Read a Review of Tradewinds Caravans.

Heileen 2 is the sequel to a popular visual novel game released last year. Like the first game, it features beautiful manga artwork, and is placed within a historical backdrop during the 17th century. Other than that, players will jump into the game and soon realize that this part 2 is entirely different from the prequel. In the story of Heileen 2, our heroine finds a deck of magic tarot cards related to the 7 Deadly Sins/7 Heavenly Virtues that have incredible powers. Using them she can go to sleep and have vivid dreams that will help her on her journey to leave the deserted (but is it really deserted?) tropical island where she was shipwrecked at the end of first episode.

She is there only with Ebele and Robert, two ex-slaves, but soon after she also finds Black the cat, who had a minor role in the first game, and now is a sort of spiritual guide for Heileen.

From the technical side, the game revamps the old quest system, which was present in the first episode, offering a full review of active, completed and failed quests. The quests now total 20, and the endings have increased in number as well; there are seven endings for both the seven Virtues and the seven Deadly Sins, plus an extra ending.

The game breaks away from the standard visual novel linear game play in that it allows the player to choose the order in which Heileen dreams. Picking different answers will lead to different situations every time. Just in the first part of the game there are over 80 different possible choices!

In sum, Heileen 2 is a game recommended to anyone who loves mystery, tropical islands, cute characters and… black cats!

Mythic Marbles – Before people played games on their computers and game consoles, actual physical games existed. Really! Marbles was one of them but since we’re indoor computer gamers, the next best thing to do is to play it on our Macs. In Mythic Marbles play with all your marbles and use (don’t lose!) your marbles located at the bottom of the board to knock the rest of the marbles away. Don’t run out of marbles before you hit all the others off the board. By the way, watch out for the black holes and walls. 100 games. Download it

The Three Musketeers – Following a faithful adaptation of the original novel by Alexandre Dumas with the same name, The Three Musketeers, an excellent RPG adventure and action game, will place you during a time in old France when chivalry was king, and jabbing someone through the heart with your sword was all too commonplace. Take on the role of d’Artagnan, on his way to Paris to fulfill his dream of becoming a Musketeer of the Guard. Along the journey team up with Athos, Porthos and Aramis. From there, the plot begins to thicken and you and your new swashbuckling Musketeer friends must manage to somehow thwart the evil Cardinal Richelieu as he sets out to dishonor the Queen. Duel enemies, fire muskets, gather goods and money, and take on the numerous side quests. Download it

The Clockwork Man – Steampunk comes to you in the form of a hidden objects game for Mac, which is a refreshing example of setting itself apart from and above the rest of the games of this category. In The Clockwork Man, Miranda Calomy, an aspiring engineering student in 19th century London, receives a letter from her grandfather Cornelius, who is a famous scientist living and working in South America. Her grandfather is in need of some items for a project he’s working on. Although he’s ordered them, they’ve mysteriously disappeared and Miranda is to gather another set of these parts and bring them over to South America herself, accompanied by her trusty little steampunk sidekick, Sprockets. The game features unique zoom-in and scroll across game play along with strange science experiments, flying airships, steam-powered machinery and engaging puzzles. Download it

County Fair – County Fair is a tycoon game/carnival simulation, which is one of the best made games of its kind. Being the sole surviving relative of a sickly businessman, you’ve been called upon to manage an empire of county fairs. Take control of creating the coolest amusement parks you can while keeping an eye on the bottom line. You will only be limited by your imagination and organization skills, if they’re not up to snuff. Once you get a hang of all the mechanics (the tutorial is indispensable), you will have a blast setting up the teacups, ferris wheels, shooting gallery, and much more – and providing the necessary good eats carnivals have to offer: deep fried candy bars, funnel cakes, pizza, cotton candy and anything else fit for the mandatory carnival tummy ache. Download it

^{Every Friday, Mac Games and More features five casual Mac games you might not have heard of – to take you into the weekend. Be sure to check these games every week! Click on the images to enlarge them.}

Ashley Jones and the Heart of Egypt – It seems almost like a crime if I do not include a matching gem game but don’t worry, this one stands out among the hundreds out there flooding the Mac gaming world. You play the role of Ashley Jones, a young archeology student undertaking an archeological excavation in the heart of Egypt. As you advance in the game playing gem puzzles and collecting ancient artifacts, the more you learn about the jewel of the Heart of Ra, which is shrouded in mystery. Immerse yourself deep into a fascinating story, which is actually intertwined with real history. If you’ve played games like this you will no doubt experience the familiarity of match three game play but extra elements (power-ups, bonuses) thrown into the mix add much more addictiveness and outright fun. Download it

The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes – If Sherlock Holmes were alive today, he might say it’s elementary to find an outstanding hidden objects game, but believe me it’s really not the case. The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes is one of the few hidden object games that seems to tie all of its game elements beautifully and neatly together into one exceptional package. Inside the game, you will find quirky and memorable characters, relevant items to find and well-written dialogue all within the backdrop of the game’s intriguing mysteries. Spend time with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson (of course!) and some of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detectives. There are many mini-games to tackle in addition to your seek and find missions, all related to figuring out who the killers are. Download it

Platypus – This has got to be the most visually unique side-scrolling shooter available on the casual gaming market because it gives life to actual photographed hand-molded, clay graphics turning your game into a world of claymation. Platypus offers an experience you will not forget. The game play is action-packed and intense, so make sure you side-scrolling shooter chops are up to par. Help the peaceful land of Mungola defend themselves against the attacking hordes of Collosatropolis. You’ll be facing an enormous variety of clay-animated enemies but you will have loads of power-ups at your disposal. Download it

Pictowords – As the name indicates this game for your Mac offers puzzles using the combination of pictures and letters. Think of it more like Pictionarymeets Scrabble with a twist, which will be perfect for word gamers wanting a different kind of word game challenge. At the beginning of each level, you’ll receive several picture tiles and several letter tiles. The pictures, or “pictos,” correspond to the actual spelled out words and not the sounds. Using the tiles, you must form as many words and as fast as possible. In essence, you must quickly combine pictures and letters to create words. It can sometimes be as easy as it sounds; other times not. Make sure to find the bonus words! Pictowords features hundreds of levels. Download it

^{Check here every Friday because Mac Games and More features five casual Mac games you might not have heard of – to take you into the weekend. Be sure to check these games every week! Click on the images to enlarge them.}

World of Goo – My mom pronounces the word, “good” as “goo” because of her thick accent. So, when I hear “World of Goo,” a puzzle-y construction game, “good” does comes to mind but here it’s an understatement. World of Goo is rather a world of greatness. Getting your hands on black (or green), sticky blobs of jiggly goo has never been more entertaining. Using realistic game physics, build structures so that a required number of goo balls can get sucked up into an escape pipe. In a style that reminds me of Cartoon Network colliding with Edward Gorey, World of Goo offers clever writing, whimsical graphics, music and effects, and thoughtfully designed, complex levels. Download it

Jets N Guns Gold – Guess what this game involves? Right. Jets and guns! As an award-winning action side-scrolling shooter, reminiscent of arcade games, Jets n Guns Gold embraces a few simple concepts: kill, destroy and explode. You play as a fighter pilot in space who has to take down an entire army of enemies by yourself. You probably don’t need to be warned that there will be blood and gore and as soon as you begin you will love every minute of it all. Make sure to take advantage of customizing your ship, arsenal and their capabilities. Massive destruction is alarmingly addictive. Download it

Kickin’ Soccer – There aren’t many casual sports games for Mac but I don’t think it’s because of a lack of interest. There’re just hard to find! Luckily for gamers in search of something retro, sporty and fun, there’s Kickin’ Soccer. For the true footie fan, Kickin’ Soccer takes you back to the top down perspective arcade games that were so popular in the 80s. Yup, this is when games involved more key controls and coordination! Slide, pass, dribble and shoot using simple combinations (arrow keys, z and x). The game features one and two-player modes, including an “arcade” mode where players compete one match at a time, and a “cup” mode that lets you play one country’s team (from a roster of 16), each with specific skills, trying to win the World Cup. The two-player mode lets you battle it out with another opponent on the same keyboard. Download it

Emerald City Confidential – In this city of Oz, you won’t find the lollipop kids or singing, dancing munchkins. Oh my. And you won’t need to follow the yellow brick road but you will run into the Scarecrow, Lion and Toto. That being said, they’re not exactly how you remembered them during your childhood watching the story of a Kansas girl realizing there’s no place like home. Here in this Emerald City, you play Petra, a detective on a job to solve a mystery and unravel a conspiracy. Follow a case through five chapters full of puzzles, witnesses, suspects, and allies in this twist on a timeless classic. Download it

^{Check here every Friday because Mac Games and More features five casual Mac games you might not have heard of – to take you into the weekend. Be sure to check these games every week! Click on the images to enlarge them.}

FAangband 1.0-Tolkien’s Silmarillion. (Free Adventure Game)
VoIP Tracker 1.0-Monitor VoIP device status w/Mac. (Shareware)
Presto 1.1.1-Helps make typing quicker and easier. (Demo)
Jacknife 1.0.4-FileMaker scheduling program for businesses. (Demo)
Technorati Rank 1.0-Technorati Rank for Dashboard. (Free)
Countdown to Halloween 1.0-Count down ’til Halloween (Free Widget)
Mine Field Hex 1.0-Minesweeper. (Free)
Freaky Creatures 1.0-Multi-player game. (Freeware)
AirPort Client Updater 1.0-For MacBook and MacBook Pro. (Updater)
Stripe Flavor Icon Set 1.0-18 Striped Leopard-Ready icons. (Free)
Concentrate 1.0-Fewer distractions, more productivity. (Shareware)
RapidWeaver Themes- Sail Away 1.0 – Tropical theme. (Commercial)
Track Magic 1.0-Mgmt and analysis tool for Ruby on Rails. (Demo)
EasyTether 1.0-BlackBerry as Internet access for Mac. (Commercial)
dsStationeryMailtemplates 1.0-Mailtemplates w/smilies & flowers. (Free)
VMGtoCSV 1.0-Converts Nokia .vmg files to CSV. (Free)
NASA Asteroid Watch 1.0-Tracks asteroids coming to Earth. (Free)
NikoPre 1.0 – Import Nikon D90 movies to Premiere Pro CS4. (Demo)
GV Connect Widget 1.0 – Send SMS to contacts w/Google Voice #. (Free)
Twitter Trends 1.0 – Top 10 trending topics on Twitter. (Free)
TokenForge 1.0 2 – Converts images into tokens/pogs/counters. (Free)
Binary Watch 1.0 – A binary watch widget. (Free)
Chinese Zodiac 1.0 – Zodiac animal describes personality. (Free)
Surf Canyon (Safari) 1.0b – Accelerates searches with Safari. (Free)