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Banana :: Thought of the Week |
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Banana
is a fairly interesting cross
between item-collecting puzzle games and traditional platform
scrollers. It stars a monkey on a quest through the Aztec jungle to
defeat his enemies.
Banana works a bit differently than most
puzzle games: the screen doesn't scroll left or right. Instead, the
platforms themselves scroll upward, and if you ever scroll past the
top of the screen (you guessed it) you're dead. The mechanics of the
game involve collecting goodies while finding the gap in whatever
platform you're on so you can keep moving downward to avoid getting
killed. Timing is important, and you'll have to gauge whether it's
worth the risk to just pop down to the next level or hop across the
opening in the platform to collect the goodies on the other side. It's
an interesting idea, and the animation is perfect. The graphics are
excellent as well, with some interesting special effects, including a
motion blur effect. The audio isn't bad, either.
Banana has only one thing holding it
back: the game is controlled exclusively with the stylus, and you
can't remap the keys. In a game like this that depends on quick
reflexes, the stylus isn't the best control method. It's a bit
frustrating to have to keep tapping on the screen, and I always felt
like the monkey wasn't reacting as quickly as I would've liked him
too. Games like this just beg for the speedy, no-nonsense control of a
directional pad.
Banana still manages to be a decent game
as it is, and the visual qualities almost make up for the lack of
directional pad controls. In order to achieve any kind of greatness,
however, it needs directional pad support.
Thought of
the Week:
Microsoft Zune
So I had a little money left over from
Christmas, so I figured I'd take the plunge and get a portable audio player. I
already had a nice little Sony radio/MP3 player that's about the size of a
flash drive, but I found myself longing for more space than the 1 gig the Sony
had. My Prada phone does MP3s pretty well (and FM radio, too), but the volume
wasn't quite loud enough, and of course playing MP3s used a lot of battery
power. After some shopping around, I ended up getting an 8 gig Zune (version
2). (I found a Dutch auction on eBay and so was able to get one for much less
than the usual price.) Some people consider 8 gigs a small amount of space,
but I've never really wanted to have thousands of audio tracks on a device at
one time... takes too long to wade through everything.
It seems to work pretty well, and navigating
through all the audio tracks is pretty easy, although things can be a pain
when dealing with audio tracks with missing and/or corrupt metadata. The radio
is pretty neat too, although I wish the reception was better. I like the fact
that you can still use the device while it's charging (unlike the Sony), but I
really wish it would save your audio track/position when switching to the
radio (like the Sony). I haven't really played with the "social" features yet,
but it does sound kind of interesting (except for the DRM part).
Overall, the Zune is a fairly stylish device
with a pretty decent UI. It's hard to believe it actually came from Microsoft.
:)
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| Allen
Gall's The Week in Games is a free service of Smartphone & Pocket
PC magazine and Smartphone
& Pocket PC magazine ONLINE: in-depth articles, tips, an
Encyclopedia of
Software and Accessories, and links to the best Windows Mobile PDA
and Smartphone Web sites. It is edited by
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 © 2008 by Thaddeus Computing Inc. |
