Slyder  ::  Acky's XP Breakout  ::  News  ::  Thought of the Week

Slyder

Many years ago I had one of those steel ball maze games (actually, I think I still have it somewhere). It consisted of a steel ball that sat on top a maze made out of wood. You'd move the ball by turning knobs that rotated the maze on its X and Y axes and rely on gravity to do the actual moving around while avoiding holes. I mention it because that's (kinda sorta) the premise behind Slyder. The main difference is that Slyder doesn't confine itself to the bounds of reality, has two game modes (puzzle mode and the more straightforward tilt-a-thon) and tons of gimmicks, like characters (Boffo is your friend and Unger is your enemy), items that affect how Slyder moves around the puzzle (bubble gum, vats, etc), and a few other surprises. Another thing that makes Slyder neat is that it's very well presented, with seamless animation and nice visuals that give it a bit of "bounce" that a lot of the more cerebral puzzle games seem to lack. Audio is also top-notch, giving the game a carnival atmosphere. The full version of the game offers 120 levels in puzzle mode and 25 in tilt-a-thon, and while some are a bit too easy, overall the game is challenging and probably worth its fairly steep price tag of $19.95.

Acky's XP Breakout

This game has to be the most developed breakout clone I've ever seen, and I've played more than my share of breakout clones. For starters, the game runs in landscape mode and has a sophisticated graphics engine with 80 different brick types, morphing, particle effects, multiple layers of parallax scrolling (the background consists of scrolling stars and nebulas), and as you may have heard, a high resolution mode if you've got the hardware to handle it.

It doesn't just look flashy, though. XPB has 150 levels with powerups (both positive and negative), point bonuses, gems (which boost your weapons, if you have any), super powers, trophies, a unique system that has you collect red and blue ether power-ups to generate balls, and point bonuses for performing certain actions (like hitting ten bricks in a row without using the paddle). The developer is also promising free level expansion packs in the future, and the game comes with a level editor. You also get a 30 minute soundtrack in the full version (which is quite good) and some very crisp sound effects. Even at the lower sampling rates, they sound quite good.

Needless to say, there's an awful lot to the game—almost too much. I'm pleased to say that the game plays very well. The main problem that most games in this genre seem to have is that the paddle control just doesn't feel right—it's either too jerky or too slow to keep up with the screen. Fortunately, XPB seems to get this aspect of the game just right, and the paddle is a pleasure to use. The only caveat is that since the game runs in landscape mode, you have a lot more space to cover. However, in the levels I played, this didn't seem to be an issue.

Right now, the only other breakout game at this level of quality is Bust 'Em 2, which suffers from the fatal flaw of having too many power-ups available to the player. Watching a video of the game, I was afraid that it would suffer from the same flaw, but at least in the earlier levels, I haven't noticed the problem. XP Breakout attempts to be the definitive breakout game for the Pocket PC. Unless there are any major flaws in the game (and I haven't noticed any yet), it'll probably succeed simply because nothing else out there approaches its level of sophistication in terms of both presentation and game play. Well done.

News – Free Stuff

PocketBlasters.com has done something really cool and decided to give away all their titles for free. Galactic Assault, Invaders Turbo Edition, and Teddies Revenge (sp) are all now available for free download on the company's Web site. I refuse to touch Teddies Revenge (bleh), but I can attest that Galactic Assault and Invaders Turbo Edition are good games, if not the most original titles I've seen. So go grab 'em. If you have the nerve to download Teddies Revenge, let me know how it is.

Thought of the Week

What would be neat is if those of us who review Pocket PC games, both professionally (yah, right!) and for grins, could develop and agree upon a standardized ranking system for reviews based on agreed-upon criteria. With standardized criteria, reviewers would have to think more about giving a score, which would remove some of the arbitrary and subjective nature of some of the ratings systems that people have come up with on their own. That way, it would be far less confusing to the end user when comparing different reviews of the same product. Developers would also have a better idea of what reviewers thought of their product. Also, someone (Handango?) could come up with a centralized review database with a list of all the current games and their average review score. For games that do well, a high average review score would be a good marketing tool, since it would represent the consensus of the reviewing community.

Allen Gall’s The Week in Games is a free service of POCKET PC magazine and POCKET PC magazine ONLINE: in-depth articles, tips, an Encyclopedia of Software and Accessories, and links to the best Windows Mobile PDA and Smartphone Web sites

This Newsletter is published by Thaddeus Computing, Inc., 110 North Court Street, Fairfield, IA 52556.

Allen Gall’s The Week in Games  Copyright © 2004 by Thaddeus Computing Inc.

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