Bruce Lee brings his kung fu styles mobile

Indiagames is a solid developer and has brought such games as Predator and Buffy to the market. With its contributions to the kung fu mobile game scene, Bruce Lee is not their most stellar but it still holds it own.

Bruce Lee has both action and adventure. You'll play the game as Bruce Lee himself, getting revenge on the Oolong clan, who has killed Lee's master. You have lots of moves to choose from when delivering your kicks and punches. Not only does Lee have his limbs to attack with , so too does he have weapons – the bo staff and nunchaku are available to him.

Lees moves aren't that difficult or complex, which might not go down well with action fans. The combos are not there but perhaps this game was designed for more part time kung fu fans. It would have been a slightly more exciting game with some supermoves but remember, this is a mobile phone game we're talking about and it's not always possible to get all fancy with the handset hardware provided.

Indiagames has done a mediocre job with the movies' greatest kung fu hero. The platforming is very basic- jumping and climbing – and they don't have a lot of exciting features to them. Bruce Lee isn't necessarily an awful game, it's simply not the best Indiagames has produced.

It's certainly an eye catching game. Lee is not that easy to recognize the face but there's enough there to let you know who it is. He's skinny and his kicks are token Bruce Lee. His enemies are not that different, which is a fault but the levels make up for it by being coherent. The music is not great but Lee's scream is top notch.

LAST WORD

What you get is what you see with this game – run of the mill action adventure phone game. It's unfortunate as Indiagames has done better in the past. If you're a fan of Bruce Lee, you'll likely enjoy it. But if you're looking for the usual innovation by Indiagames, turn away because you won't find it here.

Permalink: July 08, 2008

The new Spider Man 3 is out but not sure what's actually new

The third chapter has arrived and Peter Parker has more than just fighting outside evils to contend with – he has to look within. Dealing with his own demons, the game looks to be an interesting experience in superhero introspective but after trying it, we're just not sure.

If you haven't seen the movie, you won't be disappointed by spoilers – games and fans know the score and formula with this game plus mobile games don't success or fail on story element. Javaground, the developer, may not have been able to give away too much about the movie but they could have skipped it and gone straight to the action.

The Spider Man 3 game gives you unlimited web shooting capabilities. Oh the places you can go – up numbers levels, rooftops and all or even surprise the bad guys from above. The developer has hit it on the mark with lots of open-air situations allowing you to use the web feature often.

The combat feature is fairly straightforward. Coming near a bad guy, you hit the OK button and he's pummelled a couple of times. If you hit him long enough, you can do a combo move. Grab the bad guy with your webstring next and either send him flying or smack him into a crate.

Spider Man learns new moves – Spider Stomp for one – as he goes along in the game. The moves, however aren't really a necessity to get to the finish line. You can do that on your own with fairly basic moves.

You'll go thorough a few stages in the good read and blue and then BAM it's time for the black suit. Suddenly, the game switches and it's all about getting to his enemies and his environment. The plot is not entirely explained so you'll just have to go with the flow. The black suit gives you a stronger Spider Man but since he's also playing for thugs, they beef up too.

The game does have the appearance of Harry Osborn as the second edition of the Green Goblin. Sandman and Venom appear as well to take Spider Man on in the game. And it's not just about the fights – some game levels include you saving people.

Sadly, the game is basically the same as any other side scroller. Approach bad guy, punch him up and then onto the next level. You can also go back to stages but they're just not even interesting enough to try again.

The visuals aren't the best – colors are mixed around – but the details is a good effort. Sound will impress you – the music an defects are pretty good.

LAST WORD

Dare we say just another promo game for a movie? Hate to point it out but that's what it feels like. The webslinging is certainly fun but that seems to be all there is. I couldn't recommend a download.

Permalink: June 24, 2008

A good second to Madden

Gameloft is approaching a scrimmage line with EA and doesn't look as though they're getting sacked - yet. With their latest mobile release, Reggie Bush Pro Football 2008, they have actually put together a pretty good competitor towards the video game football king Madden. With no NFL rights, the teams names are made up but everything else plays the way it should.

Unfortunately, Reggie Bush Pro Football 2008 doesn't seem like much of a step up from previous versions and with EA stepping up its game, Gameloft's latest released is coming up a bit short.

EA has managed to make multiple button pushing function a thing of the past while Gameloft has made the passing and receiving controls difficult to manage. This leads to frustration as your trying to hit two different buttons in two different spots – running out of time.

It certainly has improved upon the 2007 Reggie edition. Every team has their own playbook. A very good feature to have especially if the game ever goes multiplayer. Although this feature doesn't do much if you're playing against computer controlled players. The tackle zones help to stop the ball – this is a good new feature. It's easy to tacked – hit OK as the player enters the zone. You may not always get the hits but it helps with your precision, precision begin a difficult task on a mobile phone.

Even with the new stuff, it still doesn't feel as though its grown from last year. The playbook is better but the animations haven't really changed. Information come across clearer while in play but these are things that should be part of a mobile game sequel.

The biggest part? Well, games are meant to be fun and for me? More fun is Madden. Multiple button pushing in Reggie's makes it awkward. Plus not having a full league license is a bit off putting as well. One major thing – the pacing of the game was awkward. Players would speed up and slow down randomly. It was like I wasn't in the driver's seat.

LAST WORD

Reggie Bush Pro Football 2008 is an okay game but not the player of the year by any means. Playbook features are enticing but the double-button pushing is hard to take, especially after playing Madden. It's hard to be the master of video game football and I'm just not sure Reggie has done it.

Permalink: June 5, 2008

Pac-Man Pinball falls flat

Pac-Man as a pinball game sounds interesting. The Pac-Man Pinball mobile game is not that. Namco, the developer, has taken the easy road and simply plonked a Pac-Man interface onto a two screen pinball table game hoping the Pac-Man name alone will carry it as a mobile game.

In video pinball games, you need good physics model and Pac-Man Pinball just doesn't have it. What you punch in on the phone does not translate properly to the game. The ball is haphazard and goes where it wants to. The second board flip movements have no speed. That leaves you feeling a bit like you didn't put enough power behind your shots.

It's not worth it, unfortunately. Pac-Man Pinball for the mobile might look nice with all the old Pac-Man ghosts and fruit favourites. But it's far too frustrating to enjoy.

LAST WORD

Don't get it for your phone. This mobile game is not worth it. A better phone game would be InfoSpace's Ms Pac-Man for Prizes. Pac-Man Pinball will fall flat as a phone game, whether you're a Pac-Man fan or not.

Permalink: May 14, 2008

Not much of a successful mission

Think arcade game? Think Space Invaders. And now, Space Invaders Pinball has come to yoru mobile. Taito the developer has been true to the original game. The visuals are very similar. From a first glance, you get a game that is fairly good.

Sadly, pinball is a different game to transfer from arcade to video screen to phone. The physics of a ball pinging around a table is hard to transfer to the screen .Space Invaders Pinball has the tendency to feel as if you have not control, like a game of chance, more than strategy.

There are two boards in this game. The Space Invaders theme works with the use of a cannon instead of plunger and the UFO as the target for the ball. You can make your board easier for the ball by gaining barriers that would prevent it from going down the shafts. If you hit one of the three yellow arrows at the top of the screen, you'll gain more power.

The second screen involves a giant alien and you're abliil9ty to flip the ball into the weaker spot to beat it.

There's lots of colour in this mobile game which make sit nice to look at and the sound in decent enough.

LAST WORD

Bringing Space Invaders to the mobile phone world was a good idea. Pairing it with pinball might not have been .The ball has too much a mind of its own that you'll find it's not long before you're throwing in the towel – or throwing your phone away.

Permalink: May 5, 2008