And we're GO at the Australian Grand Prix!

[slitchfield]

Ferrari World Championship seems to have been a high profile game announcement that was followed by a very low profile release (e.g. it's not even in Nokia's Download! system) - but unnecessarily so, since it turns out to be great fun and one of the best Java games to yet appear. Cross-platform and running on just about any phone or smartphone, here's my full and illustrated Ferrari World Championship review. Highly recommended.

Read on in the full article.

[Hardeep1singh]

I find it really wierd when people praise a java game. Java is only good for creating small applications or maybe card games, racing games like this or any game where quick reflexes are required, the game ends up being so slow, you almost lose interest.

I'd pick Asphalt 3 over this anyday.

True. A java racing game? Lol maybe in a few years.

[ares]

lol...you CLEARLY dont´know what you are talking about...java nowadays is very different...

[krisse]

I find it really wierd when people praise a java game.

Try playing Sola Rola and you will change your mind. We gave it one of our ultrarare Mega Game awards, and Pocket Gamer gave it 10 out of 10. It's one of the best phone games I've ever played, and I normally play S60 and N-Gage titles.

http://www.eidosmobile.com/solarola/home.php

(Incidentally the Java Sola Rola is nothing to do with the Flash game, they share the same characters but the games are totally different.)

[argh]

Great sound on the N95? Hmm. I find it very hissy (you can hear when the sound system turns on, even when no sound is being played) and on most games (Java in particular, but also native games) the sound does not have enough levels of control and is usually way too loud if you're not using a headset.

Why doesn't Symbian let you control the sound of Java games with the volume controls?

I second the "lol, java" comment going on.

[krisse]

Seriously, if you are sceptical about Java games do try Sola Rola.

I was VERY sceptical about them before SR, but now I'm totally open to the idea of high quality being possible in a Java title if the designers are willing to put the work in.

Sola Rola is more polished and graphically impressive than the majority of S60 games. It's not 3D, but the design is so clever, with deceptively sophisticated graphics and great music. I just couldn't stop playing SR, it was more addictive than any S60 game I'd reviewed. It's like Loco Roco crossed with Toejam & Earl, really weird and funny.

The problem with Java isn't the technology any more IMHO, it's the lack of willpower by the publishers. They usually prefer to just slap a famous name on a mediocre Java game and hope that the name will be enough.

Sola Rola on the other hand doesn't have a famous name, so it has to work much harder to get sales, and it certainly deserves them.

[snoyt]

I just loved Global Race a 3D java race game for the E90 that worked on several N-series phones to (N93/N95 etcc.) I think the graphics were better than Asphalt 3. I just wished there were more levels and compexities to the game. However for a free game the 5 or 6 tracks were very nice.

Any one ditching java must be completely unaware that good java code can and does produces programs as fast as native C++ code.

[krisse]

I just loved Global Race a 3D java race game for the E90

Erm... the developer's site claims it was for Symbian, but is it possible to write native Symbian in Java code perhaps?

[fernando20]

what? no way Global Race is java, it's a sis. Where did you find this info?

I find it really wierd when people praise a java game.

A game doesn't necessarily need to rely on the latest/fastest/greatest technology to be good, but it must have a great team in its background.

Rafael Winter
www.netvibes.com/rafael_winter