It’s pretty hard NOT to like AIM Productions’ games. In the Bible of Pocket PC Games– Part I, (use Ctrl-F to search for “AIM Productions”) I’ve reviewed most of their titles and was very happy with most of them. For example, despite its being at least five years old, it was me that, as the Nominations Manager, nominated both their Toki Tori and TMax both last and this year for the Smartphone & Pocket PC Mag Best Software Awards. I really recommend giving their titles a try – you’ll find most of them VERY good. Don’t be afraid of some of them being pretty old - as I’ve stated, even their aged games are definitely worth a try.
(Note that in addition to Part I of the Games Bible, you will also want to check out THIS review of their Gyroid and THIS review of their Frosty Factory.)
Their latest title is Rabbit Wars, a turn-based, multiplayer-enabled (!) strategy title. Yes, it’s multiplayer-enabled, which is great news for all Windows Mobile players not really having many games to play against other Windows Mobile users. In addition, it also supports MS Smartphones (not only Pocket PC’s).
1. Availability, price; free desktop Windows version!
It’s available for purchase / demo download HERE. The restrictions of the (mobile) trial is the complete lack of multiplayer and being restricted to one map only (also meaning you won’t be able to test the advanced units like the Medicopter). The full version costs $19.95.
Note that, thanks to leading Windows Mobile gaming site PocketGamer.org, you can download the desktop Windows version for free (as opposed to the mobile versions). See THIS thread for more information on this. I really recommend this – the desktop version, while it’s pretty much low-resolution (being pretty much a mobile port), is still fun to play, particularly in multiplayer mode, which it fully supports.
2. Solo mode; what’s the game is all about?
As a generic overview, I heartily recommend THIS review by Solsie (it has a French translation HERE and HERE). In here, I only discuss questions not present in that review.
Also note that the game has a very good help (accessible right from the main menu; the in-game help is pretty much useless – for example, it doesn’t contain any information on the different capabilities, range etc. of the units, which is essential information on coming up with a decent strategy) you WILL want to read. An example screenshot:
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2.1. A quick overview – what it’s like?
Despaired of the fact that PDAMill’s excellent Snails is no longer playable in multiplayer mode (as its central server / lounge has long been stopped)? Don’t like the fact that the otherwise excellent Atomic Cannon doesn’t support multiplayer? Looking for a lighter, multiplayer version of X-COM UFO Defense (a.k.a. Enemy Unknown)? While there’s a free (!) and pretty decent port of UFO by Russian developer SMK, you may still want a, by gameplay, pretty similar, but much easier-to-master and multiplayer-supporting game.
This game an optimal mixture of these games: Snails (and other Worms clones), Atomic Cannon and X-COM UFO Defense. And, again, it has (as opposed to Snails) working multiplayer support!
Also note that the homepage of the game has a decent animation. As it’s Flash (and not a, say, animated GIF), I can’t directly link it in here (Object tags are refused / ignored by the engine).
3. Multiplayer support
It’s mostly multiplayer that can make a game a kick-butt one. For example, I didn’t particularly like the Pocket PC port of Call of Duty 2 because it just can’t reproduce the atmosphere of the original game on the desktop. Not with the (LAN) multiplayer version, which I loved. The same stands for several other, multiplayer-enabled titles.
This is particularly true of non-action games (that is, games where connection lag isn’t a problem) playable over the Internet, even through slow and/or lagging connections like GPRS. Examples of these games include probably the best Pocket PC game today, Orions: Legend of Wizards (and its expansion pack, Orions: The Second Age) reviewed HERE, which is, being also a turn-based strategy title, is also playable over lagging connections.
Fortunately, the title supports all the three kinds of most important multiplayer technologies: lounge-based Internet play, local LAN-based multiplayer with multicast discovery (no direct IP entering necessary, which is great news) and, finally, the (currently, not really working) native Bluetooth.
Please refer to the Multiplayer Bible for more information on all these modes, shouldn’t you know what this all means. Also, it’s from there that I’ve linked in tutorials on setting up for example Wi-Fi or Bluetooth PAN peer-to-peer networks.
3.1 Initiating / joining multiplayer games
In the main menu, go to New / Duel, and, depending on the type of the game, select Internet (for central server / lounge, typically long-distance games), LAN (for local games when you have a direct, even peer-to-peer, network between the two devices) or Bluetooth. (Note that the latter is, at the time of writing, may not work on all / most devices).
After this, the game will search for available games. After a while, it lists them all (in native Bluetooth mode, it lists all the Bluetooth-enabled devices in the vicinity) and also enables the “Create server” button at the bottom right. If you plan to start a server, tap it, select a map (screenshot HERE) and press Go (again at the bottom right). The server will start waiting for incoming connections.
Now, the client handsets can go to New / Duel, select the appropriate game type (Internet lounge / LAN / native Bluetooth) and, after some searching, the server will be listed. Just click the name and the game starts.
In the three subsections that follow, I elaborate on the three multiplayer modes.
3.2 Lounge (central server)-based multiplayer
In addition to (Internet-less, peer-to-peer) LAN games, this is the most important form of multiplayer gaming, making it possible to play anyone else from anywhere. The lounge- (central server-) based approach makes it possible to avoid directly entering remote IP addresses (unlike with Internet-based games lacking the lounge model like that of Orions or a great Stratego clone, Napoleonix, reviewed HERE) and also help for running into strangers wanting to play others, should you just want to look around for an opponent.
In the following screenshot, you can see the Internet lounge showing two games waiting for opponents:
There, you only need to click one of them and the game starts.
3.3 LAN (local) play
Fortunately, the other most versatile and important multiplayer mode, that of LAN play, also works and, what is more, supports multicast discovery, which means you won’t need to enter IP addresses anywhere, unlike with, say, the excellent Doom port DoomPPC / DoomGLES, which is very hard to configure, particularly if there’re more than two players in a game.
LAN play also includes Wi-Fi peer-to-peer gaming (this is supported by the vast majority of today’s handsets – only the lowest-end Windows Mobile phones come without Wi-Fi). Bluetooth PAN is also supported (as one would guess – after all, the networking architecture is totally transparent to multiplayer games – all they see is a local network where they can discover others / the server using multicast discovery protocols).
This is the game type that you will want to play if you don’t want to use your PDA’s phone (and/or it’s not a phone / you don’t have a data plan) and your opponents are nearby – say, in the same room, during a boring meeting. Of course, you can still use Internet play in this case too if both of you have Internet access.
3.4 Native Bluetooth support
If you have played games with native BT support, you know well enough their compatibility issues can be a real pain in the back. For example, it took me a lot of work for me and the HeroCraft Hitech folks (see THIS and THIS) to make Battle Cakes and Infinite Dreams multiplayer titles work with some Widcomm BT stack-based models.
Unfortunately, as of this writing (15/11/2007), the native Bluetooth gaming (which only supports the MS BT stack – there’s absolutely no Widcomm BT stack support) is pretty much useless. I’ve done some VERY serious and long compliance testing with all my MS BT stack-based Pocket PC’s and Smartphones (testing them against each other in both (client & server) modes). I could only find one combination (the HTC Wizard acted as a server and the Dell Axim x51v (A12, official WM5 ROM) and the HTC s710/Vox (WM6, official, original ROM) as the client. However, this setup only worked once; upon subsequent gaming attempts, it no longer worked. All the other combinations (in addition to the above-listed three models, I’ve also tested the HTC s310 (Oxygen) Smartphone and the HTC Universal Pocket PC) refused to work.
Note that the AIM folks have reported native Bluetooth gaming (generally) works between the Samsung Blackjack i320 and the HTC Kaiser (TyTN II).
As the AIM folks are pretty capable programmers, I’m pretty much confident they will release a version with working native BT support. For the time being, however, don’t assume it’ll work. You can, of course, safely give it a try. Just don’t worry if the client doesn’t start – it displays the Loading splash screen for about half a minute and, then, just exits to the operating system.
3.5 Hotseat mode
Finally, the game supports hotseat (non-inter-device) multiplayer mode up to four players. It, unlike with real inter-device multiplayer games (which need to be started from Play / Duel), must be started by Play / New.
There’re no different gaming modes in hotseat mode (assuming more than two players); the game is free-for-all (FFA). However, of course, if you team up with your friend to beat one or two AI enemies, you can effectively get rid of this problem. As your soldiers and machines won’t shoot anything in their range (as opposed to real-time strategy games), the lack of teaming capabilities aren’t a problem at all.
3.6 Multiplayer limitations
Unfortunately, in-game chat or even game lounge usernames (so that you know who you play) aren’t supported. In the game lounge, as has already been shown in THIS screenshot, only the map is displayed, and not the creator itself. This will definitely become an issue if many people start to play the game through the lounge.
As opposed to the hotseat mode (and games capable of running even four-person games – examples are like CoD2, Battle Cake, DoomPPC/GLES and the Great Gold Rush), inter-device multiplayer can only be played between two opponents.
There’s considerable lag (about five seconds) even on no-lagging LAN games. I don’t know whether this is absolutely necessary – most other multiplayer titles are almost lag-free, even non-realtime ones (that is, games where quick response isn’t a must.)
The AIM folks have stated they would implement at least the lounge name and/or the in-game chatting if and only if the game sells well. This means I really-really recommend you go and buy the game (I’d recommend doing this otherwise too – it’s a very nice title!).
4. Smartphones; resolution issues
When Blizzard’s Starcraft (which is, in my opinion, still the best RTS for Windows and Mac computers) was released, Blizzard explained it being locked to the VGA (640*480) resolution only was not to give an advantage to users having higher-resolution screens and, therefore, gaining a view of a bigger area of the map, avoiding the need for scrolling.
Let’s see how the resolution difference affects players on 176*220 MS Smartphone devices. First, two 176*220 screenshots:
(in-game)
(a map)
As can clearly be seen, compared to the QVGA version HERE, it’s pretty much usable and 176*220 users won’t be handicapped, not even when playing a QVGA user. (Note that the game doesn’t make use of (W)VGA resolution on Pocket PC’s equipped with high-resolution screens.)
4.1 Control
Controlling the units on a Smartphone, because of the lack of the touchscreen, is a bit harder (you need to rely on the D-pad – note that the dialpad buttons (2/4/6/8) aren’t supported at all). As there’s no pathfinding algorithm at all on the Pocket PC (that is, you must explicitly tell the unit where to move all the way), this isn’t that big a handicap when playing a Pocket PC user either.
In addition to the D-pad and the multi-function (changing between the overview / move / fire mode) Action button, you can access the menu with the Back button and the map with the right softkey.
4.2 Make sure your phone is application unlocked!
As of this writing, the game doesn’t check for the Smartphone’s being app locked. If it’s app locked, then the game installs and starts, but the phone will inevitably freeze while showing the initial splash screen to a point of having to remove the battery. This problem (that is, the game doesn’t explicitly check for the phone’s lock state) will surely be fixed in later game builds.
See for example THIS article for more links on application unlocking. Note that it’s absolutely legal.
5. Verdict
This title continues the best traditions of AIM Productions and delivers the same quality as that of their previous, quality games.
If you like (at least in Windows-based systems – unfortunately, as opposed to Infinite Dreams’ excellent multiplayer-enabled multiplatform titles like Super Miners and Explode Arena, there’re no Java / Symbian / Palm versions) multiplatform, multiplayer gaming with VERY flexible, both lounge-based and local multiplayer support, you should definitely give it a try. It’s one of the best multiplayer-enabled game released this year and a must for Snails / Worms, Atomic Cannon- and UFO-fans looking for a multiplayer-enabled mixture of these titles.
Also, if you don’t care for multiplayer, you might still want to give it a try – but, remember, games like this are the best when played in multiplayer mode.
UPDATE (11/28/2007): AIM Productions has released a fix for the native Bluetooth issues. I've thoroughly tested the new version between all my MS BT stack-based WM5 and WM6 Pocket PC's and Smartphones (Universal, Wizard, Vox, Oxygen). It works flawlessly. Just remember to make the server device discoverable so that it's found by the client.
All in all, now, you can safely rely on the native Bluetooth multiplayer mode as well - as long as you have the MS BT stack (and not that of Widcomm / Broadcom). Thumbs up for the quick & excellent fix, AIM Productions!
Related
Fortunately, the Pocket PC also has some Mario Kart games (please check out the link to find out what Mario Kart is all about if you don’t know the genre – I won’t elaborate on it in here).
You have, basically, three choices (and another one if you don’t necessarily want to stick to the “real” Mario style) to choose from if you want to play Pocket PC. In this roundup, I elaborate on all of them, along with a direct comparison.
Emulators
As handheld/console gaming devices also had / have Mario Kart ports, it may be a great idea to try to run them under an emulator on the Pocket PC. Fortunately, some later emulators of (comparatively) powerful handheld and console devices (mostly the newly-released 2700G-enabled PocketGBA and the OpenGL-enabled PocketSNES) are pretty usable on the Pocket PC, I’ve also examined one of them, PocketGBA:
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Pros
Free if you have the ROM image (PocketGBA is free)
Cons
Speed only acceptable on 2700G-enabled, hardware accelerated Pocket PC’s
In no way so spectacular as the other two “real” Mario Kart clones
Other console platforms (for example SNES) also had their Mario Kart clones; for example, SNES had Super Mario Kart. I didn’t have the chance to test it because I only have the GBA-specific Mario Kart ROM’s.
Crazy Kart 1.03 by Int13
(current version 1.04; tested version 1.03 (I could only access the trial, which is version 1.03). Version 1.04 doesn’t seem to have anything over 1.03 except for some bugfixes.)
This is a good remake of the original game with some minor annoyances (for example, the lacking in definable on-screen controls). It, as opposed to the other titles, even has in-game music. It’s, however, isn’t anything to write home about: it’s mono, pretty short and, therefore, repetitive. Unfortunately, the add-on packs (the only contain new maps as targa images) don’t contain any new music either.
Pros
Gameplay is fast
Freely accessible add-on courses (albeit only four of the six are loadable)
Cons
Not compatible with any VGA devices (tested on three – none worked)
No steering on-screen controls
Map loading is VERY slow, even on fast devices
Note that, albeit the author of the game announced being working on part two, it has never been released.
MicroQuad 1.1 by viex games
This is another remake of the classic title. The developer, viex games, is known for a lot of quality, multiplatform titles (see for example their latest quality release, Gold Miner Joe) – MicroQuad is another example of these titles.
What distinguishes this game from the rest is, first, the multiplayer support. The multiplayer mode in MicroQuad 1.1 is really good – mainly that’s what makes this title definitely better than Crazy Kart. Both Palm OS and Pocket PC-based multiplayer is supported (Symbian doesn’t seem to be supported, multiplayer-wise). The two platforms aren’t, unfortunately, interoperable – that is, a, say, Bluetooth-enabled Palm OS T|3 device won’t be able to play Pocket PC’s via a BT PAN network and vice versa.
As the Pocket PC multiplayer is TCP/IP-based, it works over a several types of networks. I’ve tested the game with both Bluetooth PAN and Wi-Fi peer-to-peer connections (the latter is what you need to use when there’s no support for BT PAN in your device) – all worked. I’ve been able to play games between any of my Pocket PC’s over both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
In order to play multiplayer games, only one game (the one running on the hosting device) needs to be registered; the other(s) may be unregistered, demo devices. This is certainly good news for casual players (ones that want to quickly deploy the demo of the game on the Pocket PC’s of other people to play, without being forced to purchase the game for them too).
Unfortunately, there’re some bugs in the multiplayer mode. Sometimes (in about 5% of the cases) the game would just exit. Also, albeit, theoretically, the game supports more than two players at the same time, in no way (I’ve tested all the possible configurations) could I start the game with more than two players (only the client Pocket PC being the first in the client list would be connected by the server Pocket PC). This is certainly a program bug I’ve reported first to the author (this is pretty understandable, after all – not many people have more than two wireless Pocket PC’s to play mass-multiplayer games on). Hope it will soon be fixed. (I’ve offered the author my help and the ability to directly, remotely access my Pocket PC’s in order to run tests on them.)
Unfortunately, it’s only with ActiveSync-based connections that it displays the first three address segments of the local subnets; otherwise, with other kinds of connections (Wi-Fi P2P, BT PAN) you will need to enter them yourself.
Second, it has very well definable on-screen controls, unlike Crazy Kart, which only allows for acceleration/brake controls on screen (if not in auto-accelerated mode).
Pros
Great on-screen controls – much better than with any other title. You aren’t forced to use the D-pad with this game, unlike, with, say, Crazy Kart.
Unlike some of the other multiplayer titles, you can play multiplayer games with (all non-hosting devices running) the demo version
TCP/IP-based multiplayer, meaning the broadest compatibility
Unlike Crazy Kart, it's fully compatible with VGA devices - even the WM5-upgraded hx4700.
Cons
As of now, a little buggy multiplayer mode (no more simultaneous players than two). This will, however, surely change in the future.
Michael Schumacher Racing World Kart (MSRWK) by Inverse Entertainment GmbH
(current, tested version 1.46; the homepage of the developer is German-only but definitely worth checking out)
This game is hardly a “simple” remake of Mario Kart. It’s more of a self-standing, high-quality 3D title. As it’s still bears the most resemblance to Mario Kart from the list of the other Pocket PC racing titles listed for example here, I’ve decided to include it in the test, while leaving out titles for example the otherwise excellent Motocross Stunt Racer (see review here) because they’re even more different from the “classic” Mario Kart style.
Pros
a real 3D title, unlike the “simple” Mario Kart clones. However, it may be also considered its drawback, especially by younger players.
Cons
While Crazy Kart and MicroQuad runs on any (slow) device, you’d better run MSRWK on fast(er) devices
Not as appealing to little children as “real” Mario Kart clones
Feature and comparison chart
Available here, in the blog version of the article. Sorry for the need to click; there is no table support in the forum engine and, therefore, can’t include it in here. Make sure you scroll down for the chart.
Verdict
My personal favorite of all these titles is MicroQuad because of the excellent on-screen controls and support for multiplayer modes.
Crazy Kart comes as second; I, however, certainly prefer MicroQuad to it because of the lack of multiplayer capabilities of the former and the much worse controllability of Crazy Kart.
MSRWK, while indeed being a good racing game, in my opinion, too “heavy” a title. Not really meant for some quick Mario Kart runs but for die-hard 3D racing fans. The latter, however, may want to decide for a 2700G-enabled racer on the x50v/x51v; for example, GeoRally EX.
Other sources of information
Which is the best PPC Racing Game available? – this thread list all the available racing games two years ago, not only Mario Kart clones.
Crazy Kart review by PocketMatrix / PocketGamer (also see this thread). Note that this pretty bad review discusses an earlier, buggier version. However, some of what it states (for example, the lack of really configurable on-screen controllers) is still topical.
The Definitive Multiplayer PPC Game Roundup
The Games subcategory in my Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine blog
A Roundup of All Pocket PC Games Part I
Discussions of this article
PocketGamer (with sponge's comments!)
AximSite
Thanks for that v comprehensive review - excellent!
I will give microquad a go. cheers!
Games & emu news: SmartGear; Multiplayer CoD2 update; PDAMill: Corsair; Plasma Duel
It was just a few days ago that I published the last part of my Games & emulator news series. In the meantime, a lot has happened; therefore, I decided to publish the new part much earlier than I planned to.
(Note that all the reviewed / listed titles are Pocket PC-only, except for, of course, SmartGear, which also supports the MS Smartphone platform.)
First and foremost, I’ve finished publishing my article series on Emulators – the only REAL and up-to-date guides for emulating computers, calculators and gaming consoles on Windows Mobile, Pocket PC and MS Smartphone alike. I’m pretty sure I’ve fixed the, after the generic Games category (which was fixed last year with a heretic effort on my, Allen Gall’s and Hal Goldstein’s part) most problematic category of the Smartphone & Pocket PC Mag annual Awards of Best Software; that of emulators. You’ll soon see the results in both the Encyclopedia of Software & Accessories and the Best Software Awards 2007 public nomination lists as soon as I get all the emulator products into the database (which is quite a lot of work as all emulator authors need to be contacted, be made enter their products themselves and so on) and some of them nominated. I’m pretty sure we’ll no longer receive criticism like that of, for example, Rirath HERE and HERE. On the contrary - I'm pretty sure everybody will be VERY pleased with the results.
Now let’s move on and take a look at the new developments.
Brand new, 0.26 version of BEST Smartphone (and highly recommended Pocket PC) gaming console emulator SmartGear out!
It has fixed some of the sound issues (the sound of the emulator, as has also been pointed out in my articles, used to leave a lot to be desired); more sound fixes will follow.
PDAMill releases The Corsair, a Crosshair / Shooting Gallery game
There have been many Crosshair / Shooting Gallery (some may also call them Light-gun games, even without the actual usage of a light-gun) games. As is also explained in the Wiki, this genre, on arcade / home consoles and home computers, includes the Virtua Cop, the Time Crisis and House of the Dead series, Blood Bros., Cabal, Laser Invasion, NAM-1975 and Operation Wolf . While these just-listed titles don’t natively exist for the Pocket PC and you can rely on emulating these console / computer platforms (in which the Windows Mobile platform is pretty good at, except for emulating the Commodore Amiga), you won't really find the emulated versions any fun: unfortunately, as most gaming consoles didn’t ever have mouse support and, with home computers, mouse emulation is either mostly flaky (see the example of CastCE, the Atari ST emulator, where you need to “drag” the mouse pointer) or non-existing (see for example the totally lacking mouse emulation in C64 emulators, including the Neos mouse emulation to play Operation Wolf). That is, you will need to rely on using the D-pad to control these games, which is far from ideal.
The only two platforms that, generally, have emulators to offer flawless mouse pointer emulator, Commodore Amiga and MS-DOS, both have problems running Operation Wolf, as has also been explained in my related emulation articles. The Amiga emulator, PocketUAE, can’t swap the disks of this two-disk game (and the game, being released in 1988, still doesn’t handle multiple Amiga floppy drives or hard disks) and all MS-DOS emulators have major mouse control problems with OpWolf.
Some conversions / shooting gallery games do exist for the Pocket PC; for example, Pop Drop by Momentum Games, Shape Shifter by Astraware and Turbo Reaction 2 by MoreGames Entertainment. In my opinion, they aren’t as amusing as classic titles like Operation Wolf (the latter played with a mouse, of course).
If you’re a fan of these games, you will certainly welcome PDAMill’s new title, The Corsair, which is pretty much like the ones above. It has pretty great, professional, stereo (!) music, nice sound effects and (QVGA – don’t expect high-resolution VGA graphics) graphics. It’s pretty much like Operation Wolf in that you also need to shoot at flying targets like bombs while trying to avoid shooting down innocent girls (just like hostages / medical crew in OpWolf).
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In general, I do recommend it if you’re looking for an entertaining and professionally written, albeit VERY shallow and a bit overpriced ($19.95 – I’m pretty sure there will be some rebates in the near future) game. If you look for a game with some substance (or just fnd the price too high), on the other hand, never ever consider this title – go for, say, Orions: Legend of Wizards instead. Also, if you dislike traditional Shooting Gallery games, stay away from the title – however much it has great graphics and sound, you’ll find it just too shallow. Otherwise, give it a try - you'll find it cool.
(News source & further discussion: PG.org)
Call of Duty 2 has received the long-awaited Multiplayer update!
I’ve been waiting for this for over 7 months and, now, it’s here! Hope I soon receive a review / trial code so that I can report on its multiplayer capabilities (see my Multiplayer Bible HERE), glitches, problems, tested on no less than four Pocket PC’s at the same time! Right now, not much is known, expect that it uses Wi-Fi P2P. No word on BT PAN or TCP/IP.
(News source & further discussion: PG.org)
Secretwood releases Plasma Duel for Windows Mobile
You may also want to check out this game, a cross between Arkanoid and Pong, particularly if you’re looking for a hotseat multiplayer game played at the same time, one player controlling its pod with the D-pad, the other with the stylus.
(a screenshot of setting it up)
It, unfortunately, has some bugs; for example, it lacks an icon (no associated icon is displayed by the operating system); there’s no way of exiting the game; after setting the buttons in Options, it’s not possible to exit the menu at all etc. Hope these bugs will be ironed out and, maybe, some kind of wireless multiplayer support introduced, making it possible to play the game on two connected Pocket PC’s to avoid having to using the same Pocket PC (and to avoid the party using the D-pad be in a worse position, pad controllability-wise, than the other.) I've tested the game on several Pocket PC's; these problems surfaced on all of them.
(News source: PPCT)
Notable reviews published in the meantime:
Al Harrington’s Astraware Solitaire review
Pocket PC Thoughts has collected the Mastersoft Brain School Reviews from Around the Web; the list is available HERE
JAMM has just published their The Arcade: A Monthly Roundup of Freeware Games, which is, as usual, worth checking out.
When I first saw the screenshots of this new title over at PocketGamer.org, I thought at once it’d be just a remake of AIM’s well-known Pocket PC / Smartphone oldie “Done In 50 Seconds” (or, as far as games similar to the AIM classic, Simbsoft’s “Railroad Jam”) quickly reviewed for example in the Pocket PC Games Bible Part I.
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(the same on a VGA PPC, a QVGA Pocket PC / Smartphone and on a 176*220 Smartphone. Note that they don’t have a title as I couldn’t take screenshots because of the excess CPU usage of the game and the fact that the logo is only shown for about a second at start)
Fortunately, the situation is way different and there is little resemblance to AIM’s evergreen – if at all. In this game, you will spend most of your time deciding what tools to give your burglars (screenshot of the main “Inventory” screen where you can give your crooks the tools they will need) and what path they should follow to do what they are supposed to. This is much more complicated than you might think as there are several tools to choose from, with different parameters.
Knowing the other games of the developer (of which, I recommend the most (except for the, in my opinion, sub-par Arcades for Adults). See THIS – make sure you follow the links backward), I knew I can expect something cool – at a pretty low price. Fortunately, I wasn’t disappointed – it’s indeed a pretty good game, particularly if you swap your favorite MOD music files into the game.
Price, availability
The main homepage of the title is HERE. The Pocket PC version costs $11.75; the MS Smartphone version is $7.75. This means as with (most) of their other games, it’s quite a bargain, especially the Smartphone version. Note that they support almost all mobile phone platforms; for example, if you have a pre-v3 Series 60 Symbian device (even the screen resolution of 352x416 is supported!), you only end up paying $3.90 for the game - quite a bargain for a game like this, if you ask me.
To test the latter, I’ve also played the game on my (now) low-end, original Nokia N-Gage, which has a really bad, low-speed (~100 MHz) CPU. The game ran almost flawlessly on the handheld, albeit a bit slow in both the path drawing and the actual gaming mode. This couldn’t be helped by disabling (the, compared to Windows Mobile devices, much lower-quality) music (which, by the way, sometimes stutters when there is a full display & music track change – for example, switching between different screens). However, it was still playable.
Compatibility
Windows Mobile compliance-wise, it’s compatible with both Pocket PC’s and MS Smartphones. All (common) screen resolutions are supported and taken, when necessary, advantage of: both VGA, square-screen and QVGA on Pocket PC’s (with high-res graphics on VGA devices!) and both 176*220 and QVGA Smartphones. Note that WVGA (800*480) compliance (for the Toshiba G900 or the forthcoming HTC Omni) is not explicitly stated. The resource files don’t explicitly contain files for 800-pixel-high screens.
I haven’t encountered any problems running the game on the following Windows Mobile devices (except for the high score list bug with the "cooked" WM5/WM6 ROM's explained below):
HTC Universal (VGA WM6 Pocket PC Phone Edition)
HP iPAQ hx4700 (VGA Pocket PC with WM5 AKU 3.5)
HP iPAQ h2210 (WM2003 QVGA Pocket PC)
Dell Axim x51v (WM5 VGA PPC; ROM version official A12)
HTC Vox / s710 (WM6 QVGA Smartphone)
HTC (WM5 AKU3 176*220 Smartphone)
Gameplay, tips
I’ve already mentioned this title is WAY different from AIM’s Done In 50 Seconds. You have a LOT more to pay attention to; this also means this game has a far steeper learning curve than that of AIM. It's, however, really worth the trouble as the game is a LOT deeper than AIM's title.
Let's start with the tools, which already add a LOT to the complexity of the game.
For example, there are more than one tool to break into wooden doors. Some examples (of the 12 tools available) are as follows (with other essential parameters, which also have a direct effect on whether you can afford it at all; which tool is the best, weight- and operation time-wise etc.
Jimmy: 30 sec / $3000 / 1 kg
Crowbar: 22 sec / $50 / 10 kg
Hammer: 18 sec / $120 / 15 kg
Saw: 15 sec / $7000 / 11 kg
(Click the links for screenshots!)
Of course, these tools have other uses than just breaking into wooden doors. For example, Jimmy and Saw also support breaking into built-in safes (in 70 / 35 sec, respectively), which isn’t supported by the two other tools and so on. This all means you will really want to carefully plan what to take with you, who should carry a given tool (if you make use more than one burglar) and what tool should be best used to make the burglary as quick as possible. There are a lot of possible combinations, which means you will need to do a lot of planning and comparison to carefully plan your burglary.
The game has 24 missions (in addition to the default 6 or 7 (haven’t exactly counted them), easy training missions, which explain selecting the right tools).
As far as the complexity of the game is concerned, while the training missions are very easy to get through (it took me about an hour to do this), the real missions themselves are VERY complicated, particularly if you pay for additional tips (sometimes, there are several of them; upon receiving them, the ) on which safe should be opened for additional money and treasures. (You don’t need to do this all if you don’t have the time / still don’t have the money for the necessary tools to do this in the time you’re allowed.)
For example, the first real mission has, if you pay for all the information, 6 real targets to break open into (in addition to the alarm system) as can be seen in the following screenshot (showing, in the lower right corner, how much time it has already taken me to instruct the burglar to break thought the front door, disabling the alarm and break into two safes):
This means it can take you, sometimes, hours to come up with a strategy (picking the right tools; deciding who should do what) for a given mission. For example, the following screenshots shows pre-planning what two burglars should do in parallel:
Note that the route of the boss can’t be pre-programmed (as opposed to the crooks he hires); he must be manually controlled during the actual burglary. This means watching what your burglars do is, as opposed to the first five missions, isn’t just passive. You must control the boss during this, while the other burglars do their pre-programmed path – directing him to the next target, selecting the right tool etc, as is the case with pre-programming the ordinary burglars.
Fortunately, the game supports auto-saving, which makes it possible to continue planning a burglary even after restarting a game.
This means the game can entertain you for quite a lot of time. I don’t think (after having completed all the 24 missions) it can beat Orions: Legend of Wizards (particularly with its expansion pack, Orions: The Second Age), which guarantee fun even months after the purchase. Still, this game might entertain you for weeks to come.
Music & sounds; hacking
Music-wise, the game uses tracked soundtracks played back in stereo (with the Hekkus Sound System engine). There is a separate track for in-game and non-in game music. I didn’t find them as good as the ones in some of Herocraft’s earlier titles – they’re pretty short and, after a while, repetitive. They are, however, better than nothing – particularly if you get the cheap Smartphone version of the game.
As all the game resources are all in the “game.dat” file, which is a standard .7z compressed file, you can even easily swap the music files. There are four .MOD files under the \snd directory – just overwrite them to your favourite MOD file. To do this, you’ll need to download the excellent 7-Zip tool HERE (you can safely get the current (4.52 beta) beta), make sure you associate the .7z file extension with it, rename game.dat to, say, game.7z, click it and, after it’s loaded by 7-Zip, just move the mod files you’d like to listen to during the game.
I’ve tested the game with the EXCELLENT modules coming with TapzMania (see the Windows Mobile Multiplayer Bible for more info on this title). It worked flawlessly.
There are some short sound effects; I’ve counted 18 of them (alarm, bomb, success, failure, being thrown in jail etc). I particularly liked the “Yeah” effect.
Graphics
No problems in here: as with most Herocraft titles, it’s pretty good, particularly on VGA devices. As far as the, resolution-wise, diametrically opposed platform, the 176*220 Smartphone platform is concerned, I haven't encountered graphics-related problems on it either.
Languages
The game supports several languages, which you can choose from at startup (screenshot). I’ve, in addition to the English one, checked the accuracy of the German translation: I’ve found no mistakes.
Bugs, problems
Since this is a version 1.0 game, there are some bugs in it. For example, the game shouldn’t be started in Landscape mode (otherwise, screen tap coordinate registration will be messed up). This was a problem on two devices I’ve tested.
Also, the game throws an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException (and, then, just exits – screenshot HERE) upon trying to access the high score list on my WM5 hx4700 and my WM6 HTC Universal (both running “unofficial”, "cooked" ROM’s). On my (non-cooked) MS Smartphones, WM5 AKU 2.2 A12 Dell Axim x51v and on my WM2003 iPAQ 2210, this wasn’t the case; that is, it seems that it’s only devices with popular XDA-Developers “cooked” ROM’s are affected, not devices with official, factory ROMs (or upgrades).
Finally, as with all the other HeroCraft games, it’s continuously running the CPU at 100% speed (even without the sound enabled), meaning it will chew through your battery really fast. Otherwise, the game runs fine on even slower devices – even with A2DP enabled and music (tested on my non-overclocked, TI OMAP-based HTC Vox). Note that, in order to fix the problem of high power consumption, you can mercilessly underclock your handheld. On my, by default, 624 MHz Dell Axim x51v, the game runs flawlessly the device underclocked to 208 MHz. Then, the power consumption is about 60 (SIXTY!) % lower than running the PDA in auto mode (~580 mA vs. 230 mA, using ~40% brightness and running acbTaskMan in normal refresh mode). Quite a difference in battery life, eh? Yeah, this is why it’s REALLY worth reading ALL my articles – this result is pretty close to what I’ve published in my well-known, related article, also published in the printed version of Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine, on these questions.
Verdict
Pretty much recommended, particularly for MS Smartphone users (because of 1, the lower price 2, the lack of good games for the platform). While, IMHO, it can’t beat Orions (on the long run: you’ll, once you learn to play it, will play Orions for months and will really be addicted to it), it’s still a very nice game. Just don't forget to underclock your handheld if you can.
When I first saw the screenshots of this new title over at PocketGamer.org, I thought at once it’d be just a remake of AIM’s well-known Pocket PC / Smartphone oldie “Done In 50 Seconds” (or, as far as games similar to the AIM classic, Simbsoft’s “Railroad Jam”) quickly reviewed for example in the Pocket PC Games Bible Part I.
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(the same on a VGA PPC, a QVGA Pocket PC / Smartphone and on a 176*220 Smartphone. Note that they don’t have a title as I couldn’t take screenshots because of the excess CPU usage of the game and the fact that the logo is only shown for about a second at start)
Fortunately, the situation is way different and there is little resemblance to AIM’s evergreen – if at all. In this game, you will spend most of your time deciding what tools to give your burglars (screenshot of the main “Inventory” screen where you can give your crooks the tools they will need) and what path they should follow to do what they are supposed to. This is much more complicated than you might think as there are several tools to choose from, with different parameters.
Knowing the other games of the developer (of which, I recommend the most (except for the, in my opinion, sub-par Arcades for Adults). See THIS – make sure you follow the links backward), I knew I can expect something cool – at a pretty low price. Fortunately, I wasn’t disappointed – it’s indeed a pretty good game, particularly if you swap your favorite MOD music files into the game.
Price, availability
The main homepage of the title is HERE. The Pocket PC version costs $11.75; the MS Smartphone version is $7.75. This means as with (most) of their other games, it’s quite a bargain, especially the Smartphone version. Note that they support almost all mobile phone platforms; for example, if you have a pre-v3 Series 60 Symbian device (even the screen resolution of 352x416 is supported!), you only end up paying $3.90 for the game - quite a bargain for a game like this, if you ask me.
To test the latter, I’ve also played the game on my (now) low-end, original Nokia N-Gage, which has a really bad, low-speed (~100 MHz) CPU. The game ran almost flawlessly on the handheld, albeit a bit slow in both the path drawing and the actual gaming mode. This couldn’t be helped by disabling (the, compared to Windows Mobile devices, much lower-quality) music (which, by the way, sometimes stutters when there is a full display & music track change – for example, switching between different screens). However, it was still playable.
Compatibility
Windows Mobile compliance-wise, it’s compatible with both Pocket PC’s and MS Smartphones. All (common) screen resolutions are supported and taken, when necessary, advantage of: both VGA, square-screen and QVGA on Pocket PC’s (with high-res graphics on VGA devices!) and both 176*220 and QVGA Smartphones. Note that WVGA (800*480) compliance (for the Toshiba G900 or the forthcoming HTC Omni) is not explicitly stated. The resource files don’t explicitly contain files for 800-pixel-high screens.
I haven’t encountered any problems running the game on the following Windows Mobile devices (except for the high score list bug with the "cooked" WM5/WM6 ROM's explained below):
HTC Universal (VGA WM6 Pocket PC Phone Edition)
HP iPAQ hx4700 (VGA Pocket PC with WM5 AKU 3.5)
HP iPAQ h2210 (WM2003 QVGA Pocket PC)
Dell Axim x51v (WM5 VGA PPC; ROM version official A12)
HTC Vox / s710 (WM6 QVGA Smartphone)
HTC Oxygen / s310 (WM5 AKU3 176*220 Smartphone)
Gameplay, tips
I’ve already mentioned this title is WAY different from AIM’s Done In 50 Seconds. You have a LOT more to pay attention to; this also means this game has a far steeper learning curve than that of AIM. It's, however, really worth the trouble as the game is a LOT deeper than AIM's title.
Let's start with the tools, which already add a LOT to the complexity of the game.
For example, there are more than one tool to break into wooden doors. Some examples (of the 12 tools available) are as follows (with other essential parameters, which also have a direct effect on whether you can afford it at all; which tool is the best, weight- and operation time-wise etc.
Jimmy: 30 sec / $3000 / 1 kg
Crowbar: 22 sec / $50 / 10 kg
Hammer: 18 sec / $120 / 15 kg
Saw: 15 sec / $7000 / 11 kg
(Click the links for screenshots!)
Of course, these tools have other uses than just breaking into wooden doors. For example, Jimmy and Saw also support breaking into built-in safes (in 70 / 35 sec, respectively), which isn’t supported by the two other tools and so on. This all means you will really want to carefully plan what to take with you, who should carry a given tool (if you make use more than one burglar) and what tool should be best used to make the burglary as quick as possible. There are a lot of possible combinations, which means you will need to do a lot of planning and comparison to carefully plan your burglary.
The game has 24 missions (in addition to the default 6 or 7 (haven’t exactly counted them), easy training missions, which explain selecting the right tools).
As far as the complexity of the game is concerned, while the training missions are very easy to get through (it took me about an hour to do this), the real missions themselves are VERY complicated, particularly if you pay for additional tips (sometimes, there are several of them; upon receiving them, the ) on which safe should be opened for additional money and treasures. (You don’t need to do this all if you don’t have the time / still don’t have the money for the necessary tools to do this in the time you’re allowed.)
For example, the first real mission has, if you pay for all the information, 6 real targets to break open into (in addition to the alarm system) as can be seen in the following screenshot (showing, in the lower right corner, how much time it has already taken me to instruct the burglar to break thought the front door, disabling the alarm and break into two safes):
This means it can take you, sometimes, hours to come up with a strategy (picking the right tools; deciding who should do what) for a given mission. For example, the following screenshots shows pre-planning what two burglars should do in parallel:
Note that the route of the boss can’t be pre-programmed (as opposed to the crooks he hires); he must be manually controlled during the actual burglary. This means watching what your burglars do is, as opposed to the first five missions, isn’t just passive. You must control the boss during this, while the other burglars do their pre-programmed path – directing him to the next target, selecting the right tool etc, as is the case with pre-programming the ordinary burglars.
Fortunately, the game supports auto-saving, which makes it possible to continue planning a burglary even after restarting a game.
This means the game can entertain you for quite a lot of time. I don’t think (after having completed all the 24 missions) it can beat Orions: Legend of Wizards (particularly with its expansion pack, Orions: The Second Age), which guarantee fun even months after the purchase. Still, this game might entertain you for weeks to come.
Music & sounds; hacking
Music-wise, the game uses tracked soundtracks played back in stereo (with the Hekkus Sound System engine). There is a separate track for in-game and non-in game music. I didn’t find them as good as the ones in some of Herocraft’s earlier titles – they’re pretty short and, after a while, repetitive. They are, however, better than nothing – particularly if you get the cheap Smartphone version of the game.
As all the game resources are all in the “game.dat” file, which is a standard .7z compressed file, you can even easily swap the music files. There are four .MOD files under the \snd directory – just overwrite them to your favourite MOD file. To do this, you’ll need to download the excellent 7-Zip tool HERE (you can safely get the current (4.52 beta) beta), make sure you associate the .7z file extension with it, rename game.dat to, say, game.7z, click it and, after it’s loaded by 7-Zip, just move the mod files you’d like to listen to during the game.
I’ve tested the game with the EXCELLENT modules coming with TapzMania (see the Windows Mobile Multiplayer Bible for more info on this title). It worked flawlessly.
There are some short sound effects; I’ve counted 18 of them (alarm, bomb, success, failure, being thrown in jail etc). I particularly liked the “Yeah” effect.
Graphics
No problems in here: as with most Herocraft titles, it’s pretty good, particularly on VGA devices. As far as the, resolution-wise, diametrically opposed platform, the 176*220 Smartphone platform is concerned, I haven't encountered graphics-related problems on it either.
Languages
The game supports several languages, which you can choose from at startup (screenshot). I’ve, in addition to the English one, checked the accuracy of the German translation: I’ve found no mistakes.
Bugs, problems
Since this is a version 1.0 game, there are some bugs in it. For example, the game shouldn’t be started in Landscape mode (otherwise, screen tap coordinate registration will be messed up). This was a problem on two devices I’ve tested.
Also, the game throws an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException (and, then, just exits – screenshot HERE) upon trying to access the high score list on my WM5 hx4700 and my WM6 HTC Universal (both running “unofficial”, "cooked" ROM’s). On my (non-cooked) MS Smartphones, WM5 AKU 2.2 A12 Dell Axim x51v and on my WM2003 iPAQ 2210, this wasn’t the case; that is, it seems that it’s only devices with popular XDA-Developers “cooked” ROM’s are affected, not devices with official, factory ROMs (or upgrades).
Finally, as with all the other HeroCraft games, it’s continuously running the CPU at 100% speed (even without the sound enabled), meaning it will chew through your battery really fast. Otherwise, the game runs fine on even slower devices – even with A2DP enabled and music (tested on my non-overclocked, TI OMAP-based HTC Vox). Note that, in order to fix the problem of high power consumption, you can mercilessly underclock your handheld. On my, by default, 624 MHz Dell Axim x51v, the game runs flawlessly the device underclocked to 208 MHz. Then, the power consumption is about 60 (SIXTY!) % lower than running the PDA in auto mode (~580 mA vs. 230 mA, using ~40% brightness and running acbTaskMan in normal refresh mode). Quite a difference in battery life, eh? Yeah, this is why it’s REALLY worth reading ALL my articles – this result is pretty close to what I’ve published in my well-known, related article, also published in the printed version of Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine, on these questions.
Verdict
Pretty much recommended, particularly for MS Smartphone users (because of 1, the lower price 2, the lack of good games for the platform). While, IMHO, it can’t beat Orions (on the long run: you’ll, once you learn to play it, will play Orions for months and will really be addicted to it), it’s still a very nice game. Just don't forget to underclock your handheld if you can.
I know this is old news, but while visiting Herocraft's site while checking out Revival I decided to check out Stolen in 60 Seconds. I must say it is much harder than it looks, well that is if you try to get 100% of the loot for each mission. Even the first mission took me quite some time to figure out!
You need to calculate everything. Timing is everything in this game, which may seem simple to control but it isn't so easy. There are alarms that you need to disarm, which takes a long time (compared to the timing of the other actions you do). The stuff that is armed cannot be touched because if you try to break into a secure object with the alarm active, after a short amount of time, the alarm is tripped and the cops move out. So while you are disarming (usually with the boss), you have to have your other guys crack into other stuff or just move around to kill time untill the alarm is disarmed.
But you have to realize that not only time is limited but the space allowed for you to move in as well. You have to co-ordinate everything in such a way that no one ends up blocking anyone. Doing this with your pre-programmed thieves is not so difficult (maybe in the later missions it takes some craftiness) but figuring out where your boss character needs to be (that you control) is the tricky part. He usually ends up getting in the way of the other criminals if you don't plan correctly.
Then again you don't have to try for 100% loot but then you will have less money to work with for the upcoming missions (though still 100% isn't critical, it's just my perfectionism I guess). This game definitely will keep you occupied, though it is not a game to play on the go since you will need to keep track of the times of your thieves and stuff. Plus if you play through it once and think you have all the missions down and try to go back and play again you will notice that the stash is located in different places so a whole new strategy is needed--good replay value (though after working so long to figure out a mission I, myself did not feel like working out the same mission twice).
So yeah, great game, especially if you like strategizing. Like I said, I know its old news, though I just felt like writing because I couldn't believe how challenging it really was. Oh well, can't wait to try Revival. I read one review so far and it looks great. Can't wait to hear what you write about it.
--cheers
It’s pretty hard NOT to like AIM Productions’ games. In the Bible of Pocket PC Games– Part I, (use Ctrl-F to search for “AIM Productions”) I’ve reviewed most of their titles and was very happy with most of them. For example, despite its being at least five years old, it was me that, as the Nominations Manager, nominated both their Toki Tori and TMax both last and this year for the Smartphone & Pocket PC Mag Best Software Awards. I really recommend giving their titles a try – you’ll find most of them VERY good. Don’t be afraid of some of them being pretty old - as I’ve stated, even their aged games are definitely worth a try.
(Note that in addition to Part I of the Games Bible, you will also want to check out THIS review of their Gyroid and THIS review of their Frosty Factory.)
Their latest title is Rabbit Wars, a turn-based, multiplayer-enabled (!) strategy title. Yes, it’s multiplayer-enabled, which is great news for all Windows Mobile players not really having many games to play against other Windows Mobile users. In addition, it also supports MS Smartphones (not only Pocket PC’s).
1. Availability, price; free desktop Windows version!
It’s available for purchase / demo download HERE. The restrictions of the (mobile) trial is the complete lack of multiplayer and being restricted to one map only (also meaning you won’t be able to test the advanced units like the Medicopter). The full version costs $19.95.
Note that, thanks to leading Windows Mobile gaming site PocketGamer.org, you can download the desktop Windows version for free (as opposed to the mobile versions). See THIS thread for more information on this. I really recommend this – the desktop version, while it’s pretty much low-resolution (being pretty much a mobile port), is still fun to play, particularly in multiplayer mode, which it fully supports.
2. Solo mode; what’s the game is all about?
As a generic overview, I heartily recommend THIS review by Solsie (it has a French translation HERE and HERE). In here, I only discuss questions not present in that review.
Also note that the game has a very good help (accessible right from the main menu; the in-game help is pretty much useless – for example, it doesn’t contain any information on the different capabilities, range etc. of the units, which is essential information on coming up with a decent strategy) you WILL want to read. An example screenshot:
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2.1. A quick overview – what it’s like?
Despaired of the fact that PDAMill’s excellent Snails is no longer playable in multiplayer mode (as its central server / lounge has long been stopped)? Don’t like the fact that the otherwise excellent Atomic Cannon doesn’t support multiplayer? Looking for a lighter, multiplayer version of X-COM UFO Defense (a.k.a. Enemy Unknown)? While there’s a free (!) and pretty decent port of UFO by Russian developer SMK, you may still want a, by gameplay, pretty similar, but much easier-to-master and multiplayer-supporting game.
This game an optimal mixture of these games: Snails (and other Worms clones), Atomic Cannon and X-COM UFO Defense. And, again, it has (as opposed to Snails) working multiplayer support!
Also note that the homepage of the game has a decent animation. As it’s Flash (and not a, say, animated GIF), I can’t directly link it in here (Object tags are refused / ignored by the engine).
3. Multiplayer support
It’s mostly multiplayer that can make a game a kick-butt one. For example, I didn’t particularly like the Pocket PC port of Call of Duty 2 because it just can’t reproduce the atmosphere of the original game on the desktop. Not with the (LAN) multiplayer version, which I loved. The same stands for several other, multiplayer-enabled titles.
This is particularly true of non-action games (that is, games where connection lag isn’t a problem) playable over the Internet, even through slow and/or lagging connections like GPRS. Examples of these games include probably the best Pocket PC game today, Orions: Legend of Wizards (and its expansion pack, Orions: The Second Age) reviewed HERE, which is, being also a turn-based strategy title, is also playable over lagging connections.
Fortunately, the title supports all the three kinds of most important multiplayer technologies: lounge-based Internet play, local LAN-based multiplayer with multicast discovery (no direct IP entering necessary, which is great news) and, finally, the (currently, not really working) native Bluetooth.
Please refer to the Multiplayer Bible for more information on all these modes, shouldn’t you know what this all means. Also, it’s from there that I’ve linked in tutorials on setting up for example Wi-Fi or Bluetooth PAN peer-to-peer networks.
3.1 Initiating / joining multiplayer games
In the main menu, go to New / Duel, and, depending on the type of the game, select Internet (for central server / lounge, typically long-distance games), LAN (for local games when you have a direct, even peer-to-peer, network between the two devices) or Bluetooth. (Note that the latter is, at the time of writing, may not work on all / most devices).
After this, the game will search for available games. After a while, it lists them all (in native Bluetooth mode, it lists all the Bluetooth-enabled devices in the vicinity) and also enables the “Create server” button at the bottom right. If you plan to start a server, tap it, select a map (screenshot HERE) and press Go (again at the bottom right). The server will start waiting for incoming connections.
Now, the client handsets can go to New / Duel, select the appropriate game type (Internet lounge / LAN / native Bluetooth) and, after some searching, the server will be listed. Just click the name and the game starts.
In the three subsections that follow, I elaborate on the three multiplayer modes.
3.2 Lounge (central server)-based multiplayer
In addition to (Internet-less, peer-to-peer) LAN games, this is the most important form of multiplayer gaming, making it possible to play anyone else from anywhere. The lounge- (central server-) based approach makes it possible to avoid directly entering remote IP addresses (unlike with Internet-based games lacking the lounge model like that of Orions or a great Stratego clone, Napoleonix, reviewed HERE) and also help for running into strangers wanting to play others, should you just want to look around for an opponent.
In the following screenshot, you can see the Internet lounge showing two games waiting for opponents:
There, you only need to click one of them and the game starts.
3.3 LAN (local) play
Fortunately, the other most versatile and important multiplayer mode, that of LAN play, also works and, what is more, supports multicast discovery, which means you won’t need to enter IP addresses anywhere, unlike with, say, the excellent Doom port DoomPPC / DoomGLES, which is very hard to configure, particularly if there’re more than two players in a game.
LAN play also includes Wi-Fi peer-to-peer gaming (this is supported by the vast majority of today’s handsets – only the lowest-end Windows Mobile phones come without Wi-Fi). Bluetooth PAN is also supported (as one would guess – after all, the networking architecture is totally transparent to multiplayer games – all they see is a local network where they can discover others / the server using multicast discovery protocols).
This is the game type that you will want to play if you don’t want to use your PDA’s phone (and/or it’s not a phone / you don’t have a data plan) and your opponents are nearby – say, in the same room, during a boring meeting. Of course, you can still use Internet play in this case too if both of you have Internet access.
3.4 Native Bluetooth support
If you have played games with native BT support, you know well enough their compatibility issues can be a real pain in the back. For example, it took me a lot of work for me and the HeroCraft Hitech folks (see THIS and THIS) to make Battle Cakes and Infinite Dreams multiplayer titles work with some Widcomm BT stack-based models.
Unfortunately, as of this writing (15/11/2007), the native Bluetooth gaming (which only supports the MS BT stack – there’s absolutely no Widcomm BT stack support) is pretty much useless. I’ve done some VERY serious and long compliance testing with all my MS BT stack-based Pocket PC’s and Smartphones (testing them against each other in both (client & server) modes). I could only find one combination (the HTC Wizard acted as a server and the Dell Axim x51v (A12, official WM5 ROM) and the HTC s710/Vox (WM6, official, original ROM) as the client. However, this setup only worked once; upon subsequent gaming attempts, it no longer worked. All the other combinations (in addition to the above-listed three models, I’ve also tested the HTC s310 (Oxygen) Smartphone and the HTC Universal Pocket PC) refused to work.
Note that the AIM folks have reported native Bluetooth gaming (generally) works between the Samsung Blackjack i320 and the HTC Kaiser (TyTN II).
As the AIM folks are pretty capable programmers, I’m pretty much confident they will release a version with working native BT support. For the time being, however, don’t assume it’ll work. You can, of course, safely give it a try. Just don’t worry if the client doesn’t start – it displays the Loading splash screen for about half a minute and, then, just exits to the operating system.
3.5 Hotseat mode
Finally, the game supports hotseat (non-inter-device) multiplayer mode up to four players. It, unlike with real inter-device multiplayer games (which need to be started from Play / Duel), must be started by Play / New.
There’re no different gaming modes in hotseat mode (assuming more than two players); the game is free-for-all (FFA). However, of course, if you team up with your friend to beat one or two AI enemies, you can effectively get rid of this problem. As your soldiers and machines won’t shoot anything in their range (as opposed to real-time strategy games), the lack of teaming capabilities aren’t a problem at all.
3.6 Multiplayer limitations
Unfortunately, in-game chat or even game lounge usernames (so that you know who you play) aren’t supported. In the game lounge, as has already been shown in THIS screenshot, only the map is displayed, and not the creator itself. This will definitely become an issue if many people start to play the game through the lounge.
As opposed to the hotseat mode (and games capable of running even four-person games – examples are like CoD2, Battle Cake, DoomPPC/GLES and the Great Gold Rush), inter-device multiplayer can only be played between two opponents.
There’s considerable lag (about five seconds) even on no-lagging LAN games. I don’t know whether this is absolutely necessary – most other multiplayer titles are almost lag-free, even non-realtime ones (that is, games where quick response isn’t a must.)
The AIM folks have stated they would implement at least the lounge name and/or the in-game chatting if and only if the game sells well. This means I really-really recommend you go and buy the game (I’d recommend doing this otherwise too – it’s a very nice title!).
4. Smartphones; resolution issues
When Blizzard’s Starcraft (which is, in my opinion, still the best RTS for Windows and Mac computers) was released, Blizzard explained it being locked to the VGA (640*480) resolution only was not to give an advantage to users having higher-resolution screens and, therefore, gaining a view of a bigger area of the map, avoiding the need for scrolling.
Let’s see how the resolution difference affects players on 176*220 MS Smartphone devices. First, two 176*220 screenshots:
(in-game)
(a map)
As can clearly be seen, compared to the QVGA version HERE, it’s pretty much usable and 176*220 users won’t be handicapped, not even when playing a QVGA user. (Note that the game doesn’t make use of (W)VGA resolution on Pocket PC’s equipped with high-resolution screens.)
4.1 Control
Controlling the units on a Smartphone, because of the lack of the touchscreen, is a bit harder (you need to rely on the D-pad – note that the dialpad buttons (2/4/6/8) aren’t supported at all). As there’s no pathfinding algorithm at all on the Pocket PC (that is, you must explicitly tell the unit where to move all the way), this isn’t that big a handicap when playing a Pocket PC user either.
In addition to the D-pad and the multi-function (changing between the overview / move / fire mode) Action button, you can access the menu with the Back button and the map with the right softkey.
4.2 Make sure your phone is application unlocked!
As of this writing, the game doesn’t check for the Smartphone’s being app locked. If it’s app locked, then the game installs and starts, but the phone will inevitably freeze while showing the initial splash screen to a point of having to remove the battery. This problem (that is, the game doesn’t explicitly check for the phone’s lock state) will surely be fixed in later game builds.
See for example THIS article for more links on application unlocking. Note that it’s absolutely legal.
5. Verdict
This title continues the best traditions of AIM Productions and delivers the same quality as that of their previous, quality games.
If you like (at least in Windows-based systems – unfortunately, as opposed to Infinite Dreams’ excellent multiplayer-enabled multiplatform titles like Super Miners and Explode Arena, there’re no Java / Symbian / Palm versions) multiplatform, multiplayer gaming with VERY flexible, both lounge-based and local multiplayer support, you should definitely give it a try. It’s one of the best multiplayer-enabled game released this year and a must for Snails / Worms, Atomic Cannon- and UFO-fans looking for a multiplayer-enabled mixture of these titles.
Also, if you don’t care for multiplayer, you might still want to give it a try – but, remember, games like this are the best when played in multiplayer mode.
you should cameo Simon from Frisky Dingo (in one episode it shows him fighting rabbits with knifes taped to them, calling it DEATH RABBITS)
hell, maybe adult swim might bump you for it, shameless free promotion.
UPDATE (11/28/2007): AIM Productions has released a fix for the native Bluetooth issues. I've thoroughly tested the new version between all my MS BT stack-based WM5 and WM6 Pocket PC's and Smartphones (Universal, Wizard, Vox, Oxygen). It works flawlessly. Just remember to make the server device discoverable so that it's found by the client.
All in all, now, you can safely rely on the native Bluetooth multiplayer mode as well - as long as you have the MS BT stack (and not that of Widcomm / Broadcom). Thumbs up for the quick & excellent fix, AIM Productions!