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Enigmo-alike Gloop Zero ported from the Palm/Zodiac to the Pocket PC!

Ever played Aspyr’s Enigmo (note that Aspyr has removed their Enigmo page in the meantime, this is why I’m giving you a Handango link. See for the 3D Accelerated Pocket PC Games and Demos Bible Part II for more info and the alternative review in German here)? Wanted something similar for the Pocket PC, running on all Pocket PC models, not only on Intel 2700G-enabled ones? (Unfortunately, you must have a 2700G-based Pocket PC – that is, currently, a Dell Axim x50v or x51v – to run Enigmo.) AeonFlame’s Gloop Zero may be of interest to you!
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Availability, compatibility
It’s available here. The full version costs $14.99; there is also a trial version.
The game is compatible with WM2003+ operating systems (this means it’s NOT compatible with PPC 2002 – I’ve tested this). I had no problems running it on my QVGA/VGA WM2003(SE) / WM5 test devices – it ran OK on all of them.
Visuals
Pretty good, albeit nothing extraordinary. There’s no Hi-Res VGA support. The game is Landscape-only.
Sounds / music
Absolutely nothing. This is a BIG problem – the Zodiac version has nice in-game music. The developer should implement music as soon as possible. However, with the hack I've found out, you'll be able to play the original music in the background - see the next section.
Do you still want the original music on the Pocket PC?
If you have a compatible (Palm OS 5 and HiRes(+)) Palm OS device too, download the original Palm OS demo, install it onto your Palm device (installing will ONLY work through HotSync; direct PRC install off a storage card doesn't work), go to \PALM\Programs\GloopZero-GLPZ\data\other\music\ on your storage card and copy the files to your Pocket PC. These are midi files; this means you'll need to have a midi-enabled local player on your Pocket PC if you want to listen to just these files while playing the game. Please read the Midi Bible for more information on all these questions. Fortunately, the game lets for playing anything in the background - so, this hack will work.
This will only work if you have a Palm OS device - the Pocket PC version doesn't have these files and, as far as I know, it's not possible (without some elaborate hacking) to extract the original files from the given installer file.
Compared to Enigmo...
There is, in my opinion, no comparison as far as graphics and sound / music are concerned. Enigmo has very nice music and sound effects and is, of course, high-resolution. Even after dumbing down (which unfortunately, I don’t think will ever happen as Aspyr doesn’t seem to support the game any more, let alone release a new, non-2700G-only version of it) not to require hardware OpenGLES support (2700G, GoForce), it would still remain, in my opinion, better than Gloop Zero.
Playability-wise, on the other hand, Gloop Zero is a bit easier / faster in my opinion – with Enigmo, you need to position the gadgets far more thoroughly than with this title. With Gloop Zero, after deciding for a strategy on a given level, sometimes you “only” need to do some drawing with the stylus and all is set. With Enigmo, this takes far more time. That is, if you find Enigmo requiring far too much time to solve a given puzzle and want something similar, you may find Gloop Zero very cool.
Compared to the Palm OS version...
Unfortunately, the regular Palm OS version (I've played it on my Palm Tungsten T3) also lacks both sounds / music and HiRes+ graphics (it uses 320*320 in Portrait - that is, HiRes, without the + - only).
Verdict
Well, if you’re lucky enough to have a Dell Axim x50v or x51v and have already given Enigmo a try (if you haven’t, do it now – it’s a masterpiece!), I think you’ll be disappointed with Gloop Zero at first – Enigmo is definitely better-looking and -sounding. It's only because of the much faster gameplay that you may want to prefer this title to Enigmo.
If you, on the other hand, don’t have any 3D accelerated Pocket PC devices and want to have an entertaining game that will keep you and your brain occupied, you definitely want to consider giving the trial of this game a try – it is pretty cool, despite the major flaws (no music / sound and, to a lesser degree, no high-resolution support). Remember, again, that you can "hack" the original midi music files out of the Palm OS version if you really want to listen to them while playing.
(News source: PocketGamer.org.)

REVIEW: Warelex releases flight simulation Sky Racer

Warelex, an established Symbian / Java developer but a newcomer to Pocket PC development, has just released their second Pocket PC title (the first, Sky Striker, was released back in July), a flight simulator title Sky Racer.
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The game, which is a traditional mission-based title, starts with a pretty simple tutorial (screenshot 2 3), which, then, is followed by more interesting missions.
Availability, compatibility
Te game is available here. The trial is pretty playable; the game costs $19.95.
Currently, while the developer advertises it as WM2003(SE)-compliant, it isn’t – it can’t be installed on these devices. That is, it only runs on WM5 ones.
As far as the latter are concerned, I have’t had any problems on mine.
Sounds, in-game music
There is no in-game music, just in the menu (the same as in the previous title, Sky Striker); the sounds are pretty OK.
Visuals
They’re pretty OK for a non-3D-accelerated title. If you are into nice visuals (and don’t mind the close-to-unplayable speed on even the, for gaming, fastest Pocket PC’s like the Dell Axim x51v), you may like the visuals. Needless to say, it doesn’t make use of the high-resolution capabilities of VGA devices – except for the space shooter Anthelion II, no 3D simulation title does that without true 3D hardware acceleration support.
Compared to Sky Striker
Pros
Controls at last definable (screenshot 2) – no more problems with few-button or PPC Phone Edition devices like the iPAQ 2210, the HTC Universal and the HTC Wizard
Support for different profiles
Touchscreen support at last (should be controlled in the lower right quarter only)
Screen orientation can be freely chosen: Portrait (great news for Pocket PC users of models (like the Dell Axim x50v/x51v) having polarization problems in Landscape) and two Landscape modes. Sky Striker only supported the two Landscape modes but not Portrait
Cons
Without explicitly switching to using low-quality textures, it’s pretty slow on the x51v - Sky Striker was definitely faster, albeit it had much worse visuals (no skies, pretty low-res textures etc). On the overclocked (!) HTC Wizard, it’s almost unplayable – in there, I needed to switch to even low-resolution (160*120), which, of course, looks pretty ugly low-resolution. With everything setting to low-quality, it’s pretty responsive – but, then, the visuals really suffer. That is, on some devices, you MUST manually decrease the graphics detail, while, on some other, the default “auto detect” will be OK.
Only available CAB installer is WM5-only – no WM2003 support any more (unlike with Sky Striker), despite what the official compatibility statement states
Generic problems
No pre-WM5 support – I’ve tested the (slightly different) CAB files on both the official homepage and Handango.
No in-game music and it uses exactly the same menu music as Sky Striker – I’d expect of a pretty expensive ($19.95) title at least a new menu music!
Still no OpenGL-ES / 2700G or any kind of 3D support. Developers, we do want hardware 3D support!
Bad English, a lot of typos (examples: the resolution setting dialog, the video scheme dialog
Screenshots
The new settings screen: advanced video settings: 1 2 3 4. Also see the homepage of the game for more screenshots.
Verdict
This title definitely has advancements over the first Pocket PC title of the developer, particularly controllability- and fine tune-wise – it seems the developers have really read my Sky Striker review and implemented what I’ve mostly complained about (except for OpenGL-ES / 2700G support).
I can also recommend it over OmniGSoft’s well-known Mini-Dogfight and Mini-Jetfight (please see the Multiplayer Bible for more information on these titles) because, now, controllability- and fine tuning-wise, this title is considerably better, not to mention the much better missions. You may only want to stick to the OmniGSoft titles if you need multiplayer support, which the Warelex title, unfortunately, (still?) lacks.
If you are a flight simulation fan, give this game a try.

RealDice game news – new titles (incl. brand new Dominoes), fixed CPU usage bug!

RealDice has specialized in producing Pocket PC and MS Smartphone multiplayer table / card games. In addition to PDAMill and some other developers (like pocketadventures.com), they should be the first game developer to check out when looking for multiplayer-enabled Backgammon, Chess, Domino, Mahjong, Texas Hold’em Poker and Sudoku games.
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I’ve long been planning a generic update of my last RealDice review published last May. Now that the developer has (for the most part) fixed the CPU usage bug I’ve discovered in the early versions and has also come out with some brand new titles (for example, the last one, Dominoes has just been released; it’s so new it doesn’t even have an official section on RealDice’s homepage as yet and is only accessible on third-party distributors like ClickGamer), I knew I can no longer wait.
Availability
Currently, five of the six RealDice titles are available on the official homepage of RealDice. Note that there aren’t direct links to (three-day) trial downloads in there; you must select the download type (there are, for Pocket PC’s, only two types of files to download: a QVGA and a VGA version; this also means you can safely use, for example, the Acer N30 (QVGA) version for all QVGA and the Acer N311 (VGA) version for all VGA devices, even for non-listed ones. For MS Smartphones, you’ll need to look up the closest relative of your model if you can’t find it in the list) by using the drop-down lists on the left.
Their latest title, Dominoes, still doesn’t have a page on its own and, therefore, must be downloaded from ClickGamer.
What's new?
First of all, the major problems have been fixed and, now, unlike with the earlier versions, I can already recommend these games particularly for VGA users and / or multiplayer fans.
As of the current versions (Backgammon: 1.39; Chess: 1.43; Dominoes: 1.12; Mahjong: 1.30; Texas Hold’em Poker: 4.24; Sudoku II: 1.13),
The good
The CPU usage of all the six titles was between 40 and 80% on all my test devices (in no case lower than 40%; ~70% when waiting for SIP input from the user (for example, entering a name)). This also means ALL the games are perfectly playable on all current Pocket PC’s, as opposed to earlier versions.
I haven’t had compatibility or, as far as the CPU usage is concerned, major playability problems on any of my WM2003+ devices (I’ve tested them all: iPAAQ 2210, WM5-upgraded hx4700 (2.01), Pocket Loox 720, HTC Universal, Wizard (AKU3), x51v (A12)) with any of the current versions.
The bad
While the CPU usage (of ALL current versions!) is definitely better than that of the initial versions, it’s still a bit high, particularly when you take into account the much lower CPU usage of some other games (and the lack of music). The RealDice folks may really want to look into further reducing the CPU usage of the title (by, for example, relying on operating system-level touchscreen / keyboard event listeners)
The game still uses its own on-screen keyboard for input. This solution is not only sub-par because of the high CPU usage and the lack of visible keypress feedback, but also because you can’t quick-edit the contents of the text input fields (for example, quickly position the cursor). Fortunately, you can enter information using a remote controller application (see the roundup here) if you are completely fed up with the shortcomings of the keyboard.
All these titles consist of one big executable file (and a small DLL file). This, unfortunately, also means a slightly longer loading time, particularly when installed onto a storage card / flash ROM (including the built-in storage on WM5 devices).
On VGA devices, the landscape mode (only right-hand landscape mode is possible, which is bad news for slide-out keyboard users) is buggy: the screen events are registered at wrong coordinates.
There is still no in-game music in any of the titles.
Both good and bad
The games are all central server-based. This has, as has also been explained in the Multiplayer Bible both advantages and disadvantages. Now that RealDice has also set up a (as with many similar services – for example, EverQuest on the desktop PC or Sphere on the 2700G-enabled Pocket PC, non-free; it costs $8 a month) online gaming community, you gain access to a lot of additional goodies such a community / central server offers; for example, advanced chat and messaging features, buddy lists and global rankings / ladder. See THIS for more info. (Note that you don’t need to subscribe to RealDice world to play standard multiplayer games! You'll only need it for advanced functionality.) Unfortunately, the lack of direct, internet / server-less multiplayer connection models is still a nuisance. Nevertheless, some games offer hotseat multiplayer capabilities (which is still much inferior to real local inter-PDA multiplayer gaming).
Verdict
I didn’t recommend the earlier versions of RealDice’s games. Now that the CPU usage has been fixed, this is no longer the case: make sure you check them out if you’re into the genre (table / poker games).
Other reviews to check out
The review of Texas Hold'em by great German language Pocket PC side PocketGaming.

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

RESETgame releases multiplatform pool game Vegas Pool Sharks

Ever wanted to play pool on your handheld device, let it be either a Palm, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Symbian or just a Java-enabled phone? While there already are some pool games for most of these platforms, new titles are always welcome.
(Examples of already-existing games:
for Windows Mobile and Palm OS, the excellent Virtual Pool Mobile reviewed HERE; note that the review also contains some links to other, multiplayer-enabled pool games and is, therefore, highly recommended. Note that Vegas Pool Sharks (as with Virtual Pool Mobile) doesn’t support multiplayer. Both support high resolution on VGA devices; in addition, Virtual Pool Mobile also supports the 2700G in the Dell Axim x50v/x51v devices.
for Java-enabled phones, there’re several pool MIDlet games; for example, Gameloft’s 3D Midnight Pool or, even better and more recommended, I-Play’s 3D World Championship Pool, just to name probably the two most widely known titles). See the MIDlet Bible for more info on what MIDlets are, how you can run them on Windows Mobile / Symbian etc.
RESETgame’s new title is, however, pretty much welcome, mostly because of its price tag (at least half of that of Virtual Pool Mobile, particularly when compared to the $24.95 of the Dell Axim x50v/x51v-specific one) and support for all kinds of screen resolutions. It has native support for even the highest-resolution ((W)VGA) screens – while still also supporting the lowest-end Smartphones. Two screenshots showing this:
On a VGA PPC:
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and on a low-end 176*220 Smartphone:
Unfortunately, it doesn’t support any 3D hardware acceleration, but it isn’t a problem either as, as opposed to Virtual Pool Mobile, it has no 3D animation (you can’t arbitrarily change the camera’s viewpoint) and has no other, 3D-related goodies either.
Availability
The games are available HERE for a trial (ClickGamer’s page doesn’t have downloadable trials) and, as far as Windows Mobile is concerned, are compatible with both Pocket PC’s and Smartphones starting with WM2003 (SP2003).
Palm OS
It ran flawlessly on my Palm Tungsten T3, utilizing its HiRes (320*320) screen but, unfortunately, not HiRes+ (320*480), not even in Landscape mode. (Note that Virtual Pool Mobile 1.48 runs great on the T|3 too).
Symbian / Java
Interestingly, the ClickGamer page of the game lists the game having a Symbian S60v3 / UIQ 3 version. I couldn’t find a track of this on their homepage. The Java version (the trial JAR file is accessible HERE), on the other hand, worked flawlessly and fast on my Nokia N95 and had exactly the same goodies (sound, shortcuts etc) as the native Windows Mobile / Palm versions. It even (flawlessly) supports the Landscape orientation.
Problems on touchscreen-enabled platforms
Unfortunately, it doesn’t support aiming using the touchscreen, as opposed to all the other native Pocket PC (or Palm) pool games. In this regard, for example Virtual Pool Mobile is WAY better (and it offers a lot of other goodies; for example in-game music, free camera movement and career mode). However, if yours is a no-touchscreen platform (MS Smartphone, Symbian S60, dumbphones), this won’t be a problem.
Verdict
If you have a non-touchscreen device (MS Smartphone, Blackberry, Symbian S60 or any Java MIDlet-capable, compatible phone) and you don’t like the above-linked Java-based (or native, if any) games, give it a try – you might like it and/or find it substantially better than the alternatives.
On Pocket PC’s and Palm OS devices (that is, ones with touch screens), however, don’t expect it to be better than Virtual Pool Mobile – give the trial version of the latter a try first to see whether its merits are indeed worth the double (or, if you have a Dell Axim x50v/x51v, double-and-a-half times) price and, then, compare Vegas Pool Sharks to it – after all, you get what you pay for.

UPDATE (11/14/2007): the game has turned out to have touchscreen support on the Pocket PC and Palm platforms. It works entirely differently from other pool games because, as opposed to them, it doesn't let for dragging by the stylus: if you leave the stylus on the screen, it'll immediately shoot. The other usage is (make sure you touch the screen VERY quickly in order to avoid shooting!) quick aiming. This is certainly good news (albeit, again, you might find the touchscreen-based control strange if you've got used to alternative pool games - this is why I haven't found out how the touchscreen control works, in the first place).
Also, I've remembered the price of the game wrong. It's $14.95 as opposed to what I've stated ("at least half of that of Virtual Pool Mobile"; that is, below $10).
(end of update)