I haven't done one of these for a while so here's a look at a few Java titles due out over the next few weeks. Those who are sickened to the core by the very thought of mobile games, please turn away now...
Metal Slug Mobile Impact The second of i-Play's conversions of the classic horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-up series. This one contains elements of the first three coin-op titles (well the BREW iteration does - the Java one we get in this country will be missing a few levels) and has helicopter and tank driving sections as well as the usual run, jump and shoot bits. Visuals are improved over the original mobile rendition, and there seems to be a more committed attempt to capture the sick humour of the arcade originals (you can, for example, ignite enemy soldiers with your flamethrower and watch them run away on fire... You sort of have to be there).
King of Fighters M2 SNK's Street Fighter challenger gets its second mobile translation - the first wasn't great, but sold very well apparently. This version provides three play modes - Battle, Survival and Story - and several familiar fighters including Terry Bogard, Mai, Leona and Kim Kaphwan. Most importantly, they've completely re-designed the controls with the mobile handset in mind, providing just one attack button and introducing a new Special Move system, which requires you to complete teeny minigames to pull off Deadly, Super Desperation, Super Guard and Stylish moves. You may, for example, be required to bash in a series of numbers very quickly. It's a sensible idea and works a bit like the quick time events you may remember from Shenmue...
Bomberman Kart Living Mobile, the German mobile games publisher that holds a licensing deal with Hudsonsoft has just sent me details of this Bomberman spin-off, previously seen on PS2. It's basically Mario Kart but with Bomberman characters. Knockabout racing, vehicles with different handling attributes, power-ups and weapons including missiles, turbo boosts and cherry bombs, etc. It all comes down to the framerate and the handling, which are usually pretty poor on Java titles. We'll see. This one is rolling out throughout Europe right now.
Medieval Combat: Age of Glory A visually impressive beat-'em-up from Gameloft, one of the best mobile developers in the world. With nice big SNES-style sprites, detailed backgrounds and what looks to be a decent selection of combatants this could work alongside King of Fighters M2 in proving that fighting games can actually work on mobile phones. Due out in October, it's inspired by Soul Calibur apparently and features an array of weapons and magical attacks.
Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure Glu will be handling the mobile conversion of Atari's spray paint-'em-up. "It's a game about graffiti and urban culture, and as such it's something that's not been done before on mobile, and not effectively on Console," says Glu's John Ozimek. "Getting it onto operator decks has been a big challenge in Europe, as the whole urban youth culture thing is nowhere near as evolved as it is in the US. But really it makes a lot of sense, looking forward, to create products for this group, for whom mobiles are an everyday part of life." Of course, it would be interesting to include location-based elements here, allowing players to meta-tag real-world locations, but I'm probably getting ahead of myself, technology-wise.
Mech Battalion Another one from Glu, this time a multiplayer turn-based strategy title. As Ozimek explains, "It's a 2-4 player game over GPRS, where users control mechs and try to blast each other - winners can then upgrade their robots and get new weapons, etc. The idea is to introduce a kind of handicap system for mobile multiplayer, where similar-skilled gamers automatically get matched up. There is a load of clever server tech, meaning we can even change the game UI on the fly, depending on what specs the operator has for mobile. One of the big problems with Cannons Tournament was that each time we launched with an operator we'd have to integrate the system from scratch, as no operator runs the same system as another. With this, we can do most of the changes from the server, meaning that the gamer will never know from operator to operator."
Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe and The Chaos Engine The two Bitmap bros classics are coming to mobile this month - again, courtesy of Glu. Speedball 2 - the superb Amiga future sports sim is to feature a Bluetooth two player mode. No word yet on any multiplayer support for Chaos Engine, the steam punk Gauntlet-style shooter, but 16bit veterans will have their fingers crossed.
Pac-Man Namco is running a tournament to discover the legendary game's European champion. It's running in all territories where the company's iMode service is available - which will soon include the UK. Users simply post their high scores to a central server and then the finalists will be drawn together for a grand pill-munching final in London. Namco has said that this will be the first of many cross-Europe gaming competitions. Perhaps Ridge Racer next?
