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MicroPool 2007 :: News
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Rats!!

Rats!! is our brand new Run N' Jump, Collect the Pickups, and Kill the Baddies Game* for Windows Mobile devices!

Rats!! features all of the above plus wonderful cartoon graphics, amazing audio, innovative controls and a hilarious story all painstakingly tailored for the best possible experience on a PDA.

Take control of Morty the Rat as he runs, jumps, climbs, and does a lot of damage in the down-town sewer districts, across thick jungles, through evil Cat Villages, many more locales, and help him get back his Cheese!

Features

  • Incredible Graphics and animation that your eyes will thank you for
  • Superb playability, with intuitive controls and menus, No Directional Pad required!
  • Over 35 Beautiful Levels to explore, from the Sewers, across the Beach, and even into a Volcano!
  • Fantastic Music, Sound Effects, and Voices rendered in ultra-high quality to make our best sounding title yet
  • Handy Stats Screen displays how much of each level you've really mastered
  • Auto-save keeps track of your progress whenever you need to put Rats!! down


    *Also known as the Platformer Genre


    • Allen Gall
    Games Editor
    Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine
     allen@pocketpcmag.com

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    The game I played most this week: MicroPool 2007

     

    Your Battle: MicroPool 2007

    Machines at War is one of the more ambitious

    Here we have a nice little pool game that focuses on the fundamentals while still delivering quality. The game doesn't have any music, fancy intro screens, or cinematics. From the main screen, you can select from four different game modes (8-ball, 9-ball, Killer, and Speed), select which ball set to use, and then jump into the game. There are no fancy tournament modes, no souped-up "career" options, nor are their complicated screen options like panning and zooming. 

    Despite this lack of sophistication, MicroPool 2007 looks quite good once you get into the in-game screen. The table is well designed and takes up nearly the entire screen, with most of the interface relying on the directional pad and/or stylus. The balls look especially good: they're oversized in order to compensate for the small screen size of mobile devices, and the lighting and shadow effects are excellent. The cue itself even has a visible blue tip, and other little details like the wood trim on the edges of the table help create a sense of drama somewhat akin to witnessing an actual pool tournament. 

    Pool games always boil down to controls and game physics. MP2007 again keeps things simple in these two areas. When it's your turn, the game uses the typical dotted line to help you project where your shot is going to go (I'd prefer it, though, if more of these games could project where the ball will go after banking it off corners and other balls, even if such a feature is cheating in a sense).

    You can simple aim and shoot by using the d-pad, or you can use the stylus to determine how much force to use in a shot (the way it works is that the faster you move the stylus, the more forceful the shot). And the physics?  Very good: the balls seem to have a weight to them and react to the table and other balls in a convincing manner.

    Those of you who play a lot of pool might notice some discrepancies, but the illusion is good enough to fool the naked eye. The sound effects, which admittedly are rather limited in this type of game, are enough to round out the package. The AI isn't too bad and even makes critical mistakes at times.

    I'm not enough of a video pool jockey to judge, but the AI seems good enough. 

    The audience for MicroPool 2007 is players who ike pool but don't need a lot of unnecessary add-ons. For people who just want to dive in and play a quick but engaging game that handles reasonably well and doesn't feel like plastic, MP2007 will get the job done.
     
    Title: Micro Pool 2007 Developer: Gabor Fetter
    Genre: Sports Demo: Y
    Platform: Pocket PC 2003+ Price: $14.95
    Discuss this game Rating (of 4): 3.4/4.0

    News: Thanks for the Condolences; Old Batteries?

    Thanks to those of you who sent your condolences over my grandmother's passing. Your thoughts are appreciated. 

    In other news, anyone know of a good place to buy old PDA batteries?  I came home from my temporary residence up in the NW Chicago suburbs the other day to find that my old Casio E125 was dead and wouldn't recharge for some reason (the power supply go interrupted when a person living in my house accidentally flipped a light switch). I'm guessing eBay would be the best place to get such a battery, but I'm open to other suggestions as well.

    Yah, I know the Casio E-125 is older than dirt, but I'm kind of attached to it. And that pTravel Alarm I had installed on it worked pretty well.
    Discuss...


     

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