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.
Related
As the excellent Pocket PC gaming site PocketGamer.org has just reported, the vertical shooter Burning Armor has win the EDGE coding compo. Having always loved vertical scroller shooter games, I’ve jumped at it right away to find out whether it’s any good.
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Unfortunately, it isn’t. Mainly, it has major speed problems. It’s only playable on (faster – particularly NOT recommended for OMAP users like those of with the HTC Wizard!) QVGA devices. On VGA devices, it has pretty annoying speed problems even on the (in this respect) fastest x51v; on the Pocket Loox 720 (even with Picard’s VGA GAPI hack) and the HP iPAQ hx4700, it’s unplayable.
It speed, as has already been pointed out, is only satisfactory on at least 400 MHz XScale, QVGA only Pocket PC’s like the HP iPAQ 2210. On slower QVGA or any VGA devices, it will be just plain slow.
Availability, compatibility
It’s available here and costs $19.99. A trial version is available. It’s compatible with all WM2003+ operating systems and runs on all my test devices (even the WM5-based hx4700).
Sound, music
As with most EDGE-based games I’ve played with, it has in-game music but its sound quality is pretty bad (compared to SkyForce Reloaded or many other titles) because of the low sampling rate.
Visuals
Nothing to write home about. No spectacular 3D effects, not so good explosions as in SkyForce (Reloaded) or Particle Wars.
Verdict
You may not want to check out this game. It’s just poor and really overpriced. Go for SkyForce [Reloaded], GikaDiver, Darklaga or Particle Wars instead. This title is really weak. It’s probably only the Compact Framework 2-based (yes, using high-level languages / libraries will always result in major speed problems on the Pocket PC!) Star Invader II by IBE Group that is even worse. (Please see this article for more links and reviews to other vertical scroller games!)
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.
Ever played the free RedBall by Heliad (also see the comments here) on your Pocket PC? Wanted something very similar, but with some decent in-game music and much better graphics / enjoyability? Get JumpyBall!
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Availability
The game is available here free of charge for both the Pocket PC (all Pocket PC operating systems are supported except for the oldest Pocket PC 2000) and the Microsoft Smartphone platforms.
Gameplay
It’s pretty simple, but entertaining: in the pseudo-3D world, you need to make sure you don’t let the ball sink into water.
Compatibility
No problems here either: the game ran on all my test Pocket PC’s: the PPC 2002 iPAQ 3660 (with slightly decreased speed and slight background problems – the background image just vanishes when you move the ball left or right), the WM2003 iPAQ h2210, the WM2003SE VGA Pocket Loox 720, the WM5 VGA hx4700 (2.01 ROM), the WM5 VGA Dell Axim x51v (A12 ROM), the WM5 VGA HTC Universal and the WM5 QVGA HTC Wizard (2.26 ROM) running at 195 MHz (had no speed problems even at such a low clock speed). I, in addition to the PPC2k2 / iPAQ 3660 problems outlined above, only encountered problems on my hx4700 because of the D-pad, which is pretty useless for gaming. Whenever I tried to redefine the left/right scroll buttons (which is possible in the game) so that I reassign them to “real”, more gaming-friendly buttons, this turned out to be impossible because of the two-state buttons. That is, it’s the best to forget the hx4700 entirely unless you have an external Bluetooth gaming pad.
Graphics
Pretty good for a freeware game and much better than that of RedBall. Doesn't use high resolution on VGA devices.
Music
The game uses quality scener tracks; for example, delicate 0ooz! by emax / trsi (also see the main page here). Hopefully all this with permission of the original authors – see the story here. The tracks are swappable in the \Program Files\PocketNew\JumpyBall\Musics\ directory.
Compared to Heliad's RedBall...
(as of (current) version 1.2 of the latter)
Pros
Has great in-game music
Has much better visuals; looks far less computer-generated
Much more stable on my WM5 VGA devices (x51v A12, hx4700 2.01). RedBall often (on the hx4700, always, upon trying to return to the main menu) crashes on these devices
Allows for redefining buttons
Has auto-jumping upon encountering water (this can be disabled)
Cons
No PPC2k support. RedBall works great even on my Casio E-125
No minimap at the top of the screen
Verdict
This title is definitely worth getting - you can't beat the price. If you've been an avid RedBall player, make sure you download it: RedBall was a definitely worse title (except for the minimap). There are very few free titles and most of them are of much worse quality. Give it a try.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to AximSite forum member pmcizhere for pointing my direction to RedBall.
Recommended links
Don’t forget to check out my other game reviews here. I also recommend the game reviews in the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine's Expert Blog by Ben Stanley, Al Harrington and Eric Pankoke.
(Original heads-up news source: PocketGamer.org)
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
It was just a few days ago that I reported on the new Tradewinds / Pirates! clone High Seas: Guns & Gold of Venan Entertainment and, now, they have released the Pocket PC port of another title, a minigolf game Super Putt Xtreme.
I particularly like playing minigolf games on the Pocket PC; also see my article on this subject here. This is why I really looked forward to testing this title.
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It has most features and hazards a basic minigolf game should have; for example, water hazards and the like. Here’s the operation tip dialog; it also has bonus power items (also see the “Other Screenshots” section for their capabilities), which are mostly usable in (hotseat) multiplayer mode.
Availability, compatibility
See this Handango link. It's (comparatively) cheap and has a decent trial version.
I had no probelms on my WM2003 iPAQ 2210, WM2003SE VGA PL720 and WM5 QVGA HTC Wizard. It, however, didn’t run on any of my WM5-based VGA devices – Venan Entertainment’s games are entirely incompatible with WM5 VGA models.
Compared to the most important alternative, Momentum Games' Pocket Mini Golf 2 2.0
As with Pocket Mini Golf 2 (PMG2) 2.0, it only supports hotseat multiplayer – that is, no real, inter-device multiplayer (see the Multiplayer Bible for more information).
Pros
Cheaper ($9.95 as opposed to $19.95)
Power items, which make the game much more interesting, particularly in hotseat multiplayer (some items can only be used in multiplayer mode)
Cons
No hi-res VGA support (2.0 of PMG2 is just beautiful in VGA!)
As with all other Venan Entertainment titles, absolutely incompatible with WM5 VGA devices; as far as WM5 is concerned, it’ll only run on QVGA ones
No in-game music (even when Momentum Games' titles have always had a bit short and, therefore, monotonous in-game music)
Far fewer settings – in Pocket Mini Golf 2 2.0, there’re a lot of settings capabilities. Note that while in-game Portrait / Landscape switching isn’t available, if you start the game in Landscape, it’ll use it
The only way to examine the environment is using the pretty slow Pan mode (you click the ‘Pan’ title in the lower left corner and, then, click one of the four arrows). PMG2 used a far faster solution: zoom in/out and switching camera directions
Not compatible with PPC2k2 (unlike Pocket Mini Golf 2 2.0)
No ambient sounds (they make PMG very cool)
No weather effects
Other Screenshots
Instructions: 1 2 3 4 5
Verdict
While this title is pretty promising (particularly as far as the power-up items are concerned) and is pretty cheap, I, a die-hard VGA user, would still prefer the new, 2.0 version of Pocket Mini Golf 2 (or, if you like full 3D, revolutionary titles, 4Pockets’ Harry Putter's Crazy Golf – also see my already-linked article for more info) to this title. Hope subsequent versions of Super Putt Xtreme will surpass these two games VGA-, music- and sound-wise too – not only price-wise (in which respect it’s already the best).
If, on the other hand, you NOW look for a comparatively cheap (!), QVGA minigolf game with excellent hotseat multiplayer capabilities (again, the power pick-up system adds a lot to the multiplayer mode), definitely give this title a try.