tennis game in computer (that's just how I feel - so you may feel differently). Personally, this game is the best one out there, and while there are several different links to this game, the link in this article has the game with the largest screen size. You can either play an exhibition or a tournament. Controls are very simple with just arrows and space bar.

Pros about this game:

- Ability to control the length of serves and shots by pressing either up (stronger serve and making lob shots) or down (shorter serve and making slice shot)

- Ability to play up close near the net although you have to be pretty good and quick to do this

- Exhibition allows you to change stats to get used to the game play and overall skills

Cons about this game:

- While you can control the serves and shots little bit, it's hard to know exactly how far the balls will go.

- Just one type of court to play

- If you do not hit the first serve, it is automatically counted as a "fault."

Suggestion 3: Halo 2600

If you did not like either of two sports games, then this is the game for you. Halo is by far one of the most popular games in Xbox, and for those people who still cherish the times playing Atari, then this is the perfect game to relieve that memory. Halo 2600 is a simple but pretty challenging game that allows you to control master chief as he progresses through several levels until the last one, where he faces the boss. There are some several items to this game that are hard to discover unless you read this walkthrough in the Facebook page of Halo 2600. Oh, and this game is very recent (I don't know about other two games on how recent they are but they are at least a year old) as you can see in this Yahoo article, which is how I came across it in the first place.

Pros about this game:

- Despite what you may think, this is actually a very fun game. I suggest you to try this game for a bit and use walkthrough to gain some additional tips.

- It's simple to play with just a space bar and arrows.

- Nothing else in particular but just overall satisfaction. And oh, this game is actually coming out in a cartridge - which is pretty cool to hear.

Cons about this game:

- This game is pretty short - it would've been better if it was a bit longer.

- Items are limited, and with only few lives that cannot be replenished, it almost feels like the game can end too quickly (and it does sometimes).

Just additional remarks on these games:

- As I said, these three games can be played with your kid without getting tired of them for a while. I'm not responsible for your entertainment but I personally have enjoyed playing them.

- In terms of security, I played these three games in Mozilla Firefox and didn't come across any virus. But I also do have a live virus scan on, so if you ever receive a virus from these games, I am not responsible for them. I think they are pretty safe though, and I've been playing them for quite a bit.

- I did not create these games nor was I paid to endorse them. I found them on my own, and regarding first two games, I am an avid fan of soccer and tennis in real life as well, so that's why I started to play those two games. Halo 2600 was just a cool game to play.

Sources
Personal Experience