While not a stand-out genre in the mobile world, the addition of accelerometers into mobile handsets has brought about the frustrating return of the marble rolling game. If you can recall the little puzzles of your childhood where you rolled a marble around a maze to get to an exit – then this is exactly the same - with even some pseudo 3D thrown in. Just don’t throw your phone against the nearest wall in frustration!
Action Bowling has an impressive list of bullet points, including “Bowling alley, bowling ball and pins built according to PBA regulation specifications”, so before you even download the title, it’s setting the standard quite high. Luckily, Action Bowling (ten-pin, not lawn or carpet bowling) does just enough to clear it. Scrappily, but it does manage it.
Gameloft continue with an impressive run of mobile games, and our commenters can continue their impressive run by pointing out that, just like most games from the console developers, it’s been available on other platforms before. I’ll trump them on that, because Settlers has had a long life on the desktop before Gameloft bought its current incarnation to any of the smartphone platforms. But was it a good decision to bring it to Symbian?
Crusade of Destiny is the first 3D role playing game (RPG) available for Symbian^3. It’s based in a Swords and Sorcery fantasy world, much like the highly renowned World of Warcraft Massively Multiplayer Online RPG (MMORPG). Such games can be deceptively complex, requiring complex user interfaces (UI). Read on to find out how well this type of game translates into use on a touch screen mobile phone.
Now this I like. It’s a huge number of little jigsaws, all gathered under just one application. And rather than use actual jigsaw pieces (which to be honest could look a bit twee) you get nothing more than pieces made up of smaller squares (think the leftover pieces of a game of Tetris) and a shape to fit them into. Here's my All About Symbian and Ovi Gaming review...
Polarbit have delivered another HD game into the Ovi Store, and Fuzzies is going to appeal to the smartphone holding puzzle lover, and especially those who prize quick reactions and planning under pressure. Can you capture the red flags and not kill any of the Fuzzies as they explore each level under your guidance?
They might be a touch late to the party, but Zombies are still cool enough to feature in their own games. The reanimated corpses of the dead are attacking once more under cover of night in Breakdesign's 10pm, and it’s your job to keep them contained in one area. Let too many escape and it’s game over. But there’s a twist. Just like Zombies in real life (err...) these inferni only come out at night.
Back in May last year, I looked at Gameloft’s version of the family card game Uno. It impressed me then and even though it was coded in Java, it was solidly recommended. Now it has been upgraded to “HD”, is it still as loved. No. I love it even more!
They say that games can transport you to another world. Which is a bit of a problem, because the latest HD game for Symbian^3, H.A.W.X. HD, seems to have lifted me not into the cockpit of an advanced fighter jet, but to the seat in front of Tom Clancy’s typewriter. Which is no place to write a serious game review... is it?
Bounce It! is an interesting title. Coming from Hyperkani Games, it’s one of the new breed of games that relies on advertising to make the developers some money. That makes it free and initially appealing to people browsing the Ovi Store. And while the game itself, while not an out and out success, is nicely diverting, you’re going to get frustrated with the adverts long before you finish the game (or you could switch to the paid version).
