So part of me is thinking that this game is little more than a branding exercise for Barclaycard. And that part of me is one hundred percent right. With the strong visuals in their current UK TV commercials of a roller coaster winding around New York (and the passenger reaching out for some contactless card payments), this game sees you: a) in a roller coaster 'winding around New York' and b) reaching out to grab power-ups and points. There are subtle but obviously references and images of Barclaycard, but the rest of my brain is screaming “this is a really good mobile game!”
Offscreen are developers with a certain reputation for their single screen applications with very narrow functionality, but while that may have been the case at the start of their run of releases, they do deserve a second look. And while looking for some nice card games for the latest Symbian powered devices, I came across their version of Freecell. It’s still as close to a single screen application as it could be, but now there’s a menu screen and a game screen. And a lot of gameplay.
Tetris and electronic gaming go hand in hand, of course. Over the years there have been hundreds of versions on a dozen platforms, not least my own Atomic on Psion and the Nokia Communicator (ah, the memories...) There have been quite a few versions for S60 and then N-Gage too, but we now have something of a next-generation winner in Tetris HD, an official - though commercial - adaptation from Electronic Arts. With traditional and 'souped up' modes, it's a class act from start to finish.
It's been too long since we last had a go on a tower defence game for Symbian. So stepping up to fill the gap is Robodef from DaSuppaStudios. To those familiar with tower defence games, Robodef is a standard romp. And if you like to have a dose of Mecha in your video games then look no further. Robodef is available on the Ovi Store for S60 5th Edition and Symbian^3, there's a free trial and the full game is only £1.50. Read on to see my verdict.
Sum Link XXL is one of those games that happily sits on your phone, never drawing attention to itself, with no massive 3D graphics to act as a demo, nor catchy music or presentation to make it into a “cute” experience. But it will continue to sit on my phone and called up when I need a little hit of gaming – because Sum Link has a little sprinkle of the magic ingredient every game needs – addictiveness. Here's my review!
Ah yes, Cricket. The gentle thud of willow on leather, the chink of the teacups and smell of freshly made buns. All of which is nothing whatsoever like Cricket T20 Fever HD, out (on sale) in the Nokia Ovi Store and reviewed here. It's fair to say that the title is a labour of love by the developers and also the best cricket game I've ever played on a handheld device. But that doesn't necessarily make it particularly good as a flagship title for Symbian phones, as you'll gather...
As you can tell, I’m working through all the game genres on the new Symbian platform, and next up is the “sports game”. Time to load up Gameloft’s latest version of Real Football HD for the new Symbian smartphones from Nokia to see if this is cup final worthy or just another jumpers for goalposts effort.
Who wants the short review? Okay here it is. This is just Golden Axe for your mobile phone. If that’s enough to make you go “oooh!!” then you don’t need to read any more, just head straight to the Ovi Store, download Hero of Sparta, and away you go. For everyone else, you might need a bit more convincing, so here’s the review.
It’s yet another racing game for the new Symbian platform! It makes a lot of sense for Nokia to ensure this genre is strongly represented – it shows off the graphical capability of the N8 (and the rest of the devices in that family, including the C7) and they are strong brand names that give the platform legitimacy. Even though it’s more 'arcadey' that GT Racing: Motor Academy (reviewed here), Need for Speed: Shift feels a touch more realistic and a lot more fun.
It’s rare to have a genuinely new game on any platform, let alone one that’s just launched. What you need is to give out an air of confidence in the platform by getting in comfortable names that people recognise, to say that this platform can handle the titles that every one expects to see. And that’s what Sims 3 HD on the N8 is. But does it live up to expectations? Just about!
