Crazy Mammoths
Crazy Mammoths by JP of pepere.org is a deceptively engrossing game.
As with all good games, the more you play Crazy Mammoths, the better you become. Or so it seems. And although the control mechanism is minimalistic to say the least (press space to jump, and, er, that's it!) the scoring regime makes each race a tactical nail-biter.
Instead of adding complexity to the single-button genre to gain depth (see Nitrome's Onekey), Crazy Mammoth relies on the simple intensity of a close-run race. The balancing of the opponents' catch-up is just about right; you can get into the lead and stay there if you're good (or lucky), but make a mistake and you can quickly find yourself at the back of the pack, wishing the coefficient of friction was significantly less.
A certain amount of randomness is injected into the tilting world, but because all mammoths inhabit the same one-dimensional track, it's still a level playing field (cough cough).
Yes, the graphics aren't state-of-the-art and the sound effects are a bit basic, but this game isn't about polish, it's about fighting your way to the front of a pack of frozen elephants and staying there. And who can honestly say, hand on heart, that that's not something that makes your heart pump faster?