The Katamari gaming series was first introduced in 2004 by Namco. Katamri Damacy was the first game in this series and was released on the PlayStation 2. There are several sequels to this game which mostly were released on the Sony gaming consoles. Several spin-offs were also released on the Xbox 360, Nintendo DSi and iPhone. So it isn’t surprising that there is also a Katamari version for all the cell phones that can execute java apps. This version is called Rolling with Katamari.

The concept of all the Katamari games is pretty much the same and mostly tied to an absurd story. In the case of Rolling with Katamari the King of all Cosmos has accidently knocked all the stars out of the sky and it is up to you to replace them. So your objective is to create a cluster which is big enough to replace a star.

There are 30+ levels and several different game modes. The basic game play is pretty simple. You have a small ball which you have to roll around and collect things with so that it can grow bigger. In each level you get a time limit and a specific objective. Which most of the time is diameter you have to reach during the time limit. A level mostly is located in different environments. You start on a circuit board then move on to a whole room and then to a park and etc.

Collecting things from your environment is not easy since at the start of the level you only can collect the smallest objects so that you are able to move on to the bigger objects. You have to be careful not to bump into bigger objects on the start of a level since this way you would lose precious time which is really important in later levels.

The game has decent graphics and sound. Controls are also very nice and simple. If you finished all levels you have the possibility to download more levels which is a pretty positive point about this game. Rolling with Katamari is a pretty absurd game but it is really fun to play once you get into it. To download it just visit the Ovi-Store.

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One is a fighting game for devices which supports N-Gage. Back in 2005 One was also available for the N-Gage device which was a combination of a cell phone and handheld gaming system. It was a very popular N-Gage game and was considered as one of the best games for that platform. The reason being is that One had awesome 3D graphics and was one of the few fighting games for N-Gage.

Last year Nokia published a newer version of this game for their N-Gage supporting cell phones and it seems like that the graphics got even better. The graphics seem very smooth and movements look fluid which is one of the most important factors when it comes to a fighting game.

The objective of the game is to fight yourself to the top so that you can become the One which refers to the best fighter around. To do this you have to start with the story mode in which you can create your own character and customize their clothes, hairstyles and accessories. The actual gameplay isn’t that special since it is a beat-em-up game where you have to beat up opponents after opponents. You have three possible fighting styles which you can change during the fight. The fighting styles include an offensive style, a defensive style and a normal style which is a combination of the offensive and defensive styles. There are many moves you can pull of and they are fairly easy to do. Sadly there is no background music and you will be only left with the rather bland fighting sounds.

There are over 30 opponents who you have to beat to rise in the ranks. Playing is done in of the 7 locations of One. If you want to play against someone other than the computer then you can do so via the Bluetooth function.

One is a nice game and most certainly not without flaws but it still is one of the best mobile fighting games. Like with every other N-Gage games this one also has a demo which sadly doesn’t give you a glimpse at the training mode. To get the training mode you have to buy the full version for €10 at N-Gage.

Marble maze is a labyrinth game for S60 3^rd and 5^th Edition devices. Like the previous game I reviewed this one also uses the accelerometer of the phone. This means that the marble is controlled by tilting your device and not by pushing any button. The objective of Marble Maze is to lead your marble from one end of the labyrinth to the other end of it or a specific destination which can be right next to your starting point like shown in the screenshot.

Leading the marble from one end to the other doesn’t really sound that hard since you have a top down view on the labyrinth but of course like every other interesting game this one also has a catch. The catch is that the labyrinth is full of holes in which the marble can fall in. If that happens you have to restart the level. Avoiding the holes is the biggest and actually only obstacle in the game. With every passing level it gradually gets harder to move past the holes and reach the end of the maze. Sometimes it can get really frustrating when you get stuck at a level but that is exactly what makes Marble Maze such a thrilling game.

All in all Marble Maze has 40 levels and you have the possibility to create your own levels. There is also the possibility to use a rubber ball or a ping pong ball instead of the steel marble. Each of them has a different feel while playing. Sadly the game doesn’t have any sound effects. The time you needed for every level is recorded so that you can try to improve it when you play the level again.

In my opinion every game which can be addictive and gets frustrating sometimes is game worth playing. Therefore this game is recommendable for everyone who likes to play simple and challenging games. The full version of this game costs $5,99. There is also a trial available here.

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In Resco Bubbles you have to roll a silver marble on the screen and destroy all the bubbles that are displayed. That doesn’t sound really hard since this would make it one of the easiest and most boring games ever. But of course this game isn’t that simple. The bubbles have to be destroyed in numeric order. Therefore the bubbles are marked with numbers starting from one. If you hit the wrong bubble you will automatically lose a life. For example if you destroy bubble one to five in numeric order and then hit a bubble with a number higher than six you will lose.

There are also levels where you have to destroy only one bubble but to get to it you have to maneuver around a whole field of skulls. Touching the skulls will make you lose a life too. Resco Bubbles has 60 levels in total. They vary in difficulty, bubbles and things like the surface on which the marble rolls. On some surfaces like ice the marble rolls much faster than on surfaces made out of wood and such.

If you lose all your life’s you can start at any level which you already have cleared once. This really helps since sometimes you lose your lives very quickly if you are playing a difficult level. The best time you needed for each particular level will be shown on the upper right. This way you can always try to best it.

Overall it is a very entertaining but also very frustrating game. If you are a fan of motion sensing and hard puzzle games you should try it out. You can get the trial at the Resco webpage. The demo version is restricted to 5 levels only. The full version costs $9,95.

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Pac-Man is one of the oldest arcade games. Just like Tetris it didn’t loose its charm even after almost three decades since its release. Up until now it has been an immensely popular game. Most probably this won’t change for a long while.

Pac-Man is based on a very simple concept. The player controls Pac-Man who is in a maze filled with yellow dots. The objective of the game is to eat all the dots in the maze. To make the game challenging four ghosts enter the maze the same time as Pac-Man. They have the ability to “eat” Pac-Man but there is a way for Pac-Man to “eat” the ghosts. To do this Pac-Man has to eat one of the four special flashing dots called power pellets. “Eating” is done when the ghost and Pac-Man touch each other. If Pac-Man gets eaten you lose a life and points. If Pac-Man eats them you get points. There are 255 levels in this game. It was actually designed to have an unlimited amount of levels. But in the 256^th level there is a bug which turns the right side of the level in a mess of texts and symbols. Therefore it is impossible to finish the 256^th level.

I think the price of Pac-Man at 4.99€ is quite reasonable since the game is just plain fun. You can get it at the Ovi Store which by the way got updated to version 1.05. I didn’t notice any major differences but it could be that they changed some things in the background. You should get the update just by opening the app.

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Since the Ovi Store has been available for about two weeks now it is time that we take a closer look at its content. Let us start with a game called UNO which is a card game played with a specially printed deck. This version was created by Gameloft and has been available on the Ovi Store from its start. UNO was one of my favorite games when I was a kid and almost a decade later I still love this game. I was really positively surprised by Gamelofts version of this game. But first let me explain this game to those of you who don’t know it.

The deck is divided in four colors which are red, blue, green and yellow. Each player gets 7 of those cards. After that the top card of the stock is exposed to start the discard pile. The aim of the game is to discard all 7 cards faster than any other player. To do this each player takes their turn and discards one card but the discarded card has to have the same number or color as the top card on the discard pile. The special thing about this game are the action cards like skip (next player has to skip their turn), reverse (order of play is reversed), draw two (next player has to draw two cards), wild draw four (next player has to draw four cards) and wild (player names a color and the next player has to play this color). If you have just one card left you have to say UNO. If you forget to do so you have to draw two cards. Of course there are more rules but these should be enough to understand the game.

Now some words about the mobile version of this game. Both the graphics and animations are nice even when the cards are played very fast. Besides the classic UNO game mode there is a tournament mode and a multiplayer mode. In tournament mode you have to play against many virtual players who have different AI levels. In multiplayer you have to pass the phone around which doesn’t create a very satisfying gaming experience. Overall this game is very nice and in my opinion definitely worth the price of 2,99€. Head over to the Ovi Store to download it.

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Asphalt 4: Elite Racing is the newest installment to the Asphalt series which started back in 2004. I really liked its predecessor Asphalt 3: StreetRules which was for me and many N-Gage users one of the best mobile arcade racing games to date.

Asphalt 4 is a pretty simple game. There are several different events you can play like a normal street race, races where you have to destroy as many cars as possible, races where you have to earn as much money as possible and races where you are the cop and have to stop the number one player. In the street races you will always be attacked by the police. You can destroy them by hitting them at high speeds. To get faster you can use nitro boosts which you get for drifting. Nitro boosts and money are also present on the 6 different tracks of Asphalt 4. The tracks are L.A., Dubai, Paris, Shanghai, New York and Monet Carlo.

At the beginning only one event is free. You have to reach 3^rd place or be better to unlock the other events and tracks. With the tracks and events you get money which unlocks more cars and bikes. Other things you can unlock are girls (who can help you in races with boosts and such things) and tuning parts to make your car go faster.

The game has 24 different cars and 4 different bikes from manufactures like, Ferrari, BMW, Aston Martin, Nissan, Mercedes, Kawasaki, Ducati etc.

Sadly Asphalt 4 just didn’t cut it for me. It seems just like Asphalt 4 with some new cars and tracks. The graphics hardly changed and the game stutters some times. The physics aren’t really worth mentioning. Every car has almost feels the same and you hardly notice the difference in speed. Overall this game is just a generic arcade racing game which has nothing special going on for it. The only thing worth mentioning is that it supports 2 players over Bluetooth.

This game costs $6,99 at N-Gage. You have to decide yourself if it is worth buying.

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Tetris, a game everyone should know by now. It is one of the first puzzle games to ever exist. For those who don’t know Tetris. It is a game where you have to arrange falling blocks which are made out of four squares into horizontal lines. The blocks have different shapes and you can rotate them or move them to the side. You get points for each created line which will then disappear to give you more room for the falling blocks. As the game progresses the blocks fall faster. The game is over when your stack of blocks reaches the top of the playing field.

The N-Gage version of Tetris has six different gameplay modes. Three of them are single-player modes and three are multiplayer modes. The first one of the single-player game modes is the Marathon where you have to score as high as possible without a time limit. In the second mode Ultra you have to score as many points as possible in just two minutes. The third one is called 40-Lines. In this mode you have to create 40 lines as fast as possible.

The first one of the multiplayer mode modes is called Versus where you have to last longer than the computer. The second one is Clash. In this mode you have to reach a certain score before your opponent (computer). In the last mode, Challenge you can play with three of your friends by passing the phone to your friends. The one who scored highest is the winner.

Even though Tetris is a simple game it is really fun to play especially with all those game modes. But to reach those modes in the game is a real pain since moving around the menu is a bit too awkward. There are some other bad points about this version of Tetris like bad sound effects and no music. The graphics are also a little bit boring. However if you can get over those facts this game can be really thrilling.

At $7,99 this game seems to be a little too expensive for my taste. You can get it at the N-Gage website.

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