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Meltdown :: Sam the Walker :: News |
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Hurry! Limited Time Offer! The game I played most this week: Meltdown
Meltdown is an odd little game that I kind of like. Although it looks like a platform scroller where you run, jump, grab, and shoot, Meltdown works a bit differently. The idea is that you need to avert a nuclear disaster by controlling a robot (named “emgee” after the developer, Momentum Games) and getting him to trigger switches. The switches can be accessed by hopping onto the platforms. While the levels actually have a very simple layout, the challenge of the game is controlling the robot, which can’t be moves around like a character in a typical platform scroller (left, right, jump, shoot, etc.) You can’t control the left and right movement of the robot (he just moves in one direction until he hits something and then reverses). What you can control is a spring-loaded thruster that will make the robot leap through the air. The thruster can be controlled by the up or down d-pad button, and the amount of thrust is shown at a sliding bar at the bottom of the screen. (When you are in the air, you can use your jet pack to rise a few more feet.) Since the robot continually moves left or right until he collides with an object, the idea is to time things just right so that you have enough thrust (remember it takes time for it to generate) at just the right moment to leap to the next. You’re also operating under a time limit, which means you’ll need to figure out the particular level pretty quickly. It can be quite challenging, and while it’s frustrating to learn, the game is kind of fun and does have a little charm to it. Those who like platform scrollers with more conventional controls will probably get a little frustrated, but a game like this is more about being able to predict where the dumb little robot will move and how to get him where he needs to go. Meltdown looks fantastic and is probably one of the best looking games I’ve seen on the Smartphone so far. The cutesy little top heavy robot, which bobs to the left and right as he walks, is fully rendered in 3D, and the transparent smoke effect as he uses his thrusters looks fantastic. The level graphics also look very good and even have parallax scrolling to create the illusion of depth. Audio is also very good. While the “boing” sound emgee makes whenever he jumps gets a little annoying, the music and the rest of the sound effects are top-notch. Features like this can be the deciding factor over whether a game just does “ok” or truly stands out from the crowd. Although Meltdown is cartoonish, a little silly, and doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s a quality title throughout and is plenty of fun.
Sam the Walker is a simple platform scroller for the Smartphone. As you might guess from the name, StW is pretty simple in design. Basically, your alter ego in the game goes around collecting stuff and taking out bad guys along the way. StW doesn’t have much of a back story, nor does it have much of a plot: the idea is to just hop around from level to level, grabbing all you can. StW is pretty easy on the eyes and flows well for a platform game, although it runs a little slowly. StW is a Java application, which will run natively on Smartphones since they have Java built-in. Overall, StW isn’t a bad game, although it doesn’t do nearly enough to stand out from other platform games I’ve played on the Pocket PC, for example. But on the Smartphone, where such games are quite sparse, StW is probably worth checking out if you’re hungry for this type of game.
News – Snowed In 5, and Another Year Comes to an End Snowed In 5, Clickgamer’s annual freebie Christmas game, is now out for Christmas 2006. In case you’ve never downloaded, it’s Bejeweled with holiday-themed graphics. I’ve reviewed the game (and similar titles) ad infinitum and therefore won’t be reviewing the game. Suffice it to say that Clickgamer’s in-house titles are reliably good and a much appreciated contribution to our community during the holidays. They’re also having a high score competition, where the winner will receive $100 worth of free software from the store. You can download the game and read more about the contest (it runs until January 15th) here. I’ll be posting my thoughts about 2006 in the next couple of newsletters. What a boring year! Seriously. There haven’t been any new hardware developments Pocket PC-wise that are even worth talking about, and no interesting new devices, either. I’m a bit behind the curve myself, but I’m sure that a lot of people still don’t have a VGA-capable device, and most don’t have 3D acceleration, either. Sure, lots of new phones are out, but in my mind they all kind of run together. But I am glad that developers are keeping things alive by coming out with interesting new games. What was the best game of the year? I’ll have to think about that one. (I still need to review Arvale: Short Tales.) I’m noticing fewer and fewer games this year, which is actually a good thing in several ways. By now, everyone knows that very few companies are going to make money on Pocket PC games. This means fewer people coming along, throwing a game together, and hoping to make a chunk of money from it. Those that are still left and making money tend to be hardcore gamers, and they also have strong ties to the community. In other words, they understand our little niche and are involved because they really love games.Discuss... |
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Gall's The Week in Games is a free service of Smartphone & Pocket
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Encyclopedia of
Software and Accessories, and links to the best Windows Mobile PDA
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Michelle Talley. This Newsletter is published by Thaddeus Computing, Inc., 110 North Court Street, Fairfield, IA 52556. Allen Gall's The Week in Games Copyright ) 2006 by Thaddeus Computing Inc. |
