There are some games which are just plain fun like Solitaire, Checkers, and Asteroids. There are others which are deeply disturbing or earnestly frightening like most of Rock Star’s games, most of IDs games, or the Half-Life series. There are few, however, which can bridge the gap, but tiny Mac games developer Freeverse, likely best known for Jared and Burning Monkey Solitaire, has done it.

Witness the advent of SimStapler Arena, the long awaited update to the original, non-networkable SimStapler. Marvel at its extraordinary depth and grace as you staple wantonly and without regard to human safety. SimStapler Arena brings more than personal satisfaction to the table, as it now incorporates an online component which allows you to bring the stapling beatdown to those of lesser quality and lacking in multi-page finishing capabilities.

Playing SimStapler Arena (SSA) is as intuitive as it can get. Simply click the image of the red stapler (don’t think we missed the significance of that, which is interesting since this game was available prior to the release of Office Space) and it staples. A handy score keeper tallies your brutality, but click on the Show High Scores button and the cost of viewing them is high indeed. Your score is returned to zero!

Likely one of the most challenging aspects of SSA is that Freeverse has chosen to make this worthy successor free of charge. We can only surmise the vast number of dollars (or Ziploc baggies of coins found in the sofa and run through the local CoinStar) and the few dozen coffees which were sacrificed to create this clear labor of love (tinged with a spate of madness, I would think). I don’t know whether to thank Freeverse or revile them.

As I come away from this gaming experience I feel that I am changed. I don’t know yet if for the better or worse, but if I cannot withstand the urge to staple my dog to my cat sometime within the next few days, I’ll know. Or will I…

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: games, news, social