I'm trying to spread the passion of PDA gaming to my fellow LYN-ers by recommending only the best PDA games around, and reviewing them as honestly and unbiasedly as possible, as a fellow gamer. (reviews on sites always puts the game on a good light despite it being terribly sucky)

This first post will be the navigation post, links to the other posts in this thread containing the reviews (since i'm sure this thread will be flooded)

If you have a need for a game to be reviewed, by a fellow gamer, before purchasing, drop me a PM and i'll review it ASAP.



MORE PLACES TO PURCHASE STUFF








TOTAL LIST OF RECOMMENDED GAMES TO PLAY
EDITED 9th September 2008


New additions are given an ASTERISKS (*)


ACTION
WORMS WORLD PARTY (worms on your pda, a MUST HAVE)
Speedball 2 Brutal Deluxe (Bloody sports carnage, awesome game)
Earthday (a superb action game! by far the best game when u need to kill about 10 mins of your time waiting for your partner to finish shopping)
Enslave (BEST graphics, BEST visual effects, BEST action gameplay)
Pocket Deathmatch (superb Unreal Tournament style game, only one of itsgenre for pocket pc. Maybe a little laggy when shooting on some devices. damn cheap game!)
Anthelion (great superb and by far the best 3D space simulation space fighter game, and the sequel Anthelion 2 is even better!)

ARCADE
Skyforce (nice crisp colour, good gameplay)
Firepower Onrush (insanely intense arcade game, IMO beats Skyforce hands down. Cheaper as well. Metal Slug feeling. a MUST have)
CECraft Pinball Crystal Caliburn (the BEST pinball game around, do also see other pinball games by CECraft, they all totally rock.)
Hammerheads (great arcade tapping game, suitable for all ages!! One of its kind. great for keeping smaller kids busy)
Insaniquarium Deluxe (my gf's and my fav game lol)
Hexic (great puzzle/arcade game. U played it on msn, now play it on your pda!)
Bejeweled (as played in Yahoo games!)

BOARD GAME
Zing Ltd Chinese Chess Professional (the BEST chinese chess game around)
Kasparov Chessmate (My favourite chessgame, by far the prettiest user interface, decent AI as well.)
FOR CHESS PLAYERS LOOKING FOR A PROFESSIONAL GAME ON CHESS, VIEW HERE FOR THE COMPLETE CHESS GAMES FOR POCKET PC AI RATINGS
Absolutist Checkers Challenge (best Checkers game)
Napoleonix (aka Stratego as known by some, best game for this type)
*CONVEKTA CHESS PRODUCTS (absolutely must see and get for CHess lovers. Contains extremely impressive guides and "books" ranging from openings, tactics, and more! Pricey, but then again any good chess book costs more than RM100 anyway. This is virtual, u can carry anywhere, and interactive)

CARD GAME
Astraware All-in Hold Em Poker (my favourite poker game, great AI compared to others)
Orions: Legend of Wizards (and expansions) (one of its kind!! MAGIC The Gathering on pocket pc!! Great graphics, and effects, a must have)
Gamebox Solitaire (all your solitaire needs)
Big 2 Pro (Best Chor Dai Dee (yea i know my chinese sux) game ever)
Uno Classic 2007(Best Uno game for the pocket pc. recommended)

FPS (First Person Shooter)
Call of Duty 2 (great game. But will not work on several devices. Controls may take a lot of getting used to as well.)

RACING
Cocoto Kart Racer (Crash Bandicoot Racing style game)
Wild Gears
Flux Challenge (dont just steer left and right! Steer up and down as well in this one of a kind 3D racing game!)

RPG / QUEST
The Quest (best RPG for pocket pc. insanely addictive, insane replayability, several hundred hours of gameplay (counting all the expansions))
Arvale (great storyline RPG, but IMO little replayability)
Ancient Evil (fantastic game! a port from the PC version. half action half puzzles and riddles oriented. requires patience lol)

STRATEGY
Age of Empires
Warfare Incorporated
Warlords 2 (superb turn based strategy, my fav)
Machines at War
Palm Heroes (Heroes of Might and Magic for the Pocket PC!)
Add-Venture (Best RISK game for the pocket pc. Infinite replayability. Exceptional AI. A MUST HAVE)
Brutal Wars (Best turn based strategy war game. Much like Blitzkrieg, only better. a lil laggy with Touch FLo devices, switch Touch Flo off)
Azgard Defence (Best Tower Defence Game for pocket pc! GReat graphics, effects, gamesplay and replayability makes this game a must have for tower defence lovers)
Revival (great CIvilisations like game for windows mobile. downside : EXTREMELY PRICEY!!!)

TRIVIA/ PUZZLE
Guess it!
Bubble Babble
Word Pop
Sokoban
Sudoku Touch (many Sudoku games, but this has my favourite clean interface)
SPB Minesweeper 2
Text Twist (personally, my favourite word game)
Handmark Scrabble (Best scrabble game for windows mobile)
Spb Numbers (a very very interesting alternative to Sudoku)




recommended FREE games
Review and free download of Warcraft 2 and Warring States
Gameboy Advance games on your Pocket Pc!
Distant Galaxies Freeware
Creatonia freeware RPG
Space Trader (highly recommended)
POWDER (Superb RPG diablo like clone) FREE!!!
Pocket Chip's Challenge
Playstation on Windows Mobile
Pocket UFO
LINKS

Link to the preview of the gaming capabilities of a PDA

This post has been edited by Baronic: Apr 15 2009, 03:08 PM

Free strategy games WORTH PLAYING on your pocket pc
WARCRAFT 2


Without a doubt, Stratagus, a port of Warcraft 2 for pocket pc, and the best part is, its totally free! I've played the game rather thoroughly, and the requirements for the games is pretty low. Installation was a since, since it was a simple Copy and Paste folder installation.

Gameplay, its terrific, in some ways better than Age of Empires, which i will review in due time. However, as its a port, and your pda does not have a mouse, u may need some getting used to, since you can't right click or left click. Problem is solved by choosing the order for your units directly, such as "move" or "attack move". I usually use attack move for my units since it may well be too late for some of my units if i get ambushed if i had to manually order them to stop moving, and choose the attack button. Clicking "Attack" and targeting the ground makes your units move to a spot and attack any enemies on the way. Also, i was able to play a skirmish game with EIGHT players! (me and 7 computers) with no lag or problems at all on my HTC Tytn2!

Graphics, compared to other strategy games out there, you could say its a little on the cartoony side as you can see from the screenshot.

Campaigns have all been properly ported with good english, and correct narrative.

Sounds and Music, do not appear to slow down gameplay, or require a faster processor speed. It does however require more ram.

ISSUES:

* PDAs with no qwerty keyboard may have problems saving / loading a game, since you can't type in your save game's name, but i believe the latest port now assigns one button on your pda to a letter, so you can at least save the game, although it may just be a jumble of letters. If you still can't save a game, you can copy and paste a save game file from a friend who has one, into your pda, and use that file for your save games
* The WARCRAFT 2 version, as seen in the youtube video in the previous blog post, may not work with some devices. (I tried and failed with my HTC P3600i), but do not fear, the original files from nop's (the porter) site should work well.
* You should have a minimum of 20mb or ram to attempt to play the game, and if you still can't, try deactivating sound.
* If your pda today screen is landscape not portrait when you start the game, the game screen gets screwed up.

Requirements:
I'd say 400Mhz would be optimum (if you have less, you probably may not be able to play a 8 players skirmish game without some lag), and about 20mb of ram.

Warcraft 2 version downloads (download the appropriate one for your PDA, VGA or QVGA)

Stratagus version downloads (both games are the same, but the Warcraft 2 version may not work for some PDAs)
Stratagus version downloads (both games are the same, but the warcraft 2 version may not work for some PDAs): [code][/code]

The porter's website has two versions, QVGA and VGA, though i believe the game is called Stratagus instead of Warcraft. But its definitely one and the same.

WARRING STATES


An old and often overlooked game, Warring Nations is a free pocket pc game, that many gamers simply do not know about!

The game takes place in China (woot hurrah how many games can boast that!) during 464 to 222BC, and you are a ruler of a state in China. The objective in the game is to defeat all the other rules and become the overlord (emperor!) of China!

Gameplay: Is simply enough, but for the lazy noobs who will probably read the manual and e mail me with "HOW THE HELL DO U PLAY THIS GAME?!" questions, i'll try to explain as briefly as possible.

1. Choose your character.
2. Choose your state.
3. On the top of your screen (see screenshot 1) you can see the morale of your troops, the number or scholars (researchers) and the number of soldiers, plus the amount of money you have.
4. You can recruit additional soldiers, scholars, as well as choose to spend money on increasing morale, in addition to choosing what to research.
5. Attack, by clicking on enemy territory. (beware of morale, even with numerical superiority you can lose when your troops dessert you (low morale)).
6. Be careful of terrain, crossing rivers, mountains, or walls gives the defender a defence bonus. Hah, and you thought it was all just artsy decoration.
7. The last button on the right bottom of the screen is to end turn.

Replayability: Is where this game truly shines, and for a free game, truly kicks its commercial counterparts Medieval Heroes and Warring Nations in the ass. Unlike the other games, this free game is so damn addictive because of its random events! Eg. Invasion of sudden tribes from the corner of the screen, flooding, earthquakes, rebellion, and, (whoa!) the emergence of new factions!!

Bottomline: If you loved the PC game Rome Total War, and want something that has immense replayability, if your love strategy games but you don't have the stomach to play real time games like Warcraft 2, Warring States is definitely the game for you. It could well possibly be the best turn based strategy game EVER!!! (i find myself playing this one more than its commercial counterparts)

Requirements: Rockbottom, basically any pda should be able to play it!!

You'll have to download and install this first!

The game file

This post has been edited by Baronic: Apr 12 2008, 12:44 AM

GBA emulator for PDA

Pocket GBA (freeware) vs Morphgear (commercialware)




Pocket GBA vs Morphgear, i'll be comparing the performances of each. There isn't really much to say, for a basic gamer, there isn't really much for you to know.

For starters, Pocket GBA is a GBA emulator for pocket pc that's totally free. Work or any future development seems to have stopped and there havent been any updates in years, but i have no problems at all with the current version.

Morphgear, various emulators all in one, for PDA, but it's a commercial program (and rather pricey, almost 20USD per module!). Looks much more professional than the pocket GBA.

PERFORMANCE: Pocket GBA seems to SURPRISINGLY, out perform Morphgear in terms of smoothness and playability!

For the D810 and p3600i, both Pocket GBA and Morphgear doesnt seem to have much of a noticeable difference, but on the slower Tytn2 (thats right dudes, the tytn2 is actually slower in terms of gaming! WTF) Morphgear lags like crazy! It's still playable, but controls are extremely sluggish at best, like your buttons and controls seem extremely heavy. Its very off putting. Especially since Morphgear is sluggy even WITHOUT the sounds.

Pocket GBA scores much better, smooth as ever, without the sound. Its almost as smooth as any normal game made specially for PDA. Even more surprising, is when the game is played with the sound, it was STILL performing better than Morphgear without sound. When i was using my HTC P3600i, i was a Morphgear fan. Now with Tytn2, i'm a Pocket GBA fan.

LANDSCAPE & PORTRAIT MODE, PLAYING WITH QWERTY KEYBOARD: Interestingly, Pocket GBA was able to play in landscape mode once that mode was selected, and subsequently able to assign keyboard keys as control and play that one. i tested it and it works fine.

Morphgear was unable to do so. there was no option to convert to landscape mode, and sliding out the keyboard distorted the Morphgear screen, lol, so i guess the commercial ware doesnt work in landscape mode


ISSUES
Pocket GBA

1. May crash on some PDAs when receiving incoming calls and sms
2. Tweaking and changing the system settings (frame skip rate) for Pocket GBA tends to hang the software, and refuses to run any more roms Copying and pasting back the files from the PC to the PDA resolves the issue quite easily.
3. If your PDA is unable to press up and left/right keys simultaneously, you won't be able to play side scroller (or similar games) where you need to run and jump.

Morphgear

1. Seems to lag more than usual on certain PDAs.
2. If your PDA is unable to press up and left/right keys simultaneously, you won't be able to play side scroller (or similar games) where you need to run and jump.

Pocket GBA download and Installation

Morhgear Purchase and Download



FOR GBA ROMS, SIMPLY DOWNLOAD FROM A SITE (google gives u abundant sites to choose from), place it in your pda, and load it from either Pocket GBA or Morphgear.

I recommend this site, as i download my roms there as well

This post has been edited by Baronic: Apr 13 2008, 03:59 PM

good one dude
can u play in landscape mode & use qwerty k/b as the controller?

very good question. Interestingly, Pocket GBA was able to play in landscape mode once that mode was selected, and subsequently able to assign keyboard keys as control and play that one. i tested it and it works fine.

Morphgear was unable to do so. there was no option to convert to landscape mode, and sliding out the keyboard distorted the Morphgear screen, lol, so i guess the commercial ware doesnt work in landscape mode

---

Added on April 12, 2008, 11:02 am77 views 1 reply? lol. if u guys arent interested i wun review anymore >.<

This post has been edited by Baronic: Apr 12 2008, 11:02 AM

Keep it up! thou i dont play games with my pda

great stuff baro, btw can u share how u load the GBA on your tytn2?

bro , keep up the good work

lol, if wanna shorten my name, then baron lor haha. i've edited my GBA post at the end, to include how to upload GBA to your tytn2. u can place the roms in either main memory or card memory no problem

---

Added on April 13, 2008, 6:47 pmGUITAR HERO MOBILE REVIEW

First, let's see a video review of the game, played by jrinco11 on youtube. His review isn't exactly full, nor correct, but i'll get to it in a while.



Gameplay: While the reviewer in the video clearly experienced lag in his gameplay on his Tilt (US version of Tytn2), my MDA Vario 3 (UK version of Tytn2) experienced no lag at all.

I've no idea if he has anything running in his background, but i recommend upgrading your rom from your original rom. I strongly recommend rom's either by Sleuth or Dutty, since they're by far the fastest, least problematic of all cooked roms. You can find em on XDA Developer forums. (google it).

On his screen, he could only see 4 songs. There should be a total of 15 songs, playable on different modes, easy, medium and hard. They're unlocked and made visible when you've completed the first four.

Music does seem a bit soft, even on maximum volume, so i use the headphones for the best rocking experience.

Guitar Hero Mobile does not appear to play the whole song when you play it. Rather, they play maybe from the beginning to about half or three quarters of it, then fades out. So if you expect to enjoy the entire song while you finger mash, forget it.

An important note about Guitar Hero, is that you can only have 2 songs downloaded in your phone at a time.

Example: lets say you have songs A, B, C and D currently (the first four you start with).

Currently, you have only song A and B in your phone. To play C, you need to have an internet connection to download the song. This can be achieved either using active sync or your provider.

But after downloading C, A grays out, so now, you have B and C playable on your phone. If you wish to play A again, you'll have to redownload it. (takes about 20 seconds each time), and either B or C will be grayed out, depending which u played last. (u keep the one you played last.)

The reason for this i believe, is since the game developers promise 2 new songs a month, if you were to have the entire collection of songs in your pda, the space taken by Guitar Hero will increase dramatically every month. Still, i wish we had more than just 2 songs in the database at a time, since for us Malaysians, its a bloody pain to use GPRS/EDGE/HSDPA connection (pay per usage).

EDIT: A work around would be to connect via active sync to your pda and download. when one song is downloaded, copy, and paste in a folder in your PC. Then download the next song (the previous song in your pda would disappear, but u've backed it up in your PC. Repeat, until you have all the songs, and copy and paste it all back in your PDA! hehe, and this way you won't need to download any more songs you have it all in your PDA!)

Still, all's said and done, i've bought the game myself and am now completely addicted to it. If you love games of this genre, Guitar Hero is probably the best of its kinda currently available. I definitely recommend it.

Purchase the game here

This post has been edited by Baronic: Apr 13 2008, 11:42 PM

Baronic, I do have dutty's rom (the Mar 29 version on that video, and now Apr 09 -- and I experience lagging on both, and I had nothing running in the background -- the game was loaded after a soft reset). I think the reason may be because of the HTC video driver issues -- read more about it here.

Also, for the songs being deleted, you are correct in that you can just set the song files (sng_<songname>.bar) to read only -- however, you cannot do this w/wm's built in file manager. You'll have to download Total Commander (or another file manager), or of course, use one of the cooked roms that already has it installed! If you have a non windows mobile device, I don't know if this is possible to do.

just thought I'd respond to my review not being complete or correct haha -- more on my review here: http://www.jrin.net/2008_04_09/review-guitar-hero-mobile

This post has been edited by jrinco11: Apr 14 2008, 12:39 AM

hmm, i'm using sleuth's rom here.

I didnt mean setting the song files to read only. i meant, simply, ensure an active sync connection so your PC and read the data in the PDA. Then, with the game running, download the song. Refresh folder from the PC, and you'll see the song file. extract into your PC. Repeat for other songs. Then, replace all songs back in the PDA. But i guess your method works better haha, since i've no idea what happens when i download a new song thats been uploaded. Will one file be deleted, or the entire collection be deleted, and the game only keeps two music files? lol. I do have a backup in the PC. but still....

Write a review on Worm .. im sure many will love it

Warcraft II FTW !! Remember playing this on my PPC on hours, very addictive, in case u guys are wondering about the Stratagus, its call that due to Blizzard sueing them for porting the game and calling it Freecraft in the first place

P/s Baronic, are u the Baronic from ipmart forum?

This post has been edited by pipedream: Apr 15 2008, 09:19 PM

Nice one bro...

anything like C&C in PDA??

Yes, there are a few C&C like games in PDA. I'll list down a few notable ones, and give a review on each before u decide which to buy and play lol.

@pipedream: yea, same Baronic, though i've quit ipmart forum for good. I used to be damn famous, lol, a mod there, leader of SE section...and i started helping the pocket pc section there too. but had to leave for legal purposes. I'm done with that life. lol. Could you unquote the warcraft2 post dude? messy la. lol.

This post has been edited by Baronic: Apr 15 2008, 08:53 PM

lol ur contributions there is still very hot and actively downloaded

kk, will edit now

For C&C games, try Warfare INC, i found that quite nice

Warfare Incorporated vs Machines at War
showdown between the best two Sci-fi RTS games for pocket pc

Warfare Incorporated



The above Youtube video review pretty much sums it all up. I'll highlight a few stuff, that differentiates it against Machines at War.


NOTEABLE FEATURES:

-Multiplayer via Bluetooth
-Downloadable maps created by fellow gamers on their official website
-A free downloadable mapmaker, where you can create your own skirmish or even missions
-Great, clear, crisp graphics.
-Very low requirements compared to Machines at War

Machines at War



Full length feature review, if you have the time to read (i don't think i can write any better than him) : Click me

But you don't have to read the entire thing, lemme try to summarize it.

Gameplay : Fast and furious, would be the two adjectives to describe Machines at War. You'll be constantly on your toes being, defending, attacking, and defending again. If you thought the gameplay of Warfare Incorporated was slow paced, then Machines at War is the way to go. Unfortunately, it would seem that M.A.W does not seem to have any campaigns or storyline to boost this aggressive pace, which is a shame.

Graphics: May seem small and grainy, especially compared to the clearer Warfare Incorporated, but it can be said that Machines at War is trying to go for the realistic feel while Warfare is going for the cartoony feel. Sorta like....Red Alert 2 vs Command and Conquer Generals.

Requirements: is HIGH for MAW. I'd recommend at least 300Mhz, and 20mb of ram for the BEST gameplay experience.

Multiplayer: None.

Mapmaker: None.

Sounds like M.A.W is losing out to Warfare doesnt it? Not necessarily, here's why.

M.A.W has much MUCH more units compared to Warfare, defensive tanks, an impressive amount of types of turrets, and different types of offensive units as well. In addition to that, M.A.W has a nice proper tech tree, as all RTS should have compared to Warfare. You can go the defensive tech tree approach, offensive, or economical. But you cant max all, since you have only a limited amount of research points.

Because of this, the strategic gameplay of M.A.W is much more impressive compared to Warfare. Especially when you play with the fog of war (warfare doesnt have fog of war, onli a shroud! meaning once area explored u can see the area permanently!), the game gets harder! You can hunker down, and build walls and defend a reservoir of minerals you found (cant build walls in Warfare)! So again, the strategic gameplay of M.A.W is much more impressive.

The map of M.A.W are randomly generated as well, but IMO, they all don't really matter, as there doesn't seem to be enough rivers and waters or impassable terrain to really affect gameplay strategy. Warfare wins here, as with many choke points, terrain becomes important for Warfare Incorporated. But STILL i feel M.A.W pawns in strategic gameplay. (damn i seem to be repeating myself)

CLOSING OFF BOTTOM LINE:

Warfare: Better campaigns, good map and mission editor available, MULTIPLAYER
Machines at War: Beautiful skirmish gameplay, great strategic gameplay, fast and furious paced action, MORE UNITS, MORE STRATEGIES and BETTER TECH TREE

I have them both in my pda. I like em both.

Buy Machines at War
Buy Warfare Incorporated

This post has been edited by Baronic: Apr 15 2008, 09:59 PM

Bro,

if u say that WM6 do have this game.. i wont ask u for anything else anymore...
my dream will come true...

is there Pro Evolution Soccer or Winning Eleven for PPC?

This post has been edited by Krools: Apr 24 2008, 04:09 PM

hmmm, i take it those are soccer games? unfortunately the BEST soccer game for ppc is the old FIFA 2002! Its damn old, and there are newer soccer games, but i feel nothing beats the gameplay of FIFA 2002. do u want a review ?

bro.. morphgear u can turn it to landscape la.. under global settings, " Orientation "... choose west or east.. east is if u wanna use the keyboard.. and west is the other way around..

Pocket GBA can change the landscape mode the other way around? mine can go on landscape.. but its the other way.. impossible for my to use my keyboard keys.. im using fullscreen mode..