Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Review Conditions

BallZ from Tamoggemon was installed  on a Nokia 5800 XPressMusic, an S60 5th edition device running Qt and Symbian OS 9.4. Qt is a is a cross-platform application framework. Using Qt, one can write applications once and deploy them across many desktop and embedded operating systems without rewriting the source code.

Installation

Installation is simply via the Nokia Application Installer available in the Nokia PC Suite. Alternatively, you can copy the installer into your mobile phone and open it to begin the installation. The installer performs a one time download of Qt components from the web. Therefore you need to keep the mobile connected to the web, preferably WiFi.

First View

BallZ is based on the classic video game, JezzBall which was programmed by Dima Pavlovsky, in 1992 as part of Microsoft Entertainment Pack. Despite Microsoft withdrawing support in 1996, the game has a loyal fan base even today. Read on to find out if the Symbian version of this famous game, running on Qt still engages us, in the era of multiplayer online extravaganzas.

Game Play

BallZ is a game in which which two balls, referred to as atoms, bounce about a rectangular field of play, or room. The player advances to the next level (with correspondingly higher numbers of atoms and lives) by containing the atoms in progressively smaller spaces, until at least 75% of the area is blocked off.

The purpose of the game is to contain the atoms within a room at most 25% the size of the initial room. You can create walls to contain atoms in smaller and smaller rooms. The walls can be created vertically or horizontally as the situation demands and you must tap at the bottom right of the screen to change the growing direction of the wall.

When a room is made that contains no atoms, the room disappears. The amount of black on the screen is displayed as a percentage, and when this percentage reaches 75% or more, the level is won and play proceeds to the next level. The first level has two atoms, and each subsequent level has an additional atom. BallZ has 30 exciting levels.

If the wall is being constructed at the ball hits the wall before its completed, you lose a life. You get new lives as you progress to the next level. If all lives are lost, you have to start all over again.

BallZ does not let you construct another wall until the first one is completed but you can change the direction of the next wall that you are going to construct and be better prepared. That’s a tip worth remembering.

As the levels go higher, the number of balls you are confronted with is higher and the game gets further complicated.  The speed of the balls increases but to your advantage, the walls are constructed faster.

In the first level, the wall grows agonizingly slowly but you will eventually your pace to the speed at which the wall grows.

Graphics and Animation

BallZ has just adequate graphics and animation. Its designed to be very similar to the classic game and it shows.

Music Score and Sound Effects

The game has background music built in, which can be disabled to, if you are playing at your work place There is no configurable background music available. As always, you can play your own music in the background as you play BallZ. That reminds me about all the news that Apple iOS 4 created when it enabled multitasking so that background applications can be played, including music. This feature has been in Symbian for ages that we simply fail to appreciate it.

Interface

As you tap the screen to start a new game or for other options, a graph trail follows your touch on the screen, almost guiding you to touch the right spot on the screen. That’s a unique design and I have never seen it anywhere before.

Weaknesses

I didn’t find any weaknesses in the game itself. The levels could have been timed, to make it more competitive and more engrossing, making the player come back and find ways to beat the clock and his previous best.

Conclusion

BallZ can be downloaded at the Ovi Store. The biggest positive I see from this game is that its based on Qt, Nokia’s new cross platform application and UI Framework. Qt has performed admirably well on the Nokia 5800, which is grossly underpowered, in terms of both the CPU and RAM. All my misgivings about Qt, becoming a resource hog were misplaced. I am highly optimistic about Qt running on Symbian^3 devices in future.

BallZ is a Must Have and I’ll give it 5 of 5.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Review Conditions

SPB Quads was installed on two devices, a Nokia 5800 XPressMusic, an S60 5th edition device with Symbian OS 9.4.

Installation

Installation is simply via the Nokia Application Installer available in the Nokia PC Suite.

First View

Realizing the potential of the Quadronica, which is one of the brain training modules in SPB Brain Evolution, SPB has created an entire new game SPB Quads, based on the same theme. Lets check it out.

Game Play

SPB Quads is a classic arcade game, with multiple levels, that rapidly increase in complexity.

The entire screen is filled with 600 tiny cubes of various colors. The objective of the game is simple – collapse rectangles with four corner cubes of the same color and gain points. You get more points if you collapse larger rectangles. When you are racing against time to collapse as many rectangles as possible before the countdown completes, the adrenalin increases to great levels and it makes for addictive gaming.

Bonus points can be gained with six different types of bonuses – Item Freeze, Atom Bomb, X2, Dynamite, Time Freeze and Eye bonus.

The game offers two modes – Ever Mode which is the endless strategic and Time Mode which is time limited.

Rectangles can be collapsed by touching the opposite corner cubes or 3 out of the 4 corners.

Graphics and Animation

Quads comes with great animation. The cubes on the game screen have a three dimensional effect and the rectangles collapse with a blast towards the bottom of the screen. The bonuses are all animated to attracted. If you don’t pick a rectangle for a few seconds, Quads help you by pointing to a rectangle.

Music Score and Sound Effects

Pulsating music plays in the background as game sound effects for collapsed rectangles and bonus points add to the overall sound effect. There is no complaining in this department.

Interface

Here’s another example of how the menu driven UI model of S60 can be avoided to create an excellent user experience and navigation. I thoroughly enjoyed playing SPB Quads.

The game is both finger friendly and stylus friendly. I had no problems using both forms of input.

The interface to enter your name gives a weird keyboard that makes you search for various alphabets and numbers. It could have been the qwerty keyboard for ease of use and familiarity.

Publishing scores online

The curiosity of finding out how good you are, not just among your friends but anyone who has played SPQ Quads, on any platform, all over the world cannot be avoided. SPB maintains a database with all the highest scores where you can check and publish your scores. There are quite a few maniacs out there with scores that are phenomenal.

Weaknesses

SPB Quads doesn’t allow multiple logins to be created. When you finish playing, you can pick a user name and upload the highest score. It would have been great if you can set a user name before you begin and have multiple use names.

Conclusion

With uncomplicated but engaging game play SPB Quads is good stuff and I’ll give it 4 of 5. SPB Quads can be downloaded here for $9.95.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Mini Review

We recently reviewed a music application from Impetus. Here is another one. JalTarang is an ancient Indian musical instrument. Literally Jaltarang means “waves in water” indicating motion of sound created with the aid of water. Bowls made of China numbering around sixteen are normally used. Bowls for notes of lower octave are large while those for notes of higher octaves are smaller in size. Water is poured into the bowls and the pitch is changed by adjusting the volume of water. The number of bowls depends on the melody being played. The JalTarang from Impetus Technologies was installed on a Nokia 5800 XPressMusic, an S60 5th edition device with Symbian OS version 9.4.

The JalTarang uses 7 bowls of increasing size. Each bowl has a different sound.  The application’s response is very similar to the Drummer application. I noticed only a very minor lag between a tap on a bowl and the actual sound.

A tap on a bowl animates it giving a  visual feedback that the instrument has been touched.

A pre-recorded sound clip is available that is animated with a baton tapping the bowls in sync with the music played. You can also record your own music and play it back. But the recording cannot be saved for later use.

Download

JalTarang is available in the Ovi store. You can get the URL via SMS to your mobile to download it. The Ovi store application automatically installs the application after purchase.

Conclusion

JalTarang is a fun application to play with and a nice way to kill time. JalTarang is worth a look and I’ll give it 3 of 5.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Review Conditions

Drummer from Impetus Technologies was installed on a Nokia 5800 XPressMusic, an S60 5th edition device with Symbian OS version 9.4.

Installation

Drummer is available in the Ovi store and you can get a URL via SMS to download it. The Ovi store application automatically installs the application after purchase.

First View

The potential of a handheld touch screen device is enormous. Developers come up innovative designs to use the touch screen. Music applications on the Nokia 5800 is one such innovation that is of high entertainment value. Read on.

Main Review

The Drummer is a simple application that contains a Drum Set or Drum Kit with seven components, a Bass Drum, two Toms, a Floor Tom, a Snare Drum and two cymbals, one Crash Cymbal and one Hi-Hat Cymbal. This is a standard collection of drum kit components that are used in Rock and Jazz music.

The application is quite responsive and I only noticed a very minor lag between a tap on a drum and the actual sound. But the application is not able respond fast enough to the speed of thumbs. If I went fast with my thumbs, the application misses a few beats. Of course, I never expect it to respond to the speed of my wrists with drum sticks on real drums.

A tap on a drum or a cymbal animates it giving a  visual feedback that the instrument has been touched. The Hi-Hat and the Crash Cymbals also animate when touched.

The Drummer application has a Record and Play option using which you can record a music. A pre-recorded piece of music is also available that demonstrates the capabilities of Drummer.

Handling

Drummer is very simple and easy to use.

Weaknesses

Responsiveness to taps could be improved.

Conclusion

Drummer is a fun application to play with and a nice way to kill time. Its more of a demonstration of the capabilities of touch screen phones. Even Nokia introduced free music applications including a drummer when the Nokia 5800 XPress Music was introduced. Drummer is worth a look and I’ll give it 3 of 5. Download Drummer at the Ovi Store.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Review Conditions

Crack It from Impetus Technologies was installed on a Nokia 5800 XPressMusic, an S60 5th edition device with Symbian OS version 9.4 and a Nokia E71, an S60 3rd edition device with Symbian OS 9.3.

Installation

Crack It is available in the Ovi store and you can get a URL via SMS to download it. The Ovi store application automatically installs the application after purchase.

First View

You have purchased a shiny new touch screen device which is the object of attraction for all people around you. Wouldn’t it be a great practical joke for the screen to crack just when a friend touches the screen? Imagine the incredulous look on his face while your friends are rolling in laughter. Read on.

Main Review

Crack It as the name suggests is a prankster’s favorite application. Launch the application and set a delay timer to activate the screen crack.

Hand over your phone to a friend and ask him to check out a new photo or video. When he touches the screen, he will be greeted with a loud noise of glass shattering and a broken screen.

You can select from 6 different pre-recorded sounds of glass shattering. There are 3 simple soft keys in the Set Sound menu. They are to select, play or delete the sound.

The delay time is also configurable. Instead of writing the seconds using the keypad, it could have been easier to just set a few pre-defined default intervals, say 5, 10, 15 and 20 seconds.

You can also record a sound. The Record Sound menu takes you to the voice recorder and you could break a few bottles or mirrors to record live sound.

New images can be added that show on the screen when Crack It plays the glass shattering sound. But the images built in are quite realistic and I’ll go with them.

Crack It also works on S60 3rd edition devices. I installed it on a Nokia E71. The application works exactly the same as in S60 5th edition devices.

Handling

Setup is very simple. In fact, all you need to do after launching the application is to select the Crack It soft menu on the lower right. The default delay time is 10 seconds and the default sound is Crack It 1.mp3.

Weaknesses

There are no weaknesses. The impact of Crack It would have been even stronger if the Nokia 5800’s screen was made of glass.

Conclusion

Crack It from Impetus Technologies is a simple entertainment application that creates maximum shock value and a good laugh. Enjoy it. Its good funny stuff and I’ll give it 4 of 5.

Review Conditions

Starts With WordSearch from ZingMagic was installed on a Nokia E71, an S60 3rd edition, FP1 device.

Installation

Starts with WordSearch Its available in the Ovi Store. I picked it for the 3rd edition FP1 device. The Ovi Store sends the download link to the mobile for download of the application.

First View

Starts With WordSearch is one of the many board games from ZingMagic found on Ovi Store. Lets see how it is.

Main Review

Starts With WordSearch has just one game play – locate words in a grid of letters. There are 20 categories, which means there are 20 different sets of words, starting with various alphabets. Your skill is measured by how quickly you can find all the words in the grid. There is a timer that measures time taken to complete the grid.

There are 3 levels, Hard, Medium and Easy. In the Hard level, words can be formed backwards, left to right and right or left diagonal across the board. In easier levels, words are arranged simply from top to bottom or left to right.

The grid sizes can be Small, Medium and Large. I prefer the Small grid because it fits well to my screen. The Large grid makes the letters too small and its not very easy on the eyes.

When you find a word, select the first letter and just move the D-Pad left or right for each letter in the word. For e.g. even if the word is constructed downward-right-diagonally, a right press on the D-Pad will move it down right-diagonal.

Statistics give you feedback on your progress. Basically you play against yourself and improve the time in finding all words in the grid.

Handling

It took me a while to find out that the next letter in the word should not be pressed by I should just scroll down using the D-Pad until the word is complete. There is no help to guide the player.

Weaknesses

The only problem I found was that if I made a mistake, like pressing two letters one after the other, there is no turning back. I might as well abandon the game and start over. Would have been nice to just add a minute for a mistake and let me undo the mistake and complete the game.

Conclusion

Starts With WordSearch is an engaging game and improves your vocabulary. Its free on the Ovi Store and is a teaser for similar premium games from ZingMagic like Word Search Nature, Word Search Geography, Word Search Hobbies, Word Search Food & Drink, Word Search Deluxe, Word Search Alphabet. They are all priced at 2-3 Euros and are good time pass, as they say. I’ll give it 3 of 5.

Review Conditions

Snake Deluxe from Crazysoft was installed on a Nokia E71, an S60 3rd edition FP1 device.

Installation

Installation of the .sisx file is straightforward, using the Nokia Application Installer in the Nokia PC Suite.

First View

I have been a huge fan of the snake game on the Nokia 3360 which was one of my first mobiles. Since then, I have not played the Snake game, until recently, when it was introduced in Gmail as the old Snakey! When I got a copy of Snake Deluxe 2 I was eager to see if I will still be fascinated with this simple yet immensely popular game.

Main Review

Snake Deluxe 2 doesn’t deviate from the usual game play of the snake eating the fruit and getting longer and moving faster as the game progresses. Your challenge is still to make snakey eat the most number fruits, thereby gaining points before the snake becomes too long for you to manage. But the creators of Snake Deluxe have added many new features and extra game plays that make it very interesting.

There are 3 modes, Easy, Hard and Adventure. While the Easy and the Hard modes are for primarily for honing your skills, only the Adventure mode lets you complete levels, unlock further levels and areas and eventually ‘finish’ the game.

There are 4 different ‘areas’, [forest, countryside, swamp and frozen land] each having 8 levels. In the Adventure mode, only one area is unlocked when you begin to play. The 8th level in each area is called the Boss level, which when completed lets you open the next area.

You can pick any level you want to play in a area when unlocked. This way, I got a flavor of the various levels enjoyed playing in a variety of terrains, against different obstacles.

You cannot just make snakey loiter around without eating a fruit. There is a clock that counts down to zero before which the snake must eat the next fruit. But I was surprised to see that you still get to accumulate points (fewer) even if you do not eat a fruit. Sometimes a clock appears on the screen, which if eaten extends the count down time.

There is an information bar at the bottom of the the screen. The number of lives left are shown as small red dots over the points. The snake gets an additional life if you eat the heart, increases in size and speed when it eats the meat and reduces size when it gulps down the soda. This is especially useful when the snake gets too long to manage.

A pleasant background music plays while you play the game. The game can be abandoned half way and you loose the score. But levels that you have completed still stay. However, if the snake dies, all the completed levels are lost and you have to start again.

Handling

It seemed to me that Snake Deluxe 2 was primarily developed for S60 5th Edition and then ported onto the 3rd edition. There could have been more uniformity in the user interface.

It took me a while to find out how to access the the exit menu on the main screen and the exit menus on some of the initial screens. Some menus can be activated using numbers while some by selection using the OK button.

I tried closing the application using the top right menu in the play and it threw the application into an indeterminate state where it couldn’t be used. I got the message “time’s up” all the time and all levels were locked. In another instance after exiting the application and opening it again, the level was completed and all locations were opened up. And the language had changed!The only way was for me to remove and reinstall Snake Deluxe 2 again. But it worked after some time. There is something to be fixed, surely.

Weaknesses

I would have liked to see Multiple profiles. This was sorely missing.

Conclusion

Even after several years, the snake game is very addictive. When interesting features and challenges, Snake Deluxe 2 kept me indoors for many hours last weekend playing at it. The game is very challenging yet engaging enough to keep you going till all the 32 levels are completed. Its good stuff and I would give it 4 of 5. Snake Deluxe 2 can be downloaded here for trial or purchase.

Review Conditions

SPB Brain Evolution was installed on a Nokia E71, an S60 3rd edition FP1 device.

Installation

Installation of the .sis file is straightforward, using the Nokia Application Installer in the Nokia PC Suite.

First View

Its not often that we get the rude shock of being reminded that we actually are not as smart as we think we are? SPB Brain Evolution lets you know that and also helps you get better with this engaging game. On the way, you can learn some interesting facts of the world too. Read on.

Main Review

Brain Marking

To begin with, Brain Evolution will evaluate or ‘mark’ your brain skills using a few games and show a progress chart that ranges from school boy to PhD.  You have to go through 5 simple tests to set your brain status at a particular level. You can revisit the Brain Marking capsule and take the tests again to check how much you have improved with the training. The Marking History shows your progress and the number of times you have taken the test.

Brain Training

Then Brain Evolution trains your brain using 10 mini-games of memory, logic, arithmetic and puzzle-solving challengers which increase in difficulty levels. Not all of these mini-games are available for you to train from day one. Except 4 of them, all are locked. You can open them up for training once you raise your difficulty level in the unlocked games. Getting a high score raises your difficulty level and , it automatically opens up the new games.  The tough part is that there is a time penalty (for being slow) and you also lose points if you make mistakes. The mini-games care grouped under 3 different categories as:

1. Logic

• Sudoku – the usual, but with very little blank spaces; is easy but to score well, you need to solve this very fast;

• Quadronica – Find four corners of a square, all with the same colors – was a tough one for me; but am slowly getting the hang of it.

• Matches – haven’t unlocked it yet

2. Orientation and Pattern

• Minesweeper – haven’t unlocked it yet – must be the classic from Windows
• Balltracker – haven’t unlocked it yet
• Guess Who – haven’t unlocked it yet

3. Memory and Calculation

• Numbers – Tough to figure it out in the beginning but enjoyed it later on; was easy after playing it a few times;
• Memorics – Can’t understand what this word means You have to remember shapes on specific cells on a grid and its gets complicated when some of the the shapes are colored and animated; 

• Encyclopedia – haven’t unlocked it yet
• Arithmetic – simple addition and subtraction but you can make mistakes easily

The four games that are not locked are Arithmetic, Quadronica, Memorics and Sudoku. Brain Training limits training to only a few games a day. So if you play more games on the same day, the results of the games have no effect on the training process. This is probably designed to ensure that you don’t get through to a higher difficulty levels because of you intimate familiarity of the game because of playing it over and over on a single day but actually because your skill has improved over many days of practice.

At the end of training, you get game statistics and some cool facts. You could get a ‘Nobel Prize’ in Brain Marking and a ‘Training Complete’ certificate for completing Brain Training. You can also track the number of days you trained, (Training History) and check your improvements using Marking History.

Though Brain Evolution is not a multi-player game, many profiles are allowed. Thus you can let your friends and partners play the game and compare your skills and intelligence.

Handling

Brain Evolution has a simple and easy to use interface. But it looks so un-S60 like. It seems like you are running it on an emulator. Every menu can be activated using a number or the special character #.

Weaknesses

The application occupies a 5 MB of memory when its running. But with nearly 60 mega bytes of memory available at startup, this is not something to bother about. Exiting the application sometimes freezes the screen for a few seconds. More so when there are many applications open. The typical S60 look and feel isn’t there and this may put off a few people. But these are very minor issues and  I do not see them as weaknesses.

Conclusion

Its obvious that each mini-game by itself wouldn’t interest the average game-lover. But putting together many similar puzzle and logic games and creating a goal-oriented a game for improving the brain skills along with training plans, unlocking of games with improved skills, progress charts, etc make for a very engaging game play. Brain Evolution is a highly recommended. I’ll give it a 4 of 5. It can be downloaded for trail or purchased here.

We are delighted to announce the winners who get the license codes for LuckyCoins.

The two lucky winners who were chosen at random are given below:

1. kiyo21
2. MichaelS

Congratulations!! We will get in touch with you soon with the license codes.

We recently reviewed LuckyCoins from SBSH here at Best of Symbian. LuckyCoins is an addictive puzzle game with 25 challenging levels.

SBSH has offered two free license codes to our loyal readers. All you have to do is leave a comment here or the LuckyCoins review post. We will draw the winners randomly on Wednesday, 15th April. Only one entry counts per reader. Hurry!