Friv.com is an online-gaming website, the type that offers free games and shows to its visitors. At first, one might think that such a site can only only offer mediacore games, especcially when compared with the top, 5-star games that are lately being released. Obviously I'm not going to deny that, but then again, I don't think Friv was created to compete with these games but rather to offer its users the chance to pass some of their free time playing something that is not complicated, but fun all the same. Without a doubt, Friv has been a huge success as proved by their monthly '21 Million unique users'.

Upon entering the website, one immediately notices the host of different colours that make up the site. Due to some animations, the site has a live feeling to it, motivating you to remain and perhaps even try one of the amusing games. At one side there is a list with the Top 10 Games while on the other side there is the list of the Latest 10 Games to be realesed. The middle of the site is divided into the different categories of games (Sport, Multiplayer, Action & Adventure, Shoot-em Up, Puzzle, Learning) with each part listing the top games in each category.

Friv offers quite a large number of games for its users to play for free. Obviously I cannot describe each and every one, mainly because it would take me over a year to review every game and secondly because I haven't even played all the games yet....and that's saying something since I've known about this site for years. A good thing about this site is that good quality games are quite frequently added and so nobody can really say that he or she is bored of the site. Also the fact that there are multiplayer games means that you're bound to find something different when you play. Be it a funny opponent or an extremely hard challenge, the site is capable of keeping you interested for hours on end. (Though obviously, this is not true for everybody).
The following are my Top 3 games available free of charge at the site.

Tennis Titans - this is a really good tennis game where strange creatures play tennis against each other. The sound and graphics are impressive and can be quite addictive for the little game that it is.

Heli Attack 3 - this is an action adventure game where you play the role of a man who has to constantly shoot things either flying above him or else on the ground. The little soldier you command will have available to himself a host of weapons. The game never ends and so trying to top the High Scoring Charts is a constant challenge

Battle Pong - well everyone knows this game. One ball and two line opposite each other. The point of the game is to hit the ball to the wall behind the opponent's line. Simple yet fun. The graphics are nothing special and the sound is annoying (but you can turn this off) though remarkably I never tire of it.

Friv.com also says that it offers free shows, but to be honest I never really understood what they meant by this. Maybe by shows, they mean strange games like 'Forming your own Rock Band' and stuff like that, but I'm not really sure. So please excuse my ignorance in this aspect :)

A good thing about this site is that you don't have to have an overly powerful computer to run the games (although some of the latest ones do require at least a P4). I don't really know if the games work well with a dial-up connection because I've always had ADSL, but most probably, the performance would suffer greatly unless you decide to download the game to your computer. Unfortunately, this is not always possible....and when it is, it's normally at a (small) price. Some of the games also require some programs such as Active X or Shockwave to work, although this should not be a problem because anyone can easily download these quite quickly.

If you really end up liking the site and what it offers, you can also Join Friv.com. From what i've read, they will send you free games by e-mail. I have not made use of this offer, mianly not to clutter by precious mail-box by needless things. In the site, one can also find a Forum, though you must register to post messages. I didn't really like the Forum because it didn't seem really lively, but then again I don't visit it much....i've got better things to do in my life than discuss online games, hehe :)

Finally, it is said that online gaming will be the next big thing and I totally agree. This is an increasingly growing market and the fact that the games are constantly improving on all fronts means that we can expect some really impressive stuff in the near future.