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REVIEW: ConcreteSoft releases multiplayer-enabled 3D Constructo Combat!

This is the first “action” game from ConcreteSoft; their previous titles were all card games. Unfortunately, being a game of a, for the developer, completely new genre also means it has a lot to be desired. Read on!
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(A HTC Wizard screenshot is here; as can be seen, on slower devices, the game automatically decreases the view size.)
Availability
It’s available here for a whopping $19.99. It also has Symbian S60 and MS Smartphone versions. The former is really ($5) cheap; the latter $5 cheaper than the Pocket PC version.
There is a trial version, which is pretty limited: not only does it contain only one map, but also the game stops after two minutes. That is, it’s pretty impossible to judge the real merits of the game solely based on the demo.
Compatibility
It’s only compatible with WM5 devices. The demo can’t be installed on anything older.
It worked on all my VGA WM5 devices (HP iPAQ hx4700, Dell Axim x51v, HTC Universal).
On my QVGA HTC Wizard with the AKU3.2 KTamas/bepe ROM, first, it ran OK. When I couldn’t get out of a menu, I’ve soft reset the device; after that, the game wouldn’t start any more – only the title was displayed. An un-, and, then, reinstall didn’t help. After this, not even a hard reset did help – the game just wouldn’t start any more. I had to re-flash the entire ROM (now, switching back to Molski 2.26) to be able to install and, then, play the game again. (With the Molski ROM, I’ve also tested whether resetting the device results in the consequent inability to start. Haven’t encountered the same problem. That is, this problem may be AKU3.2 KTamas/bepe ROM related only.
Gameplay
An excerpt from the ad: “Build your buildings on a variety of landscapes and prevent opponents from doing the same. Use your grapple to grab building parts and weapons. Place pieces at acceptable locations and fire weapons at your enemies or their buildings; the green arrow indicates potential targets. If you have the most points when time runs out you win!
Take on computer opponents in single player mode and work your way through increasingly difficult levels to see if you can beat the high score or play your friends using Bluetooth enabled phones. See who can build the most buildings while taking down your opponent's in a race against time in one of the 3D worlds!”
I’d say it’s the best when played against human opponents. Against the computer, it can become pretty boring after a while – at least in my opinion.
Multiplayer
The title uses local native Widcomm-only Bluetooth support. Native means you don’t need to re-pair the devices before playing or set up a BT PAN between them. Local means it can’t be played through the Net.
On Widcomm-based devices, the main menu is populated with a Multiplayer option; this is not the case with Microsoft Bluetooth stack-based devices (HTC Universal and HTC Wizard screenshots), as with some other, Widcomm-only games like those of Infinite Dreams.
As far as multiplayer gameplay is concerned, the multiplayer originator only has the choice of choosing a level (as opposed to, say, 4Pockets' multiplayer games) before starting to wait for opponents.
The client, after having looked for servers, will list all the Widcomm-based computers in the vicinity regardless of their running a game or not. Then, after choosing the right one, the game will start.
I had no real stability, disconnection or lag problems playing over Bluetooth. The speed did decrease a bit and there was indeed a bit lag, but this wasn’t really serious.
Graphics
It’s pretty OK for a 3D game. It uses high resolution graphics on VGA devices. It, however, doesn’t take advantage of the 2700G accelerator in Dell Axim x50v / x51v models (that is, the “Compatibility: Pocket PC 3D Accelerator (Axim x50v/x51v)” in the ad only means “compatibility” but not “taking advantage of”. As with many other games, this can be pretty misleading for a lot of unsuspecting people.)
Music / Sound
There is absolutely no music in the game. The sound effects are scarce (only explosions and pick up/drop sounds) and not very good.
Summary
Pros
Runs in both Landscape and Portrait. In Landscape, it re-stretches the contents of the screen and, therefore, the text may be a bit misshaped compared to the Portrait mode
VGA resolution on VGA devices
Cons
WM5 only
Multiplayer-wise, Widcomm-only; this, effectively, makes it impossible to play multiplayer games on the vast majority of WM5 devices
No “Exit / Cancel” in many menus.
No music at all; sound effects are rare
While you can redefine buttons / functionality, you can’t use non-D-pad arrow buttons – they will invoke the original functions. If you un-map these functions in the system-level Buttons applet, you won’t be able to assign them at all – in the Configure menu, they won’t be at all noticed
Verdict
Well, this game still requires a LOT of work. First, implementing support for the Microsoft Bluetooth stack. Second, some in-game music would be welcome. Disabling in-game hardware buttons (so that they don't switch to the assigned application) would also be welcome.
Also, I think the price is way too high for a game like this. While you may consider the game amusing, IMHO, it’s a bit on the dull side and certainly wouldn’t pay 20 bucks for it.
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.
The Definitive Multiplayer PPC Game Roundup - everything you will ever need to know about multiplayer games on the Pocket PC.
(Original heads-up news source: PocketGamer.org)

Games / emu news 06/24: Prince of Persia clone Sindbad; 3D Lawn Darts; MAJOR rebates!

Fortunately, the Windows Mobile gaming scene is thriving. It was just a few days ago that I’ve published the last gaming news article (available HERE; it was also mentioned in THIS PPCT frontpaged story); in the meantime, there have been two major, new releases. (BTW, as far as the games reported on in the last part are concerned, in the meantime, the bugs of Plasma Duel have been fixed. I also recommend THIS PG.org thread on Corsair, which I have also nominated for this year’s Best Software Awards contest.)
Sindbad: Return of Legend – a GREAT Prince of Persia clone – finally out!
I’ve already reported on the early alpha of this title. It was pretty much useless and unplayable. Fortunately, the final version is (almost) flawless and offers a REALLY nice and rich graphics enviromnent – definitely better than the home computers or 8-bit consoles of that age (early nineties) – it’s only the SNES version that is similarly rich. (See them HERE if you’re interested.)
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Unfortunately, there’s absolutely no in-game music, only (not really great) sounds.
It, as with the alpha version, is available HERE for WM2003+ -based Pocket PC’s (no MS Smartphones are supported, sorry, mostly because of the two on-screen tap areas).
Verdict: I heartily recommend the title if you’re a die-hard Prince of Persia fan and want to play through all the games based on the original game, but with brand new maps and excellent (albeit QVGA only, which is bad news for owners of VGA devices) graphics.
If, however, you “only” want to play the original Prince of Persia and find the (pretty hefty, if you ask me) price tag ($19.95) of Sindbad too big, you may want to go for emulating the original title (I particularly recommend the NES (for example, with SmartGear) and the MS-DOS emulation (with both n0p’s DOSBox port and PocketDOS); both are excellent). It’s not only free, but, as far as emulating with SmartGear is concerned, is much easier on the battery. (Sindbad continuously uses 100% CPU time even without you moving; this means heavily reduced battery life when compared to, say, the newer version(s) of SmartGear).
ConcreteSoft releases 3D Lawn Darts
This title is the second game of ConcreteSoft, the first being Constructo Combat reviewed HERE.
(main menu VGA screenshot HERE)
It’s a 3D darts game, with two special features: native Bluetooth multiplayer and camera-based motion controllability, the latter being the major (intended) selling point of the title.
I was unable to test the former (BT multiplayer support) because the trial version doesn’t support multiplayimg features at all (and I hate requesting review copies of titles I know I won’t write a 100% positive review of – you know, I hate biting the feeding hand). Therefore, I can’t even comment on the BT compatibility – whether the developer has implemented support for the Microsoft BT stack in the meantime (Constructo Combat didn’t support the Microsoft BT stack). Please, developers, DO provide ALL the functionality in your trial versions so that they can be tested before purchasing – or, for that matter, when writing a definitely unbiased review of.
As far as the camera-based, Wii-like control scheme is concerned, I don’t think it’s as groundbreaking as the developer claims. Even after a two times three-stage calibration (example screenshot), I’ve had problems with unreliable shots (screenshot). What is more, it’s only at throwing the dart that you have any effect on the direction of the dart, not later. This means, if the camera-based control works at all, it will inherently be more unreliable than the standard, D-pad-based control. That is, the camera mode, in my opinion, is pretty much useless.
It also has some bugs; for example, if you have a pair of stereo (wired or wireless A2DP) headphones, you won’t like the in-game music / sound effects to be played back in one channel (in the right piece of the headphones) only.
Finally, bad news for users of pre-WM5 devices: as with Constructo Combat, this game is completely incompatible with older operating systems. That is, it's not even compatible with the three-year-old WM2003SE operating system.
It also has strengths. For example, it’s one of the very few games to natively (!) support the MS Smartphone (WM6 Standard) platform (in addition to all flavors of the Pocket PC platform, including native, hi-res (!) graphics on VGA devices, just like in Constructo Combat). It even runs on 176*220, low-resolution Smartphones models – with some minor glitches. With menus (screenshot) and in-game screens, it’s OK as can be seen in the following screenshot:
With tutorial screens, however, it isn’t, as can also be seen in HERE and HERE.
The title is available for download HERE; the price of the full version is $19.95.
Verdict: I think you will want to check out the other darts alternatives first. There are many; most const half (or even the quarter) the price. Examples include, most importantly, Devil Darts, Patriotic Darts, JasonGoldman.com’s Dartz and Webfoot Technologies’ Darts.
Clickgamer 48-hour sale & other rebates
There are some interesting rebates at Clickgamer; make sure you check them out. You can get the following titles for half the price: the brand new Secrets of da Vinci, The Quest and Ballrush Aqua. Astraware Solitaire (links to reviews in the previous two Games News) is also offered with a 50% rebate. Finally, if you have a Dell Axim x50v/x51v and you still don’t have Quake Mobile Ultimate Bundle (review HERE), you may be interested in THIS 20% rebate.
Emulator news
This time, there are no new releases. I’ve, on the other hand, finished adding the missing emulators to the Emulators category in the Encyclopedia of Software & Accessories. While some emulators are still missing (for example, the latest native MS Smartphone ZX Spectrum and C64 emulators and some calculator emulators – their authors have still not registered them, which means I will need to do it myself. Please check back tomorrow or the day after for the final list), you can already have a good picture of what emulators (along with the Best Software Awards 2007 contest, of course) these categories will contain.
Emulation article-wise, I also recommend these kind words from Allen Gall, the Games Editor of PPCMag

Review: Fire Hawk by c2matrix – a vertical scroller shooter

I was told about the brand new, multiplatform (desktop PC, PPC & ALL Smartphone platforms, including even Landscape QVGA models like the Q) in THIS MoDaCo thread. The Smartphone (not counting in Skyforce (Reloaded) and, of course, arcade emulation with FinalBurn Alpha) heavily lacking GOOD vertical scrollers, I hurried up to test the game on my handhelds.
It’s, as can also be seen in the above-linked MoDaCo thread, is constantly updated; the current version (1.21) was released just a few days ago (06/25).
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The game supports all current screen resolutions. This, however, doesn’t mean it makes use of high resolution on (W)VGA Pocket PC’s – just that it supports the common Smartphone resolutions and orientations (in addition to the standard QVGA and 240*240 square resolution on Pocket PC). Note that, on 176*220 Smartphones, some of the titles are not readable or hard to read (see for example THIS and THIS screenshots); fortunately, in-game graphics is pretty good (example screenshot HERE). On QVGA models, everything is OK.
Speed-wise, I haven’t encountered any speed problems on any of my handhelds, not even on my comparatively slow Vox (s710) with A2DP activated (A2DP takes a lot of CPU cycles).
Getting the game
Get it HERE or on c2matrix’ official homepage.
The trial version is one-map only (fortunately, it contains several submaps and a lot of graphics); the commercial version costs $14.95.
Note that the c2matrix server, unfortunately, returns the CAB files as text. This means you will have problems with some Windows Mobile Web browsers downloading the CAB files for direct install – even the latest Opera Mini 4 Beta. See the Download Bible and the “Saving, downloading group:” section in the Web Browsing Bible for more info & help, should you REALLY want to get the OTA (Over-The-Air) installer without having access to any desktop PC.
Compared to…
Let's compare the game to the two best alternatives, Skyforce Reloaded and FinalBurn Alpha:
Skyforce Reloaded, this title is definitely weaker:
The in-game music is WAY worse, low-quality, mono and repetitive. Sound effects are mono only.
In general, there is less happening on the screen: fewer sprites, slightly less spectacular vision effects etc.
While there are 3D (mostly hills and towers) models in the game, those of Skyforce Reloaded are clearly better and much more please the eye
emulated CAVE, CPS and NeoGeo games (with FinalBurn Alpha reviewed HERE),
it isn’t THAT good either. These commercial arcade games have really good music, sound / visual effects. Make sure you give them a try – read THIS tutorial, get some games and play – you’ll LOVE them!
Note that neither Skyforce Reloaded nor Finalburn Alpha support vibration, while this game does. Not that it’d be THAT important – it’s only when you die or when your main enemies are destroyed that the vibration is used.
Also, this is the only vertical scroller I know of to support replay functionality. It’s definitely a nice addition, should you want to see recorded playing sessions. (And, of course, it supports map codes so that you can quickly return to a given one, without having to play through the ones you already know. Of course, Skyforce Reloaded also unlocks already played maps and, with non-Neo-Geo titles, Finalburn Alpha support state saving / loading.)
Compatibility
I had absolutely no problems on any of my WM2003+ Pocket PC’s I’ve tested it on (HP iPAQ 2210, WM5 2.01 VGA HP iPAQ hx4700, WM2003SE VGA PL720, A12 Dell Axim x51v). The same stands for my MS Smartphones: the 176*220 WM5 HTC s310 (Oxygen) and the QVGA Portrait s710 (Vox).
The game, by default, isn’t compatible with the old Pocket PC 2002 operating system. Rewriting the DLL’s with Executability Check (also see the page HERE) helps, but the graphics will still be messed up and unplayable.
Verdict
While this game is clearly better than the VAST majority of vertical scrollers on the Pocket PC (and, particularly, on the MS Smartphone), there are still better alternatives. Both Skyforce Reloaded and arcade (CAVE / CPS / NeoGeo) emulation delivers definitely better, more enjoyable results – at a reduced price (Skyforce Reloaded is cheaper) or for free.
This, however, doesn’t mean this game is bad, not in the least (except for the in-game music, which is REALLY bad). Even if you’re a fan of the above-listed games, you will want to give it a try to find out whether it’s your taste or not. Also, if you only know lower-quality titles (the old Burning Armor, Star Invader II by IBE Group, Super Invade, AngelFish or Resco Guardians), you’ll certainly like this title (but, as has already been pointed out, go for Skyforce Reloaded and Finalburn Alpha first).
Also see…
Allen Gall’s review

Isotope244 (Acky’s XP Breakout etc.) releases beta of GREAT RTS game Machines at War

Many game buffs know the name of Isotope244, the developer of Acky’s XP Breakout, the, in my opinion, (particularly music-wise) best Breakout clone for Windows Mobile Pocket PC’s.
Their latest development is an Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game, Machines at War, promised to be released in a week and already having a public beta HERE.
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((Q)VGA Pocket PC / Smartphone)
(176*220 Smartphone)
I’ve thoroughly tested the game and found it, apart from some problems (of which I’ll later elaborate on), definitely better than the two other native (!) RTS games for the Pocket PC, Warfare Incorporated and Argentum.
(Here, I don’t count in the Age of Empires port; neither do I take emulation into account. Just keep in mind that some early RTS games like Dune II can be very well emulated under even free (!) MS-DOS emulators on the Pocket PC and Smartphone. See THIS for more information on all this. Note that there are a lot of other “ancient” home computer / console platforms with early RTS games too; of them, however, you’ll want to prefer mouse-based ones like the above-mentioned MS-DOS emulators, the Amiga and the Atari ST emulators. See my emulation-related articles for more information. You might also want to give a try to n0p’s Stratagus & Wargus port to play, say, Warcraft II.)
As usual, instead of publishing a full tutorial to the game (just start playing the title and you’ll very quickly learn how to play it), I publish several tricks & tips, mostly in the extensive Comparison & Feature Chart.
What makes this game good?
First, great news for MS Smartphone (WM Standard) users: it runs on all kinds of Smartphones – even on low-end, 176*220 ones. Regardless of the lack of the touch screen, it’s pretty much playable even on these platforms – particularly, if you have a Smartphone with a built-in QWERTY keyboard. If you define keyboard shortcuts (in which this title is exceptionally good at) for, for example, group assignment / recall, you can really quickly operate even without a stylus.
There are some welcome additions missing from even desktop-based strategy games (for example, deploying the same building multiple times with a simple stylus drag (or, on Smartphones, D-Pad + hold down left softkey) operation, parallel unit production in parallel factories with little stylus (D-pad + left softkey on Smartphones) usage, really good stats (see the “Stats” row in the Chart for some screenshots to see how freaking good they are) or the ability to select any number of units at the same time. For example, Starcraft, probably the best RTS of all times on desktop Windows, lacks all of these features.
It allows for grouping units – only Argentum allows for this (and, of course, Starcraft) – Warfare doesn’t. What is more, you can even use hardware buttons / keys to quickly access these groups – which is particularly nice with devices having a built-in keyboard, which the game makes full use of (along with the traditional Pocket PC / Smartphone keys like red/green phone buttons, softkeys, volume buttons, home / back buttons on the Smartphone and app buttons on the Pocket PC).
It has full keyboard / button redefinition support. In this respect, it’s FAR better than anything else.
Graphically, the game is MUCH prettier than Warfare. Explosions are great, so are trails. Damage done to the terrain is visible throughout all the game – no other PPC RTS game offers this (and not even Starcraft, of course.)
Last but not least, the developer is REALLY open to discussions and requests. This means the bullets listed in the “Bad” section below may soon be last year's snow.
The bad
Currently, there’s no multiplayer support; albeit, the developer promised he will look into implementing it if the game sells well
If you only have a 176*220 Smartphone, some of the texts / explanations will be pretty hard to read (see for example the “Tech tree” screenshots in the Chart).
There is (still?) no multiplayer support, unlike with Warfare (and, of course, Starcraft)
The lack of Attack-move is a real pain in the back (as is with the two other native RTS titles – see the “Attack-Move (instead of simple move)” row in the “Unit movement & selection” section). Hope the developer fixes this – I’ve been discussing this issue with him in several mails. Incidentally, there are no Patrol and waypoint functionalities (see the “Patrol?” row) either.
Also, the game, currently (the developer also promised he will look into this) lacks automatic moving to position and answering to fire upon an attack to a very closely placed, friendly unit. In this respect, both Starcraft and Warfare Incorporated are far better – unless the units in the former are explicitly ordered to Hold, in which case they in no way will leave their position to answer fire out of their range.
The comparison / feature chart
It’s available HERE. As usual, it’s a MUST to check it out. Also make sure you check out the (several) screenshots linked from the chart – I’ve made a lot to show examples of what I speak of.
As I’ve already explained the meaning of most of the rows in the chart, I don’t elaborate on it any more. If you don’t understand something or need help with a specific issue, let me know, though.
Quick note for QVGA (as opposed to 176*220) Smartphone users
By default, as of the current beta (I’m pretty sure the problem will be fixed in the final, commercial version), the game runs in 176*220 mode. To switch this to QVGA (and to use the standard PPC GUI), you’ll need THIS file. (Right-click to download as it’s an XML file – don’t left-click it!) Just copy it into the home directory of your game, overwriting the old one.
Verdict
Without doubt, this title is by far the best and most promising title. A must, particularly if you “only” have a MS Smartphone (that is, without any other real RTS titles). I really hope it does receive multiplayer support, attack-move functionality and a way to disable the default ‘hold’ setting for units.

UPDATE (06/30/2007):
version 0.91 out with a LOT of enhancements and bug fixes, most of them are in direct response to my suggestions. This means the majority of my grieves with the game (for example, the lack of attack+move mode) are no longer topical. Please see the list of enhancements on the product feedback page.
PPCT frontpage.

Games & emulator news (07/25/2007)

This is the latest part of my Games News series; you can find the previous part HERE. The news in this part applies to both the Pocket PC (Windows Mobile 6 Pro / Classic) and MS Smartphone (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) devices - that is, no matter what Windows Mobile device you have, you WILL want to read on.
Arcade Park 1.3 out – now, with redefinable fire button!
Arcade Park is, in my opinion, a really good collection of reimplementation of old arcade games reviewed HERE (you may also want to check out the two other reviews linked at the end) containing several old subgames. It’s available for example HERE for all mobile platforms, including both the MS Smartphone (both 176*220 and QVGA) and Pocket PC (it’s even compatible with 240*240 square-screen devices; unfortunately, it doesn’t make use of high resolution on VGA ones).
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(main menu on a 176*220 Smartphone; the same on a QVGA/VGA PPC / QVGA Smartphone)
In-game screenshot on a 176*220 Smartphone; the same on a QVGA/VGA PPC / QVGA Smartphone)
The biggest problem with the game, so far, have been the inability to redefine keys; most importantly, the Action button. Now, oin the new version, you can do it in the new Controls menu. Example 176*220 SP screenshots: 1 2 (on a QVGA PPC / SP)
(Incidentally, as can also be seen in the in-game screenshots, you no longer need to defend the Soviet flag, which may be good news for several players, particularly in post-Soviet countries. Another plus for the developers.)
(Guys, I’m really sorry you’ve just missed the deadline date for the Awards 2007 with this upgraded version. Should you have published the new version some days earlier, I would definitely have nominated it for this year’s awards. No problem – I’ll do it next year.)
Verdict
Now that the button redefinition problem is fixed, highly recommended, particularly if you have a Smartphone (given the lack of good MS Smartphone games).
SmartGear 0.28 out!
SmartGear is one of the best gaming console emulatrors I’ve featured in my past emulator news / roundups.
So far, one of the biggest problems with the emulator was the sound problems (in addition to its incompatibility with some games – for example, enhanced NES titles; the PC Engine version of Turrican – unfortunately, this hasn’t been enhanced. The only change is that for example Turrican no longer starts (with all 0.2x versions, as opposed to 0.12)). Now, according to the developer, this is supposed to be fixed.
Note that there are still some problems with the sound: for example, the PC Engine (TG-16) version of Bonk's Adventure still plays the same FM-like sounds during the game as earier versions. Also, very few Genesis (Mega Drive) games have music (for example, Xenon 2 (Xenon 2 Megablast (E) [c][!]) and Risky Woods (Risky Woods (UE) [!]) don’t have, the former not even sounds; one of the very few games that do have music is Alien 3 (JUE) [!]. Also, the FitWin* mode still crashes on my VGA devices and FitWin is unberabaly slow – you will still need to use either the 100% or the 150% mode, which means stamp-sized screens on VGA devices. On the other hand, on 176*220 Smartphones (for example, on my HTC Oxygen / s310), where it’s REALLY needed with most desktop games (otherwise, they’d be too big even in 75% mode) FitWin works just great and doesn’t result in any really bad speed decrease (tested this with the GG version of Sonic and the PC Engine version of Bonk's Adventure; they both worked just great with the default sound / frame skipping / throttling settings on my Oxygen).
The desktop Windows version of the emulator, after closing it once (because I couldn’t continue a paused game), kept crashing after restarts.
All in all, while this title is REALLY good (particularly on slower devices – for example, non-overclocked TI OMAP ones, including, screen size-wise, both types of Smartphones), the FitWin performance may need to be addressed on VGA Pocket PC’s as soon as possible, along with the Genesis (Mega Drive) music issues.