[Ali: This is Paul’s first post for Alpha Student. As you can see, his approach to uni life is slightly different from mine. 😉 Enjoy!]

Sometimes, however strong the urge may be to be efficient, punctual and studious, you just need to force yourself into doing something that won’t contribute in any way to a successful university life.

(Or, if you are like me, this is just the tip of the iceberg of your fully honed skills of procrastination and work-avoidance.)

So, whether you are just starting out on the winding scenic road of dithering-and-time-wasting, or whether you have set up permanent camp there, here are some of the top platfomers that are found as free online flash games.

5. The Mind Bender

Use the power of your mind to solve the puzzles posed by this platform game. And to move boxes: a simple extra dynamic that makes this game a neat little distraction, more than your average platform jump-and-collect routine.

4. Ninja Rampage

Part stealth, part speed, part puzzler.

All Ninja Rampage.

The trick is in combing the stealth and the speed.

And in not dying.

Relatively simple to actually complete, the game’s major charm is in its replayability. Maybe if you had just have moved a little faster, you could have gotten to that guard without raising the alarm…

Try again, and find out.

3. Unfair Platformer

The name says it all. If it takes less than 100 lives to complete, then you need to work out some trust issues.

Hours of fun and frustration, in equal measures, await. Work out which hints are lies, what obvious traps are not traps, and triple guess your every move. Or just enjoy yourself finding every single one of the game’s hundreds of imaginative ways to die.

2. The Flash version of Portal

Based loosely on the Orange Box surprise hit Portal.

As a 2D platformer it retains the novel approach that makes it more than just a normal platform game – puzzle your way through levels that seem incompletable. And remember the most important thing – the only limit to what you can do with the portal gun is what you can come up with.

Oh, and remember the even more most important thing.

There is no cake.

1. Shift – Shift 2 – Shift 3

Admittedly, choosing three games to occupy the number one slot is probably cheating, but this little trilogy links together as one game very effectively.

A platform game in name and appearance, it’s also more a cunning little puzzler; the quirky sense of humour that keeps you off balance and thinking throughout all three instalments.

Over to you

What’s your favourite platformer game? Aid procrastinators and work-avoiders everywhere by letting us know in the comments…