This weekend I finally managed to see Tron Legacy in 2D (sorry, but the 3D hurts my eyes and I’m Scottish so why would I spend more money to watch something that causes me pain?). Anyway, as the film opens, Sam Flynn is pimping the Nokia N8 as a virus-uploading magic door-opening tool. That’s product placement for you (all Psion managed was the Series 3a as the bomb timer in Executive Decision). To go along with all the advertising, Nokia has rolled out a bundle of Tron goodies on the Ovi Store, and one of them caught my eye: Tron Tanks.
Licensed by Nokia, initially just for its N8 flagship, RealGolf 2011 HD would have been well worth snapping up even if not already free. Though not perfect (putting is fiddly, too much help in shot power, and loading screens are slow), it's still one of the best phone or handheld-based golf games I've ever played and, as you might expect, I've taken great delight in playing through it in considerable detail below, while writing my review, here on AAS and Ovi Gaming.
If there is one game that squawks “Mobile gaming is a big thing” then it’s Angry Birds. First available for iOS devices, it made its way to Symbian^3 before heading to Android devices, cuddly toys, sketches in Israeli topical comedy shows, and looks set to break into the home consoles during 2011. It’s no surprise that when Nokia wanted to make a visual statement at Nokia World that they 'got' gaming, they called The Birds onto the stage. Here's our look at the festive "bonus" edition of the title.
Air Hockey might not be the first thing you think of when someone suggests a fast paced physics-based video game running on your phone. However, that's just what you get with Air Hockey Touch. Available for S60 5th Edition and Symbian^3 on the Ovi Store, either for £3 or in an ad-supported free version. I review this game to see how well it reproduces the real world experience of playing air hockey, all apart from the whoosh of air, of course!
Anyone spotting the name Polarbit know to expect great graphics, coupled with an absorbing game, and I’m glad to say that Iron Sight HD continues that trend. This artillery-based game is not without the occasional quirk, and has a steep learning curve, but for those gamers who stick with it and learn the game, it’s very rewarding. As I've found out.
So part of me is thinking that this game is little more than a branding exercise for Barclaycard. And that part of me is one hundred percent right. With the strong visuals in their current UK TV commercials of a roller coaster winding around New York (and the passenger reaching out for some contactless card payments), this game sees you: a) in a roller coaster 'winding around New York' and b) reaching out to grab power-ups and points. There are subtle but obviously references and images of Barclaycard, but the rest of my brain is screaming “this is a really good mobile game!”
Offscreen are developers with a certain reputation for their single screen applications with very narrow functionality, but while that may have been the case at the start of their run of releases, they do deserve a second look. And while looking for some nice card games for the latest Symbian powered devices, I came across their version of Freecell. It’s still as close to a single screen application as it could be, but now there’s a menu screen and a game screen. And a lot of gameplay.
Tetris and electronic gaming go hand in hand, of course. Over the years there have been hundreds of versions on a dozen platforms, not least my own Atomic on Psion and the Nokia Communicator (ah, the memories...) There have been quite a few versions for S60 and then N-Gage too, but we now have something of a next-generation winner in Tetris HD, an official - though commercial - adaptation from Electronic Arts. With traditional and 'souped up' modes, it's a class act from start to finish.
It's been too long since we last had a go on a tower defence game for Symbian. So stepping up to fill the gap is Robodef from DaSuppaStudios. To those familiar with tower defence games, Robodef is a standard romp. And if you like to have a dose of Mecha in your video games then look no further. Robodef is available on the Ovi Store for S60 5th Edition and Symbian^3, there's a free trial and the full game is only £1.50. Read on to see my verdict.
Sum Link XXL is one of those games that happily sits on your phone, never drawing attention to itself, with no massive 3D graphics to act as a demo, nor catchy music or presentation to make it into a “cute” experience. But it will continue to sit on my phone and called up when I need a little hit of gaming – because Sum Link has a little sprinkle of the magic ingredient every game needs – addictiveness. Here's my review!
