Brand new trailer & information of the forthcoming K-Rally by authors of SkyForce!
I’ve often reported (see for example this) on INFINITE DREAMS’ (iDreams for short; authors of well-known, high-quality games like SkyForce (Reloaded) (review here), Super Miners (review here, in the Definitive Multiplayer PPC Game Roundup, the premier resource of everything multiplayer-related) and Explode Arena (review also in the Definitive Multiplayer PPC Game Roundup) forthcoming big hit, K-rally.
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They’ve just posted a brand new trailer to their homepage here, which is certainly worth checking out. The video is a pre-rendered trailer, NOT an in-game video. This means it shows far less real in-game shots than the more than one-year-old, Symbian (Nokia)-based, well-known “the stolen video vol.1 ” video. The (very short) in-game shots aren’t bad at all – they clearly show the superiority of iDreams’ particle / gaming engine. Knowing how efficient, spectacular and good it is (see Skyforce Reloaded!), I’m pretty sure the game will be a REAL killer, the best arcade car racer on the Pocket PC / MS Smartphone.
The features list has also been updated; now, it also lists (native) multiplayer Bluetooth capabilities up to no less than four (!) players (just like in Explode Arena). I really hope the iDreams folks implement native support for the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack – so far, it’s really been missing from their multiplayer games. They also promise it’ll have real inter-multiplatform support, which already works flawlessly on their other titles (I’ve also tested this with them).
The official K-Rally-related discussion forum, right now, doesn’t contain any new information on the title.
All I can say is this will be probably the best game of 2006 (along with Enslave and Skyforce Reloaded).
(Original news heads-up credit: PocketGamer.org)
Related
Momentum Games, developers of well-known, high-quality titles like Pocket Mini Golf 2 (see review & comparison here), has just come up with a remarkable, new, platform-like game. Since there are very few really good platformer games for the Pocket PC (SuperTux, Gold Miner Joe, the free OpenJazz, Bayside Studios' Quigley's Quest 1.10, the not-sold-any-more Rayman Ultimate by Gameloft or the non-WM5-compliant, now-free Tommy Kombat come to mind as examples, in addition to N.I’s great Retro Games collection and the to-be-released Titus’ Prehistorik clone Prehistoric), I gave it a test ride right away.
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While the game isn’t exactly a traditional platform game (unlike the above-listed games) but more of a logic / puzzle game (in this respect it’s a bit like, for example, Lemmings, Cavemen, AIM productions’ Tmax or Astraware’s Mazera, reviewed in the Roundup of All Pocket PC Games Part I). It is also slightly similar to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Jet Pac (screenshot here), one of the favourite games of my childhood.
Availability
The game is available HERE, costs $15.95 and has a perfectly playable trial version.
Compatibility
I’ve tested it on my WM5 Dell Axim x51v (A12), WM2003SE VGA Pocket Loox 720 and 5-year-old (!) Pocket PC 2002 Compaq iPAQ 3660 (yes, Pocket PC 2002 compliance is VERY rare with new titles!). It worked flawlessly on all these devices. It’s also compatible with square-screen devices and also has MS Smartphone and desktop Windows versions.
Visuals
They’re pretty good: the game, just like the new version of Pocket Mini Golf, supports hi-res VGA. On these devices, it looks pretty cool. The “thrust” effects (see the screenshot above) are pretty cool too, a bit like those of 4Pockets (the most known, excellent Pocket PC game developer company to use movement effects like these.)
Music / sounds
While the music is pretty cool, it’s pretty repetitive (as with Momentum Games’ other titles in general – they should pay more attention to less repetitive in-game music with better quality) and played back at a low quality and in mono.
Verdict
If you’re looking for a “traditional” platform game, you may be disappointed with this title. Still, give it a try.
If you more like platformer-like games where thinking is more necessary (in the Tmax / Mazera / Lemmings / Cavemen way), definitely give this title a try.
We all know Bejeweled, one of the best action/puzzle games on the Pocket PC. There are several Bejeweled clones for the Pocket PC (some of them having been reviewed in the Pocket PC Games Bible Part I); the new title, Snowed In 5 - Flaked Out, is one of them.
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Availability, compatibility
The Pocket PC version is compatible with all WM2003+ devices and had no problems on my test Pocket PC’s. Unfortunately, it’s not compatible with devices running under operating systems prior to WM2003; that is, for example, with Pocket PC 2002.
There are separate versions for VGA, square-screen and landscape devices. Unfortunately, on VGA devices, the landscape-mode version only offers QVGA resolution (example screenshot taken on a VGA device here) and is, consequently, not recommended. That is, get the VGA Portrait version if you have a VGA device and want to enjoy high-resolution graphics.
The main page of the game is here; the Pocket PC-related downloads are here.
Sounds
Unfortunately, there’s no in-game music, which is a big minus compared to the, music-wise, world-class Bejeweled. However, the in-menu music is pretty good.
Visuals
Pretty good; definitely not as spectacular as those of Bejeweled (2) or 4Pockets’ games though. Support for hi-res VGA on capable devices is a big plus though.
Online
The game, along with its homepage (“Submit your score and represent your country”), also promises to collect your high scores on ClickGamer. I, however, couldn’t find out how this needs to be done. Hope it will indeed be added to ClickGamer some time.
Registration
The game needs to be registered for continuous play, but it’s, fortunately, pretty easy. Just navigate to here and register as can be seen in here (the answer is like this) - that’s all. To do this, you need to have a free ClickGamer account – if you still don’t have one, just click the “Sign Up” button at the bottom and fill in the fields.
Verdict
For a free title, I’d say this game is worth checking out, particularly if you have a VGA device.
hehehe... I just got to get this... if not for anything else the graphics alone
I’ve elaborated a lot on Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) games in my Multiplayer Bible and Pocket PC 3D Acceleration Bible. Up to now, unfortunately, there only have been two clients available for the Pocket PC; namely,
the Java-based Wyvern, which did have some Java incompatibility and / or speed problems
the Russian-language, non-free Sphere by Nikita.
Fortunately, this seems to change in the future. SmartCell, of which I’ve reviewed several products of (see for example this AquaForce 1.1 and this TextPlus review / tutorial) is working on a really promising, Pocket PC-compliant (!) MMORPG called Shadow of Legend, which even has its own top-level homepage here, which may be worth checking out. There still isn’t much tangible stuff in there (unfortunately, the first demo game clients will only be released in early January as can also be read in here); however, at least there are three MP3 files and two trailers to download.
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This is indeed a very promising project. I’ll report as soon as a playable demo is released.
By the way, in addition to the above links, I also recommend this PPCT thread on similar subjects.
(By the way, still speaking of SmartCell’s product line, they still (?) haven’t ported RemotePlus to the Pocket PC. Hope they change their minds soon – as will also be explained in my forthcoming, biiiiiiiiig roundup of all Pocket PC -> PC remote controller solutions, Pocket PC-based Terminal Server / Services clients are all pretty bad and a decent alternative would be more than welcome.)
Some weeks ago, I’ve elaborated on the forthcoming, highly anticipated Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) called Shadow of Legend.
Now, there are some news on the title; most importantly, some screenshots and two CES videos (without really showing in-game videos). Unfortunately, nothing tangible – that is, no downloadable client is available as yet.
However, the two new videos (directly accessible on the video download page) may be worth checking out.
“The Rex Hispanarium Campaign - By 1034, Sancho the Great of Navarre had incorporated Aragon, Sobrarbe, Barcelona, as well as Asturias, Leon and Castile, and he proclaims himself Rex Hispaniarum ("King of all Spains"). In the next year, 1035, Sancho III dies. His lands are distributed among his four sons:
García, his eldest son, received Navarre and the Basque country with knowned supremacy over all of his brothers, a sort of a better higher kingship, meaning more resources; education; health. Also enlarged by portions of Castile.
Ferdinand, received Castile as a kingdom.
Gonzalo, received Sobrarbe and Ribagorza as kingdoms.
Ramiro, obtained the county of Aragon.
Your campaign objective, as king of Castile, is to reunite all kingdoms, becoming Ferdinand I, El Magno "The Great" and get proclaimed Emperor of all Hispania ( Imperator totius Hispaniae or commonly, Rex Hispanarium).”
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OK, enough of the advertisement, let’s get down to the facts: I haven’t played such a bad game in the last few months. Except for, maybe, Lost in the Pyramid.
Their homepage is HERE, which itself has very bad design and a lot of English mistakes. The game is compatible with all WM5+ Pocket PC’s. It doesn’t run under WM2003(SE) – but, again, I bet you won’t want to play it either.
The good
None
The bad
no sound / music at all
really ugly & pixelizated – I haven’t seen so pixelizated a game for ages
text next to unreadable because of the color; and, in the help / briefing, often cut off
very simple and hollow game – there’s little strategy in there, except for wildly tapping some icons. In no way an Orions or an Azgard.
Verdict
This is the first game of Sidegence. However, this doesn’t mean they should release such an unfinished cr*p, particularly not for $14.00. Sorry – there’s just no better word for this game. This game wouldn’t be worth getting even for free, let alone $14.00. I’d say it’s even worse than the games produced by the infamous IBE or Emcon Emsys Tech.
You may still remember my roundup of 3D Arkanoid titles (if you haven’t read it, do it now; note that the chart has bad HTML markup, which will soon be fixed). A brand new 3D Arkanoid clone, Arkanoi3D has just been released for both touchscreen-enabled Pocket PC’s and touchscreen-less MS Smartphones (the latter even including 176*220 ones).
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The game has all a decent 3D Arkanoid should have: powerups (for example, to quickly shoot down some of the blocks), a line constantly showing where the ball really is in 3D and, which isn’t at all common with similar titles, a rotatable overview of the play area:
It’s available for download and purchase HERE.
Compatibility
It’s only compliant with WM5 (I’ve checked this on my WM2003 iPAQ 2210). It ran OK on my WM6.1-based HTC Wizard (Pocket PC) and (the original, factory) WM5-based HTC s310 (Oxygen) MS Smartphone. The touchscreen CPU usage bug considerably slowed down the game; fortunately, you don’t need to touch the screen all the time. Also note that, without increasing the ball speed (in Options), the game can be really-really slow-paced at the default speed. That is, make sure you increase the speed if you find the game just too slow. Still speaking of the options menu, you may also want to change the skin (the default is just too dark). Two examples showing this (the first is the default, the second is taken with the yellow skin):
Note that it shut down the backlight on my HP iPAQ 210 right away. Nothing could fix this. That is, the game (as of the current, 1.0 version) is fully incompatible with this model.
Verdict
If you’re into the genre, do check it out. I certainly recommend it over both Pocket 3DNoid and Crazy Ball 3D. Of course, it’s quite a bit more expensive than the directly comparable Pocket 3DNoid. That is, if you don’t want to spend $10 without comparing it to the alternatives first, also make sure you give Pocket 3DNoid a try first.
I only wish it had in-game music.