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Bring It On!
Welcome, O Ye faithful gamers to the all-new gaming column of MW’s in-house game maestro!
 Aaron Gray
Battlezone DX will kick off by taking on the brawn and brute of sports games on handheld devices.
Quite a handful of gamers have complained to me that there aren’t too many good sports games for handheld devices. It seems the only ones that have been getting good treatment are those designed for the Nokia N-Gage. Examples include FIFA 2004 and FIFA 2005 (soccer), MLB Slam (baseball), NCAA Football 2004 (American football) and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (golf), just to name a few.
There are actually quite a lot of good sports games out there for different types of devices other than the N-Gage. You just gotta know which ones they are – luckily you have me as your guide, eh?
Palm
If you’re a fan of American football, you should know who John Madden is. There have been many releases under the Madden NFL series for various console platforms, and now it’s available for the Palm PDA. Madden NFL 2005 is the latest instalment and it features a complete update of all NFL teams, their team logos as well as player rosters. But when compared to its console brethrens, the Palm version lacks addictiveness and the graphics aren’t all that hot. Still, it’s one of the better sports games on a Palm device.
Pocket PC
Just when you thought Pocket PC games couldn’t get any better, out comes a game that will virtually bowl you over. At first glance, Bowling Master looks like your average bowling game. I thought so too, but after a few minutes of playing turned into hours, I realised I had a real winner in my hands.
I really dig the clean graphics and realistic aesthetics, but it’s the quirky animation that tickles my funny bone. Try missing any pins and you’ll understand exactly what I mean. If you have Bluetooth, you can even challenge a friend to a one-on-one match. But even if you aren’t into challenging others, just play the single player campaign mode and you’ll still have hours of fun.
Symbian
One of the more innovative games to come along for the Symbian Series 60 platform is Boxing Maniac. Instead of the usual 2D side-scrolling fighting simulation that we’re used to, this game offers a first-person view of your opponent, with only a pair of boxing gloved-hands in front of you.
Your opponent fills up almost the entire display menacingly (facing you) and it’s your job to take him down. The graphics and animation are out of this world. Unfortunately, this game suffers from repetitive gameplay with no variations whatsoever. Once the game is over, you’ll be shown your scores and be brought back to the game’s main menu – whether you win or lose. The other downside to this game is the lack of Bluetooth multiplayer option.
But if you like boxing anyway, knock yourselves out with Boxing Maniac. Anybody care to bowl instead?
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