Sonny's story begins in classic turn-based RPG fashion, as its titular protagonist is awakened by a friend. But Sonny isn't a starry-eyed adolescent yearning to venture forth from his charming rural village. He's an amnesiac zombie on an embattled freighter, armed with naught but a hunk of lead pipe.

The forgivably silly tale that follows, told via cutscenes and an impressive amount of voice-acted dialogue, provides the backdrop for a lot of very slick, addictive, and deep RPG combat. Sonny's almost effortless initial encounters give little hint of the challenges that lie ahead. Within an hour or two, you'll be selling and swapping gear, assigning tactics to party members, and even respeccing talent trees. The entire interface is mouse-click driven, and its tooltip-enhanced menus are some of the best I've seen in a Flash RPG.

As far as casual, turn-based RPGs are concerned, Sonny and Sonny 2 are the cream of the in-browser, free-to-play crop. Sonny 2 is a slightly more refined game, and it doesn't presuppose much familiarity with its predecessor, so feel free to play them out of order if you're not worried about story continuity. Both games provide hours of tactical combat, and they both let you save your character after each battle, so they're perfect for multiple casual sessions. Click "read more" below to see some Sonny screenshots.

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