There are many games for the Windows Mobile platform, both freeware or paid-ones. There are few games that offer 3D racing game experience. It is harder to find ones that will work on VGA screens (640×480). Even then, those games have a long way to go when compared to other operating systems. This review/guide is intended to show the games that offer 3D-experience and how they perform on devices that come with VGA display. Although there are few ported games like “Doom” or “Call of Duty”, I will focus on some newer ones.
Flux Challenge
Flux challenge is made by PDAmill. This game is a racing game where you fly in a ship against other ships. In short, you have to go through 24 races and in those races, you get to glide, skid dive in what appears to be underground sewer pipes. Different tracks provide different obstacles. In the end, you get to choose between 6 ships. You can use either the D-Pad or the screen to move around. To move around on the screen, you just use your stylus or finger and tap the direction you want to go in. The graphics are pretty fluid. There was little stuttering here and there. I tried the game using the game on a Sprint Touch Pro which has the QUALCOMM chip that is known to have issues with graphics. All in all, the game is well worth the $3.00 PDAmill is asking.
Need for speed: Undercover
Need for speed: undercover is made EA games. This is another racing game. There are 11 cars you get to chose from, where the cars range between Porsche, Nissan. The game is about scoring points. You do this by evading cops; going through the street looking for curves to drift on as well as winning races. The game can be controlled by either your touch screen or the hardware buttons. The graphics are fluid and run nice and smooth. There is a bit of trick in doing the drift. The game is kind of pricey compared to the others. This came will set you back 10 dollars. But if you’re a racing fan, it’s a must buy.
Asphalt 4: Elite racing
This is just another street racing game. In this game, you get to chose between 10 elite cars ranging between Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari F430 Spider and Nissan GT-R. You also get the chance to race in 6 cities threw out the world each with their own stunning graphics cities include Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, Shanghai, NYC, Dubai, Paris. This game also allows you to use either your D-Pad or screen to move around other cars. This game is my favorite one. The graphics are really nice for a windows mobile device. I had no issue while playing the game. There was no stuttering all my turns and nitro boost looked smooth. I also found that using the screen to move around had no lag like the lag experienced in Need 4 speed.
Xtrakt
This game, although not official or even beta provides another type of racing game. The game is pulled from Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. The game had to be modded to make it work on VGA devices as it was designed for WVGA only. The Xperia sports a larger screen with higher resolution (800×400). In this game, you are a girl (maybe) and you have to go through a futuristic city fighting off the robots who are trying to knock you off from your motor bike. With you kill a robot, you earn points as-well-as a diamond. I only managed to get to level 3 so far. Due to that reason, I don’t know how many levels are there in the game. The game recommends that you use a stylus for the game but I had no problem using my finger. Overall, the graphics are impressive and the game play is very fluid and addictive. This game is going to be hit, once it’s officially released. At this point, there is no price or official release date. There is no word, if it would be released for other devices (other than the Xperia).
Like I said in the opening that this wasn’t an attempt to go into extreme detail, but enlist the games that are suitable for the VGA devices. There is a lot of rumbling that iPhone OS has so many great games, but people don’t realize that similar games can also be made for the Windows Mobile Platform.
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LINKS:
NFS undercover (handmark link)
Even cheap mobile phones play games, so don’t think you need to get the most expensive phone.