Perhaps it's because I'm easily amused, but there is something very satisfying to me about shooting marbles at other marbles. If you understand where I'm coming from, then it means you've been initiated into that addictive gaming subgenre of marble shooting goodness, and you understand the unique moment of joy that comes from successfully breaking strings of marbles. If you haven't the foggiest what I mean, then you are definitely missing out. Luckily, I have just the fix for you!

Before I get into all that though, let me first give you a brief history. For me, it all started way back in the late 90s, during a point in time when my gamer boyfriend wanted desperately for me to be interested in his PlayStation, Nintendo, and every other game system he brought home. Many times I'd watch him play, and sometimes I'd even sit down and play with him, but there was never a game that really caught my attention for too long. That was, until he brought home a game called Bust A Move. The object of the game was to shoot colored marbles at a group of colored marbles, lining up colors and breaking strings of like colors before time ran out. Much to his chagrin (because he tended to like games of a more complicated nature), I easily took to this game, and it became all I wanted to play whenever we played games together. Fast forward many, many years, and I am still drawn to the many Bust A Move clones. Luxor Amun Rising is no exception to that rule.

Luxor Amun Rising has you aim colored marbles at a string of constantly moving marbles in an attempt to get three of the same color in a row, at which point they break and leave the line. The object of the game is to keep the marbles from reaching the end of the track.

My description here hardly does this game justice, because this is an incredibly fun time. I love a good puzzle, and so not surprisingly, I was highly impressed by this game. I enjoyed watching the pretty colored marbles, and hearing their industrial steel sound as they rolled along the track (remember how I said I am easily amused?). Above all, the game was very addictive, and I spent a lot of time attempting high scores and seeing how far into the game I could go before losing.

As the name suggests, the game is nicely decked out in an Egyptian theme, so the graphics and the music reflect that. I didn't find the music to be bothersome, and I enjoyed the sound effects that accompanied the gameplay. Due to its addictive nature, I wouldn't buy this game if I were smack in the middle of an important project, but if you've got a couple of slow days in the office or at home, this can effectively keep you entertained.

Luxor Amun Rising is available at GameHouse, where you can try the game for free for 60 minutes, and then buy the full version for $19.95. In order to satisfy everyone, the game is available for PC and Mac.