'Round-the-Web Reviews: Iron Roses, Smokescreen, Cake Pirate

In this regular feature, we take reviews of new games from around the Web and whittle them down into bite-sized chunks that can be consumed in less than a minute.

This week, our roundup covers action/adventure game Iron Roses, augmented reality game Smokescreen and the new tower defense game, Cake Pirate, where the towers are made of cake! We'll bet this is the yummiest tower defense game yet.


Iron Roses
Sandlot Games

This point-and-click adventure game stars Alex, a struggling musician who's trying to get her band back together. The player uses the mouse to explore the city and locate her former band mates, then convince them to play in the local Battle of the Bands.

[via Gamezebo] The graphics are realistic, the voice-acting is convincing, and the dialog is well-written ... Many of the diversions from the point-and-click gameplay, which range from zapping computer viruses to serving customers in a diner to playing a rudimentary rhythm game on the guitar, seem more like afterthoughts than fully realized mini-games, and therefore aren't very compelling.
Play Iron Roses Now >


Smokescreen
Six to Start

This new alternate reality game that simulates the dangers of life online, and your goal as the player is to circumvent precarious situations in 13 missions based in a fictional social network called White Smoke.

[via Jay is Games] The gameplay is fairly straightforward and not particularly challenging ... Still, it's hard to find too much fault with a game in which the goal is to educate people, especially when it manages to do so in such an engrossing way.
Play Smokescreen Now >

Cake Pirate

Smallfarm Studio

Yes, you read it correctly. Cake + Pirate. This tower defense game has players planting towers (made of cake!) to keep enemies from reaching the home base.

[via Jay is Games] This is a pretty standard tower defense game, but that doesn't mean it should go overlooked. The visuals are great, the cakes look good enough to eat, and the interface is simple and clean.
Play Cake Pirate Now >