Back before smart phones, kids use to play their video games on what’s known as a desktop computer. It’s called a desktop because it’s so big and bulky it has to sit on a desk. Some of you kids today might have heard of this ancient device in your history class.

So many of us millennials have fond memories of our parents giving us permission to go online (or when they left the house), then turning on the computer in the living room (or wherever you had it), having to wait a few minutes for it to boot up, then waiting again to log into the internet (no wifi back then). Instead of rushing to see what our friends were doing on Facebook, we would go to various free online game sites; addictinggames.com and miniclip.com were among the most popular. There we would spend as much time as we could trying to beat all the different levels of these online Flash masterpieces. Trying to beat your previous high score in Heli Attack 2 or trying to beat your friend’s record of throwing little tiny stick men to their deaths in Defend Your Castle. How about spending a whole hour tracing a Line Rider track only to have it fail on the first turn. Or blasting your way out of the White House with Uzi’s, while you’re playing as George W. stopping terrorists from destroying our capital in Bush Shootout.

It was a great time to be a kid on the internet. So many awesome memories of a past era. Good news though, you can STILL play these games online (well, most of them). They kept the classics and upgraded them for our playing pleasure, like DVD to Blu-Ray. So without further ado, here are some of the most addicting internet games of the 2000’s.

Line Rider

Line Rider is a 2006 Flash game that quickly became an internet phenomenon. Created by a Slovenian student named Bostjan Cadez, it made its debut on the website Deviant Art. In this game you draw a track using your mouse (very similar to Microsoft paint) that a sled rider named Bosh then rides. The track must be drawn well enough so your sled rider does not fall off, physics matter! The game rose in popularity and spread to other online gaming sites. People became extremely good at making creatively long and complicated tracks. They would then upload them to YouTube, many of them going viral. I remember pretty much everyone at my high school would play this game. It got so bad that the Library had to block the websites that hosted it.

Play Line Rider here: https://www.linerider.com

Heli Attack 2

Heli Attack 2 is a web browser game created by Squarecircleco in 2003. You play as a soldier and your only objective is to destroy as many helicopters as you can before you die. The helicopters or “helis” hover above you and an enemy soldier inside it shoots a semi automatic rifle at you. For every three helis you kill you get a random weapon. If you jump and kill a heli in mid air then you get a random weapon as well (though with less ammo). The weapons range from grappling hooks, to rocket launchers, to A-bombs. The game sounds very simple but there is strategy involved, you got to know when to distort time and hyper jump at the right times. If you do play this game be prepared to be addicted for awhile. Heli Attack 2 won Mini Clip’s Game of the Year in 2003 and Flashkit’s Most Addicting Game of 2003 as well.

Play Heli Attack 2 here: https://www.miniclip.com/games/heli-attack-2/en/

On The Run

On the Run is exactly as it sounds, you are literally on the run. In this game you are a getaway driver trying to complete laps around the city, all while enemy vehicles chase you and try to run you off the road. You have to also pickup fuel points and car health along the way or you won’t make it. Sure, there are probably hundreds or even thousands of racing games online but for some reason this one stands out. Being chased adds more adrenaline into the mix.

Bush Shoot Out

Bush Shoot Out is a classic Flash game where you’re George W. Bush and you have to defend the White House from terrorists seeking to destroy it. Each room is a different level. Other prominent politicians at the time make an appearance as well, like Colin Powell. You even play a level as Condoleezza Rice where you yield dual uzis. I remember playing this game countless times and never getting bored. A similar game was made when Obama got elected. It’s called Obama Alien Defense where you’re Obama and you kill aliens trying take over our planet. It’s pretty good but the Bush game takes the cake imo.

Play Bush Shoot Out here: https://www.crazygames.com/game/bush-shootout

Defend Your Castle

Defend Your Castle is a great game to get out your aggression. The objective is to defend your castle from stick figure enemies trying to break down its walls. How you do that is you grab each enemy and drop them from a height that smashes their little stick bodies against the ground on impact. As you complete each stage it gets increasingly harder. In between each stage though you can repair/fortify your walls and buy certain things to help your cause, like archers or explosives. This game is addicting because it’s so simple. You can zone out easily while you kill your enemies. It’s kind of therapeutic in a weird way.

Play Defend Your Castle here: http://www.crazygames.com/game/defend-your-castle

Curve Ball

Curve Ball is basically Pong but in 3-D. If you don’t know what Pong is, its an old classic Atari game (the first game console) where you hit a ball (in this case a 8-bit square) back and fourth against a computer. Whoever misses the ball loses. Curve Ball is extremely similar except way harder. The further you go, the faster the ball goes. Each level you complete the computer gets better. To give yourself an edge, you want to get good at giving the ball some spin on your returns. You got to have a quick wrist to play this game because it gets intense.

Play Curve Ball here: https://www.curveball-game.com

Fancy Pants Adventure

Fancy Pants Adventure is another classic stick figure game, where you run around as a dude with cool spiked hair and dope baggy pants (if this was the 90’s). You travel through different worlds (like Mario Bros) to collect these swirl-looking thingies for points, and jump on giant spider’s backs to kill them. There’s also random mice dressed in overalls shooting at you. This game is so fun because it’s fast paced and you can do cool jumps and flips as you play. Everyone wishes they were good at parkour, in this game you are.

Play Fancy Pants Adventure here: https://www.crazygames.com/game/fancy-pants-adventure-world

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