Nokia 6230 - the Game Reviews by nivz Trivial Pursuit – Mr Goodliving  The classic family board game can now be played on your mobile. Choose from either ‘classic’ or ‘time attack’ mode. Classic mode allows you to earn your 6 segments only from the segment squares. You must collect all 6 before returning to the centre square to answer your final question. In the new time attack mode you earn a segment for each correct answer but unlike classic mode there is a time limit to beat. In this mode you lose a life for each incorrect answer or for running out of time. The game can be played with up to 6 players on a turn based system. Once players names are entered the left soft key rolls the dice. You will then see the board where you can use the D-pad to choose the square you wish to move to. Pressing the centre D-pad button moves you to the currently selected square. Each coloured square represents a different question category. You must answer each question correctly to keep your turn going. Once you have moved to a square the question will be displayed. Pressing the left soft key takes you to the 3 possible answers. You can highlight the answer using up and down on the D-Pad and pressing centre D-pad to answer, or use keys 1, 2 and 3 to answer quickly. Pressing the right soft key while the answers are displayed will re-show the question. The graphics are nice and clear and are a good representation of the original board game. Sound effects are made when rolling, moving and answering questions and these do not distract you from the game play. There are plenty of questions included to stop the game becoming repetitive and as well as the ‘mobile’ edition there is also a ‘football edition’ for all football enthusiasts to pitch their knowledge of the beautiful game against. Graphics: «««««««««« Sound: «««««««««« Playability: ««««««««««
Arkanoid – Taito 
The grand daddy of bat and ball games makes it’s way onto the mobile, and is a faithful copy of the originall arcade game. You control the spaceship Vaus using the left and right D-Pad (or 4 for left, and 5 or 6 for right) to break the blocks and defeat the laceType w:st="on">fortlaceType> laceName w:st="on">SM-DOHlaceName>. You lose one of your 3 lives for every time you fail to deflect the ball, and the level is complete when all blocks are destroyed. Some blocks release colour coded power-ups which can enlarge your ship, add more balls, or allow your ship to shoot the blocks using centre D-pad or keys 2, 7 or 9. The pink power up allows you to warp to a higher level. The sound effects closely match the original game. From the familiar short jingle at the start of each level to the low echoed ping when then the ball bounces and the higher echoed ping when a block is broken. Graphics: «««««««««« Sound: «««««««««« Playability: ««««««««««
Bluetooth BiPlanes – Morpheme 
One of the few games you can play head to head with a friend on separate handsets via Bluetooth, or on your own against a computer opponent. Take control of your biplane and try to outmanoeuvre your opponent in a dogfight. You can choose to ‘Compete’ first to 10 points or ‘Practice’ indefinitely but either way this game will keep you hooked for a long time. The first time your plane is hit the engine will start to smoke, twice and it catches fire. A third shot destroys your plane and awards a point to your opponent. You gain points by destroying your opponents plane or shooting them when they eject, but if you crash your plane into the ground or the barn then a point is deducted from your score. The current score is displayed on a blimp at the top centre of the game area. Accelerate by pressing up on the D-pad or 2, decelerate by pressing down on the d-pad or 8. Use left D-pad or 4 and right D-pad or 6 to make your plane climb and dive. If you are hit once or twice you can eject from your damaged plane by pressing the * key. Once you have ejected from your plane press * again to open your parachute. You’ll then need to use left D-pad or 4 and right d-pad or 6 to move left and right to avoid being shot as you descend. Once you land run for the barn to get a new plane without losing a point. The graphics are nice, bright and colourful and the background is kept simple so you can focus clearly on controlling your plane. A cheerful melody sounds when on the games main menu and in game a trickle sound is made for the first and second hits on the plane and an explosion when a plane is destroyed. The game is very addictive as you try to beat your human or computer opponent and with lots of characters to unlock it ensures it will keep your interest. Graphics: «««««««««« Sound: «««««««««« Playability: ««««««««««
Die Hard – Mobile Scope / Dynamite Mobile  In a 20th Century Fox spin off from the original film you take the role of John McClean who must rescue hostages and diffuse bombs while making your way up the floors of the Nakatomi tower. Along the way you’ll be aided by Sgt Powell of the LAPD who’ll tell you what you need to do via walkie talkie. On the way you’ll have to search many lockers, cabinets and toilets as well as taking care of the bad guys who can also be searched for useful items such as key cards and ammo. You move John using the D-pad or number keys. Centre D-pad or 5 fires your gun, and when you’ve found grenades these can be thrown in front of you by pressing 0. You can aim these more carefully by pressing and holding 0 to bring up the crosshair and then pressing 5 to throw. This is useful for clearing any debris blocking your path. Whenever you see a yellow question mark you can search by walking over to it and pressing #. Pressing the right soft key brings up the status screen showing your main objectives, energy, and number of keycards held. You can view your secondary objectives by pressing * on this screen. The graphics are extremely good, even down to our hero’s trademark white vest, and the levels have a dark and edgy feel to them. A dramatic sounding opening tune plays on the main menu, but once in the game it’s sound effects only. Your gun makes a satisfying clicking noise and a bleep is played when you pick up an item. The levels are big enough to keep you busy and as you progress there are more bombs to diffuse and more hostages to rescue. The only noticeable omission is a in-game save. Unfortunately, you cannot save mid-level and with the large level sizes this would have been useful. As it is you always start from the beginning of the last completed level. The games best feature is the searching element which adds a much needed puzzle factor and ensures you keep coming back for more. Graphics: «««««««««« Sound: «««««««««« Playability: ««««««««««
Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins – Capcom / Living Mobile 
Another arcade classic for your mobile phone. You control Sir Arthur who must rescue the princess from the evil demon Hades. This side scrolling platform adventure is split into 3 levels, each divided into two parts. On top of defeating the enemies in each level you must also defeat a powerful boss at the end of each level before a final showdown with Hades. Sir Arthur’s suit of armour will protect him from one hit, but he will be reduced to his underwear, a second hit loses 1 of your 3 lives. You must eliminate the enemies by firing your lances at them. Some enemies carry pots containing weapon power-ups. These are very important as only one type of weapon can harm Hades. Sir Arthur can be controlled using the D-pad, but it is easier to use the numeric keys (especially for jumping obstacles). Pressing 4 moves left, 5 moves right and 2 or # will jump. You can press 8 to crouch and 5 to fire your current weapon. The graphics are very close to the original arcade version and are sure to bring back many nostalgic memories. The background music and level progress music when you lose a life have also converted well to the mobile version. The 3 levels are very tough, but still very addictive. A worthy retro experience for any mobile gamer. Graphics: «««««««««« Sound: «««««««««« Playability: ««««««««««
3D Pool – Distinctive Developments / dbi Games 
3D Pool is a very good pool simulator, in 3D as the mane suggests. The style of play is very similar to the PC game Virtual Pool. From the main menu you can choose one of four game modes. These are 1 player, 2 player, trick shot or practice. In 1 player mode there are 8 computer opponents to beat, each with increasing levels of difficulty and you must beat each opponent to unlock the next. 2 player mode allows you to play a friend in a turn based system. No Bluetooth or InfraRed mode has been included unfortunately. In trick shot mode you are set different tasks such as potting one colour of balls without fouling in a certain number of shots. In practice mode you can break and are then free to pot any ball you wish. Practice mode ends when you pot the black ball. Game control is very simple. Left and right (or 4 and 6) rotate the 3D view. Up (or 2) elevates the view, and pressing up (or 2) again shows a top down 2D view of the table. You can lower the view by pressing down (or 8). The left soft key (or 5) allows you to play starts the shot straight ahead of the current view. Firstly you will have to select the spin you wish by using the D-pad or numeric keys and pressing the left soft key (or 5) to confirm. Next the power screen appears where you press left soft key (or 5) to start the cue moving back and then left soft key (or 5) a final time when the cue has reached the desired power level. Overall this is a very good pool simulation. The 3D engine is very quick and definitely gives it the edge over it’s 2D counterparts in the graphics department. Sounds are limited to beeps when you select menu options, and beeps when the cue strikes the white ball and when a ball is potted. The computer opponents are a little easy at first but they soon become more competent. The game is good fun to play and with each game being different you shouldn’t get bored too quickly. Graphics: «««««««««« Sound: «««««««««« Playability: ««««««««««
MafiaWars – Sumea  In this isometric adventure you take control of Joe who is keen to advance up the mafia ranks and protect the family name. In story mode you must take on 7 jobs, starting with whacking a bartender who won’t pay his share of the family bill. Along the way you’ll also be helped by Alfredo who has the word on the street. The game also features a ‘last man standing’ mode you have to shoot as many enemies as possible before they shoot you – ideal for practicing or for a quick game if you don’t have time to take on a mission. The game controls are easy to use and are introduced to you interactively during the first level. You can use the D-pad to move around, but being isometric it’s easier to use keys 1, 3, 7 and 9 to move you diagonally along the same path as the streets. Keys 2, 4, 6 and 8 will move you in a straight line across the screen. Pressing 5 (or centre D-pad) draws your gun and pressing 5 (or centre D-pad) again shoots, which you’ll need to do plenty of. Pressing 0 hides your gun in case you run into any cops. Pressing # brings up a map which shows your current location as a green X and enemies as a red dot. The graphics are very good and do exactly what they need to. A beeping sound is made when you shoot your gun, and when text is displayed for interaction. Lower beeps are used when you destroy crates and cars. It’s obvious that a lot of thought has gone into this game. This is apparent in the way that the external walls of buildings disappear when you enter them making it easy for you to see what you’re doing inside. Bad guys are easilyidentifiable by their brown suits and you earn more respect for shooting them and their vehicles. Shooting civilians is frowned upon and will cause the cops to shoot at you. This is a very well made game with enough levels to keep most gamers busy and with last man standing mode the game should remain very re-playable. Graphics: «««««««««« Sound: «««««««««« Playability: ««««««««««
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Macrospace  Put yourself in the hotseat to win a virtual one million pounds. Just like on TV you must answer 15 general knowledge questions and in this mobile version you’ll also score points for answering questions quickly. Most people will be familiar with the three life lines that are there to help, but for the uninitiated they are, from left to right: 50:50 Removes two wrong answers and leaves the right answer and one wrong answer. Phone A Friend Unfortunately you can’t really phone a friend, but instead the CPU aids you after ‘Ringing’ and ‘Thinking’. Ask The Audience Again there isn’t really an audience but instead the CPU provides you with a graph of how the virtual audience have voted. As Celador has licensed the game the graphics are identical to the style of those used on TV. The only real difference is that the answers have been stacked in one column instead of two but this is due to the screen size and to make answer selection easier. To highlight the answer you use up and down on the D-pad (or 2 and 8). To give an answer you press centre D-pad, left soft key (or 5). You will periodically be asked ‘Are you sure’ when you answer again mimicking the TV show. The sounds have also been very well reproduced on the mobile. The tension building background music is there as well as the shows jingle when you reach the 1000 or 32000 milestones. Although the fastest finger first part of the show isn’t there the music has been included and plays when you pause the game by pressing the right soft key. It’s from this pause screen that you can choose to ‘Take The Money’ should the questions get too hard. Macrospace have done a wonderful conversion of this well known TV quiz and there are plenty of questions to keep gamers occupied and ensure re-playability. Graphics: «««««««««« Sound: «««««««««« Playability: ««««««««««
VNes – Vampent  vNes from Vampent isn’t really a game, it’s actually a 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for your mobile phone. Available to try freely in ‘network’ or ‘no-network’ varieties from www.vampent.com. The network version allows you to download game ROM’s to play via GPRS wheras the with the no-network version you must add your game ROM’s yourself. The emulator is capable of handling multiple ROM’s inside it’s vnes.jar file but there can be problems if the file size gets too big. Checkout their online forum for more help. We’ve tested the ‘no-network’ version as most people will want to avoid the cost of downloading via GPRS. Once you’ve added the ROM you wish to play, uploaded to your phone and opened it you’ll be presented with the splash screen. Pressing any key brings and selecting ‘Play’ brings up a list of available games. Highlight the game you wish to play and press select to start the emulation, which will be in window mode by default. Pressing the left soft key brings up the following Options: Keymap - Here you can redefine the game control keys for the emulator. Save - Saves the current game state to a save slot Load - Loads a saved game slot Reset - Restarts the current game emulation. Return - Return to the emulator Pressing the centre D-pad brings up the following game settings: Display - Choose between Window or Fullscreen display. (You can switch between the two at any time by pressing and holding *) Constrain Proportion - When set to Yes it forces the games original aspect ratio Dimension - Sets the percentage of the screen to use for the display Rotate Screen - When set to Yes rotates the display 90 degrees left. Speed - Sets the emulation speed. 5 is default, 1 is slowest. Optimize Output - Selects the best output method for the resized screen Video Hue - Sets the brightness Video Tint - Sets the contrast Show FPS - Shows the Frames Per Second rate in the top left of the screen. The default control keys are 2 for up, 8 for down, 4 for left, 6 for right. Press 1 for A, 3 for B, 0 for select and 5 for start. You can change the Keymap to use the D-pad if you wish. We tested Super Mario Bros, Spy Hunter, Galaxian and The Legend Of Zelda and all were quite playable. Some games would not load as their ROM images were too big for the 6230 memory. The free versions of vNes are time limited but for £5.53 ($9.90) you can purchase an activation code from Vampent’s website that you enter on the phone to unlock the full version. Graphics in each game were still recognisable even when reduced to the 128x128 screen. No sound emulation has been included probably to save on file size. Still Vampent must be congratulated for creating a java NES emulator in 52kb that can play a large majority of NES games. Graphics: «««««««««« Sound: «««««««««« (N/A) Playability: ««««««««««
The Flintstones Bedrock Bowling – Macrospace / Cartoon Network 
Here’s your chance to become Bedrock Bowling champion as you take on Fred, Wilma, Pebbles, Betty, Barney, Bamm-Bamm, Mr Slate and Gazoo. The first four characters are instantly available but the last four have to be unlocked. As soon as the game loads you are treated to the familiar sound of The Flintstones theme tune. Pressing any key brings up the main menu where you can select either ‘Quickplay’ or ‘Tournament mode’. In Quickplay you can practice on your own, play against a friend turn based, or against a CPU opponent. In Tournament mode you must defeat each opponent to advance to the next level and gain your ultimate prize. Once you’ve picked a game mode you’ll be looking down the bowling lane. Firstly you have to position your ball using left D-pad (or 4) and right D-pad (or 6). Centre D-pad (or 5) places the ball and starts the direction indicator which sweeps left and right. Press centre D-Pad (or 5) again to choose the bowl direction. Next the power indicator will increase and decrease. Press centre D-pad (or 5) to select the power you wish, but beware – the more power you use the less spin you will be able to use. The final spin control allows you to choose which way to the ball will curve and is amusingly represented by a running prehistoric bird in the lower left corner of the screen. Again, press centre D-pad (or 5) to select and your desired spin ball will start travelling towards the pins. When the ball gets nearer to the pins the view switches to a top down view so you can see which pins are knocked over. The graphics have a bright cartoon feel to them as you might expect for a game endorsed by the Cartoon Network. Sound effects are made when selecting menu options, when the ball starts rolling, and when it strikes the pins. You also get a small jingle for making a strike or spare. This is definitely one of the most enjoyable bowling games available and the controls are very easy to pick up. The tournament mode and extra characters to unlock means you’ll be kept interested for plenty of frames. Graphics: «««««««««« Sound: «««« |