Category: Game Reviews

NAME: Knight Tales – Land of Bitterness
COMPANY: DeValley
PLATFORM: JAVA
GENRE: RPG
SIZE: 167 KB
TEST PHONE: LG U310
RATING: 9/10

Welcome to the Knight Tales game review. Honestly we didn’t know what to expected when we downloaded this game. We figured it could be just a different version based on the Dragon Island game engine due to the promotional material. Thankfully we where pleasantly surprised when it ran.

The premise of the game is: you play as Gust a Knight coming back home from another war/adventure to your village of Bohrgia. Unfortunately your village and surrounding land have been overtaken by the evil witch Clara. Clara used to be a unrequited love form your past which supposedly makes things a little tense. Since Gust starts of with such low stats you don’t need imagination to see why he was sent home!

Your home land is now filled with monsters. You first encounter giant frogs, strange midget monsters, armored knights then monsters representing various elements, namely fire, ice and shadow. By defeating the various elemental bosses allows you to save fairies which in turn give you additional magical powers.

The in game narrative of your story is not very good. It doesn’t tell you simply what your next task should be. Not that its difficult to discover. The problem is that it was clearly no designed to be written in english.

Game play is simple and easy to learn. The only annoyance was the ‘0’ button to change magical powers. Collect more fairies to get more magical powers. There’s also a shop where you can upgrade your armor and weapons plus purchase healing potions.

Graphics are one of the best we’ve seen on a mobile phone game. Monsters fire out ‘elemental’ bullets and the sword animation and magic is pretty cool.

Game sounds are pretty good too.

Summary

It’s a very good RPG allowing an excellent freedom of choice in terms of ways and time to complete tasks. Much like Diablo II in concept but in mobile form.

Knight Tales Game Hints.

Destroy the big frog in the first area to get your first fairy.
You need Gems to open the statues to get to new areas.
Save the first fairy queen get the green gem.
The green gems unlocks the statues blocking your path to the second fairy queen.
Destroy the big ice monster next.
Save the second fairy queen to get the yellow gem.

At the Ghost Brothers shop the first lot of upgrades are affordable but the price goes up dramatically for further upgrades.  The upgrades are essential to kill the monster quickly.

NAME: Transformers
COMPANY: Glu, Hasbro
PLATFORM: JAVA
GENRE: Movie/Cartoon tie in platformer
SIZE: 120 KB
TEST PHONE: LG U310
RATING: 9/10

In line with the forth coming real-action movie (2007) welcome to the game review of The Transformers by Glu.

We remember when they where all the rage in the 1980’s but dropped off the scene when it went cable. There where many subsequent TV series after the original and all added to the Transformer universe. This year we will see a proper movie based on these characters and this game has been released to promote the soon to be released film.

There have been many attempts to make a video game based on the series but none to date have been memorable. So when we finally downloaded the latest version we didn’t expect very much. (Also bearing in mind that past movie based games have by far been the most disappointing releases.)

We where surprised when we started the game. Glu have done a very good job! Very 2007. The graphics and images are all top of the class for the introductions and in-game narration of the various chapters. Actual game character/s are animated really well transforming from vehicle to person mode are a nice touch. The ‘breathing’ action when standing still is certainly a novelty. When we saw the Transformer movie trailers we understood why the graphics where so detailed.

Gameplay was the standard platformer but the production quality of the action was excellent. You can jump up and down transform into vehicle mode and ram into things and so forth. That said although excellent for a mobile phone game its still not as good as say the benchmarked Gameboy titles by Nintendo. I would expect releases on other platforms like the PSP and DS by be even better.

The in game story is integrated with the various levels the difficulty progresses nicely throughout the game. Game saving is automatic as you clear each level.

Summary

Overall we think this is a very good game. Sure the platform style is old hat but the production quality and story line are engaging.

NAME: FotoQuest Fishing
COMPANY: Digital Chocolate
PLATFORM: JAVA
GENRE: Aquarium management
SIZE: 230 KB
TEST PHONE: LG U8630
RATING: 9/10Welcome to the game review of FotoQuest fishing by Digital Chocolate.

You are a student on vacation! On vacation you score a job taking pictures of sea life to sell to other tourists. Scores are determined by the type of fish and number you can get in a single photo. Sounds easy does it? Well the developers have added additional difficulty in the form of nervous fish, quests to photograph rare species and a time limit.

Game play can easily be done one handed. With a story line that you don’t have to remember from the last time you played it and a auto save feature after each level ensures you can pick it up and play at any time. The game rewards your great photos by unlocking new areas with new fish and badges for your efforts. It is an easy to play game on the bus or train.

Graphics are good and there is in game BGM which is rare on mobile games. The music suits the game, nice sea themed perfect elevator music in our opinion.  There is very little to pick on all things considered.

Gameplay hints: Moving around causes the fish to swim away so move your camera viewfinder slowly. When you first take a dive there will often be no fish swimming around so simply move quickly to another spot and then stay there. The fish will appear in no time!

Longevity is good because of the random nature of the fish swimming around. You can certainly enjoy taking more pictures even after finishing the quest part of the game. For example we loved trying to get more than 6 jelly fish in one picture.

Summary

FotoQuest Fishing is a game MADE for the mobile phone. This is one of the best mobile phones available. Its even included as standard on various mobile phones. Yes we are wary of standard mobile games but this one is a good one.

NAME:The Sims2 for Mobile Phones (Unconnected Edition)
COMPANY: EA & Maxis
PLATFORM: JAVA
GENRE: 2nd Life Simulation
SIZE: 120 KB
TEST PHONE: LG U310
RATING: 5/10Welecome to The Sims2 game review for the mobile phone. When we heard that the Sims where coming to the mobile phone we where impressed. We imagined a simplified clone of the familiar PC version but with less features but still with the trademark gameplay.

Unfortunately when pretty much let down when finally getting our hands on the latest version. This was the Sims2 – Unconnected Edition.
Among its flaws was linear game play, lack of items to purchase, lack of character or housing customisation, very limited animation, no simlish and so forth. You cannot even name you own Sim. Most of all its missing the reward for failure or incorrect choices which was one of the fun parts of the Sim series.

For example only your character dances about all the others just stand there it store dummies or you can flirt with anyone and not suffer repercussions. We managed to get married to all the characters male or female and divorce them with very little social issues.

Sim2 game progression is good for the first part, getting establish by learning various skills and getting a job but it all starts to tire and your left with plenty of spare time to do absolutely nothing – unlike the PC version. Once you’ve finished all the tasks, there are over 20 or so over the course of the game there is not reason a all to play the game again.

Even The Sims fans on the PC will be hard pressed to enjoy this version. So we give it a pass mark for the good parts at the start and that’s it.

Complete items are:
Alarm clock.
Small TV
Plamsa TV
Exercise bike
Electric guitar
Bath tub
Coffee maker
Drinks Bar
Mixing desk
Hot tub.

Other items come with the extensions which you can buy for your house.

Games room
Dance/Party room
Garden
Video game
Chess table
Dance floor
Bookcase
Barbque
Outdoor setting

COMPANY: Glu and PopCap
PLATFORM: JAVA
GENRE: Fishy
SIZE: 254 KB
TEST PHONE: LG U8630
RATING: 9/10

Insaniquarium Game by Glu is a remake of the Popcap PC version.

The purpose of the game is to manage an aquarium. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well it isn’t because you have to keep your fish alive by feeding and defending them against aliens and to top it off accomplish tasks by collecting ‘fish poo’ in the form of valuable coins to buy upgrades. Upgrades include better weapons for alien defense, better quality fish food, types of fish that ‘poo’ higher value coins and even diamonds.

There are heaps of game objectives to accomplish, things to do like getting different types of fish and you can even unlock various ‘friends’ to help you out! However you can only choose 3 friends at any one time. Each level in completed by getting enough coins to buy ‘powerups’ and eventually an parts of an ‘egg’. The egg costs more the higher level you go.

You can actually continue playing a level infinitely by not buying the egg for the particular level – completely up to you but considering the goodies you get as the game progresses finishing each level is a must! The save feature works on a last level completed basis which is fair enough. You can simply watch of feed your fish or undertake the quest mode.

Graphics are generally up to date but could probably be upgraded for 2007. They called the fish a guppy for some reason – they don’t look like the traditional real life guppy just a generic orange/red fish. Goldfish would probably be a better description considering the amount of coins they seem to excrete. The piranhas are a nice touch.

There are minimal sound effects which is disappointing but expected in this type of game.

Game controls are logical and one handed play is easy to do. One of the easier games to play on the train or bus but when aliens attack it requires your full attention! The level structure and progression is nice and even. Each level having enough a change to the tank design and tasks to complete. It all gets a bit hectic when you’ve got 20+ fish to feed and defend which is part of the challenge.

Once you finish all the levels there is some incentive to do it all again with the different ‘friends’ that are unlocked. Unfortunately you can’t choose which level to restart from. Very little to criticize all things considered!

Summary

Excellent game to add to your mobile collection. It just seems to draw you in to complete it.

All Insaniquarium powerups:

New guppy
Better quality food
More food delivered per key press
Star potion (converts fish coins to stars)
Star Catcher eats stars that covert to diamonds.
Piranhas
Piranha eater

All unlockable Insaniquarium Friends

Stinky: A very fast snail that collects coins.
Niko: A clam that produces pearls you can collect for more ‘credits’.
Itchy: A mini sword fish that helps you attach alien invaders.
Zorf : A seahorse that helps feed you fish.
Clyde: A jellyfish that collects coins.
Vert: A skeletal fish that drops coins but doesn’t need to be fed.
Rufus: A crab that attacks aliens on the bottom of the tank.
Merly: A mermaid that sings to make all your fish produce more coins.
Wadsworth: A mini whale that protects your baby fish from aliens.

NAME: Zoy’s Rescue 2
COMPANY: Sumea
PLATFORM: JAVA
GENRE: Platformer
SIZE: 79 KB
TEST PHONE: LG U8630
RATING: 5/10

Zoy’s Rescue Mission 2 is a game by Sumea.

The premise: You play as Zoy, a cute pink alien creature that has to rescue
it’s baby forms or ‘Juniors’ from various planets. What they are doing by themselves is a mystery.

Zoy reminds me of any number of Pokemon from Nintendo except that Zoy doesn’t have any special powers.

Gameplay: It’s essentially a platformer and based on the famous Lemmings series or more recently Sonwy series by Aliasworlds Entertainment or even Pekka Kana.

Graphics are good and sound is typical mobile phone game.

However there are major problems with game the controls. They are not refined or consistent. (Maybe it was the phone?) Nevertheless overall I couldn’t get the hang of it because of it.

Summary

We rate this game a 5/10.

I am giving Zoy’s Rescue Mission 2 just a pass mark because if you’re willing to eventually learn the controls it could be a fun game.

NAME: Survivor – Expedition Robinson
COMPANY: Sumea
PLATFORM: JAVA
GENRE: TV mini games
SIZE: 79 KB
TEST PHONE: LG U8630
RATING: 6/10

The premise: You play as one of the final 5 survivors, competing in various challenges for immunity and the respect of your tribe. It very much like the TV show except without the ability initiate alliances and scheming.

The game itself is like a set of mini challenges or games – 6 in all by winning allow you to progress in the game. The mini games are almost all 1 button affairs which is perfect for the mobile phone. Unfortunately the games aren’t really anything special most of them hit and miss affairs in terms of targeting.

Of note – On the spear throwing challenge you even get to see a statue of Zoy from Sumea’s other mascot game character.

Gameplay: It’s essentially a set of mini games with an over-arching story line set in the Survivor TV world. As mentioned previously mini games are mostly on button affairs which is perfect for a mobile phone although 2 of them require up and down keys.

Mini games consist of:
– catching fish with a net
– catching fish with a rod
– fire lighting memory game
– spear throwing
– guiding a raft down rapids
– walking on a log

Graphics are OK and sound is typical mobile phone game. There are no major problems with this game.

I found that it didn’t ‘suck me in’ with its design but I did find it quite fun. Suggestions for the next version include a feature to make alliances and better graphics and sound.

Summary

We rate this game a 6/10.

I am giving this mini Survivor game a good score mainly because for once a game based on a TV show or movie isn’t a total waste of time.

An entire game can be played within 10 minutes. Can be played by people in any age group.

NAME: Yoyo Fighter
COMPANY: Sumea
PLATFORM: JAVA
GENRE: TV mini games
SIZE: 77 KB
TEST PHONE: LG U8630
RATING: 8/10

You play as Yozo who has been transported via magical portal t the World of Stone where you have to save your friend Jaco from the Golem Boss. Your weapon of choice is a Yoyo.

The game is platformer and a pretty good one. You jump and when you find the powerup to your shoes you can ‘fly’

The game reminds me of an Anime which involved an assassin who goes undercover in a school to weed out baddies, her weapon is a Yo yo. (which I can’t remember the title of at this stage)

Gameplay is good considering there are many different actions which can be performed by your character.

Graphics are pretty good but as usual sound is limited.

As a mobile phone game its pretty good and comes with auto saving. So this can easily be played while commuting.

This game doesn’t have any real issues worth mentioning.

Summary

We rate this game a 8/10.

Yoyo Fighter is a pretty good game. Like some others it could be a Gameboy title with much expansion and a few more special abilities.

Not a must have game but worth while addition.

NAME: Street Soccer
COMPANY: Sumea
PLATFORM: JAVA
GENRE: Sports
SIZE: 82 KB
TEST PHONE: LG U8630
RATING: 9/10

With the World Cup Soccer on this year its obviously a good time to check out whether there are any decent football games.

I found an ‘old’ but a good one !

Street soccer does exactly what its name says. It doesn’t attempt to replicate ‘proper game’ of soccer – but a game that would have been played on the street. A game with 4 players and a goal keeper for each side.

The premise is that same as a real game meaning that you have to score goals however the have added in the function to fight opposition players if they ‘foul’ you or vice versa.

The gameplay is like other football games where you can control players and pass the ball to other members of your team bearing in mind not to pass it to opposition players. You can even be stretcher-ed off if your player loses all its health. There are even powerups and speedups to collect too!

The controls themselves are easy to master and the layout is convenient for a phone.

Graphics a OK and perfectly suitable for this type of game.

Sound is limited like all mobile phone games, but who cares when your having this much fun.

The level of difficult is good, not too tough or too challenging if you don’t want it to be.

It is immersive enough to miss your train or bus stop if you’re not careful.

Yet again I am impressed at quality at the mere mobile phone game.

Summary

We rate this game a 9/10.

Street Soccer is a great football game for the mobile phone. Must have game even if you’re not into sport games.

Its like having your own team !

Great entertainment when the World Cup Soccer game is not on TV.