Windows 8 store: Atari Arcade Asteroids, Chimpact and more

So you want to get ready for the weekend with some great games to play on your new Windows 8 machine. There are a few things to know before you start swiping through the app store.

The first thing to consider is whether or not you have a touch-enabled screen on your laptop or desktop computer. Most users who have upgraded from Windows 7 probably won’t be using touch screens. But for those who are, some of the games you will find on the Windows 8 app store are built for “touch first”.

This can make finding the keyboard and mouse controls a little tricky, but start with the cursor direction keys and spacebar and you generally won’t go too far wrong. Failing that, letters A and S are often designated for LEFT and RIGHT functions and the CTRL key is also a popular fire or action button.

Although it might sound odd, the very best thing about Windows 8 games is just how it easy it is to get rid of them. The whole ADD/REMOVE programs song and dance routine has been reduced to pretty much a one or two click affair from the Windows 8 Metro tile home screen, which you can get to from any application just by hitting the Windows key on the bottom left of the keyboard.

The are a couple of other factors to bear in mind. If you have another operating system (such as Android or BlackBerry) and you love playing a certain game on one device, don’t be afraid to search for it on Windows, even if it’s not currently ranked in the Top Apps or New Releases categories. A lot of the time you will find that your favourite app has been reprogrammed (or “ported” to use the technical term) to other platforms to increase its user catchment area.

Lastly, go for a selection. Don’t just go for Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac Man and a whole batch of 1980s retro arcade classics (although obviously they are necessary). Make sure you throw in some other genres too. If you get really into your game downloads then you can start to group them; you might like to chose categories such as arcade, racing games, word puzzles, quizzes and perhaps also kids games for any children.

If you are worried about the effect that a little gaming can have on your mental ability to perform everyday tasks, then don’t. Psychologists now talk about what they like to call “gamification”, where competitive challenges that might we find in video games are applied to real world work and personal environments. So a little alien blasting is good for you from time to time.

Atari Arcade Asteroids

This Atari classic has been remodelled with faithful observance to the design of the original arcade hall classic even down to the “heartbeat” that makes the game so stimulating. If you can get past the somewhat annoying synthesiser tune playing over the top of the heartbeat, then you can enjoy whizzing around the screen and blasting away to your heart’s content as you chase up a high score. Controlling the drag and momentum of your spaceship is the hard part, especially once the screen fills up with fragments of broken asteroid.

Chimpact

If Asteroids is a little monochrome for you then try stepping into the Technicolor rainbow that is Chimpact. The goal is to shoot your tiny chimp off banana leaves and through the jungle as he collects gems, medallions and bananas among the dense foliage. You can (of course) use bananas to “add abilities” to your chimp and complete all the levels perfectly. This is one of those apps that is built for touch but is usable via mouse controls. This amusing game is a riot of colour but it isn’t free. If you have a five-year old to entertain and can spare the license download fee you won’t be disappointed.

Board games

There is a good selection of old fashioned style board games available on the Windows 8 app store for free download. Caro Chess, English Checkers Online, which you might know better as draughts, and even Hangman are all available as of now.

Word Commander

If you want combine brain exercises with arcade action then take a look at Word Commander. This “mashup” is word game and a strategy laced adventure combined. Your troops are relying on you to find the words that will give them the tools they need to succeed, so start out guiding your hero over a bridge to a treasure and then use a cannon to attack your enemies base. This is an example of one of the games that you will pay for on the Apple Mac app store, but find for free on Windows, so with many of us having more than one computing device nowadays this is good to know.

The Windows 8 app store provides automatic app update alerts so you can get the latest version of all downloads every time you log in. This is useful when security vulnerabilities have been flagged, or when games and other apps are updated with new functions. Many games and other “serious” apps these days are supplied under the so-called “freemium” format where basic functions (or initial playing levels) are supplied free, but a charge is levied for the full version. Whether you are touch-enabled or not, the Windows 8 app store is jam-packed and worth a look.