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.
Related
A promising Prehistorik clone!
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.
Computing old-timers surely remember Prehistorik 1 and 2 by Titus. I've loved these games; they were one of my favorites before the coming of Risky Woods, the, IMHO, best PC-based platformer game of 1992.
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I have very good for you all: Bonanza Interactive is working on a Prehistorik-alike. The main page of the game can be found here; a related discussion here.
At last: Doom for 2700G-enabled Pocket PC's!
Another very good news item is Doom for Dell Axim x50v and Dell Axim x51v devices. Sure, we do have the 2700G-optimized, great Quake Mobile and the, on x51v Dell Axims, due to RAM memory shortage, non-running Quake 3; this title, however, is the first Doom port to make use of the excellent 3D acceleration capabilities of the 2700G.
Here's the related PocketGamer thread and here the official homepage of the game.
A WarCraft III clone!
Russian coders are just great. It was a few days ago that I had the pleasure to report on the commercial-quality, free Death Drive from Russian developers; now, great German Pocket PC gaming site PocketGaming has reported (related PocketGamer thread here) on Warcraft III being ported to the Pocket PC, of which tomorrow or the day after a playable aplha will be released. The latter may also mean this isn't hoax, as opposed to different Warcraft II port announcements in the past.
My only concern is that of Copyright. I, a real StarCraft-freak and hardcore (ex-)player, who has heavily distributed to some localized add-ons and translations, know how hard-headed the Blizzard folks (the original authors of the WarCraft-series and StarCraft) are, Copyright-wise. It's very hard to get even a simple, free (!!) localized add-on, not even containing a bit of their original artwork, through with them - let alone a reimplementation on a different platform. Let's hope, however, for the best - and make sure you stay tuned, I'll post the link to the downloadable Alpha as soon as it gets released.
any of these good for square screens?
Dunno yet; Doom surely isn't.
that clone sure are no dolly
it looks less cool then warcraft2 for pocketpc
which is also free if you have the bins from the pc version
http://www.pocketgamer.org/showthread.php?threadid=4764
Agreed: it doens't look cool.
However, let's hope the REAL version will be better
In the meantime, a downloadable alpha of WC III has come out (it's available here at PocketGaming.de).
It's certainly a WC III clone (most icons / units are the same) but still lacks a lot of essential WC III features. For example, dynamic terrain levels - now, it seems it only has two terrain levels (as was the case with Starcraft but unlike WarCraft II, which had no notion of heights and for example the range / visibility implications of putting units on a hill).
Would you like to play an Astraware's Tradewinds / Sid Meier’s Pirates! clone? Do you find Tradewinds’ battle system far weaker than that of the Pirates, the father of all such titles? I have good news for you – read on!
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Unfortunately, there are very few Pirates clones on the Pocket PC – a classic game that is, as with Elite (see the Bible of Pocket PC Gaming Part I on the latter), based on both trading and battling and can be played for weeks or even months long. Up to now, the only Pocket PC game that was, to some degree, similar to Pirates! has been Astraware’s well-known Tradewinds (not counting in the even less Pirates!-reminiscent Seven Seas, also by Astraware and also discussed in the Bible of Pocket PC Gaming Part I), but, as it almost completely lacks all arcade elements, can be quite a disappointment for a die-hard Pirates! fan.
The new, recently released game High Seas is different in this matter – it has a far better battle system than that of Tradewinds. In this respect, Pirates! fans that wanted something more reminiscent of the classic may rejoice.
Availability, compatibility
The official homepage, the game being pretty new, still lacks some essential menu items. The title is available at Handango and costs $9.95 (half the price of Tradewinds).
It’s, currently, only compatible with WM2003 and WM2003SE devices. It is NOT WM5-compliant! I had no problems running it on my WM2003SE VGA Pocket Loox 720 and WM2003 iPAQ 2210.
Visuals, music
Pretty OK; music-wise, not so good as that of Tradewinds though (in my opinion). Note that neither of the two games makes use of the high resolution of VGA screens.
Compared to Tradewinds (as of version 1.03)
Pros
Much better battle system, pretty close to that of Pirates!
Shows low / high prices in shops and, in about 50% of cases, even for remote harbors – this greatly reduces wasted time and routes!
Landscape version also available (albeit as a separate download) – Tradewinds is portrait-only. (A quick note: the landscape version must be started in landscape mode; otherwise, you’ll be presented an error message that can only be cleared by resetting the Pocket PC) when you start the game in Landscape
Only costs the half
Cons
As of version 1.00.08, no WM5 compliance
Worse in-game music
Not so spectacular
No PPC2k2 compatibility (Tradewinds is compatible with Pocket PC 2002)
Verdict
Give the trial a try if you have a WM2003 or WM2003SE device - you may like it.
The company Oasys claims to have released Pirates! I have seen no reviews of it on the web though. The screenshots look great.
http://www.oasysmobileinc.com/products/pirates.html
TITAN-23 said:
The company Oasys claims to have released Pirates! I have seen no reviews of it on the web though. The screenshots look great.
http://www.oasysmobileinc.com/products/pirates.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's still "coming soon" and, based on how lame the WM / BB Civilization IV port is of the same developer (ConcreteSoft; they're poering all these classics to the WM and BB), I'm afraid it won't be as good as the original.
Sid Meir's Pirates! works well on my Kaiser using emulators.
There is a NES version.
And a Sega Genesis/Megadrive Pirates! Gold version.
Both run full speed.
Sid Meier's Pirates for Java also works on my Kaiser 6.1 rom. You can even use the touchscreen.
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.
There are, unfortunately, very few real platformers on 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). This is why I gave this new platformer a test ride right after the release.
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(an in-game video; note the abundance of the different platform types!)
The game is a classic platform game and is pretty similar to, say, Manic Miner and (without that much a puzzle element) the puzzle platformer Toki Tori (also quickly reviewed in the Pocket PC Gaming Bible Part I). Unlike in “hop and bop” platformers like Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Bubsy, and Donkey Kong Country, you can’t eliminate your opponents by jumping on them, though.
The developer, B3Team, has been quite inactive for quite a long time – after their Locomotion clone Pocket Loco released back in 2002, they haven't released anything. This is why I find it really great they have released another Pocket PC title.
Excerpt from the blurb:
“You have been trapped in another dimension. In order to rescue yourself from the nightmare you have to collect multiple items and pass over thirty rooms until the happy ending.
You control your hero using arrows and the stylus for jumping. You must avoid dangerous creatures that live in the rooms. When you collect all the items the door will open. You must exit the room before the time passes. You shall get one point for every item collected. Every 100 points gives you an extra life. Falling from the large height makes you hurt a lot. ”
Availability, compatibility
The game is available on the official homepage of the title. There is a 3-level demo available; the commercial version contains 36 levels and costs $12.50.
It ran on all my WM2003+ (the game isn't compatible with earlier OS'es) test Pocket PC’s I've given it a try (WM2003 QVGA HP iPAQ 2210, WM2003SE VGA Pocket Loox 720, WM5 VGA Dell Axim x51v, WM5 QVGA HTC Wizard and even the WM5-upgraded (version 2.01) HP iPAQ hx4700).
Controls
By default, you can control your hero to the left and right and also make it run (by default, the touchscreen). The controls can be redefined.
Music
Great tracked scene music played back in stereo; different in-game and menu music. (The internal format is S3M and XM; the AtomicDreams.pak, which seems to be a ZIP file, is XOR encrypted and, therefore, it’s pretty hard to access the files inside by default.)
Verdict
Highly recommended if you like (retro) platformers with really nice, tracked, stereo music. Give it a try!
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.