SuperCars (2)? Does it ring a bell? Gangsta Race? Dreamway? Ever wanted to play something like them – but something MUCH better, with freaking good visuals, sound effects, animation, in-game music, incredibly good controls and, last but definitely not least, multiplayer?
I’ve often reported on the current state of the K-Rally project. Thanks to the excellent folks at Infinite Dreams, who provided me a pre-release beta version of the Pocket PC version of this EXCELLENT racing game, I’ve been playing this title for a week (played it almost entirely through) and am absolutely astonished.
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I don’t think I exaggerate when I state K-Rally is by far the best game released (or a game that will be released – I don’t know when it will be released for the Pocket PC; hope really soon, which means either minutes, hours or 1-2 days – dunno exactly when) in 2006. Yeah, SkyForce Reloaded, the best top-down shooter for the Pocket PC, is a very close second (and there have been some other outstanding titles too; for example, Enslave), but I’d say K-Rally is even better, particularly when played in multiplayer.
Unfortunately, there’s still no Pocket PC version out (albeit the one I’ve played is very-very good and could be safely released as the final one – it all, of course, depends on the iDreams folks), only for Symbian S60 and S60 version 3. However, if you do/also own smart phones running these operating systems, make sure you visit THIS and purchase the game. (There’s no trial version, but you can take my word: it’s really worth the $14.98, it’s so damn good.)
Expect a VERY thorough review as soon as the Pocket PC version is released In the meantime, you may want to pay a visit to the homepage of the game and, for example, check out the just-posted manual and the online high-score board.
BEST GAME OF 2006, K-RALLY, IS FINALLY OUT FOR THE POCKET PC!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, now that I’ve posted several news items on it in the last few months (the last one some 2-3 hours ago), you probably know what K-Rally is about. It's the BEST top-view racing game ever released for the Pocket PC.
It’s available for purchase at ClickGamer and Handango.
Expect my full review later today or early tomorrow (not right now – sorry, just going to the sauna and, then, to a concert.)
Some user reviews / remarks: AximSite.
Related
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)
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 Redshift folks are back with an excellent title! Some months ago, they’ve announced they’d completely leave the Windows Mobile platform because of the rampant piracy. Now, they’ve returned with a remarkable action-puzzle mix, Dungeoned. If you like a combination of fast-paced action and puzzle games, you will really want to give it a try. It’s a bit similar to some maze games (for example, Astraware’s Mummy Maze, Monkeystone’s Hyperspace Delivery Boy! and AIM Productions’ TMax) quickly introduced in the Windows Mobile Bible of Games Part I, but is much more varied: in addition to having to find out Sokoban-like puzzles, you not only need to fight other (static) creatures, but, on some maps, also a second player, which is controlled by a pretty good AI (unlike the droid opponents in, say, the Commodore 64 classic Paradroid) and you must be very fast to attack him. This certainly makes a refreshing change to the gameplay.
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(more screenshots HERE; a mini-video HERE)
The title is Pocket PC-only; that is, as you MUST use the touchscreen, won’t work on touchscreen-less MS Smartphones.
The price has just been lowered to $9.95 (along with the release of a new build). The game is available HERE and is compatible with all Windows Mobile operating systems starting with WM2003. On VGA devices, it uses high-resolution sprites; in addition, as usual with Redshift’s all titles, it supports all the screen resolutions commonly used on Windows Mobile devices. What is more, it’s one of the VERY rare games that don’t use the CPU at 100%, resulting in the game quickly chewing through the battery. On my 624 MHz Marvel Xscale PXA-310-based VGA HP iPAQ 214, the CPU usage has never exceeded 35%, which is indeed very good news - few Windows Mobile game / emulator developers strive to lowering the CPU usage.
The problems of the title is the lack of in-game music (while the in-game sounds are without doubt good). There is only (very short and repetitive) music in the menus and the shop screen. Also, completely stylus-based control would be highly beneficial as in most, say, Bomberman clones; for example, PalmStorm’s excellent, free (!) Xplodus!. What I mean is tapping the close vicinity of your character to instruct it to go (attack) that way. This would really help players with devices with a, for gaming, sub-par (or plain non-existing – see the HTC Touch series, including the forthcoming Touch HD) D-pad. Yeah, the game does have on-screen arrows, but, in my opinion, they aren’t the best.
Verdict
Highly recommended, particularly now that the price has been dropped. Well worth at least a try.
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.