Possibly the best flash game ever made

(No, it's not one of mine. What kind of self-absorbed pompous egotistical windbag do you think I am?)

It's called Gemcraft, available at Armor Games and Game In A Bottle. This holiday vacation, while mostly snowed in, Sarah and I played it's entire run. We won 168 battles, killing a total of 45,336 monsters. The game was good enough to spend all those hours. ...and it's even free.

It's kinda like the various Tower defense games, but spruced up with:

• something very reminiscent of the gem and socket system of Diablo II,
• a skill-point and experience system,
• a compelling story and a cool ending,
• deeper strategic decisions then most of the Tower Defense games,
• 48 tactical battlefields to fight over across the strategic map,

This highly addictive and satisfying game kicks some serious booty. Each individual level is 5 to 30 minutes, so you can cram in a quick battle between other diversions.

The only complaint I have is a minor thematic/flavor complaint: why do the monsters respect and obey traffic laws? (The answer, of course, is that they do so because it makes for better game play, but it's still a little goofy.)