With so many games to play, picking and choosing games over at USA's own Character Arcade can be a bit difficult at times. This time I went with one of the most cartoony games featured on Character Arcade's main page - Guardian Rock. Guardian Rock is a puzzler available for free on Character Arcade as well as for iPod Touch and iPhone on the App Store. Unlike many puzzlers that are available for free online these days, Guardian Rock actually provides some context for why you're doing what you do.

See, there are these ancient hidden temples that have untold wealth and treasure inside that explorers are starting to discover. While they're trying to uncover the secrets of the temple, the ancient architects were master trap-makers and invented the Guardian Rock. These rocks have one goal in life - destroy any intruders...in this case, the explorers in the temple. You play as the Guardian Rock who must eliminate all intruder explorers who dared trespass on the grounds of the ancient temple.

The core of the gameplay has been seen before in a few other casual games, but never used so well. Press a directional button, the Guardian Rock will move in that direction until it hits something - be it a wall or a floating block - at which point, the player can press another directional button to send the Guardian Rock flying in that direction. The game is simple enough: use the Guardian Rock to destroy all the explorers, then move to the exit that opens up as soon as the last explorer is crushed by the might of the Guardian Rock.

The levels are what you'd expect - they start out pretty easy and then get really challenging, with a few pretty intriguing twists - blocks that break as soon as Guardian Rock touches them, etc. The number and placement of explorers varies from level to level, making the puzzles fresh and interesting every time you head over to a new level. You're scored depending on the amount of time you completed the level, the number of explorers killed and the number of tries it took for you to complete the level. It's also really a guilty pleasure to watch as the explorers get knocked off the screen in a very cute pixely death.

Speaking of pixely, the game has a very distinctive animated style that makes for a very cute, albeit slightly violent, graphical experience. The facial expressions on the Guardian Rock itself are priceless, especially when you accidentally fly into a wall of spikes and disintegrate into a pile of gravel while the explorers continue to violate the temple.

The main free game available on Character Arcade has a whopping 48 levels to start, each with its own tweak and puzzling challenge with the option for purchasing two expansion packs to continue the fun. Like many puzzle games, Guardian Rock suffers from a lack of replayability once the levels are complete. You'll have to wait about a year and forget all the levels before the experience will feel fresh again. It's an unfortunate part of these games, but a necessary evil.

Guardian Rock is one of the stronger offerings on Character Arcade that also happens to be available for the very mobile iPod and iPhone. If you've got an account on Character Arcade (and why wouldn't you?), you can save your high score for all to see whenever they please. It's a good community building feature included within the game. For a few hours of puzzle fun, it's a welcome distraction from spreadsheets and reports.