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We at TechNorms have looked at Friv.com before. It’s a portal compiling its own collection of Flash Games. What makes Friv different from any of the other infinite Flash aggregators on the web is quality. The average Friv game is an order of magnitude better than most Flash games. When you browse Friv, you find high-quality stuff.

We took a look at its archives to find ten games that caught our fancy. These are just a small selection of what Friv has to offer. We tried these games and found them unique and interesting. Although Friv does not support linking to specific games, all of these are available on other websites through a quick Google search. Here’s what we liked from Friv.com.

Raft Wars

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Concept: Play as a young baby who discovers hidden treasure and defends it from pirates.

Gameplay: Raft Wars is essentially a cutesy, gore-less version of Bowman. As the baby, the player aims, adjusts power, fires, and tries to kill the enemy pirates.

Each character has a set amount of health that decreases with each shot from a cannonball. However, the bullets can also bounce characters off their boats. Take a dive into the water and it’s game over.

Each stage presents different enemy formations and environmental challenges, forcing players to change their strategies.

The only thing missing from Raft Wars is a marker for the player’s last shot, to make adjustment easier.

Verdict: Aside from the missing last shot marker, Raft Wars is an enjoyable experience.

Haunt the House

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Concept: Scare unwanted guests out of a house by using your spooky powers.

Gameplay: Haunt the House is quaint and charming… kind of like an old haunted house. You move a ghost around and possess different objects.

Each object can do something spooky that scares the guests. Actions start with the subtle (rearranging dinner plates on the wall) to the terrifying (a moose head that tries to bite you).

The only way to win the game is to scare everyone into running out of the house. This is harder than it sounds, as herding people blinded by fear is imprecise.

Verdict: Haunt the House is charming, original, and fun.

Jack in the Box

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Concept: Take a basic platformer and throw in spring puppets named Jack.

Gameplay: Jack in the Box is your standard 2D platformer. Move characters around the stage in order to reach the exit.

The game starts getting more complex with multiple characters that move simultaneously and more complex puzzles. Some of the levels really make you think about what to do.

Verdict: Jack in the Box is simple to understand yet complicated to solve. That’s the definition of a good puzzle platformer.

Cat Around the World

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Concept: A cat travels the world in search of delicious burgers.

Gameplay: Cat Around the World is best compared to Cut the Rope. Both are physics-based puzzlers which involve collecting three stars while trying to feed an animal.

However, instead of cutting bits of string, players click blue blocks to remove them. Strategically destroying blocks will manipulate the burger’s path so that it collects all the stars and reaches the cat.

The physics are excellent and work as you’d expect. We liked the game’s emphasis on planning, puzzle-solving, and precision clicking.

Verdict: Cat Around the World is a fun way to solve puzzles and feed the (virtual) hungry.

Pocket Fighter Nova

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Concept: Take combatants from classic fighting games, cartoonify them, and throw them into a remake of Street Fighter II.

Gameplay: Pocket Fighter Nova is best described as Street Fighter II in miniature. It has Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li in addition to guests such as Morrigan from Darkstalkers.

Gameplay is similar to Street Fighters past. Each match takes place between two characters on a 2D plane. Each character has a health bar which the other player depletes through combos.

Honestly, we don’t know fighting games well enough to judge its merits for serious players. We’ll leave that to more experienced players.

For casual players, it’s fun to jump into a match and try out the different attacks. Throw in two-player local multiplayer and things start looking good for casual one-on-one.

Verdict: It’s Street Fighter, and it’s a free Flash game. What doesn’t sound good about that?

Scary Scavenger Hunt

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Concept: This is a weird one. It’s a point-and-click adventure game starring Garfield, the cat from the comic strip. He has to search a haunted house for several flavors of doughnuts.

The game includes in-jokes for Garfield fans (surely they exist) such as Lyman, Jon’s friend who disappeared in the ‘80s.

Gameplay: Scary Scavenger Hunt is your standard adventure game fare. You wander environments collecting keys to advance and solve puzzles.

The gameplay isn’t that interesting. Unrelated, but the framerate looks capped at 8 frames per second.

Verdict: Scary Scavenger Hunt is a weird game. If you like Garfield, it’s worth playing.

The Black Knight

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Concept: Beat peasants to collect gold for a cruel king.

Gameplay: Let’s get this out of the way: we love The Black Knight. This is a classic Flash game for a reason.

The knight speedwalks through the level without stopping, passing peasants and stores and bales of hay. Everything secretly contains gold pieces. The only way to get that gold is to bash it with your weapon.

Click down the mouse to take a swipe at peasants. Hold it down to charge up a swing for bonus points.

Verdict: The Black Knight’s brand of gleeful silliness makes for a great experience.

First Day at School

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Concept: Another weird one. You’re a kid who really, really has to pee. But the bathroom is blocked by a series of contrived puzzles.

Gameplay: First Day at School is all about the protagonist solving puzzles in order to clear people out of his way so that he can reach the restroom.

Different people require different solutions. You have to think outside the box somewhat in order to finish each level.

Verdict: First Day at School is weird but somewhat entertaining.

The Pretender, Part One

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Concept: A magician named the Great Lorenzo tries to rescue his guests after accidentally transporting them to another world.

Gameplay: The Pretender is your basic puzzle-platformer. Lorenzo discovers that he has earch- and air-based powers and must bend his way out of each level.

The level finishes when Lorenzo guides all the guests trapped there to the exit. The game reminds us a lot of Braid, an award-winning XBLA title.

This game also deserves a nod for its graphics and story. The developers clearly put some effort into creating a worthy fiction. The theme goes a long way toward making the game feel more refreshing and interesting.

Verdict: If you’re into dialog-heavy puzzle-platformers, The Pretender is perfect.

Liquid Measure

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Concept: Move water tanks around to fill them exactly to the brim.

Gameplay: Liquid Measure is another puzzle game. The gameplay is moving the tanks around in order to fill them in the most efficient measure possible.

The graphics and animations look like programmer art, but that’s OK. The puzzles make up for it. They get complicated around level 10.

Verdict: Liquid Measure has quite a few good brainteasers.