Cell-O-Fun :: ChaseHQ2Evo :: Thought of the Week 

The game I played most this week: Moline

Color Shapes: Cell-O-Fun

So what if Cell-O-Fun has a weird name?It’s a color-matching game sort of like the old Rubik’s Cube puzzle but with geometric shapes that are a bit more complicated that the old 3D cube.  The way it works is that each shape is composed of links made of certain colors.  Each shape also contains a certain number of triangles. The idea behind the game is to rotate pieces of the larger shape and the triangles themselves to get the links in one of the triangles the same color.  Using one color at a time, you proceed to the next level when there aren’t any left.

Rally Racing: ChaseHQ2Evo

Racing games are almost always a mixed bag on Pocket PCs.  Off the top of my head, I can only think of a couple in the history of the platform that is worth playing, and even those are nowhere near the quality of racing games on other platforms.  ToucTao chose rally racing as the subject matter of its new game, ChaseHQ2Evo.  Rally racing, which I’m not that crazy about, is a thoroughly European style of racing involving dirty, narrow, winding roads, ever-changing scenery, and a wingman that sits next to you and announces and describes each upcoming turn. 

I’m not sure if Chase supports 3D acceleration, but there’s nothing on the game’s site to indicate that it does.  On my Asus 730W, it’s a grainy, dirty, and fuzzy arcade-style rally racing game that tries hard to replicate what’s currently available on desktop machines and consoles. However, the game does almost make up for the relatively low-quality graphics by including quite a bit of audio content.  Sound effects of the car interacting with course (going down the tarmac, plowing through gravel, splashing through puddles, etc) are very good, as is the voice of your co-pilot.  High-energy background music is also good, although it gets repetitive quickly.   

While the 3D-rendered are down sampled to the point of being humble (the descriptions of each car are illegible), the game does have some strong points.  For starters, the game runs amazingly fast and, in my opinion, does a better job than most Pocket PC racing games of creating the illusion of speed. Even in replay mode, Chase runs blazingly fast.   By default, the acceleration of the cars is handled automatically.  This makes the cars a little bit easier to control in that you mainly have to focus on steering, but it also makes the game a little harder since the braking ability of each car seems a bit limited (the game simply run at full throttle all the time, and there’s no way to disable the auto-acceleration feature that I can see).  While you can remap the keys to an extent, the game doesn’t quite give me the feeling that I’m in full control of the vehicle.

Thought of the Week— Hammer Combat Coming Soon

Storm Mill has been working on their new Hammer Combat game, which I’ve heard is a 2D beat ‘em up game.  I like the concept of beat ‘em up games and have yet to see a good one on the Pocket PC.  I kind of miss the glory days of the beat ’em up games from the late 80s to the mid-90s or so.  They were fun and a good way to relieve aggression.  Provided they can pull it off, I’m interested in seeing what Storm Mill comes up with.

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