Assassin’s Creed for the consoles was one of the best looking games in the current generation of consoles. Making a mobile version of the acclaimed game is no mean task, since it carries the expectations of the gamers who want the game to be as good on the small screen as it did on their consoles.
The challenge was tough, but Gameloft, the makers of wonderful games like Asphalt, have made sure that mobile gamers can get a peice of Altair as well, without much compromise to the graphics and gameplay.
Assassin’s Creed HD is the best port of a console super hit game to mobile that I have seen in a long time. The game puts you in the shoes of Altair and gives you no less the experience than the console version. In fact, I found the mobile game to be more fun and enjoyable (am a mobile gamer first, after all!) than the big brother, mainly due to its simple and intuitive gameplay, designed perfectly for playing on the mobile. What I loved most about the game was that the actions of Altair- the jumping, creeping up the walls, etc. - have been retained and since these are the most awe inspiring aspects of the game, it is good to see them in the mobile version too.
The game shows how capable mobile games can really be and was a huge treat for Assassin’s Creed fans and mobile gamers. This is no doubt, the Symbian game of 2008!
Spore, the revolutionary game from EA, has been rocking the gaming world. It’s no wonder then that Spore would emerge as the best mobile game of the year 2008.
The game is all about creating your own species, making it evolve and finally reaching the top of the food chain as the ultimate predator. In other words, the gamer plays god and may be it is this aspect of the game that has made Spore so popular ( we humans love to play god, don’t we?)
The mobile version of Spore succeeds because it includes just the right aspects of the Spore game for PC, thereby making sure that the game is enjoyable and playable on a mobile. Spore for mobile is a 2D game and is in no way inferior to the full blown 3D version. The game also concentrates only on a fraction of the PC version - the cellular levels. The creature creator is limited as well, but still allows for some level of customization. The basics of customizing our creations, like adding scales, teeth, antennas, etc and changing the size and shape have been reatained and are enough for hours of pure fun on a mobile.
Bottomline is that Spore Mobile is a 2D shooter that allows you great scope for customization- limited, but still great fun on a mobile. Spore is the Game of the Year, without an iota of doubt!
Gameloft, the developer of many wonderful mobile games ( and now across various platforms including the Xbox), have created another racing game that is sure to keep your racing adrenaline on a high.
If any mobile gamer was asked the question of the best racing game on mobile, the answer would be Asphalt, another game from Gameloft. Asphalt has always been my personal number one when it comes to mobile games. Now, Gameloft has introduced competition to its own game in the form of Ferrari Evolution GT HD.
The game makes it possible for those of us out there wishing to own and ride a Ferrari . This reason alone is enough to make you play this game. But this is a Gameloft game after all and it offers you the amazing graphics, detail and ease of play that Gameloft is known for.
The game moves across various locations ( including Italy, of course) and recreates the vibrancy present in each of those locations as true to the real world as possible. The tracks are wonderfully designed and seeing “your” Ferrari make the turns and drift its way to the finish line is priceless! The various racing modes like Career, Arcade are well designed to keep the enthusiasts entertained. The game itself is easy to learn, but hard to master, as the old gaming adage goes. The controls are very responsive, as in Asphalt.
The competition for Asphalt has arrived (at last!) in the form of a sibling!
Crash Nitro Kart has always been a favorite in the mobile gaming arena. But the version released for the previous N-gage was a complete flop.
Now the “Bandicoot” version has been released for the all new N-gage and going by the response that the game got on the iPhone, one can expect the game to deliver on the N-gage as well.
The game stays true to its legacy. You have to race across various tracks and use the ammos and weapons you pick up on the tracks to obstruct your enemies. Racing and shooting. That’s what made Crash Nitro Kart enjoyable. The skidding, sliding, jumping, shooting action has been carried over to the N-gage as well.
The visuals of the game are pretty good, eventhough not as good as other N-gage titles like MGS. But the graphics capabilities of the N-gage are clearly shown in the game and I would say that this is the best version of Crash on a portable platform. The controls are responsive and gameplay is like what its always used to be. There are 12 tracks and various racing modes to keep us occupied for long.
The version for the previous N-gage might have been a bummer, but this latest release more than makes up for it.
Every video gamer must have played the classic Tanks at one time or the other. There have been many mobile versions as well. Whether the developers are running out of new ideas or they just want to bring back an old favorite, Tanks is back. And this time, it comes with multiplayer support, allowing eight of you to battle it out over bluetooth.
Called Wireless Tanks, the game is a clone of the original and does not have anything new to offer in the single player front. You have a tank that turns in 90 degree increments and shoots missiles at enemy tanks while facing them. That part of the game has not changed. It’s the sheer simplicity that made the game popular and that maybe the reason the developers didnt go in for any change. This verion has features like calling for reinforcements from your allies and has missions like protecting convoys, but the breath of the game is still the same.
Coming to multiplayer, much effort has been made by the developers to make sure that the game justifies its name. Up to eight players can battle it out for glory, on one map, through bluetooth connectivity. Setting up the multiplayer network was seamless and didnt have the frustrations associated with many such games. Shooting missiles at your friend’s tanks is absolute fun! If you belong to the breed of “netwoking” gamers, this game may be the right choice for you.
The game makes a mark for its multiplayer features and you would be better off not playing the single player levels. If you play games alone, better give the game a miss!
Ever played the Line Rider flash game? It is not a game in the original sense of the world, but if games are entertainment, then this one sure is a game providing tons of entertainment. The game has come to mobile ( inevitable, considering its popularity) and has managed to keep the gamers hooked to it.
The game provides you with a tool set to create a landscape that will enable a man on a sledge to travel. The games uses real world physics so there is every chance that a faulty landscape feature from you will cause the man to fall off. This makes for an excellent way to spend your free times -designing tracks and see how your “sledgeman” performs. The more daredevil acts you make your sledgeman perform without falling off, the better it gets!
The problem with mobile version is that the mobile controls dont allow for the flexibility needed in creating the track. The flash version was known for its ease of use. But In-Fusio, the developer, has made sure that the game stays true to the original and has made the landscape sculpting process as easy as possible. Creating the tracks takes more time, but atleast you can recreate what you had in mind. Kudos to the developer for that! The “auto curve” feature helps you to make the curves easily, considering the limits that the mobile keys impose.
The game is completely like the original and has been very well designed for mobile gaming. A must for any Line Rider fan and others alike.
What with the arrival of N-gage 2.0 , Android, iPhone and of course the ever present Symbian games, the good old Java games seemed to be on a deathbed. Am not talking about Java’s survival in phones that support Java games alone. Am talking about Java’s relevance in phones that can also support other other game type - like the Symbian phones and thir native games.
Java games always seemed crappy, slow loading, memory hogging games in Symbian phones and were nothing when compared to the native Symbian games (those that come in a .sis package). Recently though, Java mobile games have been staging a fight back. Som J2me games are being noticed and are showing that Java is here to stay, atleast for another 3 to 5 years.
One such game is Furiae. It’s a RPG title for mobiles and you have to actually know that it’s a java game to realize that you are playing one. Very different from other Java games in graphics as well as gameplay. Furiae shows the potential the java platform still has and makes one realize that developers arent doing much to take java games to a new level.
Another is Rally Master Pro. An excellent 3D game that shows Java in its full splendour and glory. If RMP can be so beautiful, there is no reason that other games cant be so.
Java games are again being noticed, in a very competitive scenario. It’s time for the developers to take the initiative and make sure that Java lives!
EA has introduced an intriguing concept called Console Boost, through which gamers can improve their stats on the console version of a game by playing the mobile version.
Tiger Woods 09 is one such game to have the Console Boost. Get both the console and mobile versions , and by playing on the mobile you can actually improve your rating on the console side. The console features works in both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 versions.
It basically works by storing your mobile performance in your EA account and by linking the account to your console and thus applying the CONSOLE BOOST, the skill level increases in the console version. Of course, some kind of translation formula will be applied while translating from mobile performance to console performance.
I dont actually see the utility of the feature, except some marketing gimmick on the part of EA. Playing a MMORPG game on your console and with your mobile, both reflecting the performance in the other, is a neat concept. But what do I get by playing golf ( of all games!) on my mobile and see the achievements on console? Even if EA extends CONSOLE BOOST to other games, I wouldnt be interested. And hey, one has to buy both the console and the mobile versions? Get real EA!
My first FPS was Wolfenstein 3D. It was launched way back in 1992( for MS-DOS! ) and I played it for the first time in 1997 when I got my first PC. But I can still remember the moments of the game and am sure anyone who has played Wolf 3D, as it was more popularly called, would have nostalgic feelings when they hear the name. It is perhaps THE game that showed the way to modern FPS games. The game has such a rich legacy and any true gamer would want the legacy to continue in his mobile.
The game was ported to Symbian and I played the game with as much enthusiasm as I did in 1997. Now, a new original has been released for mobiles. Dubbed Wolfenstein RPG, it is a turn based game. As a Wolf fan I was shocked when I first learned that the game would not be FPS and was rather skeptical.
However, I soon realized that my suspicions are rather misplaced. Yeah, Wolf is supposed to be played in first person, but there is something novel about enjoyong Wolf in a turn based environment and Id, the developers, have promised that the experience would be wonderwolf indeed.
Thankfully, Wolfenstein RPG will have a story consistent with previous versions and will not make us, the fans, lost at sea. Let’s start kicking some Nazi behind.
Am just talking about the game here. The fifth installment in the Call of Duty series, COD: World at War, was released in all major platforms, including for mobiles ( otherwise I wouldnt be talking about it, would I?).
When Call of Duty 3 was released for consoles and PC we were in awe of the game. The first two installments were great for playing, but the third one completely redefined what a Call of Duty game meant by enhancing the graphics and gameplay to previously unimaginable levels.
Then came COD4, of course, and there was little improvement, if any, and everything had a nostalgic touch. Gamers started realising that the COD has reached its pinnacle with COD3 and games can only get worse or remain stagnant. That means we dont want to have another game that is so similar to the two previous ones, with no promise of some radical change.
As inevitable as it is, World at War is here and like I said, COD has become stagnant. To be fair, COD5 is a pretty good game and I would have definitely like it and loved it if it had been the first game in the series. A fifth installment and moreover very little changes since the third one means its got deja vu written all over it.