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Elements Interactive releases free, square/VGA-aware Tetris

Elements Interactive is a well-known developer of, in addition to some games (some of them being very cool; for example, Quartz2, which even has multiplayer capabilities and has been reviewed in the Definitive Multiplayer PPC Game Roundup), the Edge multiplatform gaming library. Their latest, just-released title is a FREE and, in spite of this, pretty decent Tetris-clone which is supposed to demonstrate the caapbilities of Edge.
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Availability, compatibility
The game is available here for both Microsoft mobile platforms (tes, Smartphone too) and the desktop Windows, all Symbian platforms and even GP2X.
The Pocket PC version is even compatible with PPC 2002 and runs just great even on my 5-year-old iPAQ 3660. Also, I haven’t run into problems on my other test Pocket PC’s either (non-overclocked WM5 AKU 2.3 HTC Wizard, WM5 2.01 VGA iPAQ hx4700, WM5 A12 VGA Dell Axim x51v and WM2003SE VGA F-S Pocket Loox 720). That is, it’s compatible with all OS’es from PPC2k2 to WM5.
In addition to the D-pad, the hardware buttons (drop down, rotate, menu) worked on all these devices flawlessly.
Visuals
The game is compatible with all the three screen configurations of the Pocket PC: QVGA, VGA (yes, it uses high resolution) and square (240*240) screens. It’s VGA-aware (uses high resolution on VGA devices) and has some pretty good visuals particularly when you drop a title to make the game a bit faster.
Music
It has in-game music too. It’s a bit repetitive (after all, the in-game MOD file – embedded in \Program Files\S-Tris 2\res\bgm.epk if you want to have a look at it / change it to something else / extract it - is some 26 kbytes only in compressed form), but is still pretty good, particularly with a free title.
Verdict
Go get it!

Nice tetris game, thanks
I just installed it on my wife's old Mio 168 and it works flawlessly

REVIEW: Zone 66-alike 360-degree scroller shooter, Alpha Rebellion, released

If you have MS-DOS background and played demogroup Renaissance's (Epic (Mega)games’) famous shooter title Zone 66 (another link to check out here) back in 1992, you may welcome the brand new game Alpha Rebellion by SwordAndSpirit, which is based on the same “360 degrees turning” scheme and has (at least compared to some of the alternates) pretty good in-game music and sounds.
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Availability
The title is available on the homepage of the developer. ClickGamer page here. There’s a trial version; the full version costs $9.95 (I think – being in Europe, I’m shown the price in Euros, which is €7.96 ).
Gameplay
Please see the above-linked pages on how the games in this genre are played. If you know Zone 66, then, the new title will be familiar.
Compatibility
The game is compatible with WM2003+ (sorry PPC2k2 users, it isn’t compatible with your devices – I’ve tested.)
On all my VGA devices (Pocket Loox 720, Dell Axim x51v and the WM5-upgraded iPAQ hx4700 - yes, the game runs on the latter too, which is certainly good news), the scrolling was pretty choppy and uneven (this is pretty bad news particularly for x51v users – most scroll-intensive, well-written and optimized games, even ones without explicit 2700G support, run OK on the Dell, unlike on the other two, listed VGA devices). That is, I don’t necessarily recommend the game if you have a VGA device. (Note that the game, as you may have guessed, uses QVGA in-game resolution only – there is no hi-res graphics.)
On (faster) QVGA devices like the WM2003 iPAQ 2210, I had no problems like this – on them, the game is pretty enjoyable. As far as slower QVGA devices are concerned, the non-overclocked HTC Wizard, unfortunately, had the same choppy scrolling problem as the VGA devices. With overclocking, this problem may go away.
Controls
The game is stylus-controllable; that is, you don't need the D-pad. This is certainly good news.
For shooting, switching between weapons and displaying/hiding the minimap, you'll need the hardware buttons. They were available on all my devices except the hx4700, where the tap-and-hold functionality of the WM5 device made it impossible to keep the fire button constantly down. (But, as has already been pointed out, I don't think you'll find the game enjoyable on a VGA device because of the choppy scrolling.)
Visuals
Pretty good, albeit the hand-drawn debriefing characters are pretty ugly. Also, the explosions (particularly air - ground bombs), while definitively not so spectacular as with SkyForce Reloaded, the king of all scrolling shooters. The bomb explosions also really slow down the animation.
Sounds, music
Pretty nice, albeit repetitive, mono in-game music. Not as good as that of SkyForce (Reloaded). The sounds are OK.
Verdict
If you’ve been a fan of Zone 66, you have a fast QVGA device and would like to give a try to a 360-degree shooter on the Pocket PC, give this title a try. Otherwise, SkyForce (Reloaded) is still a much better choice because it’s visually stunning, doesn’t have choppy scrolling and offers far more action.

After a Long Waiting, Version 1.0 of Great Palm OS Emulator, StyleTap, Finally Out!

I’ve been closely watching (see my early compatibility reports for example here, here, here, here and here) the evolution of Styletap, the Palm OS emulator for the Pocket PC, for almost two years now.
Palm OS has some really cool and unmatched applications (for example, MathLib, powerOne Graph and MedCalc) and games (for example, Edge and Acedior) that hava never been ported to the Pocket PC.
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(the above screenshot has been taken on the VGA x51v and shows how HiRes (320*320) games are scaled to 480*480 to – horizontally – completely fill in the available screen estate of VGA Pocket PC’s. The same screenshot taken on the QVGA HTC Wizard can be seen here; it shows how the LoRes (160*160) rendering looks on a QVGA device. As you can see, it’s much less spectacular and pretty hard to read)
StyleTap (rightfully!) is also the winner of the Utilities: Miscellaneous Utilities category of the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards 2006.
Availability
The application is available here for all ARM-based platforms (that is, even on Pocket PC 2000 / 2002 ARM-based Pocket PC's). The commercial version costs a whopping $49.99 but there is a 14-day and, otherwise, unrestricted trial.
Edge compatibility
Of course, the first program I’ve tested was Edge, the greatest role playing game for the Palm OS - and probably all non-gaming handheld device platforms (see this, this and, again, this for more info on how it compares to other (Pocket PC) RPG games). I was really delighted to see that, it was clearly more enjoyable than the beta versions of the emulator.
On my 624 MHz WM5 VGA Dell Axim x51v, there aren’t really annoying sound problems (hiccups in the background stereo music) with the game any more unless you have a conversation with someone. Then, the music has very short, but quite annoying pauses every 2 or 3 second.
On my 624 MHz WM5 HP iPAQ hx4700 and 520 MHz WM2003SE VGA Pocket Loox 720, the situation wasn’t this good; there were constant pauses in the background music.
I’ve also tested the game on the HTC Wizard and it turned out to be pretty good, taking the speed of the CPU of this model into account. Of course, there were pauses in the ambient music, but the game itself was pretty playable.
Acedior compatibility
The second game I tested was Acedior, the other Palm OS-only “big hit” – the second adventure of the folks that have created Fade, which has won the “Best adventure game for the Pocket PC” prize several times. Acedior isn’t at all worse than Fade, quality-wise – I certainly recommend purchasing it if you own a (preferably HiRes(+)) Palm model.
Unfortunately, as with the 0.x betas, the new StyleTap version isn’t compatible with this title either – it still can’t load the bitmaps as can be seem in here. This is a BIG problem - Acedior is a REALLY good game!
Other tidbits
Pros
Definitely faster and more compatible than beta versions!
Cons
There is still(?) no HiRes+ (that is, 480*320, as opposed to the “plain” 320*320 HiRes) support in the emulator
The price ($49.99, which is considerably higher than in the beta stage) is pretty steep – you can get a second-hand, say, Palm Tungsten 3 for not much more money, and it offers both seamless HiRes+ (not just HiRes) compatibility with all the applications / games out there (not to mention its other uses; for example, as an A2DP-enabled multimedia player). And, yes, it runs both Edge and Acedior flawlessly - and in HiRes+
Verdict
If you have Palm applications or games you’d like to run on your Pocket PC, give StyleTap a try. Also, make sure you check out Edge under it if you have a sufficiently fast, preferably VGA Pocket PC (for example, the x51v) and you don’t dislike games – you’ll definitely like it!
Other discussions of the new version
AximSite

REVIEW: Handy Entertainment’s Dreamway 1.2, a top-down racing game

Much as this racing title isn’t particularly new on the Pocket PC (not even the latest, 1.2 version), now that PocketGamer reported on it, I’ve realized I still haven’t dedicated a review to this SuperCars clone (without, unfortunately, any kind of multiplayer capabilities, which made SuperCars II just great on 16-bit home platforms back in 1990), which may be of interest to all Pocket PC gaming freaks before Infinite Dreams’ K-Rally is released.
It’s a classic example of top-down 2D racing games like Gangsta Race (also reported on in the Roundup of All Pocket PC Games Part I).
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(VGA screenshot; on QVGA devices, a similar one is here)
Availability
The game is available here for $14.95. The trial is one-level only.
Compatibility
It’s compatible with all my test Pocket PC’s. Note that while the homepage doesn’t list the game as PPC 2002 compliant, in reality, it is – it’s running just great on my PPC2k2 Compaq iPAQ 3660.
The other PDA’s I’ve tested it on are the following:
HTC Wizard (runs great even at 195 MHz)
HP iPAQ hx4700 (on it, you MUST use the stylus to control the car as not even button redefining works)
Dell Axim x51v
Pocket Loox 720
HP iPAQ h2210
It's also compatible with the MS Smartphone and the Palm OS platform.
Compared to Gangsta Race (GR) 1.1…
(Note that Garga Games’s official homepage is not accessible – this may also mean they’re out of business)
Pros
It shows much more of the playfield on VGA devices and is, of course, hi-res (GR screenshot here on VGA - note that it doesn't support hi-res on VGA)
Has better in-game music
Cons
It doesn’t show the relative position of the other cars, which is a real pain in the back particularly on QVGA devices, where it shows less of the playfield than GR
It has no stereo (!) sound effects, unlike GR – the sound effects in Dreamway are much poorer
It can’t switch to any non-Portrait mode, unlike GR
Doesn’t have a Pocket PC 2000 (MIPS) port (on my Casio E-125, the MIPS version of GR runs just great)
Compared to the Palm OS version…
There are no differences. The Palm version runs a bit slower on my T3 (even in HiRes-only (that is, 320*320, as opposed to the 320*480 HiRes+ mode) than on my Pocket PC’s. The Palm version, however, uses a clearer in-game music track with much better highs (it’s sampled at a higher sampling frequency)
Verdict
Give it a try if you liked Gangsta Race. It is in no way as spectacular than the forthcoming K-Rally, but is certainly worth giving a try, particularly on VGA devices.

REVIEW: Jadeware releases brand new platformer Grizzly Adventure

Ever wanted to play platformers on your Pocket PC? So far, unfortunately, few REAL platformers have been released for the Pocket PC; they are as follows:
Atomic Dreams,
SuperTux,
Gold Miner Joe,
the free OpenJazz,
Bayside Studios' Quigley's Quest 1.10,
the not-sold-any-more Rayman Ultimate by Gameloft,
the non-WM5-compliant, now-free Tommy Kombat,
N.I’s great Retro Games collection,
Momentum Games’ pretty good platformer-alike, brand new Meltdown
and the to-be-released Titus’ Prehistorik clone Prehistoric(it, unfortunately, has just been delayed to March).
This means all new, decent platformer releases are a must for real Pocket PC game freaks.
Fortunately, Jadeware’s new game Grizzly Adventure is a pretty good platformer game – if and only if it flawlessly runs on your Pocket PC. Read on!
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Availability, compatibility
The homepage of the game is here. Alternatively, here’s the Handango page.
The title is supposed to the compatible with WM2003 and later operating systems (sorry, no-pre WM2003, contrary to what the official homepage states).
Unfortunately, it seems to have severe problems with VGA devices. As far my VGA test devices are concerned, I’ve tested the game on my Pocket Loox 720, WM5-upgraded HP iPAQ hx4700 and the A12 Dell Axim x51v. Of the three, it’s only the Axim that could run the game with an adequate speed and tolerable playability. The Loox was unbearably slow (even with Picard’s GAPI hack) and the iPAQ was only a tad faster (with stuttering music). It should be pointed out, however, that the x51v was still slower and less pleasing-to-play than the QVGA HTC Wizard.
As far as QVGA devices are concerned, I’ve tested it on my HP iPAQ h2210 and HTC Wizard overclocked to 240 MHz. The game had very annoying stuttering problems on the former (while it, basically, ran the game otherwise OK); the Wizard ran the game without any problems.
That is, before paying anything (fortunately, it’s pretty cheap - $7.95 only) for the game, make double-sure it does run on your Pocket PC without major problems!
Note that there also is a Mac and a desktop Windows version. Unlike the desktop version of MANY Pocket PC games (4Pockets and OmniGSoft titles, for example), it does make use of the increased screen estate – give it a try.
Installer
It should be pointed out that Grizzly Adventure uses a non-standard installer (screenshot here). This, as usual, presents a lot of problems: lack of user-deployable CAB files, lack of Mac / Linux compatibility, not possible to re/uninstall from ActiveSync, a current connection is needed to install and so on.
I really hope the developer switches to using standard CAB files.
Also note that the starting link it creates is linking an ogg music file in Programs. You must manually create a link to GrizzlyDemo.exe in the main directory of the title, which is \My Documents\Grizzly Demo when installed to the main storage.
Audio
There is pretty good in-game music in OGG format; this also means it can be freely copied / swapped. They’re played back in mono during the game. There are three different, pretty good in-game music tracks (also see the \audio subdirectory in the home directory of the game) and another menu music. There are sound effects too in the game.
All in all, the audio department is OK.
Verdict
It’s a pretty good and, what is even more important, cheap platformer IF it runs on your Pocket PC well. Give the trial a try to find it out - it's worth the trouble.