Author: The Editor

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.

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.

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.

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.

NAME: Watchmen VERSION: 1.0.1 COMPANY: GLU Mobile PLATFORM: JAVA GENRE: Action/Movie SIZE: 626 KB TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500 RATING: 9/10 DEMO:

Welcome to our Watchmen game (Java version) review.

The Watchmen was refreshing because I’ve never heard of the comic series before.  It’s nice to experience something completely unknown.  Furthermore the movie based on the series will be out by mid 2009.

Glu games are generally some of the best and although at first glance at the game’s application icon didn’t look too interesting we where slowly impressed from the opening credits!  It doesn’t take much effort to produce high quality graphics for introductions thankfully Glu have for the most part.

I can’t tell you the entire story line because I haven’t finished the game or seen the movie at the time of writing so you’ll have to visit later for more details…  However you start off playing the character of Nite Owl!  The tutorial is quite good showing you that there are a ton of ‘weapon’ moves. You get to play new characters (eg. Comedian) as the games progresses each with their own regular and special moves.

Gameplay and controls are simple or difficult depending on how you want to play it.  Just use the direction keys and the center button if you want OR if you want the special moves try the other keys!  I won’t give too much away needless to say being able to punch enemies, throw them around or use your boomerang thing or the ultimate area destruction weapon is new to me and very well done.

Graphics are generally 3D like but if you look closely just 2D with shading effects.  They are very good and 3D would not have helped since your character Nite Owl after all he  is animated very nicely.  Ie. moving cape and good character movement. It’s the best I’ve seen to date.

Likewsie the background graphics are really nicely done too! Cut scenes that progress the story are made in the same way and looks great. The quality of graphics are mostly pin sharp – or maybe the screen on the test Nokia 6500 is just very good – whatever!  Quality graphics that’s for sure.  The BGM is decent but like all mobile games gets repetitive.  No sound effects though…

There is only one issue we have that is directed to the 6500 and that the game needs a fast CPU to work properly.

Conclusion: We enjoyed this game. Very entertaining beat’em up game in the vein of the old Arcade versions of Street Fighter.  It is better than the latest super hero games released recently (late 2008) eg. Batman, Batman and Superman, Hellboy etc.. Very nice graphics – cool moves decent story line so far.  Really well done.  I think it’s a benchmark game…