Menneisyys
11-18-2007, 05:07 PM
1. Azgard Defence and the two Orions (Legend of Wizards and The Second Age) have been updated!
These three (unfortunately, Pocket PC-only – no Smartphone / Symbian / etc. versions are available) astonishingly good games (Orions: Legend of Wizards and Azgard Defence won this year (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/awards/nominees_wandf_2007.asp) in the Turn-based Strategy and in the (plain) Strategy categories, respectively - and they certainly deserved it!) are a must-get for all Pocket PC users. (See my review of the latter HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2147&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) and that of Doug Goldring of the former HERE (http://justanothermobilemonday.com/Wordpress/2007/05/14/review-azgard-defence/).) Now, they have received updates.
The changes to Orions are as follows (with my remarks in italics):
Balance Changes:
* Tython is now slightly stronger. (More HP and attack damage)
* Tython's casting no longer costs water elements. I’m not entirely sure this, along with the previous balance change, was a nice idea – after all, Tython has already been THE best way for mass re-healing. Now, a player having this card will be next to unbeatable (if he’s playing using the right strategy and is, otherwise, decent)
* Lightning Bolt damage increased to 6.
* Remade Avatar. The most important change as I really didn’t see the point in this card at all. Nice the developers have listened to me.
* Guardian: now loses less health each round. Great, now, it’s much more useful because it won’t die that fast
* Fixed cast cost for Spider. This was more of a bug and should belong to the “Common bugs” section IMHO
* Imp: Health increased. Nice idea because it was REALLY weak – now, combined with Diablo (which, unfortunately, has been made pricey), it’s much better than before
* Infernal: Level lowered to 10.
* Diablo casting now cost 1 Fire and weakened a little. Oh dear, it used to be SO cool to quickly make other Fire creatures unbeatable... ;)
Common Bugs:
* AI no longer casts Scylla's abilities too much. Oh dear, now, we can’t take advantage of this bug to quickly bump up our Water elements… ;)
* Leviathan, Nixie, Demon - elemental issues solved. (No more exchange nothing for fire/water). See previous remark
* Fixed Black Market issues.
* Fixed Necromancer multiplayer issue.
Incidentally, the homepage of the developer (http://www.pocketmoregames.com/) has a poll called “What game would you like next?”. Currently, “Orions: Duelist Edition (No campaign, all new cards)” has 95% of the (currently, 365) votes. This is certainly good news: we DO want more and even more cards (and, preferably, lounge-based multiplayer support!) Personally, I haven't played the campaign part of the game much - I like the dual gaming much more. Therefore, I'm absolutely satisfied with the (current) poll results.
2. A VERY decent, really multiplatform, freeware Bejeweled clone, Snowed In 6: Deep Freeze, has been released!
Last year, I’ve reviewed (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1503&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) the previous game, Snowed In 5 - Flaked Out, in the sequel and kinda liked it – except for the lack of music.
The new sequel is available HERE (http://www.clickgamer.com/moreinfo.htm?b=POCKETGAMER&pid=15193) for download for ALL (!!!) non-Java mobile platforms – even for Symbian S80, S90 and GP2X (not only the "traditional" ones like Pocket PC, MS Smartphone, Symbian S60(v3) / UIQ)! Quite a feat, isn’t it?
The Pocket PC version, as with the previous sequel, supports all screen resolutions (even square screens) and the VGA version natively supports hi-res, which is also very good news. Unfortunately, it (still) has no in-game music, in which it’s certainly inferior to the two Bejeweleds, the absolute star in this category (mostly because of its music). But, after all, you can run a MOD player in the background, playing back the music of Astrware’s classic as is thoroughly explained in my related tutorial (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1614&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). Then, you'll get a 100% - in high resolution if you have a VGA device (again, Bejeweled doesn't support high resolution on VGA devices).
3. OmniG Software (http://www.omnigsoft.com/) has released Super-G Stunt (http://www.omnigsoft.com/products/2007/Super-G%20Stunt/Super-GStunt.html) for both the Pocket PC and the MS Smartphone platform
Unfortunately, OmniG Software's new title doesn’t support the 3D accelerators (the 2700G in the Dell Axim x50v / x51v Pocket PC's (or the GoForce 5500 in the O2 XDA Flame / Toshi G900.) Their only title to support the 2700G (but not the 5500) was Chopper Fight reviewed HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=661&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1).
As these games heavily depend on 3D, this is pretty much a showstopper for me, mostly because the new game is suffering from the same problem as ALL the other OmniG Software titles; most importantly, the REALLY repetitive music and pretty dull gameplay. Not recommended - if you want to play something like this, go for for example Warelex' Sky Racer instead (reviewed HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&title=review_warelex_releases_flight_simulatio&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)) instead (not that that title were THAT good...).
These three (unfortunately, Pocket PC-only – no Smartphone / Symbian / etc. versions are available) astonishingly good games (Orions: Legend of Wizards and Azgard Defence won this year (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/awards/nominees_wandf_2007.asp) in the Turn-based Strategy and in the (plain) Strategy categories, respectively - and they certainly deserved it!) are a must-get for all Pocket PC users. (See my review of the latter HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2147&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) and that of Doug Goldring of the former HERE (http://justanothermobilemonday.com/Wordpress/2007/05/14/review-azgard-defence/).) Now, they have received updates.
The changes to Orions are as follows (with my remarks in italics):
Balance Changes:
* Tython is now slightly stronger. (More HP and attack damage)
* Tython's casting no longer costs water elements. I’m not entirely sure this, along with the previous balance change, was a nice idea – after all, Tython has already been THE best way for mass re-healing. Now, a player having this card will be next to unbeatable (if he’s playing using the right strategy and is, otherwise, decent)
* Lightning Bolt damage increased to 6.
* Remade Avatar. The most important change as I really didn’t see the point in this card at all. Nice the developers have listened to me.
* Guardian: now loses less health each round. Great, now, it’s much more useful because it won’t die that fast
* Fixed cast cost for Spider. This was more of a bug and should belong to the “Common bugs” section IMHO
* Imp: Health increased. Nice idea because it was REALLY weak – now, combined with Diablo (which, unfortunately, has been made pricey), it’s much better than before
* Infernal: Level lowered to 10.
* Diablo casting now cost 1 Fire and weakened a little. Oh dear, it used to be SO cool to quickly make other Fire creatures unbeatable... ;)
Common Bugs:
* AI no longer casts Scylla's abilities too much. Oh dear, now, we can’t take advantage of this bug to quickly bump up our Water elements… ;)
* Leviathan, Nixie, Demon - elemental issues solved. (No more exchange nothing for fire/water). See previous remark
* Fixed Black Market issues.
* Fixed Necromancer multiplayer issue.
Incidentally, the homepage of the developer (http://www.pocketmoregames.com/) has a poll called “What game would you like next?”. Currently, “Orions: Duelist Edition (No campaign, all new cards)” has 95% of the (currently, 365) votes. This is certainly good news: we DO want more and even more cards (and, preferably, lounge-based multiplayer support!) Personally, I haven't played the campaign part of the game much - I like the dual gaming much more. Therefore, I'm absolutely satisfied with the (current) poll results.
2. A VERY decent, really multiplatform, freeware Bejeweled clone, Snowed In 6: Deep Freeze, has been released!
Last year, I’ve reviewed (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1503&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) the previous game, Snowed In 5 - Flaked Out, in the sequel and kinda liked it – except for the lack of music.
The new sequel is available HERE (http://www.clickgamer.com/moreinfo.htm?b=POCKETGAMER&pid=15193) for download for ALL (!!!) non-Java mobile platforms – even for Symbian S80, S90 and GP2X (not only the "traditional" ones like Pocket PC, MS Smartphone, Symbian S60(v3) / UIQ)! Quite a feat, isn’t it?
The Pocket PC version, as with the previous sequel, supports all screen resolutions (even square screens) and the VGA version natively supports hi-res, which is also very good news. Unfortunately, it (still) has no in-game music, in which it’s certainly inferior to the two Bejeweleds, the absolute star in this category (mostly because of its music). But, after all, you can run a MOD player in the background, playing back the music of Astrware’s classic as is thoroughly explained in my related tutorial (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1614&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). Then, you'll get a 100% - in high resolution if you have a VGA device (again, Bejeweled doesn't support high resolution on VGA devices).
3. OmniG Software (http://www.omnigsoft.com/) has released Super-G Stunt (http://www.omnigsoft.com/products/2007/Super-G%20Stunt/Super-GStunt.html) for both the Pocket PC and the MS Smartphone platform
Unfortunately, OmniG Software's new title doesn’t support the 3D accelerators (the 2700G in the Dell Axim x50v / x51v Pocket PC's (or the GoForce 5500 in the O2 XDA Flame / Toshi G900.) Their only title to support the 2700G (but not the 5500) was Chopper Fight reviewed HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=661&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1).
As these games heavily depend on 3D, this is pretty much a showstopper for me, mostly because the new game is suffering from the same problem as ALL the other OmniG Software titles; most importantly, the REALLY repetitive music and pretty dull gameplay. Not recommended - if you want to play something like this, go for for example Warelex' Sky Racer instead (reviewed HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&title=review_warelex_releases_flight_simulatio&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)) instead (not that that title were THAT good...).