When starting up the game for the first time, only one game mode is available. It involves finding landmarks on a map:

Some landmarks must be targeted twice, the second time at higher accuracy:

After having answered a few questions, a “score” is computed. The score must be over an arbitrary limit to pass the level and continue with the next one – if you fail one level, the game is over.

If you manage to score enough points in a sequence (the limit is arbitrary), new game modes are unlocked as time goes by:

Scores are visualized in a pretty weird way:

Travel Genius supports a variety of languages:

Sound-wise, Travel Genius impresses with a few exploration-themed tracks of decent quality!

This review looked at version 1.0 of Travel Genius on a Treo 680 and a Palm Centro. While exceptionally stable, the game was slow to load and used loads of memory (about 3600k). It furthermore had issues with the REM sleep feature of the Treo and Centro – turning the device off while the game runs does not stop the background music (and drains the battery fast).

In the end, Travel Genius manages to impress both casual and hardcore gamers. If you feel like sprucing up your geography skills, get this game – the price of 16$ is justified.

AstraWare’s initial InsaniQuarium turned out to become a smash hit and a true evergreen. The company thus released an update called InsaniQuarium Deluxe – is aquarium management still as much fun as it was back in 2002?

The game’s core idea involves the management of an aquarium. However, fish drop coins instead of waste…collecting the coins then makes you richer.

Fish must be fed. Feeding a fish for some time makes it grow:

The bigger a fish becomes, the more coins it drops. Earned money can then be invested into food upgrades, laser power or new fish. The three images below show the food getting upgraded:

One new feature found in DeLuxe is an auto-tapper that eventually gets unlocked as you purchase upgrades. It allows you to tap-and-hold instead of having to tap the screen multiple times:

Unfortunately, aliens prey on the inhabitants of your aquarium. The various types of alien have its own strengths and weaknesses…while some can be killed with lasers, others must be overfed:

Due to various additions like carnivores and star catchers, elaborate economies can be constructed. In such aquariums, few fish feed other animals which then generate precious diamonds:

The “hard cap” on population size found in the original InsaniQuarium has been lifted. Instead, the game limits the amount of inhabitants by stuttering graphics and starvation…there is a point where food cannot be dropped fast enough to keep all inhabitants alive:

The final goal of the game is the unlocking of so-called pets. Pets hatch from eggs that must be purchased for ever-rising prices, and can then perform a variety of helpful things:

This review looked at version 1.0 of the game on a Treo 680. It needs about 3500KB of RAM. Stability-wise, the game was decent…it didn’t crash, but sometimes had issues with the recognition of on-screen taps. Nevertheless, it remained playable at all times. The start-up time of about 7 seconds was annoying, but bearable…

In the end, InsaniQuarium is an excellent game even with the technical issues found in version 1.0. Even though the deluxe version adds nothing worth noting, it remains a very addicting piece of software. All gamers who don’t own its predecessor are hereas officially encouraged to download the free 30min trial of the game…and should expect to pay the 20$ required for the full version(don’t forget our InsaniQuarium deluxe discount code SEASOFTAM).

As usual, the game supports a variety of race modes – some of them can take up to an hour to finish:

Three car types are available – unfortunately, the cars specifications are static and can’t be changed as races proceed(no upgrading here):

The tracks are set up in sixteen locations all across the world. Each difficulty level modifies the track layout(and, amusingly, changes the ambiance) – the shots below show a few track samples:

AstraWare populated the tracks with a few occasional trees, tunnels…and that’s it. For a 2007 game, the tracks appear literally dead most of the time…

Finally, it’s possible to get the car thoroughly stuck into the terrain – if that happens, the game must be restarted:

After starting to play GTS:WR on my Treo, I was shocked to find myself unable to control the car. The steering reacted incredibly slowly – luckily, this can be fixed by increasing the sensitivity in the prefs. People wanting to use mechanical transmission are out of luck: even though the game seems to support this, you cannot assign buttons to change the gear(which leaves your car in 1st all the time). Getting out of the game on a Treo requires use of the menu – the launcher key is disabled…

The game’s sound effects are horribly annoying and essentially consist of high-pitched humming that barely resembels a car’s motor – IMHO, they are the worst ever in a handheld racing game. As for background music: sorry, no such luck either.

GTS World Racing is a decent game that – unfortunately – has been left behind by the evolution of racing games on other platforms. The tracks are plentiful, but the game’s action is sterile compared to other racers(things like nitros, car upgrades, cops, damage models… apparently don’t exist in Pazzaz Village). AstraWare usually manages to get at least the controls right: unfortunately, GTS World Racing is the exception to the rule. Cutting a long story short: fingers off until a significant update is released…

P.S. In case anyone of you is looking for a REAL racing game and happens to own a S60 phone: give Steve Townsend’s racer a pop. Its one of the best games on the market IMHO….

The game is organized into levels; each of these contains a few areas:

Each area contains primary and secondary targets – while secondary targets can usually be taken apart with a single shot, primary targets can take quite a beating(and have cool damage textures):

There is a huge variety of primary and secondary targets – players will definitely not get bored with this game:

At the end of each area, a ‘tally’ is made and bonus points are awarded:

Platypus’s power-up system unfortunately isn’t based on money – instead, special waves of enemies drop colored stars that provide approximately 30secs worth of one of four advanced weapons. Unfortunately, the timer starts to tick immediately after the object is picked up and keeps running even when you shoot – not exactly amusing for a shooter pro:

Some bonuses can be shot. Weapon stars sometimes change their color under fire; bonus fruits break up to provide more points(but are more difficult to catch):

The graphics are comic-like, but provide an amazing amount of details in some scenarios. Volcanoes in the background erupt, ships fly along…someone spent a lot of time tinkering with this:

This review looked at version of Platypus on a Treo 680. The game was exceptionally stable in the reviewing period, although the Treo powered off a few times while the game was running. Platypus needs 4MB of RAM, but can be run off an external memory card.

In the end, Platypus definitely isn’t an epochal work that changes the face of the shooter genre forever. However, it nevertheless is an excellent game that will surely make all shooter freaks very happy. Some tactical subtleties like bonuses that transform when shot add tactical depth – as for the comic graphics…these are a love-or-hate thing. If you love sidescrollers, definitely get this 20$ game in the TamsShop!

Several years ago, we developed many of our great titles for the Palm OS platform. However, in February of 2007 the decision to stop development for the Palm platform was made and our products were then discontinued.

Until now, all of these titles were only available to customers who had purchased the games in the past. Due to an incredibly high demand, we have now released all of our past Palm titles for FREE!

Catch the details and download the games for Free here on PDAMills website.

Thanks to Magellan at Brighthand for the tip.

The game contains three different campaigns, containing a bunch of missions each:

All missions begin in a terrain map similar to Command&Conquer’s – the map displays the squares currently under combat. A quick tap begins your mission:

The tank can either be controlled with the 5way or via softkeys on the screen:

Terrains can be viewed from the top and in a 3d perspective; enemy tanks are rendered in impressive 3d:

Once you actually start driving around, the engine starts to ‘redraw’ the terrain whenever you leave a ’tile’. Since each redraw changes the view angle(and field of visibility), not loosing control is almost impossible. The 1-2sec lags don’t really help the game either:

Even though the developer took an insane effort attempting to create realistic graphics and varying terrain types, the gameplay is lackluster. Most of the time is spent looking for tanks – fighting them is rare:

This review looked at version 1.0 of the game on a Treo 680. Tank Ace needs approx. 750KB of memory and was stable in the testing period.

In the end, Tank Ace delivers its promise of 3d graphics – but at a high price. Finding enemy tanks is extremely hard(radar, anyone). The permanent ‘engine redraws’ happen at the worst possible moments(e.g. in a battle) – furtherly draining the already boring gameplay of fun. The company definitely tried hard – but Tank Ace is one of these games that should be avoided by all non-freaks…

Gameplay

The gameplay is set in the old Wild West where you visit different places, talk to different people, and take part in interesting quests.

Right off the bat I could see Westward has great graphics, and since playing the game for a while, my opinion hasn’t changed. They are really top-notch, keeping with the rest of Astrawares games.

When you start a game for the first time, it guides you through an interactive tutorial. I was always a big fan of interactive tutorials, and this one is implemented perfectly. It doesn’t totally explain everything (like what all the buttons do), but it nudges you in the right direction.

Story

Westward has a pretty good background story that is interthreaded throughout the game (but I won’t tell you what it is!) You land in your first town after the tutorial scene called “Hope River”. It is pretty easy to get established in this new town as raw resources are very abundant (Trees for Wood, Gold Veins, ect). After you get set up in this town, the game will present you with side-quests. In the beginning, these quests teach you how to do new things that you will need to know in the future (put out Fires, build Bridges, ect.). But I assure you, later in the game these side-quests become very interesting.

Soon you will leave this first town and travel to new ones. It seems that the further you get in the game the harder it is to succeed, and I really think Astraware did a great job with this aspect. It is not so hard where you put the game down in frustration, but not so easy as you walk right through it. You will find yourself saving the game at different intervals quite frequently as you progress further in Westward.

User Interaction

As with all Applications for the Palm OS, there are two ways to control Westward; Using the touchscreen or hard buttons. It seems that Astraware has really tried to have the game controlled totally with either method of input. And they’ve been pretty much successful. I prefer using the hard buttons to control games – even though there are only 4 buttons plus the 5-way navigator on my Palm TX. But with some things, I still had to pull out the stylus. For example, I could never get the hang of multi-selecting a group of people with the buttons, and I don’t think there is any way to reform a drunk with using just hard-buttons. I noticed Astraware makes no use of the other buttons, only the five-way, and I think they could be put to use to make the stylus totally unnecessary. All in all though, the interface is very nice, and once you understand what all the on-screen buttons do, it is very intuitive.

Issues

One of the things I noticed was that the game takes a very long time to load on my Palm TX. Although the seemingly endless amount of tips that are displayed during loading help to offset this, it was still a little bothersome. I’m usually the type of game player that plays for 10 minutes, then comes back to it in a little while, so this was especially noticeable.

One of my other little issues with Westward, was it is a little hard to see some of the intricate details at times. I often found myself squinting to see it in bright lighting conditions. I had no trouble with subdued lighting, but it might be something to consider and make sure is fine for you (there is a free trial available).

Conclusion

All in all I really enjoyed Westward, and this coming from a person who usually doesn’t play games on my handheld device – or anywhere else for that matter. I felt that the great gameplay, graphics, subject, and overall experience certainly outweighed the couple issues I found with it. Credit to Astraware for another quality game.

Westward retails for $20, and can be purchased at the TamsPalm Shop. A free trial is also available.

On the main screen you have the possibility to choose between the game modes “Create Track” and “Puzzle” mode, you can connect to the internet for sharing your tracks, open a help screen and access the settings.

In “Create Mode” you can design your own tracks without limitations. In the design window you can find a toolbar at the top of the screen with the following elements (from left to right):
Undo – Drawing Tools – Line Tools – Erase – Zoom – Hand – Play.
At the bottom you can see how many lines are used in the current track. Via “Menu” you can open a menu for saving, loading, deleting etc.

Drawing Tools:
Here you have the possibility to choose between straight line, freehand and curve. In straight line mode you can draw a line by selecting start and ending point – LineRider draws a line between the two points automatically.

Freehand:
This mode allows you to draw a line right how your stylus moves.
Curve:
In curve mode you can click a straight line and it will automatically deform.

LineTools:
Via LineTools you can define how your lines behave:

Normal:
This line has no influence on the sledge.

Acceleration:
This line accelerates the sledge to the right side of the screen.

Reverse Acceleration:
When the sledge comes on this line it will accelerate into the other direction (left side of the screen).

Deceleration:
The sledge gets slower here

Finish Line:
This line slows the sledge down very fast.

In addition there are several other line types which are only for cosmetic purpose:
You can draw lines which do not affect the sledge. They can be placed behind or before the regular track lines. But there are special lines which can be placed on the track so that the sledge can crash into them and destroy them.

All lines are displayed in an other color so that one can identify them easily.

If a line is misplaced you can remove it by using the rubber.

–

By pressing “Play” the sledge starts to move and to solve the track. Now you can see if your track is ‘good’ – the the sledge will pass it without crashing – otherwise you should correct the track .

This was the ‘freestyle game mode’.

In puzzle mode you will get a track which is not completed. You now have to add lines in order to make the track playable. In addition you can find red flags which all have to be destroyed by the sledge.

These game modes are available in offline mode.
But LineRider has got an online mode, too.
You can access it by tapping on “Shared Tracks” in main menu. After getting online you have the ability to publish your own tracks and to download other ones tracks which were published by them.

You even can rate online tracks.

I’ve tried the game on a Palm TX: it runs quite good. The game is stable – I experienced no crashes or similar. You can really get addicted by it.
Anyways I found two things which are disturbing the good image of the game:
At first, the game only runs in 320*320 resolution mode on a 320*480 display. The missing space could be very useful for the track designer window.
The second thing is the processor speed: I had to overclock the CPU up to 520 MHz until the game stopped lagging but it is playable without modification, too.

You can try LineRider yourself – a demonstration is available via clickgamer.com.
The full version costs 10,21 € ($14.95).

Download and buy via clickgamer.com:
http://clickgamer.com/moreinfo.htm?pid=14559&section=PALM

PS: Merry Christmas!

AcidSolitaire looks impressive, as Red Mercury’s engine does an excellent job at rendering card games. Cards and texts fly across the screen:

Various backgrounds can be selected to customize the game’s look – you can even use your own jpg files as background images:

Completing a game grants you access to detailed statistics about the game – you can use these to improve your Solitaire skills:

Last but not least, AcidSolitaire can indicate when you are close to loosing a game – it can even detect lost games:

Various options allow you to make the game suit your taste ideally…for example, the number of undo steps can be limited or the amount of cards dealt increased:

Red Mercury integrated a load of options that reduce the amount of pen taps needed. For example, aces are moved to their place at the top automatically…

This review looked at version 4.03 of the program on a Palm Treo 680. The game needs about 500k of memory and was stable in the reviewing period.

Cutting a long story short, AcidSolitaire is an excellent and cool-looking implementation of classic solitaire for Palm OS. The game’s old age has ironed out flaws and UI quirks, and the permanent maintenance has added loads of impressive features lacked by its competitors. If you consider yourself a Solitaire freak, consider investing 15$ in the TamsShop…

Here are a few pictures of BallZ – JezzBall for Palm OS:

Compared to the last public beta, the program is now much more stable, faster and contains background music and sound effects.

The version linked below is the “final” version – I am not aware of any more bugs in it. Should you manage to find one, please send an email to Tamog@gmx.at and receive a free license.

BallZ will cost 15$ when released(in approx. 2 weeks) – meanwhile, it can be purchased for just 9$ in the TamsShop:
http://www.mobihand.com/tamspalm/product.asp?id=11789

Download:
http://tamoggemon.com/pr/2007/ballzpb/BallZ.prc

I hope that you have as much fun playing BallZ as I had creating it…

/me is off to work on the next program(hint-hint…another game is coming)