The game I played most this week: ClickBall

White and Black: ClickBall

ClickBall is absurdly simple and therefore probably won’t appeal to gamers who want to push the limits of the Dell Axim X51Vs running Windows Mobile 5.0. However, if you’re the type that enjoys a simple and free (albeit somewhat bland) way of exercising your eye-hand coordination, CB delivers the goods. The idea is to tap the white ball as it bobs around the screen weaving in various patterns around black balls. If you successfully tap the white ball, you get to move on to the next level. If, however, you hit one of the black balls, it’s game over. It might sound a little boring, but the patterns and speeds the balls move in vary quite a bit from level to level, often adding an element of unpredictability.

Careful timing is a must in both the easy and hard difficulty levels. The game would probably be a bit more engaging if you were given multiple lives. As it is, you’ll have to start the game all over if you die once, which makes playing through the levels over and over again a bit tedious. Color would also help vary the monotony a bit, as would different types of backgrounds. Even if in its current state, though, the game is a nice aside to the more sophisticated games that have been coming down the pipeline lately, especially since it’s a freebie.

Draw and Block: Real Dice Dominoes

Although this game has already gotten several reviews, including one from Werner, I decided to review it myself for a couple of reasons. First is because there just aren’t that many dominoes games out there for the Pocket PC, and second because the game seems to emphasize the multiplayer experience, it’s also still a decent game for those of us who play single-player games.

Thought of the Week: Hello and Goodbye, Windows Vista (for now)

In one of my more impulsive decisions (I seem to be making a lot of them these days), I installed Windows Vista earlier last week only to revert back to Windows XP yesterday. It wasn’t an easy decision. Vista has some damn cool features. Aero looks pretty nice and gives the GUI a smoother, more aesthetically-appealing look. It makes Windows look the cooler, hipper, and more fun cousin of the stodgy old Windows 2000 interface. The coolest feature of all is the 3D, cascade-like view of all your running tasks/windows, which shows them all running in real time. Want to switch to a task?  Just click on it.

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News – 2007 More Exciting than 2006?

There are several interesting items in the news this week. I wonder if 2007 will shape up to be a much more interesting and eventful year than 2006?  We’ll see. Since we’re only in February, the potential is still there.

First is that Windows Mobile 6.0 will be out soon; June, to be specific. I haven’t been scouring the various Web sites for rumors, intelligent speculation, and so forth, so I’m not sure what it will mean in terms of gaming. This article on Information Week’s Web site doesn’t say much in terms of specifics, but we’ll see. I’m looking forward to seeing the new OS, although I’m not looking forward to all the flak that will happen over the various vendors and which current devices will get upgrades and which ones won’t.

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Allen Gall's The Week in Games  Copyright © 2007 by Thaddeus Computing Inc.