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REVIEW: Momentum Games releases great platformer game Meltdown!

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.

REVIEW: Venan Entertainment releases minigolf game Super Putt Xtreme

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.

Really promising Prince of Persia clone Sindbad Alpha Version Out!

Lately, I’ve had absolutely no time to test new games because I’ve spent all my time in real-world projects (yeah, I need to do some work to make both ends meet and to be able to purchase all the new gadgets), the Windows Mobile Web Browsing Bible and, of course, the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine’s Annual Best Software Awards I’ve become the Nominations Manager of. So, let me quickly review two of the titles; first,
A REAL Prince of Persia-clone!
You must have heard of Prince of Persia, which, back in 1990 (in addition to Indianapolis 500 and Legend Entertainment’s Spellcasting 101), was one of my favorite games on the IBM PC.
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So far, there was no real Prince clone of the game on Windows Mobile. Up until now, that is; now, well-known (see the review of their Billiard Master 2 and Bowling Master review & comparison in the Windows Mobile Multiplayer Bible) Russian Windows Mobile & Palm OS games developer Mobirate has just started reimplementing the game on Windows Mobile.
The demo can be downloaded HERE and is WM2003+ compatible.
The project is really at the alpha stage and a lot of stuff doesn’t work. The Options screen is completely messed up (the labels are not visible at all and you can only guess what a particular checkbox does) on both VGA and QVGA devices, there’s no Button 1 (I’ve tested this on all my three Pocket PC’s (Dell Axim x51v A12, HP iPAQ 2210, HTC Wizard with AKU3.3 ROM) I’ve deployed the game on). The on-screen controls seem to be non-existent (albeit, after switching some “Off” checkboxes to “On” in Options, the game started to use them – but not the D-pad any more). Furthermore, there are absolutely no sound effects / music. Finally, the game may be pretty slow on some devices: it was barely playable (17-18 fps) on my iPAQ 2210. The HTC Wizard running at 240 MHz fared better (24 fps); finally, the x51v was the best (about 26 fps).
While the lack of for example button support may render the game completely useless (for example, you won’t be able to even do basic stuff like drinking potions), you may still want to give it a try, particularly because the developer is giving away free copies of the final version to the best, most productive betatesters (see the last sentence in readme.txt).
I really hope a (more) playable version follows very soon.
Note that the developer’s homepage doesn’t contain any real information on the game. For example, the image’s link takes you to their game compilation Brain Master. I’ve tried to supply different URL’s (by increasing the document ID referenced by the URL) to find out whether there is a page dedicated to the game; there (still) isn’t. That is, you won’t get any additional info on the game.
(News source: have run into the news upon routinely checking for a new, Microsoft Bluetooth stack-compliant version of Billiard Master 2 and Bowling Master on the developer’s homepage).

Multiplatform review: new vertical scroller Dragon Bird

U Mobile Game have just released a brand new vertical scroller shooter Dragon Bird for both Windows Mobile (both Pocket PC and Smartphone) and Symbian (both S60v3 and UIQ3).
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Availability
The game is available for download HERE. The trial version has the first two stages unlocked; the full, commercial one all the eight. The latter costs $19.95 for all platforms, which is quite a bit more than the price of SkyForce Reloaded, the, currently, undoubtedly best vertical shooter on both Windows Mobile and Symbian.
Compatibility
I've tested the game (as of the current, 1.0 version) on my VGA HP iPAQ 210 WM6 Windows Mobile classic PDA, WM2003 QVGA HP iPAQ 2210 and the Symbian S60v3 Nokia N95. On the latter two, it ran flawlessly (I've disabled the sound on the iPAQ 2210); on the iPAQ 210, it frequently crashed, necessiating a soft reset (and also losing the credits I've collected in the last one or two games). I don't know whether it's an iPAQ 210-specific issue – while I've run into similar crashes now and then, in other games, on the 210, in no way so frequently as in this case.
Note that, while it's compatible with (touchscreen-less) Windows Mobile Smartphones, it won't run on lower-res 176*220 phones like the HTC s310 (Oxygen), only the higher-res QVGA ones like the HTC s710 / Vox: it just chops off the right / bottom part of the game, it being strictly wired to QVGA devices. (I don't know whether it's also compatible with QVGA landscape models like the Moto Q; I bet it isn't.)
Controllability
On touchscreen-enabled devices like Windows Mobile Pocket PC's, you can entirely rely on the touchscreen. This is pretty good news for future for example HTC Touch Pro HD users, which entirely lacks a D-pad. Note that I haven't tested the game on 2.8" QVGA titles with the infamous touchscreen CPU usage bug, plaguing every single non-XScale-based model HTC has ever released. I bet you'll encounter quite a bit of slowdown / choppyness on these models.
Differences between Dragon Bird and most other games of the genre
Most importantly, Dragon Bird has a different approach to weapon / ship / shield upgrades than other, pickup-based games like SkyForce Reloaded. (Games like Xenon 2 use a hybrid approach: you can both purchase upgrades and pick up some while advancing.) You get no upgrades for free as a pick-up; this means you need to earn money by
1. shooting down as many opponents as possible
2. not exiting the game and not being killed easily (then you get a penalty and lose half of the main boss' credit)
This also means you'll need to play through some levels at least several times to be able to purchase a weapon (or another upgrade) to be able to pass the next. For example, I've found it's impossible to get past the second stage without purhcasing the $25000 triple cannon. In order to be able to purchase this weapon, I had to play through the first level at least three times. The repetitive need to play through the same level can become pretty boring and annoying when compared to, say, SkyForce Reloaded's linear approach not forcing you to do the same.
Enjoyment factor
The game itself, while is technically far inferior to SkyForce Reloaded (far less spectacular or plain non-existing visuals like explosions, much more spectacular 3D effects etc., duller music), has turned out to be pretty entertaining. I, however, don't know whether it's really worth the (quite high) price tag.
Verdict
While the game is definitely inferior to the multiplatform SkyForce Reloaded (and, to a lesser degree, to other, excellent titles like FireHawk and Burning Armor Code-E on Windows Mobile) and is much more expensive, you, if you have already played through the latter and wouldn't want to touch it any more, might still want to give the trial version a try.

The price has just been reduced to $9.95.

REVIEW: eSoft’s new games (Totem, Hot Pursuit, Earth Day)

eSoft Interactive (product list HERE) have released quite a few titles in the past, some of them (for example, Open TTD, Traffic Jam, Traffic Jam Extreme and Traffic Jam 2) being pretty famous. Let’s take a look at their three latest titles compatible with both Windows Mobile Pocket PC’s and touchscreen-less Smartphones.
Hot Pursuit is the latest title of eSoft interactive promising “[a game] that sets you on a thrilling chase of crime solving action right at the palm of your hand! Catch the most sinister thieves by travelling from one country to another and climb along the Interpol ranks by solving hot cases! Hot Pursuit will keep you glued to your device for hours of crime-solving fun and challenge!”
Personally, I didn’t really find this title worth paying 10 bucks for. It seems to be quite shallow. I think, should you need a detective game taking you all around the world, which, at the same time, also teaches you a lot on the different countries, go for for example Learning Company’s (ex-Brøderbund Software) Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. I really think it’s a much better a choice, particularly if you run it under PocketDOS. (Under n0p’s DOSBox, even the just-released 0.72, it has mouse cursor control problems; see THIS for more info on this.) An example screeshot of it (running under PocketDOS):
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Some other in-game shots:
I didn’t find Totem, eSoft’s previous (released in October 2008) Windows Mobile release very interesting either (as opposed to the JAMM review). It’s just too expensive ($9.99) for what it offers (which is pretty shallow and, in my opinion, pointless). It has better feedback on the iPhone, where it only costs a buck ($0.99 – for that price, I would already consider purchasing it) and (of course) has better resolution (HVGA as opposed to QVGA). Neverthless, if you’re an iPhone / iPod Touch user, you might want to check out the best title in this category, Tower Bloxx™ Deluxe 3D instead, which takes advantage of the iPhone’s 3D hardware acceleration and looks very-very nice. It’s a bit more expensive than eSoft’s title ($4.99), though.
Yes, I know I’m a bit spoiled (when I want to play a quick game, I just take out my iPhone 3G with tons of cheap (!!) and great games) – anyone not having an iPhone or an iPod Touch might still enjoy this title.
Finally, Earth Day, an arcade game, which was released before Totem. Probably the best of the bunch: thanks to the weapon / rotation / clone / shield / rapid fire upgrades, it can become pretty much entertaining. Of course, if you also have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you’ll want to go for that version (just like with Totem): the game is, technically, far superior (far better resolution) and far better playable. In addition, on these platforms, it only costs a buck (that is, one-tenth of the Windows Mobile price). Nevertheless, if you only have a WinMo phone, you might also want to give it a try. Also see THIS thread for more info. Note that the WinMo version was nominated in the 2008 Windows Mobile awards in the Classic Arcade category.