Most of my selections this time around are puzzle games. Over the past couple of months, innovative titles like Concentrix, nCircle, and Lejjo have been released. These three titles offer interesting new ideas and, as far as I know, were created from scratch for the Pocket PC. Other games, such as Dynomite and Word Mojo, are based on older ideas. They’re well-crafted and avoid being cliché.
Concentrix (A)
Think of Concentrix as Tetris played inside a giant circle, where you match arc-shaped pieces as they fall from the center to the outer edge. The game’s eight variations: Ringtrix, Radtrix, Cooltrix, Blocktrix, Tetrix, Dr. Trix, TriTrix, and RainTrix, offer a good amount of variety and different game pieces. The graphics are very polished, with good color balance and shading. The game also features good sound effects and music— something most Tetris clones lack. Concentrix is a good effort that delivers a freshness rarely seen in current puzzle games.
Concentrix is a unique Tetris-like game in a circular environment.
For more information on this game, visit the Scalene Software Web site (http://www.scalenesoftware.com). Concentrix supports iPAQs running Pocket PC 2000 as well as Pocket PC 2002 and 2003 devices. A free demo is available, and the full version can be purchased for $9.95.
Dynomite (A-)
Based on Puzzle Bobble, Dynomite is a puzzle game with a dinosaur theme. You launch eggs at the screen in order to make matching pairs and remove them. Two game modes (“Stomped,” which is level based, and “Endless,” which runs continuously) are offered along with three difficulty modes (normal, easy, and hard). The dinosaur theme seems to work well for the game, and there are plenty of power-ups and score multipliers (bonuses which “multiply” your score) to keep the game from getting monotonous. The game uses the “Aurora Sound System,” which seems to improve the audio output a bit, although it requires an ARM processor to function properly. The game runs very smoothly, although I did notice some brief slowdowns. The “Endless” mode (the group of eggs comes down continuously from the top of the screen) runs a bit too quickly, but it’s still a good effort.
Dynomite is an outstanding rendition of Puzzle Bobble.
For more information on this game, visit the Astraware Web site (http://www.astraware.com/ppc/default/dynomite?skucode=0052-053-0053). Dynomite supports all Pocket PCs. A free demo is available, and the full version can be purchased for $17.95
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