Three games to light up your 4th

by Randy Nelson { Jul 3rd 2009 at 8:00PM }

The founding of a nation is pretty significant and well worth getting excited about. The best way to display said excitement is, of course, with massive, colorful airborne explosions, a.k.a. fireworks. Tomorrow night, towns across the USA will be putting on fireworks displays, big and small -- but why should you have to wait for it to get dark? The games you'll find after the break will let you get all explode-y from the comfort of your living room, without the charred mess and frantic 911 call. So, put on your favorite patriotic tune (it's "The Stars & Stripes Forever" for us) and make with the clicking!

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Fantavision | PS2
One of the earliest titles released for PlayStation 2, Fantavision was primarily designed to show off the (then) impressive particle effects the system's Graphics Synthesizer could spit out. It's not all show, though; there's a pretty fun puzzle game to back it up, versus mode included. We were able to find a used copy at a local game shop for just $4. Having the fascinatingly creepy intro movie to the game on a disc is worth that price alone.

Boom Boom Rocket | XBLA
Bizarre Creations (the Geometry Wars bunch) was behind this rather, well, bizarre creation for EA which marries fireworks 'sploding with DDR-like rhythm gameplay. The XBLA game features electronica remixes of famous classical works to accompany the mid-air madness, and, as an added (weird) bonus, supports music game guitar controllers. Sadly, there's no way to trigger explosions by playing "The Star Spangled Banner" Jimi Hendrix style. Downloading BBM will run you 800

($10).

Big Bang Mini | DS
The final game we picked is also our favorite of the three. Big Bang Mini is part shooter, part puzzle game and, yes, a whole lot of fun. Players move a spinning pyramid around the bottom screen using the stylus, "flicking" upwards at various angles to launch fireworks at objects above. Miss, and risk getting hit by falling sparks. Hit 'em, and they become falling stars to catch. Everything happens while rushing past various glowing, global cityscapes at night, and the soundtrack is also great. It's only $19.99, providing lots of bang for your buck.

We decided to stick with games based around fireworks for our picks, but there are plenty of games out there that can be considered "patriotic" in some way. Let us know what some of your favorites are in comments!

Tags: arkedo, big-bang-mini, bizarre-creations, boom-boom-rocket, ea, fantavision, fourth-of-july, patriotic, sony, southpeak