Month: March 2009

  • Game Review – Iron Man

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    NAME: Iron Man
    VERSION: 1.0.
    COMPANY: Glu & Sony Pictures
    PLATFORM: JAVA
    GENRE: Top down scroller
    SIZE: 580 KB
    TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500, SE K800i
    RATING: 3/10
    DEMO:


    Welcome to the Iron man game review.

    They’ve taken the old ‘standard’ flying game put in the Ironman icon updated the graphics BUT got rid of the powerups, the controls the speed, the game is really boring vague storyline etc…  Not much going for it basically.

    The menu system looks great though…

    Conclusion: Don’t bother.  Even couldn’t be bothered posting the game images.

  • Game Review – Cluedo

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    Cluedo
    NAME: Cluedo
    VERSION: 1.0.8
    COMPANY: EA Games
    PLATFORM: JAVA
    GENRE: Board game
    SIZE: 704 KB
    TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500
    RATING: 7/10
    DEMO:

    Welcome to the Cluedo (JAVA) game review for the mobile phone.

    The game play is similar to the board game which it is based and any changes are to make it interactive as a computer game should be.

    You are a rookie reporter who is involved in a who dunnit!

    There’s alot of text based dialogue to read and it hence important to pay attention.  It’s like a basic text and graphic adventure game of the early 1990’s.  Since you have to work out who killed who and with what – without too much graphical aid – it requires conceptual and logical thinking.  The game starts off with simple walkthroughs of how the game is played.  Each tutorial gets harder as you move up the career ladder.

    Graphics are a bit plain 2D but are stylized in an art deco fashion or ‘detective’ movies on the 60’s.  There are lots of menus to go through – too complicated in my opinion.

    The game play is like the menu system – complicated for a mobile phone game.  If you like the ‘Choose your own adventure’ books then there is a good chance you’ll like this game.  There are variable endings and lots of murders to solve.

    If you want a mobile phone game that makes you think a little bit – just like the board game then this one is for you.   It  is not a game for those after instant entertainment.  As they say you have to immerse yourself into the game to enjoy it.

    It is a good game but only for the few other than that it will have limited appeal.

  • Game Review – Star Wars The Clone Wars

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    Star Wars - Clone Wars
    NAME: Star Wars The Clone Wars
    VERSION: 1.0.19
    COMPANY: THQ & Universomo
    PLATFORM: JAVA
    GENRE: Action/Movie
    SIZE: 312 KB
    TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500
    RATING: 7/10
    DEMO:

    Welcome to our Star Wars: The Clone Wars mobile game (Java version) review. Another Stars Wars universe based game we decided to review.  Generally they are worth buying – so its not a hard task to perform.

    The story line is about you the leader of a squad of Clone troopers (They don’t become Storm Troopers) on a mission to destroy the separatists or droid army’s secret weapon.  The weapon is no big deal Ie. Cloaking technology.  However it is strangely compelling to play through.

    Game controls are the direction keys and the fire key (special weapon) – which is very simple.  Sure its old fashioned but it does work very well on a mobile phone.   Your troopers are on auto fire which suits the game so it only a matter of pointing them towards the enemy.

    Graphics are 3D like and quite good to look at.  The background and game environments are quite good although not photo realistic.  Likewise the sound is pretty much standard mobile game.

    There are plenty of levels or planets and missions on them to do so it will keep you busy a a little while.  Difficulty level is good so you can finish the game if you wanted to.  You can also replay the levels to get better mission rankings or collect missing powerups.

    Easy to play in short sessions between train stops or 5 minutes gaps.  You can also easily pickup the storyline if you haven’t played it for a few says.

    Conclusion: We enjoyed this game.  It allows you to control an entire squad of 5 clone troopers easily and use various weapons without stress. Not a landmark game but good enough.

  • Motorola V3xx Review

    hyp4mhz
    Welcome to the Motorola V3xx mobile phone review.  We've had this phone for at least a year now but due to various reasons haven't done a write up.  However its 2009 now and about time we did something... The V3xx is the 3G version of the V3 model range.   It was released back in  2006 when it was still one of the thinnest and arguably the best looking clam shell phone around.  In 2009 its still a good looking phone and one that should really sell better than it has. The phone clearly has had decent software updates over the years because our latest version (Telstra) is obviously better than a Vodaphone version 18 months older.  So watch out and make sure you get the latest V3XX models.  Make sure your carrier has a stable phone software. Construction wise it has a metal faced flip part and quality plastic base topped with the Motorola trademark aluminum keypad.  (The battery cover at the back also felt like it was made of metal) The Key pad is customized for whatever network is offering the phone.   It's a very well built phone with no creaks.  The spring loaded flip works very well and reliably over the thousand or so open and close its been subjected to.  Overall a very well made phone that's nice to hold. It is slightly bigger than the original V3 and subsequent V3i models. The most important thing you should consider when buying is to get one which has multiple 3G and GSM network frequencies eg. 2100mhz, 850mhz or even 900mhz etc.. because get the wrong version it won't work internationally. The operating system is the ages old Motorola OS and it shows.  It has long menus and menu names which are not quite right.  Most annoying is the inability to personalize the OS with custom themes without spending a lot of time and with dubious certainty modding the OS.  Nevertheless the phone is quite stable with only an annoying backlight bug  for the external screen which we have yet to mod out of the OS! The menu navigation and activating is very fast!  However a few options that you need to change are located in illogical places.  Eg. Open flip to answer is in the in-call options menu.  The dual naming of Skins and Themes.  Yes they are the same thing (except for icons).  Furthermore you cannot video call directly from the contacts menu!  You have to have already called the person by voice and then go to the call logs to be able to video call. The best feature of the V3XX is definitely the internal screen.  It's brilliant literally.  Very high quality display better than any mobile phone we've used to date (2008).  The external screen however is not very good too small and too dim - at least it's color. The keypad is very easy to use but feels stiff - after all it is aluminum!  The backlight is a nice iridescent blue and the keys if important enough have their own coloured backlight.  There are 3 keys on the flip part - one for volume, camera and one to activate the backlight. The speaker volume is pretty decent on par with say most Nokia's. Sound quality is a bit tinny as per most mobiles but fair enough.    However the call quality - microphone and earpiece quality is very good.  I dare say better than most other phones we've used.  The background noise reducer actually works in almost all instances! The implementation of SMS or texting is not as good as the competition.  It requires several buttons and options before you can send a message off - specifically to someone not in your phone book!  Not good for those game shows where you need to be quick to enter. The internet browser seems to have been updated and now using Opera 8 - better than many others I don't care to mention for this type of phone. Also missing is a File Manager.   You can't create folders and organise files yourself it does it all for you.  Its good for those who can't be bothered sorting out files or older folk who don't want additional complication.  All you do is to go to the Multimedia - Media finder option and all the files are there.  Icons will only appear if it can read the file so easy to see what works or doesn't work on the phone. There are plenty of customization options . The standard options are wallpaper, tones and the most important soft key reassignment.  The installation of skins and JAVA software was easy enough but you have to be sure they are made for Motorola phones.  There aren't too many because Motorola have not made a easy to access skin editor/designer.  That's probably why Nokia and Sony Ericson are now more popular phones - which allow anyone with some determination to fully create their own. Overall it's got all the usual functionality including MS Exchange compatibility which was a nice surprise.  This software may not be available on phones from certain networks.  And I guess that's the main issue - the V3XX is clearly heavily modified by whatever network you're buying the phone for.  So some may have much better software than others... As for other features the phone has everything a mid-range phone would have but at a cheaper price.  Although some V3XX do not have a airplane mode - the latest models finally have one! Due to the very thin profile there's only a mini-USB connector for everything including earphones.  That can be forgiven since it doesn't have an FM radio but it does have a microSD slot for extra memory. Battery life is a decent 7 days on standby. Network reception is very good.  It was quite surprising especially comparing the signal levels to the Telstra branded and made for network ZTEs phones.  The V3XX kept full signal bars whilst the ZTE only had two less than 1/2 strength. Conclusion: The V3xx is a very good phone - in particular the Telstra software version we tested.  It's not embarrassing to show off to your mobile savvy friends and has all the latest functionality for 3G networks.  (Mind you if they don't know it's a XX they aren't as savvy as you think!) If you get one it should keep you happy for a couple years that's for sure. There are a few annoying things caused purely by illogical placement and/or naming but we got over it and you probably will too. It's a phone that has definitely gotten better with age. Specifications
    • Motorola V3xx
    • Network Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 3G 850/1900/2100 (Dependent on country) HSDPA 3.6 data speed
    • Design Flip or Clamshell
    • L102.9 x W53 x D17.3 mm Weight 108 grams
    • Display/s Internal TFT 240 x 320 External CSTN 96 x 80
    • Camera 1.3 MP
    • Video Camera 480x 272 pixel video camera
    • Connectivity Bluetooth V1.2 Mini-USB
    • CPU
    • Memory 50MB available to user Micro-SD card up to 2Gig
    • Ring tones MIDI, MP3 and others
    • Features Menu Themes Image and Video viewer Organiser/Calender Video calling Voice memos SMS, MMS, IM, Email (inc. ActiveSync for some countries) JAVA MIDP 2.0 Speaker Phone/Hands free Battery 940 mAh Up to 300 hours Standby Up to 3 hours Talk Time
    • Price history From $149-199 AUS 2009 (Pre-paid) From $499 AUS 2007 (Outright)