Sandbox-style games - games where you can freely explore a totally interactive universe and engage in secondary missions while following the main plot – seem to be quite trendy today. Just think about GTA IV or Saints Row 2.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames follows this trend and presents you with a free-to-discover war zone immersed in chaos after a political coup in Venezuela. A corrupted, ambitious tyrant has overthrown the Government to grab hold of the rich Venezuelan oil supplies and the whole country is out of control. But don't worry, this is precisely your element.

Why? Because you're not a soldier, but a mercenary: and as such, you'll be willing to accept all kinds of dirty jobs, as long as they pay enough for them. There are no rules, no mercy, no morality and no remorse. This is a question of survival. This is war, and everything goes.

As well as the missions you have to complete as mercenary in order to earn money, there's a ton of other things you can do. There's a huge map you're free to explore, along with all kinds of vehicles and a extensive collection of weapons to try.

While the game's main story and the approach developers have taken to it are quite attractive, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames has one big drawback: controls. Like other titles we've reviewed before this game has been designed for consoles, and that makes it ridiculously difficult to manage with a keyboard. In cases like these, a gamepad is more than recommended.

Also note that you're going to need a very powerful machine in order to run Mercenaries 2: World in Flames as smoothly as possible and be able to enjoy the game's highly realistic graphics. Otherwise the image will be so clunky and full of glitches that you'll be dead before you can spot your enemies.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is an attractive, action-packed war adventure that unfortunately runs better on a console.

Download Mercenaries 2: World in Flames in Softonic

Carom literally means a collision followed by a rebound in a billiard game. Commonly, Pool is referred to a billiard game with pockets while Carom is a game without pockets but just using cushions. Carom unlike Pool is a game that you use the cushions to gain points rather than the pockets.

Carom 3D is an online multi-user billiard game created with special 3D graphic effects bringing every aspects such as 6 ball, 9 ball, 8 ball and others of Billiard game to life.

Download Carom3D 5.02 in Softonic

Speed Reading, Assessment and Online Reader Software. AceReader Pro is 3 tools in one:

• It is a training tool that will help you become a more proficient reader both online and offline
• It can be used to assess and track your reading level
• It can also be used as an online reading tool to help you read more efficiently while online

Utilizes Tachistoscope Technology to pace your reading. Designed for all ages. Assess and Improve your reading skills with Comprehension Tests, Drills and Games for grades 1-12 plus adult. Drills will automatically adjust training speed relative to personal reading ability. Test results are logged and graphed for accountability. With the Online Reader you can rapidly read and skim text from web pages and other sources in RSVP mode. In RSVP mode the words come to your eyes instead of your eyes going to the words. Customize your own hotkeys and create your own preset option settings. Includes Startup Wizard Screen and online Help.

Download AceReader Pro 5.1.3 in Softonic

eToro is not a bullfighting game, although this is the impression you get from its name. In fact, it's a game about trading foreign currencies and making money out of it.

You can play eToro just for fun or for real money. In both cases, transaction values are authentic and obtained live from stock markets. However, we strongly recommend you to practice a little bit before putting your money into any real risk.

The game looks really complicated at first sight, but fortunately it includes a complete Help area with highly detailed tutorials. I particularly like having an embedded chat client to hang out with other traders while you wait for the right moment to buy or sell.

eToro enables you to learn the basics of Forex trading and make some real money.

Download eToro 1.3 in Softonic

If you're a sports fan, then you may well get a lot from CyberLink MagicSports, which facilitates simultaneous sports viewing as well as the editing of sports packages.

CyberLink MagicSports is designed to put you in the directors chair, giving you greater control over recorded TV sports programs by allowing you to create your own action replays of key moments. However, it only works with CyberLink PowerCinema 4 or Windows Media Center so if you're not streaming your sports events through either of these mediums, then it's not much use to you. It also won't work with any content that's protected by DRM.

In reality, CyberLink MagicSports is basically a Tivo player for your PC. You can store certain parts of games on your hard drive and create your own highlights with a simple editor. It features a virtual remote control to control your viewing. However, it's unclear how many sports fans would really want to edit together their own highlights package - most people just want to sit back with a cold beer and enjoy the game.

If you're a die-hard sports fan and want to relive a special sporting moment in the way of your choosing, then CyberLink MagicSports is a powerful all round package.

Download CyberLink MagicSports 4 in Softonic

Broken Sword 2.5 is a new episode in the popular Broken Sword series, only that it was created by a group of fans of the game instead of the official developer.

As you can tell by the name, Broken Sword 2.5 sits in between the second and third episodes of the official series. Like the first two titles of the franchise, it's based on the point-and-click style of old school conversational adventures like the ones we used to enjoy from LucasArts.

In Broken Sword 2.5 you're George, the main character in the game's plot. The first steps in the story take you to Paris, after receiving a mysterious telegram that announces the death of Nico, your friend and adventure colleague. Nico however is alive and kicking, but strangely enough she doesn't seem to be very friendly with you. From this point onwards, your mission will consist on discovering what your friend is involved in.

Broken Sword 2.5 uses bright, colorful comic-style graphics that don’t intend to be realistic at all, but still are very eye-catching. As for gameplay, I find the game too slow, but maybe that's because I'm used to more action-packed titles. The real drawback in my opinion is language: the game has English subtitles, but it would be great to have English voices as well.

Broken Sword 2.5 follows the traditional point-and-click adventure style and presents you with a nicely designed - yet slow – story of mystery and intrigue.

Download Broken Sword 2.5 The Return of the Templars in Softonic

If there were awards for weird originality, then Pozzo - Jello Crusade, would surely win. In this game, you play the role of a janitor named Pozzo who works for a jello restaurant.

His dream is to save enough money to escape the hell he finds himself in but unfortunately his manager has found out that the local health inspector is dropping by for an unscheduled check. Your task is to clean up the entire premises of rotten jellos but here's the catch - Pozzo has no limbs and can't help eating all the jello he finds (I told you it was weird).

Pozzo cannot retrace his steps once he has eaten jellos off a tile which is about the only little "challenge" that the game seems to offer. However, the levels are quite imaginative even if the graphics certainly are not. New blocks and tiles appear from time to time which attempt to block Pozzo's way. In later levels, you have to be much more careful about the routes you take as the pitfalls grow deeper.

Poor graphics and a dodgy soundtrack combined with a bizarre concept make Pozzo - Jello Crusade one of the more unusual and less satisfying puzzle games out there.

Download Pozzo - Jello Crusade in Softonic

If you've ever fancied yourself as a bit of a hairdresser then you you might enjoy this game. You're basically in charge of a beauty salon and have to do your best on all sorts of customers from punk rockers to old ladies.

You have to help Sally run a successful salon in 10 different locations that increase in complexity and difficulty according to how far you progress. Your aim is to wash, dye, cut and style hair in over 50 levels of "frantic but fashionable fun" according to the developers.

Once the punters start coming in and you make money, you can use your earnings to hire helpful employees and purchase salon upgrades to keep your clients looking and feeling their best. Your customers will rate your efforts and based on this rating, will decide whether you get paid or not. The graphics are not exactly great and it's a bit too easy to cheat because by lavishing your customers with all sorts of treatment, the game seems to equate this with quality, no matter what mess you make!

Download Sally's Salon in Softonic

If you've never heard of it, then Gomoku is a classic Japanese puzzle game also known as Five-Stones, Five-In-Row, Five-In-Line, Tic-Tac-Toe, Make-Five, Renju, Gobang and Piškvorky.

The rules are simple - to win you must have a continuous line of five stones of the same color. Like in Connect 4 - the The line can be either vertical, horizontal or diagonal except there's 5 instead of 4 of course! You can select between wither the devil or an angel as your player of choice and can choose one of three strategies and 5 possible levels.

mGomoku features some very colorful graphics, some natty visual effects plus the sound effects aren't bad either. You can choose your level of difficulty although the higher levels are virtually impossible to master. It would have been nice if you could have a two player mode too but as it is, you'll just have to settle for playing against your PC.

mGomoku isn't the most original puzzle out there but it delivers more than a fair few hours of entertainment.

Download mGomoku in Softonic

Future Pinball is a real time Pinball Development System.It allows you to design and play your very own pinball simulation in True real time 3D. It uses Advanced Physics to provide the best possible Simulation of a true to life pinball machine.

Tables are built up out of Standard components (Plastics, Pegs, Bumpers, Lights etc..) which are placed onto the playfield via the Editor. Objects like Surfaces, Lights and Rubbers are shapeable within the editor and generated real-time when the table is played. Other objects (Bumpers, Flippers, Gates, Triggers, Targets etc..) use pre-made 3d Models
(of which there is a nice selection of each type).

The Table logic is scripted in Visual Basic Scripting (via the Microsoft Scripting Technology's built into Windows XP). Scripting is designed to be simple but flexible enough to allow a wide vararity of Original Games to be created. Only a limited subset of the Visual Basic Scripting Language is used as a lotof extra functionality is provided by the game engine.

Full Sound / Music Support is also provided with multiple Music Channels to allow cross fading.

Download Future Pinball 1.8 in Softonic

What do you get if you mix balls, puzzles and action and add your own level editor in their for good measure?

The answer is Axiebal 7 which sees you control a ball through a valley of torment and even allows you to design your own levels. Axiebal 7 works on a top-down view and scrolling levels to give you the feel of a hand held console game. Your aim is basically to guide the ball through several death defying levels while avoiding all kinds of obstacles and dangers that lie in your way.

On your way, you must collect flags until you reach your base again. However, the biggest danger you'll face is falling off a cliff so steering your ball to reach the craftily placed flags is not as easy as it may sound. There are also solid walls that stand in your way but you can blow them up with bombs to find your way home. Best of all however is the Axiebal 7 level editor which gives you the option to create your own challenges and courses when the default levels become too boring.

For a free fun game, Axiebal 7 is a decent time waster and offers a nice combination of action and puzzles.

Download Axiebal 7 in Softonic

Fraps is a universal Windows application that can be used with all games using DirectX or OpenGL technology. In its current form Fraps performs many tasks and can best be described as:

Benchmarking Software

See how many Frames Per Second (FPS) you are getting in a corner of your screen. Perform custom benchmarks and measure the frame rate between any two points. Save the statistics out to disk and use them for your own reviews and applications.

Screen Capture Software

Take a screenshot with the press of a key! There's no need to paste into a paint program every time you want to capture the screen. Your screen captures are also automatically named and timestamped.

Realtime Video Capture Software

Have you ever wanted to record video while playing your favourite game? Come join the Machinima revolution! Throw away the VCR, forget about using a DV cam, game recording has never been this easy! Fraps can capture audio and video up to 1152x864 and 100 frames per second!

Download Fraps 2.9.6 in Softonic

UltraStar is the PC version of the famous karaoke game series for Playstation - Singstar. The game works just like a traditional karaoke system: it plays the song and displays the lyrics simultaneously, so that you can sing along your favorite artists.

The original point about UltraStar is that it gives you a score according to your artistic abilities. The game analyzes your voice pitch and evaluates how good you are when you sing, allowing you to improve and polish up your syle.

Being an open source application, UltraStar is under constant development. There's a very proactive user community behind the program who works hard to improve the program itself and also to create new song files to sing along.

Download UltraStar 0.6.1 in Softonic

Some years ago ICQ was one of the most popular IM applications among Internet users. But when Microsoft launched MSN Messenger, many of these users forgot about their original IM client and joined a network that was growing very quickly. In the meantime, ICQ continued to be upgraded until finally reaching version 6, which sets a new milestone in the history of this classic piece of software.

To begin with, the installation process is fast and easy, the only downside being the fact that you must set ICQ Search as your web browser's default search engine, as there's no way of getting around this option.

This new ICQ boasts a fresh-looking interface which has been completely redesigned. Also, you can customize it with skins, although you'll have to download them because there's not a single skin included in the program. It does include, however, a very complete personal profile which you can fill in with all your information, including name, location, interests, spoken languages and a personal avatar that ICQ oddly refers to as "devil".

Generally speaking, ICQ 6 offers all the functions that we find in other IM applications, namely instant written messages, voice calls and video calls. All of these are complemented with a very nice set of animated smilies and the so called "Tzers" which are the equivalent to Messenger's "Winks". Chat sessions can be grouped together under the same window, which prevents your taskbar getting cluttered. ICQ allows you to start text conversations right from the contact list using the Quick message feature. There's also the option to send SMS messages to your contacts, but this is not available in all countries yet.

This new version promises to give you complete control over configuration settings. However, we must admit that we had some trouble in finding them, until we happened to click on the "Main" button on the interface. The configuration options are quite complete indeed, allowing you to change every single detail regarding sounds, notifications, privacy and security, message history, appearance and the program's general behaviour.

In all, ICQ seems to have developed a new version with a fresh redesign only to measure up to its main competitors but without really offering any new functions. Again, choosing ICQ (or any other IM app) ends up being just a question of which IM your friends use.

Download ICQ 6.0.0.7015 in Softonic

One of the traditions now associated with the coming of autumn is the release of two big football titles: FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer. As any fan of gaming will know, these two games go head to head each year, with PES usually coming out on top. The latest edition, PES 2009, will be a huge seller on the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION®3 consoles but how does it perform on the PC, a format notoriously unsuited to sports games?

I'm not going to lie to you: the PES 2009 demo for PC isn't exactly revolutionary when it comes to the old problem of porting console titles to Windows. All the old problems are there but the horrendously clunky controls (caused by lack of analog sticks) are the biggest barrier to enjoying what would, on the correct platform, be an enjoyable and well-designed game.

Another weak point in the PES 2009 demo is the lack of any game options whatsoever. With no way of adjusting graphics, sound or controls, the demo has a very rigid feel to it. Sound controls in particular would be a welcome addition, if only they allowed you to turn off the awful music Konami has selected for the menu and intro pages, and the tinny, poorly rendered chants during the game.

After selecting Exhibition mode (the only option apart from Exit), you're offered a choice of four clubs (FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester United) or two licensed national sides (France and Italy) to pit against each other. There follows the usual tactical options screen, a brief summary of the (insanely crappy) controls, and you're straight into the action.

The first thing we noticed about Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is that the graphics have been improved somewhat since last year's edition - player models are smoother and more natural than previously, even if getting the players to go where you want is just as hard as ever. Other improvements include the general AI of computer opponents and the physics of the game, though we're only really talking about minor tweaks here.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is, in the end, a slight improvement on last year's slightly disappointing release. On the PS3 and Xbox, it looks likely to lose this year's contest as FIFA 09 has improved so much. On PC, and especially without a gamepad, its controls are so clunky and inaccurate that it's as much of a waste of time as Civilization is on a console.

In all: PES 2009 is worth a try but not highly recommended on PC.

Download Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) 2009 in Softonic

Bsnes is a Super Nintendo emulator that's been around since 2004 and is known for its efforts to reproduce Super Nintendo games in pixel perfect accuracy.

The emulator also gives special focus to ensuring that your gaming experience is as bug-free as possible. However, in order to reproduce the speed and playability of SNES games, the RAM load of Bsnes is quite high and you may experience some freezes if you're working on a slower system.

It doesn't help that Bsnes heavily utilises Direct3D, OpenGL, DirectSound and DirectInput to get such good results but the payoff is probably worth if you're running a faster machine. However, even if you do have decent hardware, you'll probably experience a few bugs and crashes as it is still very much a work in progress.

If you had a Snes or loved the old console, then Bsnes is surely one of the most accurate emulators out there.

Download Bsnes 0.036 in Softonic

TSDisp is designed for all users of Teamspeak who want to see exactly who they are talking to at any time.

TSDisp adds the option of being able to read the screen name of the person who is speaking to you to remove any confusion in group meetings. To use it, you need Teamspeak connected, and through TSDisp simply select a channel of "vigilance". Once done, you can see the screen name of the person who is speaking. There's actually not much more to it than that.

However, by the developer's own admission, there are a few bugs with TSDisp, one of which is it doesn't always work if you switch a game or other application to full screen mode as it does not remain in the foreground like it's supposed to. It could also do with a few customization options as to the way names are displayed - a few ways of changing the colour at the very least.

TSDisp is a handy plugin for Teamspeak users who want to know exactly who they're talking to or who deal with big online meetings.

Download TSDisp 1.13 in Softonic

Have you ever wanted to play a joke on someone in a chatroom by pretending to be someone completely different?

Unless you're a ventriloquist it's not easy but AV VoizGame allows you to do so specifically in online chatrooms. AV VoizGame allows you to change your voice as you speak through a microphone in realtime to confuse the hell out of your online buddies or opponents. If you're playing multiplayer online role playing games, then you can really have some fun confusing your opponents or just generally mucking about.

If you want to relive your favourite gags, AV VoizGame comes with an inbuilt recorder which records your voice for. If you want to keep it hidden on your desktop, you can also do that by making the skin transparent. However, at almost $30 to upgrade, it seems a bit of a steep cost for a simple voice modulation software.

There's not much point to AV VoizGame other than playing jokes on online opponents and while it is a lot of fun, it's questionable whether it's really worth $30 to upgrade.

Download AV VoizGame 6.0.14 in Softonic

The Matroska format isn't particularly well known but it is growing in popularity despite a lack of support on popular games consoles Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

XenonMKV gets round this problem by allowing you to play videos in the Matroska format on the Xbox 360. It doesn't involve any lengthy or annoying transcoding however - only the video is downsampled meaning the video remains in perfect condition. This not only preserves video quality but makes it much quicker than normal MKV files.

Unfortunately, due to the makeup of the Xbox 360, the MKV files that are produced do not replay in surround sound which is something that Microsoft will have to address before you can do so. However, it's the video quality that you'll use for XenonMKV for because it's tailored for Xbox 360 video specifications.

XenonMKV is perfect for Xbox 360 owners who find themselves with a mounting MKV file collection that they've only been able to watch on their PC up until now.

Download XenonMKV 20080827_34 in Softonic

The torrent phenomenon is one of the most hyped about in the world of technology among Peer to Peer (P2P) users. It consists of sharing large files, like movies, software, or games anonymously and quickly with other peers. The file you want to download is cut up into small segments shared by users, creating what is called a swarm, and does not go through a central server, significantly reducing the bulk of file transfers, The Bittorrent client is actually the first P2P application to use this technology and became immensely popular when it was released. Torrents are considered by online users as a great way to download recently released movies or tv shows.

Thanks to a straightforward, uncluttered interface Bittorrent appears as a friendly torrent client that beginners will feel comfortable with. We particularly appreciated the integrated search box to look for files on the bittorrent website. Once you’ve found the torrent you want, download it to your PC, open it up inside Bittorrent and let the client do its job. The speed at which you download will depend on the number of seeds, that is people who have the complete file and are sharing it. The more seeds there are the quicker files will download.

You can set multiple torrent downloads and the downloading speed is fairly quick. It’s easy to configure the client and we suggest choosing the right port and setting upload and download rate limits to avoid hogging your bandwidth. It’s also good to set your downloads by priority to monitor more precisely how your torrents are doing.

Compared to the exhaustive Azureus, Bittorrent is very simplistic. It doesn’t provide half as many statistics and doesn’t let you customize the interface. Integrating a search box is a great idea, but it limits searches to the bittorrent website, not considered the most thorough source by torrent aficionados.

If you’re a newbie to the torrent world, Bittorrent is a good bet. It’s safe, stable and sharp. Associated with the huge database of legal torrents that is the bittorrent website, it makes for a very rich P2P experience. Advanced users will probably frown upon its lack of options but others should give it a try.

Download BitTorrent 6.1.1 in Softonic