[General Topics] Menneisyys:
This is the first “action” game from ConcreteSoft; their previous titles were all card games. Unfortunately, being a game of a, for the developer, completely new genre also means it has a lot to be desired. Read on!

(A HTC Wizard screenshot is here; as can be seen, on slower devices, the game automatically decreases the view size.)

Availability

It’s available here for a whopping $19.99. It also has Symbian S60 and MS Smartphone versions. The former is really ($5) cheap; the latter $5 cheaper than the Pocket PC version.

There is a trial version, which is pretty limited: not only does it contain only one map, but also the game stops after two minutes. That is, it’s pretty impossible to judge the real merits of the game solely based on the demo.

Compatibility

It’s only compatible with WM5 devices. The demo can’t be installed on anything older.

It worked on all my VGA WM5 devices (HP iPAQ hx4700, Dell Axim x51v, HTC Universal).

On my QVGA HTC Wizard with the AKU3.2 KTamas/bepe ROM, first, it ran OK. When I couldn’t get out of a menu, I’ve soft reset the device; after that, the game wouldn’t start any more – only the title was displayed. An un-, and, then, reinstall didn’t help. After this, not even a hard reset did help – the game just wouldn’t start any more. I had to re-flash the entire ROM (now, switching back to Molski 2.26) to be able to install and, then, play the game again. (With the Molski ROM, I’ve also tested whether resetting the device results in the consequent inability to start. Haven’t encountered the same problem. That is, this problem may be AKU3.2 KTamas/bepe ROM related only.

Gameplay

An excerpt from the ad: “Build your buildings on a variety of landscapes and prevent opponents from doing the same. Use your grapple to grab building parts and weapons. Place pieces at acceptable locations and fire weapons at your enemies or their buildings; the green arrow indicates potential targets. If you have the most points when time runs out you win!

Take on computer opponents in single player mode and work your way through increasingly difficult levels to see if you can beat the high score or play your friends using Bluetooth enabled phones. See who can build the most buildings while taking down your opponent's in a race against time in one of the 3D worlds!”

I’d say it’s the best when played against human opponents. Against the computer, it can become pretty boring after a while – at least in my opinion.

Multiplayer

The title uses local native Widcomm-only Bluetooth support. Native means you don’t need to re-pair the devices before playing or set up a BT PAN between them. Local means it can’t be played through the Net.

On Widcomm-based devices, the main menu is populated with a Multiplayer option; this is not the case with Microsoft Bluetooth stack-based devices (HTC Universal and HTC Wizard screenshots), as with some other, Widcomm-only games like those of Infinite Dreams.

As far as multiplayer gameplay is concerned, the multiplayer originator only has the choice of choosing a level (as opposed to, say, 4Pockets' multiplayer games) before starting to wait for opponents.

The client, after having looked for servers, will list all the Widcomm-based computers in the vicinity regardless of their running a game or not. Then, after choosing the right one, the game will start.

I had no real stability, disconnection or lag problems playing over Bluetooth. The speed did decrease a bit and there was indeed a bit lag, but this wasn’t really serious.

Graphics

It’s pretty OK for a 3D game. It uses high resolution graphics on VGA devices. It, however, doesn’t take advantage of the 2700G accelerator in Dell Axim x50v / x51v models (that is, the “Compatibility: Pocket PC 3D Accelerator (Axim x50v/x51v)” in the ad only means “compatibility” but not “taking advantage of”. As with many other games, this can be pretty misleading for a lot of unsuspecting people.)

Music / Sound

There is absolutely no music in the game. The sound effects are scarce (only explosions and pick up/drop sounds) and not very good.

Summary

Pros

Runs in both Landscape and Portrait. In Landscape, it re-stretches the contents of the screen and, therefore, the text may be a bit misshaped compared to the Portrait mode

VGA resolution on VGA devices

Cons

WM5 only

Multiplayer-wise, Widcomm-only; this, effectively, makes it impossible to play multiplayer games on the vast majority of WM5 devices

No “Exit / Cancel” in many menus.

No music at all; sound effects are rare

While you can redefine buttons / functionality, you can’t use non-D-pad arrow buttons – they will invoke the original functions. If you un-map these functions in the system-level Buttons applet, you won’t be able to assign them at all – in the Configure menu, they won’t be at all noticed

Verdict

Well, this game still requires a LOT of work. First, implementing support for the Microsoft Bluetooth stack. Second, some in-game music would be welcome. Disabling in-game hardware buttons (so that they don't switch to the assigned application) would also be welcome.

Also, I think the price is way too high for a game like this. While you may consider the game amusing, IMHO, it’s a bit on the dull side and certainly wouldn’t pay 20 bucks for it.

Recommended links

Don’t forget to check out my other game reviews here. I also recommend the game reviews in the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine's Expert Blog by Ben Stanley, Al Harrington and Eric Pankoke.

The Definitive Multiplayer PPC Game Roundup - everything you will ever need to know about multiplayer games on the Pocket PC.

(Original heads-up news source: PocketGamer.org)