Month: April 2009

NAME: James Bond 007 Quantum of Solace VERSION: 1.0. COMPANY: Glu & Sony Pictures PLATFORM: JAVA GENRE: Movie platformer SIZE:  KB TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500 RATING: 6/10 DEMO:

Welcome to the Quantum of Solace mobile game review. It’s game based on the movie and hence  follows the story line.

Gameplay is standard side scrolling platformer.  Its not much different from lots of other games like Indianan Jones, Batman and Hellboy. Gun reloading and switching to fists take more time than necessary but clearly designed to. Controls are precise but have enough leeway for key errors.   Most of the time characters move backwards especially when shot and disappear of screen but still firing away at you.  Overall quite good.

Game speed is very good considering the often relatively slow 6500 test phone.  As a result it’s one of the hardest games – in terms of difficulty to play.

Graphics especially the menus are very nicely done and Hi-Def.  The characters are vaguely 3D but lacking detail and the background scenery are not photo quality but perfectly acceptable. We like the animated NPCs – mainly the birds which fly out of the way as you approach.  The quality reminds me of the Lost game released a few years ago.

In terms of sounds it is typical and repetitive.  We like the new take on the 007 theme song – for the first few times…

The game chapters are a good length – so 5 minute play intervals are nice when on a train.

Unfortunately it does not match our new benchmark game – Watchmen which has noticeably better graphics, better action and definitely more enjoyable.

NAME: Tom Clancy’s HWAX VERSION: 1.0 COMPANY: Gameloft PLATFORM: JAVA GENRE: Air wars SIZE:  929KB TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500 RATING: 6/10 DEMO:

Welcome to the Tom Clancy’s HWAX mobile game review.  Branded by a successful writer who penned the books to the game’s back story you would expect a decent effort.  More so the console versions where well received  but that does not always translate to the mobile phone versions.

The storyline is the same – you play David Crenshaw and elite pilot whose services are for sale.  It basically means you’re flying you plane in a 1942 like game environment shooting down various enemies and other flying bosses.  Complete each chapter and you’re rewarded with more of the the story.

The gameplay involves the use of the regular phone navigation keys so it works quite well.  Flying about on the screen avoiding over sized bullets and their various patterns all works well but sometimes not perfectly.  There seems to be a slight response issue – could be due to the phone itself..

Graphics wise the most impressive part in the game menus.  Excellent work on the aircraft inspired options.  Unfortunately the in game graphics are not so impressive.  The planes and backgrounds are done nicely but not in the same league.  Surely they can make them better.  Why did they try to make it realistic as opposed to a more ‘cartoon’ like background which would probably work much better?

Sound is typical as with all mobile games, a nice title track in MIDI and various sound SFX but gets repetitive after 30 minutes or so.

There are a few planet based air-warfare based games and in terms of the ones we’ve tired it’s essentially a tie for all.  None standout – but when comparing to others of similar but space or other world themed games you’ll find greater joy eg. Star Wars or Centipede.

Conclusion: HWAX is a good game.  Worth a play if you’ve got nothing better to do.  It’s not a remake of 1942 with updated planes since HWAX does NOT  have the outrageous but enjoyable powerup system.  Put in prospective the previously reviewed Centipede remake was more enjoyable.

NAME: Call Of Duty – World At War VERSION: 1.0 COMPANY: GLU PLATFORM: JAVA GENRE: World War II SIZE:  KB TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500 RATING: 6/10 DEMO:

Welcome to the Call Of Duty: World At War mobile game review. The Call Of Duty series of games have been around for a few years now.  The mobile version we got was 2D and 3rd person view not the PC or XBOX 1st person and 3D view.

The storyline development is minimal.   Basically you play a special marine that has to perform various missions during the war.  Missions are open and shut or stand alone so there isn’t an overall storyline to the game.

Game controls are simple and easy to use.  There are 3 main weapons you can use for the missions a standard machine gun and grenades.  On certain missions you get to use a flame thrower.  We like the flame thrower the best.

Graphics are very ordinary – we expect better especially after playing the Watchmen mobile game.  The only cool graphics where the planes blowing up.  Sound is like wise standard MIDI fare.

The only problem is that the game difficulty is set too low.  You can finish the game and all its 19 missions in about 30 minutes if you try.  The structure of the missions is linear and unlocks then works as a save point.

Conclusion: Another good game for your JAVA enabled mobile phone – however it is overall slightly boring.  Feels much like the Stars War Clone Wars in theme except not as good.  It needs a more involving storyline and more weapon choices most notably.

NAME: Aliens Vs Monsters VERSION: 1.0 COMPANY: GLU – Dreamworks PLATFORM: JAVA GENRE: Movie Tie-in Platformer SIZE:  KB TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500 RATING: 7/10 DEMO:

Welcome to the Aliens Vs Monsters mobile game review. One of the biggest movie releases for 2009 this game is just one of the series for various platforms to capitalize on what is a genuinely a good family movie.

The game’s storyline sort of follows the movie.  You play mainly as the Susan the accidental giant  renamed Ginormica and The Missing Link monster.  The other monsters are there too but not playable.  You have to fight the various aliens and save the planet.

In 12 chapters – You end up jumping and scaling tall builds or bashing away at alien robots.   We like the destructible scenery when playing Susan more than the slightly boring The Missing Link levels.

In terms of game controls – the set up is standard and perfectly suitable for the game.

In terms of sound and music it is standard MIDI with few and repetitive effects.  Not many games have full on music and SFX which is fine since you can’t really turn it up in public – it would be rude.

In terms of graphics – we are very happy that they’ve used 2D because the latest fad with 3D just does not work – especially on a mobile phone.  Overall it looks good and works well.

Playability is also quite good not being too difficult in terms of tasks to perform and the in game saves (ie level unlocks) helps when playing a few minutes at a time.  You could probably finish it in about an hour if you really tried.

Technically the ending reminded me of  the Batman game.

Conclusion? It’s a decent game however little replay factor.   So if you want something to do rather than staring at the dag in fornt of you on the bus give it a go – you won’t feel reipped off.

NAME: LEGO Batman VERSION: 1.0. COMPANY: Cobramobile PLATFORM: JAVA GENRE: Movie Platformer SIZE: 580 KB TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500 RATING: 5/10 DEMO:

Welcome to the LEGO Batman for mobiles game review.  LEGO themed games are usually more humorous than the normal game releases.  It is no different for LEGO Batman!

The storyline is not movie based – rather a game which has all the major villains from Batman’s comic past.  We haven’t finished the game for various reasons hence didn’t do this writeup till recently.  Also don’t expect the dark somber look of the recent Batman movies.  This is LEGO and it recalls the TV series Batman.  So it is bright and dare we say cheerfully.

90% graphical environment for the game is the typical LEGO blocks.  That doesn’t mean poor quality graphics.  It’s perfectly acceptable.

The gameplay is standard platformer but there is something wrong with the controls.  The problem is that they don’t work in a predictable fashion (at least in our version).  The jump forward in particular is annoying and error prone.  If you are me persistant you’ll definitely get the hang of the game but since there are so many other games to choose from this one did not hold my attention.

Conclusion: Purely due to the the control factor the game doesn’t get a good rating.  It took a lot of time to finish the 1st level that in the end we didn’t bother trying to finish the game.  It’s a pity because other LEGO themed games are usually pretty good.