In this hectic world we live in, many times work and appointments must come before the fun and joys in our lives, including that of getting to play videogames whenever we want. Gone are the days when we could fire up a game of our choice and spend hours toiling away – now we seem to game in stolen moments here and there. With that in mind, perhaps it is no wonder that casual games have become such a popular gaming choice (especially with women who make up the vast majority of casual game players), as casual games allow us to either jump in and get those quick fixes of gaming bliss or either play them for as long as we want when we do have the time. In honor of the casual game, we'll be bringing you a new Casual Game of the Week every Monday to help you find that fix you might be needing in your life, and we start it all off with this inaugural edition: Rocket Mania Deluxe.

Rocket Mania Deluxe falls in the puzzle game genre of the casual game spectrum, but it involves a mechanic unlike I've experienced before in a game, and perhaps that is why I find it so enthralling and engaging. Unlike the popular Bejeweled gameplay mechanic of matching up like minded colors to either erase puzzle pieces or gain points, Rocket Mania Deluxe is a whole other beast onto itself.

In Rocket Mania Deluxe, the idea is to shoot the required amount of firework rockets off before the morning sun arises and you'll no longer be able to see your brilliant light spectacle. So how do you shoot these rockets off? Ah, now that is where the uniqueness and challenge lies. In the game you are presented with a six wide by nine deep square grid system, where on the right side are the rockets you need to send off. Of course, rockets need an ignition system to send them flying, and what better source than the fire from a freshly lit match. However, while the rockets rest on the right side of the screen, your strand of lit matches is all the way on the left. In order to get the flame from the head of the match to the fuse of the rocket, you must spin tiles on the rest of the grid system to connect a solid branching rope path from one side to the next, connecting the two.

As for the tiles, you've got several different kind, and you'll have to get accustomed to these looks so you can make either quick connections when you need to hurry off a single rocket, or learn to chain ropes to multiple rockets so you can save time by shooting more than one off at a time. The rope pieces come in the form of straight lines, crosses, T-shaped crosses, curved bends, and pieces that are dead ends. It's extremely easy to control the tile pieces, because all you have to do is put your mouse over the piece, and either left click it to rotate one way or right click to rotate it the other. You'll also know if your pieces are matched up right, because when you have rope connected to a match, you'll get a line of yellow rope. If you have rope leading to a rocket, you'll see the rope a red color. Once you get either section started, simply figure out a way to complete the rope chain to either side and you just scored.

Along the way you'll find different powerups drop on your grid, and if you make your fuse go across that powerup, you gain its power. For instance, you've got bombs that will clear out all the tiles around that section, which is good for if you find yourself with a lot of pieces you can't use. You've also got a stopwatch that allows you to stop the counter for a little bit while you continue to make matches. You'll also have points drop to apply to your high score, as well as coins – if you get enough coins, they'll automatically upgrade your rocket to get you even more points.

There are three modes to Rocket Mania Deluxe, including a Classic mode, Arcade mode, and Strategy mode. In the Classic mode, you'll be given a set number of rockets you must setoff before daylight comes and your timer runs out – get enough rockets off and move to the next level, which gets harder and harder as you go. The Arcade mode starts you off with a level and a set number of pieces at the bottom, and as you play more pieces fall from the sky. Like Classic mode, you must setoff a certain number of rockets, but here you don't lose if you run out of time, but instead lose if pieces go above the top of the grid. In Strategy mode, you only have a certain amount of rocket matches that you can do, and once all those matches are used your game is done; however, you can get more matches to keep going if you shoot two or more rockets off at once – it is the only game mode where time is not of the essence.

And though – like most casual games – we aren't looking at next-gen defining graphics or anything, the production values of Rocket Mania Deluxe are still pretty high. On the graphical side of things, the board pieces themselves are simple enough, but the spark going through the rope and the ignition of the rocket looks nice; also nice are the minor firework explosions happening in the background as well. The real jewel of the game though is the sound work, especially in regards to the music. The music is an amazing piece of work in this game, sounding like it was ripped straight from the soundtrack of a movie like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or House of the Flying Daggers. The background music is pure Asian influenced at its finest, with sweeping traditional Asian instruments that lull you into a state of serenity and calm while the action on the screen wants your heart to be racing as you struggle against the timer. The only minor downfall to the game is the dragon, which has a bit too much of the stereotypical broken English Asian man, but even it has a strange quirk that works for the game.

After all is said and done, Rocket Mania Deluxe is a solid and fun game, and one I've certainly found myself being drawn to even though I know I should be focusing my attention on work. If you need a casual game to fill your gaming needs, and you're looking for something different outside the "match three" game mechanic, then give this game a play and you just might find yourself hooked as well.

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