Red Ball: Christmas Love

Snow trails line the ground, and a flash of red bounces past a candy cane signpost. In the game Red Ball: Christmas Love, you're steering a little red ball on a hunt for his friend. The world's full of holiday stuff: shiny stars, surprise presents, snow drifts you can roll through. Right off, there's a block of ice you have to nudge over a frozen stream. Sometimes he glides a bit; it's kind of slippery.

How to play?

Those shiny stars? He grabs them whenever he rolls by, but if you want to see all the different ball characters, you'll need almost every present on the way. In the game Red Ball: Christmas Love, you'll run into cliffs that ask for a good, quick jump—not too early, or he barely makes the edge. A weird platform on level two wobbles once you land on it. Took me by surprise the first time. When a locked door blocks the path, he'll need to find a gold key stashed nearby, usually hiding past a few pointy spike traps or next to a pile of boxes. If you wander too close to a laser beam, the ball zips right back to the last spot you touched a flag—honestly, those lasers are fast. If you pause, you can spot when the plasma's about to fire and time your roll. Most of the game is just looking out for little tricks—a snowy bump, a breakable bridge, or a box stacked in just the wrong spot—right up until the last present drops into his path. Next thing, it's onto the next hill. Guess there's always one more jump coming up…