[General Topics] Menneisyys:
I’ve often reported on SmartCell’s forthcoming Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Shadow of the Legend; last time upon its entering (currently, still (?) open) beta. (Please see the above link for more info on how to apply, what other MMORPG’s there are for Windows Mobile and so on. Note that a new MMORPG, Providence, has also been announced in the meantime. However, not much is known about it as yet, let alone anything playable.)

Yesterday was the big day of opening the beta. Sure, I’ve jumped on playing the game at once and have been VERY happy with it. It’s working just great on all my WM2003, WM2003SE, WM5 and WM6 test Windows Mobile devices (explicitly tested on the HP iPAQ 2210, the Dell Axim x51v, the Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720, the WM5-upgraded HP iPAQ hx4700 (which is pretty famous for not being able to run some games) and the HTC Universal). Yes, unlike what has originally been announced, the game supports the WM2003 and WM2003SE operating systems too. With the MS Smartphone platform, however, it “only” supports WM5+.

Installation

Despite what the online documentation states, you MUST have at least 850-900 Mbytes free (!) on your storage card before first starting the game (and not just 500 Mbytes). Exactly the same stands for the desktop PC version: you MUST have at least equally much free hard disk space for the (current version of the) game.

Note that as the Windows Mobile version downloads the updates into one of its subdirectories, you MUST install the original, downloadable CAB installer file (linked from here) on a storage card (unless you have at least 900 Mbytes free in your main storage, which is only the case with some new devices with 2-4 Gbytes of Flash ROM.)

Note that, fortunately, if you have more than one Windows Mobile devices and you want to avoid having to install the game on all of them separately, you can just swap the memory card between the devices – or, just copy the contents of the installed and updated, HUGE home directory from your memory card to another one. Fortunately, the game doesn’t use for example the Registry to store anything; that is, simply swapping / copying the card(s) will do just fine.

Graphics

They are very good. The WM version, as you’ve probably guessed, a scaled-down (QVGA, 320*240) version of the SVGA (800*600) desktop one. This means the graphics is FAR more coarse. Unfortunately, the game, currently, doesn’t make use of the high resolution of (W)VGA (800*480 or 640*480) WM devices. Hope this will be fixed in the future: the game would REALLY benefit a lot from it.

Music

In this regard, the desktop and the WM versions are similar. Both uses stereo music and mono sound effects. Unfortunately, while the music is VERY good and different for all main areas on the map (currently, it seems, there are 12 of them), it’s pretty short (about 1 minutes and 40 seconds) and, therefore, quickly becomes repetitive.

The developers may want to consider adding longer in-game music to the game in the final version even at the expense of storage usage (currently, in-game music is in uncompressed format).

Messages

In-game messages, which are very important with a MMORPG title, work just great (see the screenshot above) in both private and public modes (you can even fine-tune who should receive your messages as can be seen in here).

Bandwidth usage

At the SmartCell forums, people have asked what kind of connection is needed to play the game. I’ve made some extensive bandwidth tests and found out that, in five minutes, 83 kbytes were sent and 167 kbytes received, totaling to about 250 kbytes / five minutes; that is, three Megabytes in an hour. Keep this in mind if you plan to play the game through a non-unlimited mobile data access plan.

Some other screenshots

A desktop screenshot and a Windows Mobile one. Accepting a quest (WM screenshot).

Verdict

I need to disagree with Allen Gall (see THIS). This game looks to be a major hit. Don’t forget to apply for the beta – it’s REALLY worth it!