Menneisyys
07-18-2006, 03:16 PM
Momentum Games (http://www.momentumgames.com/) have been working very hard on making their Windows Mobile games support the high resolution VGA screens. Slightly more than a month ago, they have updated their puzzle games Fruit Bomb and Gold Mine; now, their most important and known title, Pocket Mini Golf 2 has also been updated.
Anyone having read the April-May 2006 issue of Pocket PC Magazine may remember my article My Top Five Golf Games (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/_archives/mobile/Article.aspx?articleID=1069) discussing this title. (Please check out the article to find out what the game is like and how it compares to other golf titles on the Pocket PC – here, I only elaborate on the changes, VGA support and new features.)
Fortunately, the update is not just a plain update only adding high-res support; it also has a lot of other enhancements. It is indeed a major version change (from 1.17 (last updated a month ago) to 2.0). The blurb states it also has the following changes: “new animations (including frogs, snakes and sharks), in-game music, faster frame rate, improved weather effects, and much more.” That is, upgrading may be of interest to not only VGA users.
Availability, (upgrade) price
The game is currently available at ClickGamer (http://www.clickgamer.com/moreinfo.htm?pid=2322) for $19.95. Handango still lists (http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&platformId=2&N=96806&productId=165352&R=165352) version 1.16 (not even 1.17) as the latest.
Interestingly, the official homepage of Momentum Games (http://www.momentumgames.com/asp/webpage.asp), as of this writing, doesn’t have anything about the new PMG2 version either. That is, there is no, for example, upgrade (discount) price information either. That is, it’s not known if legal owners of the 1.x series can upgrade to the new version for free or at least at a discounted price.
VGA support
An in-game screenshot of the new version running on a VGA device (as opposed to the 1.x versions - example screenshot here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/MiniGolf1xVGA.bmp.png)):
http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolfVGA-1.bmp.png
As can be seen, it has indeed been updated to fully make use of the VGA resolution – as opposed to some “hybrid” (only partly VGA-enabled) games like Amazing Mahjong by Paragon Software (review here (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=456&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)).
The zoomed-in mode is still pixelizated as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolfVGA-Zoom.bmp.png). It’s, however, isn’t as bad as in the previous, 1.x versions (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolf-ZoomOriginalVersion.bmp.png).
Even the (heavily antialiased) icons in the menus have been completely re-rendered (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolfVGA-LowResIcons.bmp.png) (exactly the same screenshot with the 1.08 version can be found here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolfVGA-LowResIcons-108.bmp.png), also running on the same VGA device.)
As with the previous version, the game also supports landscape orientation (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolfVGA-LS.bmp.png).
In-game music
The previous, 1.x series severely lacked in-game music (as with almost all the other golf titles). The new title already has a (mono)in-game music track. It can be en/disabled (as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/MiniGolf2IngameMusicEnable.bmp.png)) independent of the menu music (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/MiniGolf2MenuMusicEnable.bmp.png). (In 1.x, of course, there was only one menu item to enable the menu-only music as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/MiniGolf21xMenuMusicEnable.bmp.png).)
The (mono) in-game music in the new version is nothing to write home about. Still, it’s nice to have it around.
Multiplayer? Not really - hotseat only, it seems
As I only had the chance to test the trial version (with disabled multiplayer capabilities), I can only rely on the officially available documentation on this feature. It seems it hasn’t been changed – that is, inter-PDA multiplayer is still not supported, only intra-PDA hotseat playing. While not a single current Pocket PC (mini)golf game support inter-PDA multiplayer (except for the no-longer supported iGolf 1.04 by CECRAFT – see the Definitive Multiplayer PPC Game Roundup (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/menneisyys/102005MPPPCGames.asp) for more information on this title), it’d be still great to have a LAN or, even better, Internet-enabled multiplayer golf game.
Compatibility Report
I had absolutely no problems on any of my VGA devices (WM5 iPAQ hx4700, F-S Pocket Loox 720 and Dell Axim x51v). The screen scrolling was equally good on all these devices – I haven’t encountered jumpy, slow scrolling anywhere.
It also runs great on QVGA devices. As far as my QVGA test devices are concerned, I've tested the game on my Pocket PC 2002 iPAQ 3660 (yes, the game is compatible with all ARM-devices - even pre-WM2003 ones), WM2003 iPAQ 2210 and WM5 HTC Wizard. I haven't encountered any problems.
Smartphone
The title is also available on the MS Smartphone platform.
Verdict
If you’ve liked the previous, 1.x versions and you have a VGA device, you will mostly likely want to upgrade. If you “only” have a QVGA device, you may want to check out the new version too. This all, of course, depends on the upgrade price (if any).
Anyone having read the April-May 2006 issue of Pocket PC Magazine may remember my article My Top Five Golf Games (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/_archives/mobile/Article.aspx?articleID=1069) discussing this title. (Please check out the article to find out what the game is like and how it compares to other golf titles on the Pocket PC – here, I only elaborate on the changes, VGA support and new features.)
Fortunately, the update is not just a plain update only adding high-res support; it also has a lot of other enhancements. It is indeed a major version change (from 1.17 (last updated a month ago) to 2.0). The blurb states it also has the following changes: “new animations (including frogs, snakes and sharks), in-game music, faster frame rate, improved weather effects, and much more.” That is, upgrading may be of interest to not only VGA users.
Availability, (upgrade) price
The game is currently available at ClickGamer (http://www.clickgamer.com/moreinfo.htm?pid=2322) for $19.95. Handango still lists (http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&platformId=2&N=96806&productId=165352&R=165352) version 1.16 (not even 1.17) as the latest.
Interestingly, the official homepage of Momentum Games (http://www.momentumgames.com/asp/webpage.asp), as of this writing, doesn’t have anything about the new PMG2 version either. That is, there is no, for example, upgrade (discount) price information either. That is, it’s not known if legal owners of the 1.x series can upgrade to the new version for free or at least at a discounted price.
VGA support
An in-game screenshot of the new version running on a VGA device (as opposed to the 1.x versions - example screenshot here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/MiniGolf1xVGA.bmp.png)):
http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolfVGA-1.bmp.png
As can be seen, it has indeed been updated to fully make use of the VGA resolution – as opposed to some “hybrid” (only partly VGA-enabled) games like Amazing Mahjong by Paragon Software (review here (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=456&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)).
The zoomed-in mode is still pixelizated as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolfVGA-Zoom.bmp.png). It’s, however, isn’t as bad as in the previous, 1.x versions (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolf-ZoomOriginalVersion.bmp.png).
Even the (heavily antialiased) icons in the menus have been completely re-rendered (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolfVGA-LowResIcons.bmp.png) (exactly the same screenshot with the 1.08 version can be found here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolfVGA-LowResIcons-108.bmp.png), also running on the same VGA device.)
As with the previous version, the game also supports landscape orientation (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketMiniGoolfVGA-LS.bmp.png).
In-game music
The previous, 1.x series severely lacked in-game music (as with almost all the other golf titles). The new title already has a (mono)in-game music track. It can be en/disabled (as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/MiniGolf2IngameMusicEnable.bmp.png)) independent of the menu music (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/MiniGolf2MenuMusicEnable.bmp.png). (In 1.x, of course, there was only one menu item to enable the menu-only music as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/MiniGolf21xMenuMusicEnable.bmp.png).)
The (mono) in-game music in the new version is nothing to write home about. Still, it’s nice to have it around.
Multiplayer? Not really - hotseat only, it seems
As I only had the chance to test the trial version (with disabled multiplayer capabilities), I can only rely on the officially available documentation on this feature. It seems it hasn’t been changed – that is, inter-PDA multiplayer is still not supported, only intra-PDA hotseat playing. While not a single current Pocket PC (mini)golf game support inter-PDA multiplayer (except for the no-longer supported iGolf 1.04 by CECRAFT – see the Definitive Multiplayer PPC Game Roundup (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/menneisyys/102005MPPPCGames.asp) for more information on this title), it’d be still great to have a LAN or, even better, Internet-enabled multiplayer golf game.
Compatibility Report
I had absolutely no problems on any of my VGA devices (WM5 iPAQ hx4700, F-S Pocket Loox 720 and Dell Axim x51v). The screen scrolling was equally good on all these devices – I haven’t encountered jumpy, slow scrolling anywhere.
It also runs great on QVGA devices. As far as my QVGA test devices are concerned, I've tested the game on my Pocket PC 2002 iPAQ 3660 (yes, the game is compatible with all ARM-devices - even pre-WM2003 ones), WM2003 iPAQ 2210 and WM5 HTC Wizard. I haven't encountered any problems.
Smartphone
The title is also available on the MS Smartphone platform.
Verdict
If you’ve liked the previous, 1.x versions and you have a VGA device, you will mostly likely want to upgrade. If you “only” have a QVGA device, you may want to check out the new version too. This all, of course, depends on the upgrade price (if any).