Neverwinter Nights Mobile
JAMDAT

For some, Neverwinter Nights may be best remembered as one of the first 3D powered role playing titles from BioWare. For others, Neverwinter Nights was a multiplayer dungeon crawl hosted on AOL back when the online service was second to Compuserve. Neverwinter Nights Mobile, from JAMDAT, bears more resemblance to the latter. There are no 3D graphics here. There’s no open ended gameplay, multiplayer sessions or player-controlled DMs. Instead, Neverwinter Nights Mobile is more of a traditional single player role playing game.

Tradewinds
Astraware

Tradewinds is basically a remake of the original Tai Pan for Apple II, and a remake of Taipan v1.0.1 for Palm, originally written by Matt Bowen in 1999. While no direct link is implied (except the possibility of getting the title of “Tai Pan”), probably for copyright reasons, it is essentially what the game is, and if you played either of the two, you will feel immediately familiar with it, to the point of the goods that you can trade between ports being the same (General, Arms, Silk and drugs – called Opium before, and now called Dream Dust).

Where is it now?

Without a lot of competition, Neverwinter Nights Mobile is easily one of the deepest role playing titles you’ll come across in the wireless space. As a handheld game, it features far more environments than could possibly be fitted in a regular phone’s memory. Dungeons and Dragons fans will also be happy with the 3rd edition implementation and Forgotten Realms setting. And gamers used to console style role playing games will find more familiarity here than your typical PC role playing title.

Where is it now?

Astraware is a company known for its ingenuity when working with handheld titles. It's no surprise that Tradewinds won our Gamer's Choice Award. Further accolades and a long life on people's handhelds is something we'd expect to see. It makes things even easier that it’s available for Palm and Pocket PC – covering everybody with a handheld device.

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Buy from JAMDAT: Wireless

Flux Challenge
PDAmill

Flux Challenge is a fast-paced racer for the Pocket PC, with a bit of an original concept: you race ships in a zero-grav environment and your goal is to come first. This isn’t an earth-shattering game that will make you flip and run out and buy a Pocket PC device, but it’s certainly a very good, solid game.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Gameloft

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is the follow up to Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. It takes up the story where the predecessor left of – a few years after the Prince has escaped the sands of time. But in overcoming that ordeal, he now has changed his destiny where the Empress of Time continues to hunt him down and a large evil army is also chasing him. Using newfound abilities, including time shifting, the prince will have to overcome insidious traps, sword wielding enemies, and perilous treks through ancient palaces.

Where is it now?

Certainly, the Pocket PC is known as one of the more advanced handheld platforms out there. For any such platform, there's always a need for games with showy graphics and great special effects. Flux Challenge fulfills that void and does to the Pocket PC what Wipeout did for the Playstation.

Where will it go?

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time gave a pretty enjoyable experience – the graphics were smooth, the gameplay was fun and it brought back old memories of the eastern prince and his adventures. Warrior Within will prove to be a great way to spend time (and battery) on the bus, train, or whatever public transportation you use.

Related articles: Review
Buy from PDAmill: Pocket PC

Street Duel: Underground Racing
Pixelogic

Street Duel’s gameplay is composed of thirty two races and challenges that you must complete in order. Some of the missions involve racing against other opponents. Some are twists on the race in that you need to shadow someone. And some challenges are included for fun’s sake, like knocking over pylons or passing through checkpoints against time. These missions are loosely tied together with the character of Jack; the driver you assume the role of.

Complex
Pocketeer

The objective of the game is to collect all the gold rings on the map. However, each map is also filled with movable obstacles that you’ll have to shift around to get to these difficult positions. There are instances where you can trap yourself and shift things around so that you can’t finish the level. In those hopeless situations, gamers will find the undo button to be a boon.

Where is it now?

Street Duel: Underground Racing comes from developers who cut their teeth in Playstation titles. On any other platform, Street Duel would come across as your run of the mill action driving title. It takes place with a behind the vehicle view. But on the Pocket PC, it is a novel fully 3D driving title with modeled vehicles and physics. All in all, those who enjoy arcade racing titles will find a lot to like in Street Duel. Pixelogic’s experience with console racers definitely rings true in this title.

Where is it now?

Visually, Complex has its own unique look and feel. The use of bright colors may seem out of place in any other game. But it doesn’t here. Complex’s visuals are well developed with its own sense of style. At a price of only $6.00 US, you almost can’t go wrong with Complex. Deciding to buy the game is the simplest decision you could make.

Related articles: Review
Buy from Pixelogic: Pocket PC