Experts Online

The Week in Games: Dragon Bird

Allen Gall — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:35:37 -0500

Dragon Bird is another vertical scroller shoot 'em up game, this time from U Mobile. This one's military themed and offers military jets with (albeit non-realistic) interchangeable weapons you can purchase between levels after you've earned some money.

The Week In Games: Firetop Adventure

Allen Gall — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:11:59 -0500

Firetop Adventure is yet another platform scroller (seems like there's been a lot of those lately). This time the story is a little spooky: your job is to root out an evil entity that's turning harmless creatures into hideous monsters. Although FA is still a little cartoonish, it does have an advantage over its purely run-and-jump competition in that it gives you weapons against enemies, lets you blast through walls with bombs (my favorite), and has some interesting puzzles.

The Week In Games: Nicky Boom

Allen Gall — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:43:57 -0500

Nicky Boom is a port of a famous Amiga platform game. It's one of those games that makes me wish I had an Amiga back in the day. (I still remember that trip I made to Warren Radio in Peoria, IL back in the 80s and they just happened to have an Amiga on display. It almost seemed like a magical experience. Where have all the good times gone?)

The Week in Games: Through Enemy Eyes

Allen Gall — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:33:16 -0500

Through Enemy Eyes has a strange setup for a game. On the one hand, it's a treasure-hunting arcade based on exploring ancient ruins. You know the routine: wandering through ancient crypts, finding treasure, taking out bad guys (mummies and such), and the usual mischief. But don't expect a fast-paced arcade shooter (Lode Runner) or a tricky puzzle game (Pitfall). Through Enemy Eyes (TEE) is entirely turn-based.

The Week in Games: Distant Galaxies

Allen Gall — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:41:57 -0500

This one may be a freebie, but it has a good foundation to become a decent game. The good: It's a space shooter with very decent graphics, large, fairly complex levels, a multitude of enemies, power-ups to make your ship stronger, decent animation and video effects, and a decent flow. It also has mappable controls to ensure playability across a wide range of devices.

Pocket Commodore 64: Send Your Requests to Clickgamer

Allen Gall — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 09:46:48 -0600

Since it came out a few years ago, Pocket Commodore 64 has pretty much come to be the definitive emulator for the old C64 platform. Clickgamer is working on a new version of the program and would like your input on new features. Since I'm not really an emulator guy myself, I don't really have any suggestions for the program, but I'm sure some of you do. If so, be sure to send them an e-mail at support@pocketgamer.org.

Fast Future Race Updated

Allen Gall — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:56:01 -0600

Marc Fortin, the developer behind Fast Future Race (FFrace), a futuristic Wipeout-styled racing game, dropped me a line to let me know the game has been updated. According to the Pocketnew Web site, the update includes the following enhancements:

*game play improvements
*graphics improvements
*one new environment
*bug fixes
*optimization for QVGA Smart Phones

Marc also let me know that the issues with viewing angle and perspective I talked about in my review of the title in The Week of Games have now been addressed.

Christmas Freebie

Allen Gall — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 12:06:18 -0600

In what will apparently be one of the very few Christmas-related freebie games available this year (the other is a Christmas-themed version of Quartz), Clickgamer has released Snowed In 4, their holiday-themed Bejeweled clone.

New features include:

"New music, effects and graphics
Frosty puzzle graphics
Fluid game engine
EASY and TIMED game modes
Swap vertically, horizontally, and diagonally
Continuous play!

Diamodoku Syndrome

Allen Gall — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 11:52:41 -0600

Plinydogg over at Pocket PC Gems has posted a rant that has provoked quite a bit of discussion. It's about the seemingless endless profileration of games based on diamond/gem matching and Sudoku. I feel his pain, and I've pointed out this trend many times in my newsletter and the print column. There are just way too many of these Bejeweled/Tetris/Dr. Mario, etc. games out there, and having endless duplication of these titles detracts from those making quality versions of these games.

EA Acquires JAMDAT Mobile

Allen Gall — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 22:21:45 -0600

EA, the game publishing giant on a number of platforms, has purchased JAMDAT Mobile, Inc., for a surprisingly large $680 million. From the press release:

'EA and JAMDAT together plan to publish over 50 games for mobile phones in the first twelve months following the completion of the acquisition, including popular titles like Tetris, Bejeweled, JAMDAT Bowling, Need For SpeedTM, EA SPORTS Madden NFLTM Football and EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer.

“This is an important strategic acquisition for Electronic Arts,” said EA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Larry Probst.