Owner: Mobile Gaming Expert URL:http://mgamingexpert.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:59:31 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: The game designer's blog of mobile game reviews Site statistics:Click here
Week 3 - N-Gage and stuff 2008-04-07 03:27:00 Third week as a blogger so it's time for my weekly editorial. Nokia's N-Gage platform is finally up and running (since some time last week) and everyone is trying to convince you it is the next big thing , but is it really that big? No matter what the marketing divisions say N-gage capable phone are not handheld consoles. They are weaker than Nintendo DS and it is by far the weakest handheld console out there, so if you're expecting incredible graphics- think again and think hard... N-gage games look better than normal java games and apps available today, but they are far from PSP quality. I should know- I've seen about half of the available games being created and I've even worked on one of them briefly, although my role was not really crucial for the development and you won't see me in t Read more:stuff
The Witcher: Crimson trail - the late /early review 2008-04-05 05:40:00 Reading back through my review
s I discovered that so far I've covered mostly Gameloft games, and even though this is normal, considering that this is the number one mobile game developer worldwide I decided I owe something to the other developers. So I give you the The Witcher – Crimson
Trail by a company named Breakpoint.This review is either too late, or a little bit early. Too late, because the game is now more than 3 months old which makes it old news. Early, because The Witcher Enhanced Edition - the long awaited update/fix/expansion of the best PC RPG of the last year (The witcher) is round the corner a month and a half or two away... So I believe it's not too late for the review of the Wiedzmin: Krwawy Szlak as is the original title of the mobile game... The mobile version of The
Panzer general mobile - the game that no-one really saw 2008-04-04 00:08:00 You've got to give it to Gameloft - they do have strict politics for making games available only in certain regions. First it was Fatal bazooka and Tokyo nights, then - Panzer general. Those marketing decisions don't make sense to me for the most part, since the last two games would have been accepted well worldwide, but I don't pretend to be a marketing expert, even though I have a Master's degree in Marketing.Anyway. Let's talk about Panzer general. The game rides the name of the successful turn-based strategy series and delivers a decent action-oriented turn-based experience. This time, however, you don't control armies, but units - the battle is on much smaller scale. You have the chance to pick a side in the conflict (you'll have the chance to play with 2 or 3 selectable
Battle for the White House - It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a crappy game! 2008-04-02 02:53:00 Are you a fan of mini games? Gameloft obviously think you are and you like them so much you're willing to buy the same game more than once if it has a different set of graphics, so they deliver to you Battle
for the WhiteHouse
- a Fatal bazooka remake, put together in a hurry to cash out on the election hysteria in the USA. Is the game worth your attention - hell no! The mini games are as fun as a kick in the face and as original as a $2 Rolex but if you're one of those people who think a little political incorrectness always makes a game great you're gonna love it.For me personally, the game is a total miss - it is the ugliest attempt to cash out on a hot topic I've ever seen and I would've been professionally ashamed if my name was associated with it. Graphic and sound
Another week - another editorial 2008-03-31 03:59:00 The last week was hard for this little blog- still not indexed by Google and tormented by constant Blogger bugs.Even now the poor thing looks different, depending on the browser you use and it took me a couple of days and a million tries to get things look normal at least on the majority of browsers. But anyway- It's the beginning of a new week so I decided to put in a few lines, just to let my regular visitors (all two of them) know what I'm planning to review in the next couple of days.Expect to see reviews of the following titles: Battle for the White House - a crappy Gameloft game- something that's rare enough to review Panzer general mobile - Gameloft's the most underestimated title of last year The Witcher - Crimson trail- the mobile reincarnation of The Witcher Blades and magic - Read more:editorial
Midnight bowling 2 - Gameloft trying for a strike, gets bedpost 2008-03-28 04:16:00 First of all I've never played bowling (except on a mobile phone that is) so I obviously have no clue whether or not the game is representative for the emotions you feel while playing.Then again I believe those emotions should be different than frustration and boredom which is exactly what I felt playing Gameloft's latest creation."Why or why were you bored, you mighty game reviewer", you may ask. I'll tell you why.First of all I should say the game looks as good graphically as you'll expect from the Gameloft game. It has all the bells and whistles like pseudo 3D and such, which makes me think they're using again a modified Asphalt engine. Or not. I'm not really sure what they are using those days anymore. Whatever it is the game looks great.It has two basic problems however- stupidity an Read more:strike
Gothic 3: The beginning - the best mobile RPG ever? 2008-03-26 15:56:00 In one word: " Maybe"...OK, that might not sound very convincing but the game has some potential,even compared to last year's RPG terminator Might and Magic 2.The only place I find it really lacking is the graphics department- no visual feedback when changing weapon and armor and a very limited (and I mean VERY) amount of NPC models/avatars- you'll have to imagine you're speaking with a woman even though the picture beside the dialogue is definitely male. Either that or gay marriage have suddenly become very popular... The quick slots are not as "quick" as I hoped and it's highly unlikely to write home about the dialogs spoiled by the bad translation, but even all that considered the game is great. Gothic
3 mobile is slightly less linear, has a better story and better side quests (read "
Prince of Persia Classic - Gameloft's march back in time 2008-03-26 05:08:00 There are games and then there are GAMES. I know you have probably heard by now that Gameloft had made a mobile version of the undying PC classic Prince
of Persia
(and gave it the not so creative "Prince of Persia Classic
" title). That's right, boys and girls - the remake of the first part of the series and a mighty fine one if I might add. If you don't remember the 80's game on PC it's alright. In a way.Suffice to say this title not only revolutionized the gaming as we knew it back then but was one of the titles that CREATED IT. Now when you've geared up on essential knowledge- read the rest :)I won't get into great detail - you can read a thorough review on Pocket gamer and I don't really see why I should write a long review, when there is one I can easily agree with.However, I will te
Diamond Twister - just another deja-vu 2008-03-25 14:34:00 When I first saw Gameloft's Diamond twister I thought: "OK, I'm not writing a review on THAT". However I recently discovered that my colleagues at Pocket gamer have already done that, so I decided to take a look and write a few lines about it.The one thing that you won't see in their review is the fact that the game is a blatant remake of Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest - another Gameloft's bestseller from the last year. The new version has admittedly better graphics and a different story, although I'm still searching for someone who actually cares what the story behind your diamond matching activities is...Does this make it a bad game - hell no! It looks as good as it is humanly possible and has a nice casualness to it while it stays quite addictive for a long time. The only problem I can r Read more:Twister
Real Soccer 2008 - a severe identity crisis 2008-03-25 01:25:00 If you go to the site of the mobile game developer Gameloft you will see that one of their most heavily marketed games has a severe case of identity
crisis - in the menu the game is called Real Football 2008, while on the banner it proudly carries the alias Real Soccer
2008. Being born in a part of the world where soccer is indeed called football I have no problem with that, however this might not be the case for all the potential customers.But let's go to the review.The game is supposed to give you full 3D graphics (although depending on your handset you might end up with a 2D version), more than 200 unique teams, high quality digitalized sound and the opportunity to participate in the 2008 European Nations Cup with all the regular teams.What it really gives you is a fifa-esque experienc
Supermodel Empire - challenge the inner designer in you 2008-03-25 01:23:00 Ok, I'm a little behind schedule, but it's inevitable when you start something new. Supermodel empire is just too notable to leave it without review, even though it's not really a "new" game anymore.When I first heard of the game I expected it would be something like Nightclub Empire
and Rock City Empire , which were basically one single game with two different graphic sets. So I was surprised when the game actually happened to be something different.If I have to describe it in one sentence only than it's "Diamond quest meets Playboy the mansion (without the nudity)". If I have to add something to this description than I must add: The game looks nothing like the afore-mentioned...So what exactly is Supermodel empire then? It is a simple, yet Sim/Strategy type game, that gives you the chan
The beginning 2008-03-24 13:47:00 Every beginning is hard and here I am at a beginning - the beginning of this blog. As you can see the design and the content are still in a real early stage of development, so I guess I can call it my ALPHA blog. Hopefully we will go through BETA and there will be a GOLD version in a few months but felt eager to start as soon as possible so for the moment you're stuck with this lifeless white template personalized only by a few fast drawings proving my not so great artistic talents... The idea was to start the blog with the reviews of the newest games but I soon discovered this meant to leave behind some of the best titles created for mobile phones just because they were 3-6 months old. So I decided to put the line back in time somewhere around that moment and move up to more recent addit
Blades and magic- a clichéyed mobile RPG with some class 2008-04-08 10:13:00 The first thing you're going to notice when you play start Blades
and Magic is probably the graphic. The game developers proudly acclaim the use of the Abyss graphical engine, which quite honestly meant nothing to me. My only assumption when I heard about it was that the game will be 3D - and it happened to be correct. In fact I can say the game is by far the best looking 3D java game on a mobile phone. This being said I still believe that it would've looked better in plain old 2D, especially especially considering the jar size but hey 3D is always nice. Besides we already know it's the future of mobile gaming, right?Anyway. The game looks quite decent and sounds similarly well. The interface is great and I'm a little jealous I didn't come with it in some of the projects I've worked on. T Read more:class
No title 2008-04-11 08:46:00 Ok I will be brief with this. If you can have just one java application on your mobile it's probably Jimm. You might have heard about this nice little app but if you're still reading about it, chances are you haven't, so I'm gonna tell you what it is- it is a java instant messenger mobile or simply put ICQ on your mobile phone. So why would you want to have ICQ on your phone? I dunno. Maybe you've always wanted a smartphone, but you don't have it for some reason. Maybe you want a cheap messaging service or maybe you just love to chat with your pals. Whatever the reason Jimm is a nice ICQ client that uses your GPRS or UTMS connection (although I've tested only the GPRS). If you have a MIDP 2.0 phone (which is most phones out there nowadays) you get status icons, smileys, history, the
Warriors of Fate - arcade classic brought back to life on your mobile 2008-04-10 08:12:00 Breakpoint did it again - one of my favorite arcade classics hit mobile phone screen. The game in question is Capcom's Warriors
of fate and is the best beat 'em up game out there. Granted the game has lost some of the shine it had back in the old arcade days (you've got only 3 characters to chose from and a couple of levels less) but this is the best arcade to mobile ports I've ever seen. All the special moves are there and the pleasure of beating the crap out of the swarming enemy soldiers is comparable to the original. The graphics and sound are quite decent although they don't exactly shine. They are true to the original however and the gameplay although not too long timewise can bolster some replay value since it's so fun to beat down the enemy army one man at a t
Week #4 - schedule and display resolutions 2008-04-14 06:36:00 Those of you who have been with this blog for a while know that Mondays are traditionally the time for the so called Editorial and it is basically when I tell you what to expect during the week. So here it is: The Simpsons: Minutes to meltdown- a mobile game loosely based on my favorite TV series. God of war: Betrayal- the one and only reincarnation of Kratos on the mobile platform. Opera mini- THE Internet browser for your mobile phone. I also have a surprise review reserved for the end of the week . Or not. Now that we cleared this out I want to say a few words concerning games and screen resolution on a mobile phone. I've often read on mobile forums complaints like "How can you call this game beautiful- on my phone it looks nothing like the pictures" or "Why I don't have (
God of war: Betrayal 2008-04-18 04:18:00 With GoW: Chains of Olympus hitting PSP it's a good time to remember the one and sadly only God of war mobile game so far. Namely the God of war: Betrayal
- an action platformer game (somewhat similar to The witcher- Crimson trail) that saw the light of the day some time in the second half of the last year. The game had great graphics and sound and was visually as god of war-ly as possible - you had digital intestines and gushing blood all over the screen of your mobile. In fact the game mechanics worked so well that Gameloft obviously borrowed some of them (namely the finishing moves) in their so called hit Beowulf :) Cutting through a number of opponents and bosses can get a little tedious at times, but the action is intensive enough so that you don't feel real boredom. Besides,
The Simpsons: Minutes to meltdown - 30 minutes to disaster 2008-04-17 00:07:00 I love the Simpsons
. So when few months ago I saw that EA have a game with my favorite cartoon characters I couldn't skip the opportunity to play the game and review it. The hardest thing about it was objectivity - let's face it: every true fan will love the game just for the opportunity to play with Homer and hear his "Doh" a couple of times...So the story is simple - our all favorite idiot will have to stop an explosion at the nuclear powerplant he is working at and save all the little houses and people in virtual Springfield from total annihilation. The only problem is that Homer has to get to the powerplant first...The audio/visual level of the game is good - you won't see anything spectacular, but the characters are nice and true to the original... I really like the idea of the Read more:minutes
Week#5 2008-04-21 10:45:00 Editorial day. Again. Some of you, who are interested in mobile gaming have probably noticed by now I'm not reviewing every game out there and might be wandering why. There are two main reasons: The firs one is the game potential I see in a title. I try to read about and play as many games as possible, but some of them seem to lack something vital. Sometimes it's evident from the game title itself. Sometimes I have to see a screenshot or two, or play the game a little, but when I do I just know that this game is not worth any serious attention. Those are the games I usually don't review- I respect my free time too much to write about every misguided attempt at java gaming. The second best reason for a game to be skipped for a review is availability or to be precise - UNavailabilit
Opera mini- the best mobile browser out there 2008-04-20 12:26:00 Last week I've reviewed for you the best instant message app for your mobile phone. That's right- Jimm. This week I'm giving you a short review of the second best application in my opinion - Opera mini. All mobile phones have some form of rudimentary Internet browser
with functionality limited to the utmost necessities. To say it another way- the preinstalled browsers suck! So here comes the Opera mini - the near perfect reincarnation of the desktop Opera browser for your mobile. Why nearly perfect? Well, mostly because browsing on a 2" display and without a QWERTY keyboard sucks big time. The browser however is as good as possible . It has the ability to sync with your PC,view pages in landscape mode,and auto resize the Internet pages for your meager mobile screen which makes it not on
KO legends - the real Sci-fi boxing simulator? 2008-04-25 00:20:00 Do you remember the time you started doing something sure it's not worth it, and a few minutes into the process you thought you were wrong only to find out you WEREN'T wrong after all... This is how I felt with Gameloft's KO Legends(also known as KO fighters) When I started the game I was under impression it will be another audio/visually dominating but somewhat unoriginal game, because let's face it - Gameloft have a serious problem with original content these days. And I was right - the game has "borrowed" half of the content from one of the last Rocky games (I believe the name was Rocky Legacy). I was happy with it for a time though because the Gameloft game had some additional depth to the mechanics and the customization options almost made me feel like I'm playing something different Read more:boxing
Command and Conquer: Tiberium wars mobile - a Tower defender-ish experience 2008-04-26 01:43:00 When I heard there was a mobile game of the Command and Conquer series I was ready and willing to play. I mean it's C&C after all - how bad could it be? It turned out to be one of those not so rare moments when you get the answer of this unasked question and you don't like it.The graphics are far from spectacular. Not bad, but not really good either and the Sound gets from love to hate in about 2 minutes' time. And that's not a good thing, believe me :) And while I'm on the topic intro "cinematic" are far to long, considering the actual length of the gameplay - the mission briefing can be as lengthy as the mission itself.Now the gameplay is divided basically into two parts. The first - the "building phase" is when you build your base. This is turn-based in a way, since you're no Read more:Tiberium
, Tower
, experience
Week#6 2008-04-28 10:33:00 This time I will be very (and I mean VERY) brief. Expect to see reviews of Block Breaker Deluxe 2 and New York Nights 2. Also expect to finally see the first "quickies" I promised. That's It :)
The Spiderwick chronicles - and old school adventure game on your mobile 2008-04-27 10:56:00 First of all - I haven't watched the Spiderwick movie yet, and I don't know if I ever will - I'm a little out of the age group it's targeted at. So I'm going to tell you about the game as such, not as a work based on the movie.It seems that after point and click adventure games almost died out on PC, they've found a new life on mobile phones. After the BEAUTIFUL Leisure suit Larry: Love for sail game, that I probably won't get to review because it's almost an year old now, here comes Spiderwick. The game is an old school adventure where you can change between the three characters you control (Anyone remember Day of the tentacle? Probably not), combine items and do puzzles. It has a half decent graphics and sound (some elements are great but some are not even near it) and is basically aime Read more:chronicles
New York Nights 2: Friends For Life- another "buy me for the 5-th time" game 2008-05-04 11:59:00 I don't know about you, but the way I see things Gameloft is becoming more and more EA-like. They have a number of well selling titles and they do whatever they can to milk every penny out of it. The first New York
nights was a good game. It was THE sim game on a mobile (The Sims mobile is nowhere near this title IMO). Miami nights was even better- more options, bigger world etc... and from this moment everything went downhill more or less. The graphics kept evolving (and not always for good I must add) but the gameplay just froze in time and even started regressing. If you've played American Popstar: Road to Celebrity you knows what I mean- the game was so linear and prescripted that it was basically a movie. On top of that there were options in the menu, that were used only once Read more:Friends
Block breaker deluxe 2- the "not as good as it should have been" game 2008-05-04 11:38:00 A few weeks ago Gameloft pulled out the sequel of their best selling game Block breaker deluxe. I wanted to say many things about this game. I wanted to show you what this game could have been, to give you a inside look and a detailed description why exactly BBD2 is so great of a letdown for me. Sadly I can't, because two and a half years ago I've signed a confidentiality agreement that simply doesn't allow me to. So I won't tell you what this game could have been... I'll tell you what is wrong with it now, without comparing it with anything and sadly- without giving you any of the crispy chunks of inside info... Now on the review: If you look at other game sites you'll see very positive reviews everywhere. What you won't read is that the game has several major problems game
Week#7 2008-05-07 00:21:00 Hi guys.After trying and failing to launch the "quickie" category two weeks in a row I decided it will be the only thing to do this week. There might be however another, longer editorial near the end of the week. We'll see about that...
Orcs & Elves II - for your daily RPG fix 2008-05-10 00:44:00 Ok, this is the first "quickie"... Name:Orcs & Elves
II What is it: FPRPG (First person RPG) What looks good:Gameplay, fun story, some graphical elements What looks bad: The rest of he graphics, movement system Will I review if I can: No Comments: It could've been a great mobile RPG, but the sluggish movement system and ugly enemy movement/animation, seriously damage the fun factor
Week#8 2008-05-12 09:55:00 This will be a Quickie week again- I have difficulties finding anything deserving a full review. There are however a couple of promising titles, I've been thinking about lately so I might write something after all. I'm also thinking about one of those "How to" articles but I'll probably just lazy out of this one.
ASPHALT 3: STREET RULES- the next Gameloft attempt at Need for speed's crown 2008-05-10 23:26:00 Name: Asphalt3:Street rules (aka Asphalt3- N-Gage) What is it: Urban, arcade style racer, heavily influenced by the Need for speed series. Remake of Asphalt 3: Street Rules 3D with better visuals and some minor extras What looks good: Visuals What looks bad: Unoriginal Will I review if I can: No Comments: It is a great game if you like the Asphalt series and/or the NFS series on PC and it i Read more:attempt
Recommend Site To A Friend
