Bugdom 2 revolves around Skip, the grasshopper (at least I think that's what it is) who loses his knapsack to a bad bug right in the opening scene. On his quest to retrieve his sack he has adventures with snails, friendly talking chipmunks, white rats caught in mouse traps, water toys, and garden gnomes (you know, those ugly little statues in English gardens). There's even more bad and good bugs, but that should give you a flavor for this rich and varied landscape. I had trouble sewer-surfing and still haven't mastered the last few levels, but found this game to be equal to the original in fun and required skill.

Otto Matic is a space nightmare over ten different planets or levels. The Giant Brain from Planet X is determined to take over the universe and the player, in the form of an otto matic robot, of course, is out to save humans and escape in his/her rocket ship (Thanks, Brian Greenstone, for not making this one gender -specific). There are 25 different space creatures and many different weapons in this colorful and action-packed game. The robot tries his/her hand at skiing, riding soap bubbles, bumper cars, and being shot out of a cannon, but that's not all. Very cool game with loads of diverse settings and tasks to master.

Cro-Mag Rally is a series of race courses involving a caveman in different vehicles. He avoids obstacles and picks up weapons like bone bombs and bottle rockets. Two players can be displayed on a split screen; multi-players can play over the internet (but the last is only supported by OS 9 and won't work with OS X). I'm not a race fan, so this one didn't appeal to me that much. Key driven only, this game doesn't use the mouse. I didn't like the voice or music in Cro-Mag Rally either, so I guess it just wasn't for me.

Billy Frontier is different altogether from the games already mentioned. It has a strong cowboy theme and the enemies are space creatures. Maybe it's better to kill a space monster, but the game does involve squirting blood... over and over as the player masters the keystrokes to win. I wouldn't recommend it to kids and was even a little grossed out myself. Target practice involves replicating arrow key sequences within the time allowed. The action is keyboard driven only; like Cro-Mag Rally, there's no mouse here. There's also stampedes, duels, and shootouts requiring different levels of skill and a repeating theme with chili peppers. The look and feel of the game is totally distinct from Bugdom, Otto Matic, or even Cro-Mag Rally, so it offers interest, a distinct change of pace, and a totally new challenge to the player.

Enigmo is still even more different. The action in this game requires logic and experimentation in solving 50 levels of liquid puzzles. Each level involves droplets of liquid (water, oil or lava) and a variety of tools (including bumpers, slides, accelerators and/or sponges). The object of each level is to combine the objects in a manner to capture the droplets in a repository or repositories. It's an amazing challenge given the configuration from "drip" to "bucket." I loved trying to figure out which tools to use where and the variety of combinations that were possible. I'm told that players can even make their own puzzles and post them on the internet or email them to friends. The game includes an additional 20 levels for kids; I could see the educational value right away. Very different and very cool! Excellent exercise in logical thinking for all ages.