|
| 29 Sep 2005 08:02:41 am |
 Arican Rally mobile game review |
|
|
|
Every year a Race takes place, a race that is so spectacular and so
dangerous that it regularly claims the lives of more than one
entrant. That race is the Paris Dakar Rally. The rally allows
entrants from the motorcycle as well as the car world, and it is that
part which th the game African Rally is based.
It is a third person motorcycle racing game in the style of 8 bit and
16 bit classics such as Out Run and Lotus Turbo Challenge. You
dont compete against other motorcycles, but against the clock and
against the obstacles of the desert. An added element is the two
speed manual gearbox which sounds like childsplay but adds an extra
dimension of skill to the game.
The graphics are actually better than you imagine for such a game on
a mobile phone, and the menus and game graphics make good use of my
D500s ample screen. The bike animation is actually pretty nice, and
as a motorcyclist myself I appreciate the small details that make the
graphics something to smile at. The rider is well drawn and even the
sand thrown up from the rear wheel seems appropriate! The sound is as
you would expect from a java game and encompasses the timing noises,
start noises and crash noise.
Once you have the hang of when to change gear (up and down - aided by
an onscreen rev counter-come-speedometer) the game isnt too hard.
The bike jumps over logs and crashes on rocks. The timer is very
forgiving in that you appear to have a lot of leeway before the game
over. The difficulty curve does increase somewhat throughout the
course of the rally, but the game never really becomes frustrating.
When you crash the animations are realistic and you can even see the
front wheel buckle when it strikes a rock.The bike recovers quickly
and you need to change down gear again to regain your momentum. As I
said before, this adds to the skill of the game and is actually quite
fun!
This game isnt ever going to rival its game-console bigger brothers,
but as an interestingand fun diversion from a train journey/work/
school/the washing up it hits the spot!
Fun, reasonably taxing and nice looking.
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 6/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Longevity - 7/10
Overall - 8/10 |
|
|
Posted By : Admin
| Category : Mobile Games Reviews |  Comments[0] |  Trackbacks [0]
|
|
|
|
| 14 Sep 2005 08:35:27 am |
| California Games released for Mobiles and is a retro hit |
|
|
|
Developed by Epyx/M Forma
Review date: 12/09/2005
Reviewer: Ben
Well, the retro express rolls on and heres another blast from the past in California Games. Again, as is the norm with many of these olden remakes, this one originates from the mid 80s. Epyx made a string of them including Summer Games, Winter Games and even World Games. They were massively popular back then and im happy to report, at least in this case, age hasnt battered it one bit.
Your task is compete in 6 events, these include Half Pipe, Footbag, Surfing, BMX, Frisbee and Skating. Before you can compete in any events you must create a character and choose your sponsor. This is a multiplayer game so with a couple of mates you can have a bit more fun. The player who racks up the most points from each event is the winner, simple.
Everything about this title is polished to a complete shine. The menu screen is beautifully drawn and give the game a warm summer feel as well as being easy to navigate. The game follows the original faithfully with all the options you need to get started. Youre able to practice each event to perfection before competing in either one, some are all events available. As is befitting with a game of this type there is a high score/world record table that you can also compare against your own personal bests.
The graphics in this game are excellent, without being too flashy. The first event, half-pipe, sees you skateboarding alongside the famous Hollywood landmark. Rhythm and timing are the key to achieving a good score. A tricky event to master but rewarding when you pull off successive turns and hand-plants. Footbag, again really well designed, sees you lobbing a small sack in the air for as long as possible whilst performing spins and tricks. Surfing is my particular favourite. In attempt to ride the wave you must also perform spins and turns whilst trying not to bail or get caught up in the tube. BMX riding is tricky. By pedalling up and down a hilly path, you must complete 3 laps whilst avoiding obstacles and doing stunts. This event i think perhaps requires the most practice to get right. Frisbee takes it down a level and is a simple yet fun event to compete in. You must chuck the disc as far as possible to your female partner who must successfully catch it in order to score points. Easy yet quite fun all the same. The final event, skating is also nicely designed. Up and down controls creates momentum with which you can jump over obstacles that litter your path.
Control wise this game really excels. Response and fluidity is apparent in all the events making it easy and fun to play. Most events require their own unique combination of reflexes and tactics so the game remains quite fresh throughout. Spot effects and music that accompany the game are functional, whilst the main title tune is also pleasant.
Pretty much all the remakes that are being churned out at the minute are all great fun to play, California games is no exception. Visually, the game has a great summery vibe to it and this flows through in each event. Whilst there is nothing too complicated in the games design, i think what there is plays well and keeps you coming back for that one last attempt. To be fully appreciated, i do think its best battled out with friends to see who can achieve the highest scores, although its still a simple and good fun game to have when playing single player. If quirky sport sims are your thing i would recommend this to you.
Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 7/10
Gameplay - 8/10
Longevity - 7/10
Overall - 8/10 |
|
|
Posted By : Admin
| Category : Mobile Games Reviews | Comments[0] | Trackbacks [0]
|
|
|
|
| 08 Sep 2005 08:24:07 am |
| The all new SonyEricsson W800i review |
|
|
|
Featuring a Walkman branded music player, the Sony Ericsson W800i aims to revive the once-fanatic Walkman obsession amongst youth all across the globe - or at least in Europe, since its not really made for use overseas; thats what its W800 - sans i - sibling is for. We take it for a test drive, finding a handset slightly improved over its sibling, the recently top rated K750i.
Weighing in at a mere 99 g and measuring 100 x 46 x 21 mm, the W800i is both slim and light considering its heavy feature set. When turned on, the relatively small 1.8, 262K colour screen strikes one as both bright and clear as well as unusally sharp due to its resolution of 176 x 220 pixels - more typical of smartphones than ordinary handsets.
Moving on, we find the W800i keypad to be very comfortable in use, providing good tactile feedback as well as low audible noise. Both the numeric keys and the action buttons are flat, well-rounded buttons, and Sony Ericsson has also found room for a dedicated short-cut key activating the Walkman music player. In terms of navigation the W800i offers a rather small yet ergonomically sound 5-way joystick, which provides a quick and easy way of scrolling and selecting while in the menu. All in all, the W800i comes across as slick and user-friendly with regard to user interface and text input.
Sporting the same camera as found in the K750i, the W800i snaps stills at a resolution of 2 Megapixels with good white balance, and performs admirably well under poorly lit conditions. Its appliance of contrast leaves something to be desired, however, but overall image quality must be said to be excellent with good colour saturation and crispness. Also, the W800is implementation of auto focus and macro focus deserves praise for its good performance and relatively short response times. Still, despite offering a solid improvement over its predecessors, it cannot replace a dedicated digital camera.
The prominent Walkman branding on the W800is smooth white and orange casing reveals the handsets strong focus on music playback capabilities from a mile away. In fact, when powering on the handset, users must choose whether to use the W800i as a combination of mobile phone and music player, or as a stand-alone music player. Having the same hardware as the K750i, audio quality has been upped significantly as compared to handsets of yore, and given the good quality of its bundled earphones, the W800i as a music player would have no problems competing with many existing portable audio players out-of-the-box. What it doesnt offer, however, is compatibility with tracks purchased from online music services such as Apples iTunes or PlaysForSure compatible varieties including Napster and Yahoo! Music.
Dedicated hardware buttons for play/pause and volume control are of course available, all of which are especially useful when in phone mode. The Walkman application relies on tag data to let users browse music by Artist and Tracks, as well as the ability to create playlists. As with the K750i, however, we did miss the opportunity of forwarding through songs without entering the music player interface - but on the other hand, the graphic equalizer with several presets proved excellent for optimizing sound. As such, its a bit of a shame that the W800i doesnt provide an integrated 3.5 mm jack but rather relies on a bundled dongle.
When it comes to mobile phone related features, the W800i supports GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz networks, as well as HSCSD and GPRS. Unfortunately, EDGE support has been left out, but at least Bluetooth and Infrared are present for short-range connectivity. Offering a Memory Stick Duo expansion slot and an USB 1.1 port, the 512 MB Memory Stick storage card and the USB cable to be found in the box allow for easy transfer of MP3 files to the phone. Furthermore the W800i also sports an FM radio, 38 MB of non-volatile internal memory, polyphonic and MP3 ringtones, SMS and MMS, instant messaging and e-mail, and lastly Java MIDP 2.0 as well as WAP 2.0 support.
Reception and voice quality for the Sony Ericsson W800i both proved excellent, as did its battery with approximately 6 hours of talktime and 9 days of standby time as compared to the claimed 9 hours and 16 days, respectively. When using thye W800i exclusively in Walkman mode, we found the battery to last approximately 15 hours; not exactly the 30 hours promised, yet still favourable. |
|
|
Posted By : Admin
| Category : Phone Reviews | Comments[0] | Trackbacks [0]
|
|
|
|
| 06 Sep 2005 03:28:05 pm |
| 4G prototypes reach blistering speeds |
|
|
|
Cellphones capable of transmitting data at blistering speeds have been demonstrated by NTT DoCoMo in Japan.
In experiments, prototype phones were used to view 32 high definition video streams, while travelling in an automobile at 20 kilometres per hour. Officials from NTT DoCoMo say the phones could receive data at 100 megabits per second on the move and at up to a gigabit per second while static. At this rate, an entire DVD could be downloaded within a minute. DoCoMos current 3G (third generation) phone network offers download speeds of 384 kilobits per second and upload speeds of 129 kilobits per second.
The technology behind NTT DoCoMos high-speed phone network remains experimental, but the 4G tests used a method called Variable-Spreading-Factor Spread Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (VSF-Spread OFDM), which increases downlink speeds by using multiple radio frequencies to send the same data stream.
Multiple routes
Another wireless networking trick, called multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) multiplexing, was used to send data via various routes across a network, in order to further increase data capacity. For example, MIMO could enable a cellphone to receive data from more than one base station in range.
The activities are technically impressive, says Lajos Hanzo, a communications expert at Southampton University in the UK. But Hanzo told New Scientist NTT DoCoMo will need assistance from other phone companies if it is to kick-start 4G uptake. In todays world nobody can go it alone, he says. And hence any standard proposal must be internationally ratified, which has not as yet take place.
Some countries have already begun cooperating on such standards. Japan and China signed a memorandum on 24 August to work together on 4G. NTT DoCoMo hopes to launch a commercial 4G network by 2010. |
|
|
Posted By : Admin
| Category : General Chat | Comments[0] | Trackbacks [0]
|
|
|
|
| 06 Sep 2005 03:21:48 pm |
| Need for Speed Underground 2 - Launched for mobile |
|
|
|
If youve played the console version of NFSU2, you know exactly what to expect from the mobile version. You are a washed-up street racer who, under the tutelage of the seductive Rachel--played by aging supermodel Brooke Burke, whose name and body still bear a satisfying symmetry--may once again find sponsorship, fame, and ready cash to pour into your ride. The story unfolds through comic book-style cinematics, which, while less than impressive on consoles, are mind-blowing on mobile.
Exposition is hardly Need for Speeds focus, nor really its forte. The racing is a showcase in itself, and it looks as good as software rendering possibly can. The games streaming capabilities have allowed EA to include an unprecedented number of tracks across multiple racing districts, and each looks like a distinct part of the city. You can view these either on a world map screen or by free-roaming through the streets of your chosen district, where you may even find hidden cash bonuses. Each race is initiated via a pager challenge, and you are told how long you can expect to spend on the course. As a result, while NFSU2 is a full-fledged video game, and not really intended for casual players, it can nonetheless be enjoyed in short sessions.
Dedicated players will be rewarded, though, as NFSU2 plays just like its console counterpart. Using your emergency brake to execute perfect drifts and then nitro blasting away takes some getting used to on the mobile keypad, but racing at a high level is satisfying enough to justify perseverance. Every command available in the console game is present here, and they can all be remapped to whichever keys you prefer.
Fancy driving refills your nitro meter, so the Burnout formula (risk equals reward) applies here. As you narrowly escape crashes, a bonus multiplier builds, such that each successive near miss adds several orders of fuel to the fire. Drafting behind opposing vehicles and performing powerslides also charges up your turbo. The rival racer AI is excellent, and your adversaries will perform all these maneuvers in hopes of getting an edge on you. You may pull ahead of a souped-up Audi TT, only to have its driver draft behind you, then rocket ahead while rounding a corner. Bystander vehicles arent stupid either and will sometimes swerve to avoid a crash.
Paris Hilton owns five of these cars, and she thinks theyre hot.
When you do collide with a car, it will fly ridiculously over your head in a manner not unlike rag-dolling. While crashes dont seem to damage the vehicles involved, theyll cost you precious seconds and will potentially necessitate the use of nitro fuel to regain your top speed. Hitting street signs or the like will stop you cold, however. Apparently, several tons of steel is no real impediment, so long as its on wheels. Then again, when compared to its competition, NFSU2s physics modeling is exemplary.
Although they dont crunch on impact, Need for Speeds cars look absolutely beautiful, whether in the garage or on the street. Considering the LG VX8000s lack of hardware acceleration, the highlights and reflection effects on each cars painted surfaces are incredible. Holiday lights hung over telephone wires will imbue your vehicles exterior with shades of red, green, and blue. You will notice quite a bit of the draw-in, but the detailed architectural modeling work thats gone into this game helps to make up for it. In any case, NFSU2 manages to consistently run around 20 frames per second, which is quite a triumph for a V Cast game. |
|
|
Posted By : Admin
| Category : Mobile Games News | Comments[7] | Trackbacks [0]
|
|
|
|
| 05 Sep 2005 09:31:42 am |
| Review of Danger Mouse for mobile phones |
|
|
|
Danger Mouse, for those who live under rocks, was a classic cartoon from the 80s. The adventures of Penfold, Colonel K and Baron Silas Greenback are fondly remembered by everyone who ever watched an episode.
It seems Penfold, in this adventure, has been turned into a zombie by the bad guys and so DM must battle through the levels to find an antidote and rescue his sidekick. Its your average run of the mill side scrolling platformer, but does it have that certain wow factor? Lets see!
The object of the game is pretty simple. Scattered around the levels are fuel canisters, you must collect all these and make your way to the exit. Each level is fairly similar to last, consisting of the usual platform material like ladders, lifts and conveyor belts. To aid DM on his mission there are also extra lives to find, essential to because the game gives you a mere 3 lives to begin with, and youre going to need them. Of course its not always quite as straight forward, mad postmen, as well as the zombiefied Penfold are all out to hinder your progress.
Initial impressions when you fire up a new game are pretty good. The colourful cartoon sprites are nicely defined and easily recognisable, the levels also scroll nice and smoothly. The effort put into the backdrops is also quite impressive, detailed without being garish and generally pleasing on the eye. The music and sound fx are also pretty good. The main theme music on the title screen is a faithful copy of the shows tune. Spot effects are far and few between, however it is digitised speech and works quite well, keeping in with the games crackpot humour.
Controlling DM around the levels though, is where the game becomes a little bit tedious. Once you nudge him in your desired direction he begins to run, unfortunate then, he doesnt stop running until you press the button/move stick in the opposite direction. this causes you to run up and down the levels needlessly by accident. Although i expect the designers will insist this adds to the challenge, personally i found it annoying. The only other control you have at your disposal is the jump button, this is easy to control and rarely requires pin point accuracy, which i liked.
On the whole, i felt a little disappointed by Danger Mouse. The levels are certainly challenging by design but extremely boring, there is actually far too little depth and variety in the game. Younger gamers could have possibly enjoyed this title, unfortunately i do think the games difficulty is pitched too high for some. A special mention must be made to the menu screen though, its brilliantly designed and one of the best looking ive seen, with tiny icons depicting each option. If your a hardened platform gaming fan i think you could gain a few hours entertainment out of this game, anyone else who is looking for a great platformer with a bit of variety should look elsewhere.
Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 7/10
Gameplay - 5/10
Longevity - 5/10
Overall - 6/10 |
|
|
Posted By : Admin
| Category : Mobile Games Reviews | Comments[0] | Trackbacks [0]
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
