Review: FreeFlight and Odesys Backgammon - Java and proud of it!
I have to confess I've always been a bit 'down' over Java games on the smartphone. Partly because of the RAM needed by the Java runtime - having to sacrifice 10MB of RAM to run up a game and seeing your Web browser, Contacts and Calendar all close down in the background was a hassle. And partly because the ambition of Java-based games used to be quite low, with amateurish graphics and gameplay.
All this is changing though. For starters, the Java runtime is more efficient under Symbian OS, taking 'only' 8MB or so, plus most S60 3rd Edition devices now have at least 21MB of RAM free after booting and even allowing for Web and PIM apps and usual OS processes, there's often enough in the background to run up a Java game and not 'lose' anything from your set of multitasking applications.
Secondly, the scope of Java games has increased markedly in recent times. Rather than trying to create mini-applications that can be installed on any device, with the corresponding 'lowest common denominator' interface/graphics, programmers are more and more tailoring their Java games to specific platforms and treating Java as just another programming language rather than as the original 'write once, run anywhere' concept. Today's Java game follows more a 'write once and then tweak gently for the various platforms and screen resolutions' theme...
And so, with this in mind, I wanted to showcase two Java games that fell into my inbox in the last month:
Odesys Backgammon Lite
This is a lovely Backgammon implementation with super-simple controls, optimised so much for mobile phones that most moves can be done by just clicking in the d-pad to accept the defaults. Even though there's a commercial (i.e. pay for) version with much higher levels of artificial intelligence, I'm embarrassed to say that the Lite version was still good enough to beat me - some of the time. The free version is certainly good enough to give anyone a decent game and, if you're blessed with enough Backgammon expertise to find it limiting, then the full version is only a trivial $4 (£2) away.
(Download link)
FreeFlight
Quite staggering really. A full 3D flight simulation, with textured ground, written in Java! Before you get too excited, the game's more a demo of what's possible, but there's plenty of fun to be had:
For starters, there are four flight lessons, walking you through the basics of take-off, looping round and landing. You have full 3D freedom in the virtual world, but there are some limits, i.e. 10,000 feet altitude and a restricted roll/yaw rate. But the frame rate's very smooth and the physics seem quite realistic.
As you can see, you can play in any one of four planes, from Cessna to F-16, each with their own stall/top-speed characteristics, and there are even working ailerons and elevons on the plane models. Ultimately FreeFlight is horribly limited by the absence of an artificial horizon or basic HUD, and by the absence of a map mode (so that you can find your way back to the airstrip), but that shouldn't take away from the sheer programming achievement and the amount of fun you can have. And it's free, as the name suggests!
(Download link)
Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at