Issue 13 by PhonicaMagUK

the mobile phone and gaming magazine www.phonicamagazine.co.uk

Issue13

phonica magazine uk

WHAT’S INSIDE VOLUME 1 ISSUE 13 2010

REVIEWS

NEWS Ovi Maps makes summer travel easier Conspiracy for Good launched O2 shows its commitment to end child poverty ASA rules on Orange’s Adver sing Campaign Golden Eye in 2010? Eve: Tyrannis expansion released UK games industry denied special tax status Upcoming MMO Guild Wars 2

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PREVIEWS Gears of War 3 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Halo: Reach

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38 40 42 44 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66

Dell Streak Samsung Galaxy S Nokia 7230 Red Dead: Redemp on Super Street Fighter IV Blur Split/Second: Velocity Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies Metro 2033 Lost Planet 2 Resonance of Fate Nier Dead to Rights: Retribu on Prison Break: The Conspiracy

COMPETITION

FEATURES

Win a copy of Red Dead: Redemp on

GAMING ARCADES: RELICS OF THE PAST? Mecca or a live museum?

PACMAN AT 30 Has it really been 30 years since the yellow one ﬁrst started munching?

FORGOTTEN GEMS: MEANS ARENA Smart and involving puzzler? Naﬀ Amiga tle? Who cares, it was hugely funny!

THE GUIDE Games: Phonica’s 20 Recommended Coin Pinchers

Mobile Phones

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EDITOR IN CHIEF Kevin Leonce

GAMING EDITOR Sco Tierney

CONTRIBUTORS Rob Hobson Ian Duncan Paul Park

CREATIVE SERVICES & DESIGN Sco Tierney www.sco - erney.com

EDITORIAL editorial@phonicamagazine.co.uk

ENQUIRIES info@phonicamagazine.co.uk

ADVERTISING adver sing@phonicamagazine.co.uk

WWW.PHONICAMAGAZINE.CO.UK Become a Fan of Phonica Magazine UK on Facebook & Twi er Phonica Magazine ÂŠ All material in this publica on is covered by copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publica on may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmi ed in any form electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, in whole or part without wri en permission of the publisher or the copyright owner. Please note that whilst every care has been taken to ensure that all the data in this publica on is accurate at the me of going to print, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, whether caused by negligence or otherwise, or for any loss, however caused, occasioned to any person by reliance on it; and hereby disclaims any liability for it. Opera ons and some features are network dependent; please refer to your network provider for full details.

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EDITOR’S LETTER WAKA WAKA PHONICA MAGAZINE UK! Thanks for ge ng another great issue of the mobile phone and gaming magazine. So for many it’s been a scary and diﬀerent World Cup….No England, no Brazil….who’s next? It did get me thinking about how things are changing. We now have phone/tablet devices like the Dell Streak (with Apple rumoured to be heading in that direc on with upgrades to the iPad) and the near ex nc on of arcades across the UK. The la er really struck home, as I dis nctly remember ge ng a whopping for skipping a er school lessons for a nice 45 minute session at the nearest arcade. Is change good? Will we miss the things we once revered? Take a break from crying for an early exit by our foo e team and... Enjoy reading Your Editor in Chief

Kevin Leonce

phonica magazine uk

NEWS OVI MAPS MAKES SUMMER TRAVEL EASIER AND MORE FUN NEW CONTENT FROM Qype WITH COMMUNITY BASED RECOMMENDATIONS HELPS EVERYONE MAKE THE MOST OF THEIR TIME Ovi Maps, the free walk and drive naviga on service from Nokia, announced new partnerships that deliver more relevant informa on on more points of interest making travelling easier than ever. With summer holidays fast approaching, the updated Ovi Maps gives travellers and locals alike the ability to ﬁnd the most interes ng places and sites in the area making travelling less about ge ng from A to B and more about enjoying everything in between. Ovi delivers unique mobile experiences that mix content with the best loca on, social networking and connec vity services and is the go to-place for discovering, sharing and enjoying lifestyle content and entertainment, all from a Nokia smartphone.

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Ovi Maps now includes Qype, Europe’s biggest portal for local community-based reviews, helping people ﬁnd new places wherever they are, leaving nothing overlooked. Ini ally oﬀering informa on on more than 20,000 ci es, the Qype community enriches Ovi Maps with hundreds of thousands of reviews and recommenda ons from locals and travellers on many European hotspots like cafés, shops, spas and hotels, giving the inside track before arriving. And, with a new post added to Qype every 40 seconds, people are assured to have the latest informa on to help them make the best choices no ma er what they are looking for. The latest version of Ovi Maps (3.04) is available to download for free from www.nokia.com/maps

NEWS

“HEROES” CREATOR TIM KRING AND NOKIA LAUNCH CONSPIRACY FOR GOOD AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION DRIVES SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL CHANGE “Heroes” creator Tim Kring and Nokia recently unveiled Conspiracy For Good (CFG, www.ConspiracyForGood.com), an inaugural movement that blends online and real-world tasks to effect social change through audience par cipa on. CFG combines Kring’s original storytelling (www.ConspiracyForGood.com/about) and Nokia’s Ovi pla orm (www.ovi.com) to create a drama c, fic onal experience using interac ve theatre, mobile and alternate reality gaming (ARG), music and physical par cipa on to do good in the world. Par cipants will become part of the plot development and will find the necessary tools and clues to move the narra ve forward and into the real-world, ul mately crea ng social and educa onal change for the Chataika Basic School, located in the village of Chataika in eastern Zambia. “I believe that storytelling has the power to create posi ve change in the world. Audiences today want to be more involved in stories,” said Tim Kring, 2010 Digital Emmy Pioneer Award winner for transmedia storytelling. “Our goal with the Conspiracy For Good is to en ce, engage, and inspire the audience to drive real-world change through their par cipa on in a narra ve.”

THE BACKSTORY FICTIONAL PLOT Over the decades, members of Conspiracy For Good have been reputed to be quietly and eﬀec vely doing good in the world’s most troubled areas. But CFG is not without enemies, and it is now under ﬁerce a ack by Blackwell.

“I BELIEVE THAT STORYTELLING HAS THE POWER TO CREATE POSITIVE CHANGE IN THE WORLD.” Par cipants enter into the story, which fuses reality and fic on, through www.ConspiracyForGood.com, where they will join like-minded thinkers, ar sts, musicians and causes, crea ng a unified voice to fight for social and environmental jus ce. The audience can take ac on within their own comfort zone and level of engagement to meet new people with similar interests online and in person, and have some fun too. Par cipants who join CFG will be able to solve mysteries online, play casual mobile games or be a physical par cipant in the London events that will take place from mid-July through early August. Anyone is welcome to join the conspiracy from any country. For those who live in or plan to visit London later this summer, event par cipa on is free, registra on to www.ConspiracyForGood.com is required and no purchase is necessary.

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NEWS

O2 LAUNCHES ITS COMMITMENT TO 1 GOAL TO END CHILD POVERTY O2 CUSTOMERS URGED TO SIGN PETITION WHILE ARSENAL PLAYERS PLEDGE THEIR SUPPORT O2 is marking its commitment to young people by suppor ng 1GOAL, the FIFAbacked mobile campaign which aims to get every child out of poverty and into school by the year 2015. O2 customers can show their support by signing up at www.o2.co.uk/1goal . The results of 1GOAL will be presented to world leaders at a summit later this year as a pe on for greater funding in educa on. 1GOAL aims to signup 72 million people to show their support – one for every child out of school.

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Ronan Dunne, CEO of Telefonica O2 UK, said “Educa on is a basic right that every child should have access to. We’re very proud to be involved with 1GOAL’s campaign and to be able to oﬀer our customers the opportunity to sign up to such a great cause via a free text message. We’re commi ed to improving the lives of young people in the UK, Europe and La n America and our new Think Big programme in the UK is an example of this commitment. It gives young people across the UK the encouragement and conﬁdence to bring posi ve change to their communi es.”

NEWS ASA’S RULING ON ORANGE’S ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN ORANGE’S CLAIM THAT ITS 3G NETWORK “COVERS MORE PEOPLE IN THE UK THAN ANY OTHER” WAS MISLEADING The Adver sing Standards Agency last week ruled that a claim in a longrunning £4m adver sing campaign by Orange “had not been substan ated” and “was likely to mislead”.

Arsenal players Thomas Vermaelen and Kieran Gibbs joined O2 to show their support for 1GOAL. Thomas commented, “The 1GOAL campaign is a really great cause and one that we at Arsenal are excited to support. Universal educa on should be a reality for all, not something that 72 million children are deprived of.” O2 recently launched Think Big, a £5 million, three-year campaign that champions the ideas of young people aged between 13 and 25 through grants, support and training. It aims to bring communi es together, whilst improving the self-conﬁdence of young people and has the poten al to improve the lives of 100,000 people between the ages of 13 and 25. Supported by the GSMA, 1GOAL has the poten al to reach over billion people worldwide, making it the largest, cause-related campaign in history. For more informa on about O2’s Think Big programme visit www.o2.co.uk/thinkbig

The ASA inves gated claims Orange made in poster adverts to have the country’s “biggest 3G network covering more people than any other”. In response to the ruling, Three’s Sales and Marke ng Director, Marc Allera, said: “Orange’s claims in its adver sing to have the UK’s biggest 3G network were completely unsubstan ated and misleading for consumers.” “Right now consumers struggle to get a consistent picture of how 3G networks compare when it comes to coverage. It is in the interest of consumers for there to be a deﬁni ve view on 3G network coverage.” “Three is pleased the ASA has now agreed that Orange’s adverts breached adver sing codes.” For the full ASA ruling, see h p://www.asa. org.uk/Complaints-and-ASA-ac on/Adjudica ons.aspx

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NEWS

GOLDENEYE COMING BACK IN 2010? RUMOUR, REMAKE, REIMAGINING OR JUST RUBBISH? GoldenEye was (and to a certain extent s ll is) one of the best loved FPS’s of all me. It had great graphics for the me, superbly cra ed levels, memorable weapons, and arguably the best console-based mul player experience of all me. So, it comes as no surprise that the rumours of the great golden one returning to our screens, with a possible new lay of polish and gold leaf have sparked a wee bit of sensa on. CVG have received a handful of s lls, along with some en cing blurb, from an anonymous source regarding a possible remake of the N64 classic. The s lls consist of two mock-up covers, showing a silhoue ed Bond (believed to be current tuxedo wearer, Daniel Craig), along with a concept sketch for a possible accessory. The covers themselves leave nothing to be desired, and to be fair they look like the work of some very basic Photoshopping, but the accessory is interes ng. Based around the Klobb (a machine gun for the original game) the sketch shows how the Nunchuck and Wii Remote could ﬁt snuggle inside the Klobb replica. The blurb goes as follows; “GoldenEye for Nintendo 64 was a game that deﬁned a genre. Now, a er 13 years of gaming innova on, the legend is re-imagined. Developed from the ground up for the Wii, GoldenEye takes advantage of the latest technology to deliver the same intense experience with today’s graphics and physics. Play a modernized version of the classic story with the new Bond (Daniel Craig), more lethal and cunning than ever as you take on missions around the world. Relive all the legendary moments from the original game; St Petersburg, the Caribbean and numerous other levels”, read the mysterious blurb.

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“Leverage the classic arsenal of weapons and gadgets as you fight Onatopp, Trevelyan and their adversaries, from the classic PP7 to the high tech assault rifle, sniper rifles and even the tank. The enhanced mul player experience offers 4 player splitscreen like the original and introduces 8-player online matches. GoldenEye is 13 years be er, are you?” So what is this all about, and is there any fact to this gusty rumour of whispers? Well, Rare have stated that they are in no way involved with this project, and if the rumour was a rabbit, that’s all but stamped on its head. Also, GoldenEye Wii is said to be a ‘re-imagined’ version, which would suggest that this is a total overhaul of the original game. If so, that would suggest that this is not a fully funded studio game, but rather something similar to the Black Mesa project, where fans have a empted to rebuild Half-Life with modern technology. As usual, we’ll have to wait and see, and of course if a new GoldenEye game is released on the Wii, just in me for Santa Day, we’d be overcome with child-like joy. But sadly, we’re willing to bet that this is just a fan-based project, designed to drum-up some publicity. Here’s hoping though… Sco Tierney UPDATE Curse my cynical nature! At the me we went to press, Goldeneye for the Wii was officially announced at E3, with everything that we men on in the ar cle (plus a whole lot more) being confirmed. Read our E3 round-up in the next issue,for the full details and more of an apology.

NEWS

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NEWS

EVE: TYRANNIS EXPANSION RELEASED LINKS TO DUST 514!

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NEWS Perhaps the most complex, wholly player-driven, cut-throat game in the market today, EVE Online’s makers have been gathering pace for the release of DUST 514, the console port of EVE Online. With the release of the new expansion Tyrannis comes two big, big features that will begin EVE’s territorial expansion from the PC monitor to the rest of society. Firstly, a feature named “EVE Gate” (also otherwise known as Spacebook amongst EVE players) will allow players to have Facebook-esque control over their social interac ons within the game. Status updates, messaging boards – it’s all there. With proﬁles being accessible outside of the game, players will be able to keep in touch with friends and alliances outside of the EVE universe – which, at the end of the day, boils down to the core reason to keep the EVE economy thriving. Secondly, and perhaps the most important, is the introduc on of planetary interac on within the game. Money drives the economy – the game is all about a aining wealth of some sort, be it in the form of raw materials, Isk (the in-game currency) or having the meanest ship in the universe. Planets, formerly baubles or decora ons in EVE, now become among the greatest methods of accumula ng wealth with this new feature. Players are now able to set up camp on planets, harves ng raw minerals and goods, building produc on lines to churn out the next best thing to sell.

“PLAYERS ARE NOW ABLE TO SET UP CAMP ON PLANETS” However, the real reason for planetary interac on was to develop the bond between the PC version of EVE Online, and its up-coming brother DUST 514 on the consoles. Players of EVE will be able to hire mercenaries on the ground (players on DUST 514) to sabotage or inﬁltrate enemy bases, among various other features (most of which have been kept hush-hush). Adding more and more layers of complexity onto an already ridiculous game would usually be a no-go area for most developers, but CCP are not one to budge from their methods and will relish the fact that their playerbase will welcome every puzzle with open arms. Paul Park

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NEWS UK GAMES INDUSTRY DENIED SPECIAL TAX STATUS BUDGET COMMITMENT DROPPED DESPITE MINISTER PRAISING INDUSTRY ON FLOOR OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS The Bri sh government has ditched plans to introduce a special tax relief measure for the game makers. The industry body has been calling for the move to ease pressure in the face of s ff compe on from the USA and Canada. But in a speech presen ng an emergency post-elec on budget George Osborne, the Chancellor, said the move was “poorly targeted”. TIGA, the UK’s games industry trade body, cri cised the move and warned of the consequences it could have. “Unless the Coali on Government introduces Games Tax Relief or a similar fiscal measure then the UK will forfeit millions of pounds in inward investment, jobs will be lost and we will cease to be a leading developer of video games,” said Dr Richard Wilson, its CEO. “TIGA will con nue to refine the case for Games Tax Relief, or a similar fiscal measure. We will work with developers and publishers to deliver this cri cal policy measure. We will not give up. We will also con nue to campaign for a range of addi onal measures to ensure that the UK is the best place in the world in which to do games business,” he added. A er years of being concerned about videogames, the Bri sh government finally seemed to be recognising the value of the industry. Ed Vaizey, a junior minister in the business department, praised the work of TIGA, the gaming industry body. Vaizey added that he had long been a supporter of tax relief; a commitment made by outgoing chancellor Alistair Darling who included the measure in a budget before the Labour party lost office.

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In late May Wilson was unequivocal about the need for the special status in the face of s ﬀ compe on from the USA and Canada. “TIGA is calling on the Government to promote the recovery, and implement Games Tax Relief as soon as possible. Failure to include Games Tax Relief in next month’s budget will be a huge step backwards and damage the compe veness of the UK video games development industry,” he said. TIGA has been working hard to demonstrate its compa bility with the new government’s economic policy. Wilson noted that the government’s commitment to improving broadband penetra on was a welcome move, presumably because it will get more people gaming online.

“TIGA WILL CONTINUE TO REFINE THE CASE FOR GAMES TAX RELIEF, OR A SIMILAR FISCAL MEASURE.” The organisa on is keen to push the industry’s poten al for innova on and crea on of well-paid ‘knowledge industry’ jobs outside London. The UK games sector is concentrated around Leamington Spa in the West Midlands, Dundee in Scotland with the Salford Quays development near Manchester also looking to a ract investment. Wilson was also keen to stress the sector’s green creden als, emphasising the low carbon costs of developing and distribu ng games. Ian Duncan

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NEWS

UPCOMING MMO GUILD WARS 2 CHANGING THE FACE OF QUESTING FOREVER? Highly an cipated MMO-in-the-making Guild Wars 2 has undergone some major faceli ing in prepara on for its release in 2011, and its developers have come out of the woodworks to introduce perhaps the biggest genre-deﬁning change that has not been seen since the introduc on of the phenomenon that is World of Warcra .

Quests in games are usually sta c, with a questgiver (either an NPC, an event, or an item), a reward, and a success or failed ending. In Guild Wars 2 however, ArenaNet have introduced a completely diﬀerent system of quests: the “Dynamic Event System”. By far the biggest change the genre has ever seen, Guild Wars 2 will shi from the usual expected quest chains and lines of previous tles to a moving world of quests, where each player’s ac on can chain onto vastly diﬀering results.

“GUILD WARS 2 WILL SHIFT FROM THE USUAL EXPECTED QU PREVIOUS TITLES TO A MOVING WORLD OF QUESTS.” phonica magazine magazine uk uk 16 phonica

ArenaNet has intended to make ques ng more in tune with the world that Guild Wars 2 will be immersed in, and the easiest way to describe the new system is that players will be doing quests that have been caused by the past (whether by NPCs, players, or even things such as the weather!) which in turn will affect the future, much like a circle, with no exact beginning or end,. Examples given were that players may find some villagers run up to them, screaming for help as you see billowing plumes of smoke dri into the blue sky. On arrival at the village they originated from, you see the rubble and remains of the army that is currently making its way to the for fied town that is in the region.

UEST CHAINS AND LINES OF

Players could end up (as a group, either in a group or just with the same objec ve in mind) either intercep ng the dredge army before it reaches the town, helping defend the town, or even pushing the army back and destroying its outpost. It doesn’t end there, however – the next day, someone could log in and be roped into helping restore supplies to the destroyed village, and on the next, the weather could have been bad and thunderstorms may have gathered, perhaps introducing the natural threat of lightning elementals to the villagers concerned. With the dis nct possibility of a world that really does live past the log out, every day of playing, every character that is raised from the beginning may all have a diﬀerent story to tell at the end of the day with their friends in the tavern. Watch this space. Or rather, log out here and hope you don’t miss the change. Paul Park

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PREVIEWS

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PREVIEWS GEARS OF WAR 3 PUBLISHERS: MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS DEVELOPERS: EPIC GAMES FORMAT: XBOX 360 AVAILABLE: APRIL 2011

SUBTLE, QUIET AND SHY? NOT A CHANCE! The Gears of War series does something that very few games can achieve. On one hand, it’s loud, brash, explosive, violent, and at mes overwhelmingly epic. But, on the other, Gears is delicate, touching, and occasionally, genuinely moving. It’s an extremely hard balance to strike, and if handled with less care, Gears could have been nothing but an empty balls-to-thewall thrash, devoid of feeling or sensi vity. But the past two Gears’ tles have been pitch perfect, and also an exhilara ng riot to play. So, can next year’s tle con nue this trend, and (probably) end the trilogy on a deserved and monumental high? Gears of War 3 takes place eighteen months a er the fall of Jacinto, the climax of the second game. With the land now more dangerous than ever, and the majority of the major ci es abandoned or lost, the remaining survivors now find themselves, quite literally, all at sea. Onboard an aircra carrier in the safety of the empty ocean, the remaining Gears plot their next move in a fight against the Locusts and rapidly muta ng Lambent, that looks set to finally bring an end to the war that has disfigured mankind. Epic recently released the now obligatory trailer, with standard indie tune and ‘longing looks to the distance’ all present and correct. During this brief vid, the Gears gang are seen running through a bombed-out environment, where the ash shells of vic ms are frozen by the blast of a recent explosion. To be honest, this looks like a cracking piece of level design, which again pulls off the classic Gears trick of mixing boundless violence and emo onal undertones.

As expected from a series that has an honours degree in laying smack, Gears of War 3 will feature a sack full of unpleasant new weapons. There’s a double barrelled shotgun, an incendiary grenade (probably best used for BBQing those chunks of Locust you’ve chopped up), a one-shot-kills riﬂe, as well as a new lancer, perfect for stabbing and poking. But what really stands out is the Mech suit, which looks like it’ll turn your average Gear into a nightmarish version of Iron Man. With a machine gun a ached to one arm, and a rocket launcher on the other, this looks like it could pack a serious punch. Like the game needed any more...

“GEARS OF WAR 3 WILL UNDOUBTEDLY BE ONE OF THE BEST GAMES OF THE YEAR, IF NOT OF ALL TIME, SO THERE’S EVERY REASON TO BE EXCITED!” For those with friends there’s a new 4 player co-op feature, which could bring a li le L4D fun to proceedings, while also bringing a much needed help to Gear’s notorious diﬃculty. OK, so we apologise in advance. By the me you’ve read this, you’ll probably be overloaded with Gears of War hype, bleeding from the eyes and screaming from the ‘exclusive preview!’ induced nnitus. The hype that has surrounded the release of next years biggest game has arguably been as brash, noisy and overpowering as the games themselves, and by the me Gears 3 does hit the shelves, there’ll probably be a sigh of relief loud enough to drown out even the most torrid of gunﬁre. But hey, Gears of War 3 will undoubtedly be one of the best games of the year, if not of all me, so there’s every reason to be excited! Sco Tierney

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PREVIEWS Konami have been very cagey and cau ous about releasing details of their long me veteran of the ac on genre, but dbits of informa on have slowly been gathered over the past months since the in-game demo in the E3 2009 conven on. However, with the game claimed to be a “reboot of the franchise” rather than the next chapter (it was mooted that Lords of Shadow will be a remake of the ﬁrst in the series) fans of Castlevania may feel a li le hard done by. Lords of Shadow begins with a fairly deep storyline where the hero of our tale, Gabriel Belmont, is tasked to save innocents from evil spirits that have been trapped in our dimension, while defea ng the Lords of Shadow fac ons in order to acquire parts of a God Mask that would allow the resurrec on of his deceased wife... it seems a lot to take in at once.

CASTLEVANIA: LORDS OF SHADOW PUBLISHER: KONAMI DEVELOPER: MERCURYSTEAM PLATFORM: PS3, XBOX 360 AVAILABLE: Q4 2010

THE CASTLEVANIA SERIES FINALLY GRACES OUR LIVING ROOMS ONCE MORE WITH THE TYPE OF ACTION THAT POOR TWILIGHT FANS WOULD SHUDDER IN DISBELIEF – YES, VAMPIRE SLAYING.

Drawing its influence from previous tles along with recent releases such as God of War, combat is said to be fluid and fast-paced with a lean to memorising combos instead of random bu on bashing in order to progress further and further. And with a progression system focusing on upgrades and improvements that draws comparisons to many of its compe tors in the genre, Konami hope to bring in new audiences along with appeasing their current fans. To say Castlevania: Lords of Shadow brings a breath of fresh air into the ac on/adventure genre would be a flat out lie; on the other hand, it reinforces the reason why gamers play these types of games – fast-paced, fluid combat, RPG-esque progression to become stronger, a fantas cal storyline about saving the world and overcoming impossible odds. Look out for a Christmas release in 2010 for your next dose of vampire-slaying goodness. Paul Park

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PREVIEWS HALO: REACH PUBLISHER: MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS DEVELOPER: BUNGIE PLATFORM: XBOX 360 AVAILABLE: SEPT 2010

IT COULD BE A MASTERPIECE, BUT WE HAVE OUR DOUBTS. Halo: Reach, the 5th major Halo tle, is nearly upon us. From what has been seen, tested and promoted, there looks to be some fantas c single player gameplay, some wonderfully visuals, and a truly excep onal spare- me stealing mul player mode that could be the most refined version yet. But despite this, we’re a li le concerned about the quality of Bungie’s next tle. Why? Halo: Reach takes place shortly before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, the first Halo tle. Humans and the mysteries Covenant are at war, with the Covenant wiping the human race out faster than a smear off an old CD. A er most of the humans’ interstellar colonies have been consigned to the history of the fallen, the final ba le assembles on Reach, the humans’ base of central command. As a plot, it looks set to be a lot darker than the previous tle, possibly following a similar style to the grim and dour Halo 3: ODST.

“FEATURES SUCH AS A ROCKET PACK AND BRIEF INVINCIBILITY ALSO LOOK IMMENSE. “ Halo: Reach looks set to come with a whole host of new weapons and gadgets, all designed to cause as much hysterical carnage as possible. There’s the grenade launcher, that allows you to bounce and skip your grenades towards your enemies with ease, the Plasma Cannon, which ﬁre those joyously s cker grenades as if they were confe , and the other stalwarts such as the Magnum and Riﬂe have been upgraded and tweaked.

On the mul player front, the ac on looks to have gone up a gear, thanks to the major addi on of a ‘sprint’ feature. For short periods, your character can now unleash short bursts of pace, either defensively in order to avoid an oncoming a ack, or offensively in the manner of rushing a silent a ack. Other features such as a rocket pack and brief invincibility also look immense. Death from the air has never been so much fun! One of the biggest changes to Halo: Reach, are the controls. Beyond any reasonable sense, Bungie have decided to fiddle with the input, switching the B bu on to the duty of grenade switching, and giving the shoulder bu ons more ac vity. It may not be to everyone’s taste, and to be honest we can’t see any reason for this change to one of the finest control systems in gaming, but at present the jury is s ll out. Pop onto XBLA and give the Beta a bash, and decide for yourselves. So all in all, Halo: Reach looks set to be an almighty FPS, and with cri cs already stamping their seals of approval on Reach’s quality, as well as likely financial success, Bungie looks to have another classic wai ng in the wings. But, why do we have a nagging worry in the back of our minds, over the standard of this sure-fire peach? Halo 3: ODST was one of the best selling games of 2009, and arguably only behind MW2 in terms of FPS tles. But, we thought ODST was hugely overrated, and by far the weakest Halo tle as far. It lacked any innova on, the se ngs were red, the whole feeling of isola on felt out of place, and overall ODST just didn’t set our pulses racing in the way the previous tles did. Due to this, we now have our doubts about the quality of any forthcoming Halo tles, and a dubious feeling that the Halo series may have run its course. Un l Halo: Reach makes its arrival, we’ll have to wait and see, and hopefully ODST was just a blip, but there’s now a voice of doubt, that has to be silenced. Sco Tierney

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PREVIEWS

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FEAT GAMING RELICS OF

IS THE ARCADE FOR GAMERS, OR HAS TO THE HISTO

There’s something very special about wa a definite one of a kind feeling that hits y forever. The flashing lights, the smell, the effects wailing, people roaring with succe arcade is a very special place, and a have had its day, and will it soon be unshed int

To answer this, we have to look at several diﬀere Is the arcade s ll a hotbed of new, trend se ng gaming the factor that renders the arcade useles outside of the UK? All relevant ques ons that ne determine the current state of arcade gaming. S get ourselves a handful of coins, and set about a

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URES ARCADES: THE PAST?

STILL A MECCA S IT BEEN CONSIGNED ORY BOOKS?

lking into a gaming arcade, and there’s you the ﬁrst me and stays with you e sounds of coins clashing and sound ess and wailing their cursed luck. An en for all gamers. But, has the arcade to the graveyard of gaming relics?

ent aspects, and address them one by one. technology? Is the advent of mass online ss? Is the arcade s ll a dominate feature eed to be answered, if we are going to o, let’s make our way to the change registers, answering these bad boys!

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FEATURES

IS THE ARCADE STILL A HOTBED OF NEW, TREND SETTING TECHNOLOGY? When you walk into an arcade in Britain today (if you can ﬁnd one that’s not a spi ng distance from the sea), try looking for the newest console. Chances are the freshest piece of gaming entertainment will be around 5 years old, and feature an incarna on of a game that has long been outdated. There maybe a new system that has an updated version of an old genre classic, but it’s unlikely you’ll see anything that is hot oﬀ the press, as it were. But why is this?

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If you go back over a decade, the arcade was the perfect place for developers to showcase their new technology. If you are of a certain age, and the words ‘Pog’ Captain Bucky O’ Hare’ mean anything to you, you’ll remember the excitement of seeing games like Ridge Racer and Virtua Fighter, exploding onto the scene and packing out arcades around the UK. They were new, fresh, exci ng, and above all, featured the most advanced graphics in the world at the me. Nothing that you had at home could match the speed, fluidity of grace of those visuals, but now, that’s no longer the case. The current ‘Big Gun’ consoles we now know and love - the PS3 and Xbox 360- can easily match and outgun anything the arcade has to offer. And if you want something a bit different, and games that a whole party of people can enjoy on an evening, the Wii can step up and hand out its varied selec on of joyous goodies. Again, why?

FEATURES

“THE CURRENT ‘BIG GUN’ CONSOLES WE NOW KNOW AND LOVE - THE PS3 AND XBOX 360- CAN EASILY MATCH AND OUTGUN ANYTHING THE ARCADE HAS TO OFFER.” Developers simply no longer see an arcade as the ideal loca on to showcase their new gear. At present the standard consoles we have in our homes are the pinnacle of gaming achievement, and thanks to the advent of online gaming, they are mostly a ached to the web. If a developer wants to show-oﬀ a new piece of technology, they’ll no longer have to spend millions producing it for a handful of arcade consoles, now they can just email us a demo, or post a link.

As far as being the ul mate showroom for new gaming technology, the arcade can no longer serve a purpose, simply because we have everything right at our ﬁnger ps. And why leave the house and travel to a busy arcade, where the game you want to play is probably unreachable behind a queue, when you can just have a cuppa at home and test the new ‘thing’ in privacy and peace?

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FEATURES

IS THE ADVENT OF MASS ONLINE GAMING THE FACTOR THAT RENDERS THE ARCADE USELESS? There is no doubt that arcade gaming has lost its magical touch on us game nerds. With the meteoric rise of both console and online gaming, arcades have merely been shuffled into the “sen mental” shelf of life and it is rare to find regular players in any arcade in town – in fact, it’s rare to find any dedicated arcades nowadays; they’re all in li le cubby holes, spare spaces in cinemas, bowling alleys and in pubs.

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Approach any young teenager and offer them the choice of playing their favourite FPS or figh ng game in an arcade or in the luxury of their own home and more o en than not you’ll find the devia on goes towards the comfort. Social gaming now has shi ed away from the environment they play to the gameplay itself and previous arcade games lacked the instant gra fica on that many recent tles reward. Games such as Call of Duty and Street Fighter cover everything that arcades used to provide (maybe not the social environment) but with the introduc on of online play, players can end up playing people across the globe – something arcades could never replicate.

FEATURES

“APPROACH ANY YOUNG TEENAGER AND OFFER THEM THE CHOICE OF PLAYING THEIR FAVOURITE FPS OR FIGHTING GAME IN AN ARCADE OR IN THE LUXURY OF THEIR OWN HOME AND MORE OFTEN THAN NOT YOU’LL FIND THE DEVIATION GOES TOWARDS THE COMFORT.”

However, almost all of us will carry cherished memories of an arcade one way or another – whether it’s hi ng the high score in Ridge Racer, demolishing your friends in a 4-way Mario Kart race, or (and I totally don’t speak from experience) spending 3 hours to ﬁnally master the perfect juggling technique to one-shot your best friend who had previously and consistently handed your bu on a silver pla er on Virtua Fighter 2. What can I say? It won me £5!

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FEATURES

IS THE ARCADE STILL A DOMINATE FEATURE OUTSIDE OF THE UK? If you head over to Japan (like you do), you’ll find the exact opposite of what’s happened in the UK. Arcades packed to the ra ers with eager gamers, pounded the slots for all their worth, but at the same me having a genuinely good me with their friends. The central focus of games in Japanese arcades, outside of the quirky and unnerving crea ons that at mes baffle us, are shoo ng and driving based. These games require the use of equipment - such as toy rifles, machine guns, and life-sized cockpits - that most won’t have at home. That said, this can’t be the sole reason why gamers flock to the arcades, as online gaming can s ll cater for these types of games. Classic arcade fighters such as Tekken 6 and the supreme Street Fighter IV are also regulars around Japan, with both being in their natural habitat and perfectly suited for the quickfire arcade experience. It’s also worth nothing that both of these games are connected to the internet, so gamers at home can join in the ac on, and to a certain extent feed off the buzz created by the players at the arcade. Other tles that regularly crop up are card based, with the cult favourite Lord of Vermilion - a mix between top trumps and War Hammer – being a big favourite.

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It’s worth nothing that, compared to the at mes extor onate prices we see in the UK, arcade gaming in Japan is reasonably cheap. Most consoles have a standard price of 100 yen (approximately 70p), which when you consider how easy it is for those arcade slots to rapidly empty your pocket of coins, makes for a pleasant and coin-jingling surprise. You have to wonder that if arcades in the UK were that cheap, how popular would they s ll be? But apart form the cheaper prices, be er variety of games, and more up-to-date technology, this doesn’t s ll quite give us an idea of why arcade gaming is so much more appealing to the Japanese. We have most of this in the UK, but the contrast between the states of our respec ve arcades is enormous. Why? Well, it’s probably all to do with the Japanese themselves. To them, the act of mingling and mee ng people is far more alluring, and the central part of the arcade experience. To use, the typical UK gamer, we prefer to be alone, and enjoy our games while playing against faceless opponents, who we can meet and forget in the me it takes to switch oﬀ our consoles. In Japan, arcade gaming is not just about the games, but more so about the social interac on, and in the UK, that’s not the case.

“WE STILL PLAY TOGETHER, AND THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS.”

FEATURES

So maybe, in the UK at least, arcade gaming is all but dead, or at best a relic of gaming gone by. Looking at the evidence, it’s hard not to dispute this, and sadly the days of popping into an arcade, in a local area, are already gone. But, has the arcade experience simply moved away from the arcades themselves, and is its spirit s ll alive and well? Well you’d have to say that arcade gaming - in a sense that an arcade is where gamers come together to play – has never been healthier. With millions playing online right now, enjoying each others’ company, making new friends, cha ng, compe ng and ul mately having a jolly good me, social gaming is the biggest it’s ever been. Sure, we no longer play face to face, in a local building with our buddies, but at the end of the day, we don’t have to. We can meet-up online, and play against/with people thousands of miles away, who before we would never have meet. In the UK, the arcade that we all know and love has gone. But, the sprit of the arcade has never been stronger. We s ll play together, and enjoy each others’ company, and at the end of the day, that’s all that ma ers. Sco Tierney, Paul Park, and suppor ng material by Ian Duncan

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FEATURES PACMAN AT 30 BITE DOWN HARD As of May 2010, PacMan had existed for 30 years. Christ, that’s nearly as old as I am. In a world where the word “classic” is, sadly, used as liberally as a Dutch sex law, Toru Iwatani’s ghost-chomping bagatelle stands apart as a cultural milestone of crushing weight. Along with Pong and Dragon’s Lair, it’s the only video game that has its own display in Washington’s eminent Smithsonian museum. Classic arcade gaming retains its own subculture in the States. The (fairly) recent documentary King of Kong, which follows a pair of compe ve classic gamers as they a empt to break the world record for Donkey Kong, is a fantas c insight into the seduc ve appeal of these u erly simple, brutally difficult boxes that once stood in the corner of every bar, arcade, leisure centre and department store in America and beyond. The movie focuses on Donkey Kong but Billy Mitchell, self-styled king of the classic arcade game, was the architect of the first ever perfect PacMan game in 1999. And there’s serious money at stake here: Mitchell completed the game flawlessly, then offered $100,000 to anyone who passed the “Split-Screen” level (a er level 256, a flaw in the code causes the right-hand side of the screen to become corrupted) before January first 2001. The prize went unclaimed. For anyone interested in this odd niche of videogaming culture, you could do a lot worse than start with the excellent 2008 LA Weekly ar cle by Josh Bearman. Josh spent some me talking to Billy Mitchell, Walter Day (founder of Twin Galaxies, the organisa on that validates and keeps track of unfeasibly high scores in the classic arcade universe) and other figures from this obsessive world. Some players take old PacMan machines to pieces, si ing through the hardware and try to reverse-engineer the code to give them the edge. Others have an almost telepathic affinity for the game, ignoring the motherboards and circuitry and a emp ng to achieve a Zen-like state that keeps them ahead of the ghosts.

When these people talk about the game, it’s with the deep respect of an honoured foe. You might think you’re hardcore for trying to grab the “A Man Chooses” trophy on Bioshock. These people dedicate signiﬁcant por ons of their adult lives to reaching the PacMan killscreen: the term that describes the moment where the code breaks down and the normal PacMan rules no longer apply. It sounds like obsession, and it is. But for me, that drive to be the best at something - to work within a set of given rules and understand them so completely that they can play, literally for days at a me, without a single missed step - is fascina ng. With the ever-growing complaints from the ‘hardcore’ that too many games hold your hand these days, that games are too forgiving, it’s an almost shocking reminder that in PacMan, as in Donkey Kong, or Cen pede, or any of the others, there’s no such safety net. Games were brutal back then. Frankly, if it came to a straight up ﬁs ight, PacMan could not only whip Demon’s Soul’s behind, it could hand Ninja Gaiden its own face on the end of a pointy s ck while casually kicking to death the Professional mode of any modern game you care to name.

“WHY DO 94% OF AMERICANS, GAMERS OR NOT, KNOW WHAT PACMAN IS?” Why is PacMan important? Why do people who’ve never played it wear the t-shirts? Why do 94% of Americans, gamers or not, know what it is? Like all “ﬁrsts”, it represents something: a combina on of physics, reac on, and u er simplicity that stays appealing more than 30 years a er its release. Personally, I always preferred Yie Ar Kung Fu, but the li le fella with the big mouth remains an indelible image in my li le grey cells. And, I suspect, in yours too. Rob Hobson

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FORGOTTEN GEMS:

MEAN ARENAS

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FEATURES REVIEWS PUBLISHERS: ICE DEVELOPERS: NITE TIME GAMES FORMAT: AMIGA RELEASED: 1994

PACMAN WITH ADDED STUPIDITY AND SLAPSTICK. At the end of the day, games are supposed to be fun. What you consider to be fun will depend on what you look for in a game, and what you cons tute as entertainment. Some ﬁnd entertainment and joy in popping the head oﬀ a zombie, others like to be scared witless or hide in the shadows for long hours, stalking their prey, and there are some that like to have their re nas burnt with a rush of breakneck speed. I personally enjoy all of these, but most of all, I like a good laugh, and for that, Mean Arenas was a genuinely memorable tle. Mean Arenas was a top-down puzzle based adventure, set around the concept of a reality TV show where contestants worked their way around a series of mazes, solving puzzles and collec ng points. Think of it as The Running Man meets It’s a Knockout, or Bomberman meets Pac-Man, and you’re about there. As you went along, the puzzles got trickier, the enemies got stronger and the me got shorter, each one a ribu ng to more and more stress and tension (and joys ck-hurling frustra on!). Luckily, there were some chuckle-inducing commentators on hand, ready and loaded to cut through the tension with their metaphorical knifes of slaps ck and stupidly. It’s a well known fact that commentators, comedians and crabs (li le Hot Shots gag, there), work best in pairs. So, in Mean Arenas, we were treated to a couple of wise-cracking commentators going by the names of Buzz McCloud and Bob Bulanski. Cropping up every now and then, either to congratulate you for comple ng a level double-quick, or to mock you for going down the wrong path and falling to your death, Buzz and Bob added a sprinkle of ers to proceedings. With Buzz, you had the strong, smart, focused anchor of the show, and with Bob…well… you had a retard. Seriously, watch the video on YouTube, he sounds like the thicko voice every kid used to do at school!

Bob was clearly not a well man, and he was arguably the least developed character ever created, but I s ll ﬁnd him funny today, even a er 20+ years of the world crushing my spirit. The way he stands there, with his blank eyes and comedy tash, gormlessly misplacing segways and having microphones burst in his face. Childish, but milk-snor ngly amusing. Also, I could men on that Buzz and Bob look, act, and play exactly like Johnny Gomez and Nick Diamond from the TV show Celebrity Deathmatch. But I won’t, or MTV will have my legs broken.

“I LOVE THE CHEESY GAGS, THE DATED GRAPHICS, THE HORRENDOUS MUSIC, THE SOLID IF UNSPECTACULAR GAMING, THE CHILDISH SCRIPTING AND THE LAZY VOICE RECORDING.” OK, so this is a bit of a love-in, and I’m sure you’ll either have no memory of this average puzzler, or less that ecsta c fondness of the iﬀy voice ac ng and shabby gameplay. Mean Arenas was by no means a classic, and it was very much of it’s me; a mid 90s tle catered for kids, at a me when games were primarily for kids. But personally I love the simple charm of Mean Arenas. I love the cheesy gags, the dated graphics, the horrendous music, the solid if unspectacular gaming, the childish scrip ng and the lazy voice recording. Why? Because it reminds me of a me when games were funny. They weren’t trying to convey an important message, or trying to be morally evasive or en cing, and they especially weren’t trying to be clever. They just tried to be fun, and for that, games like Mean Arenas will always have a fond space in my memory, along with the stupidly hilarious Buzz and Bob. Sco Tierney

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REVIEWS

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REVIEWS DELL STREAK LEANER AND FITTER THAN THE STREAKIEST OF BACON, BUT IS IT AS APPEALING? Mobile-sized tablets are a very strange creature, a technological hermaphrodite if you will, that seem to find themselves uncomfortably wedged between the mobile phone and the laptop. The iPad may be the solu on we’ve been looking for, with its excellent mix of beau ful design, smart apps and startling features, but it’s s ll a miss-match of products that doesn’t quite seem to fit in the market or our lives. But now Dell have got in on the act and released the Streak, which has the poten al to bridge the gap that so many other products have fallen through, never to be seen again. The Dell Streak is a 5-inch, Android-powered tablet, which features a touch screen, 5MP camera, solid internet browsing and the usual line-up of Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and 3G. At around the size of a small pencil case (152 x 78 x 10 mm), the Streak can be a li le (pardon the pun) cumbersome, as it’s a bit too big for your pocket but far too small to make a bag a snug fit. This larger body does help the screen though, and with it coming in at the 5inch mark, it’s big as well as beau ful. Frustra ngly, with every plus the Streak can boast, there’s an equal amount of nega ves. Star ng with the pluses, surfing the web via the Streak is fantas c. Thanks to the nature of the interface - which encourages use in a horizontal manner - all webpages work exactly as they would on a PC. Also, the screen keyboard is superb, and about the best we’ve come across on a handset this size. Gone are the days of one-finger typing, as with the Streak, you can easily use your thumbs thanks to the large keys and super responsive screen. There are also enough characters on the keyboard to sink a ship, so you’ll never be stuck in a situa on when you can’t find that perfect symbol. Image courtesy of Dell Inc.

But as we say, for all those posi ves, there are just as many nega ves. Most of these nega ves can be put down to missing features that should have been included, and absences that leave a las ng problem. Basic addi ons like an FM radio have been excluded, as has Outlook Express and the BBC iPlayer. The exclusion of Outlook is a huge problem, as although other Email programs can be downloaded (at a price, mind you) the version included with the Streak is very poor, and a daily hindrance that cannot be tolerated. It’s also worth no ng that the Dell Streak is dragged down by the now dated Android 1.6. Even in its prime, 1.6 wasn’t all that great, and now it’s general layout and design is somewhat lacking. The menus for instance are extremely bland and plain, and although they’re perfectly usable, they just lack that touch of sparkle that makes using a device of this type enjoyable. But the good news is that an update for Android should be arriving soon, so salva on could s ll be on the horizon.

“IT’S WORTH NOTING THAT THE DELL STREAK IS DRAGGED DOWN BY THE NOW DATED ANDROID 1.6.” Overall it’s the same mixed-up story from this new tablet. It’s great to use, smart, smooth, friendly, and more involving than most of the current smartphones. But at the end of the day it s ll has to hot-foot between two categories – mobile and laptop – and although it gives it a really good go, it’s just can’t quite bring the best of those two products together. It’s s ll a cheaper alterna ve to the over-hyped iPad though, so it’s worth a look. Sco Tierney

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REVIEWS SAMSUNG GALAXY S THE BEST SCREEN MONEY CAN BUY? The standard of screens, in any size or format, has been progressively ge ng be er and be er. In the space of 75 years, screens have gone from black and white to colour, from massively heavy to thin and sleek, from so and fuzzy to high deﬁni on, from the local cinema to the inside of your pocket. Now, we have screens that are capable of 3D, and picture quality that is sharper (at any size) than ever before. Yep, today is a good day to be alive and look at screens. So, if you like screens and you like mobile phones, we may have the best possible partnership; the Samsung Galaxy S, which has arguably the best screen we’ve ever seen on a mobile phone. We’ll come back to the Galaxy S’s superb screen in a moment, but let’s have a look at what else is on oﬀer. As with most Samsung devices of this nature, the Galaxy S runs on Android 2.1 (although an update to 2.2 is expected shortly). It’s a lovely smooth interface, which incorporates everything in an easy and user-friendly manner. The home screens are similar to those of previous Samsung smartphones, with customisa on easily adaptable. But on the Galaxy S the overall screens are much bigger, and can be scrolled across as one big background rather than 3-4 smaller versions. Imagine it as a large computer desktop, which can be viewed in 4 ver cal quarters.

“THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S IS A FANTASTIC PHONE, WHICH MANAGES TO MERGE USER SIMPLICITY WITH STARK TECHNOLOGICAL BEAUTY.”

The Samsung Galaxy S aims to make your mobile use (and life to a certain extent) much easier. One example of this is the Smart Life feature, which allows you to collate and view your en re social media in one easy applica on. Facebook, Twi er and YouTube are all available via Smart Life, and more are soon to follow once the feature begins to come into full use. Another me-saving device is the Swype op on, which allows you to type by dragging your finger across the screen-based keyboard, rather than pushing each individual key. Personally I find this quite fiddly and irrita ng, but if you find typing a nuisance this may be ideal for you. Other addi ons such as a 5-megapixel camera (very impressive), aGPS, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an 8GB or 16GB microSD card slot are also included, making the Samsung Galaxy S an extremely well rounded package. But of course, this is all a build-up to what really makes the Galaxy S shine; the screen. The screen framed by the Samsung Galaxy S is an absolute peach (round, sweet and fluffy?). For a screen of barely 4 inches in size, the brightness, resolu on and detail is staggering, and arguably the best we’ve seen since the almighty LG BL40 Chocolate. It’s also worth no ng that thanks to Samsung’s knowledge of witchcra , the Galaxy S’s screen is less affected by sunlight. Don’t ask us how Samsung have combated the awesome power of the Sun, but they have succeeded massively. Overall the Samsung Galaxy S is a fantas c phone, which manages to merge user simplicity with stark technological beauty. Although the stunning screen is eye-catching to the extreme, don’t let it distract from the Galaxy S’s excellent features and smart ease. The Samsung Galaxy S is a great package, and although the enlarged size can be a slight hindrance, it’s by far one of the best phones we’ve seen for a while. Sco Tierney

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REVIEWS NOKIA 7230 CUTE AND JOLLY...IS THIS WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR? Buying a phone these days is a very expensive business. If you want something that has all the features and gimmicks that you require for your daily life, then it’s likely your bank account is going to have a £400 hole chomped out of it. You’ll get a top-notch phone for your cash, but we can’t all afford to throw around that amount of money every me the latest mobile upstages the rest. So, those cheap phones that merrily glow with their star-shaped bargain s ckers are a very temp ng and financially lucra ve op on, and this new bargain, the Nokia 7230, looks to be a very temp ng buy indeed. The Nokia 7230 is a cheap and cheerful slider, which gives you what you need and ignores what you don’t. All the basics are covered, with a dy 3.2MP camera, Bluetooth, 3G, solid music playback, FM radio and a respec ul 395 hours or ba ery life. All this is packaged in a curvy and amusing body, which looks slender in black and silly in pink. As expected, the 7230 is extremely easy to use, thanks to a simple yet effec ve interface that has been honed and toned by Nokia through years of prac ce. It’s nothing to get overly excited about, and to be fair we’d rather finger the iPhone’s or HTC’s interface than this, but it’s more than useable, especially for a standard mobile. As with any budget phone, there are going to be some rather heavy drawbacks. Firstly, the camera is very poor when used in moderate to low light, and due to a lack of flash, there’s not a lot you can do to combat this shor all. Also, the audio output is of a very low standard. OK, this is a budget phone, but audio quality is a feature that should not be affected by this. Good speaker quality is the bread and bu er of the mobile at the end of the day.

Another ﬂaw that crops-up is the lack of HSDPA support, and also the exclusion of Wi-Fi.Although Wi-Fi is a general inclusion for the vast majority of phones, it’s s ll an expensive luxury. That said, with the price for the 7230 being set at around the £100 mark, Wi-Fi should be included. Sending emails is also an excrucia ng task.

“WHEN YOU COME TO BUY YOUR NEXT PHONE, YOU MAY CONSIDER THE NOKIA 7230 AS AN OPTION, BUT YOU’LL PROBABLY FIND THAT THE 7230 JUST DOESN’T OFFER EITHER TOP QUALITY OR A BARGAIN PRICE TAG.” Overall the Nokia 7230 is a bit of a let down, and not up to the standard that we’ve come to expect from any trusty budget phone. It’s got some great features, it’s sturdy and we love the design, but we’ve come to a point in me when the exclusions and standard that the Nokia 7230 has to offer is no longer acceptable for a budget handset. £100 is s ll a lot of money for a mobile phone, and if you just want a phone that makes calls and does the most basic of basic du es, why not get a £9.99 handset from ASDA? The Nokia 7230 just doesn’t quite seem to fit, as it’s a bit too pricy for a cheap buy, but not good enough to match-up to the pricier mobiles. When you come to buy your next phone, you may consider the Nokia 7230 as an op on, and to be honest you could do a lot worse, but you’ll probably find that the 7230 just doesn’t offer either top quality or a bargain price tag, and for that reason we can’t overly recommend it. Sco Tierney

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REVIEWS

RED DEAD: REDEMPTION PUBLISHERS: ROCKSTAR DEVELOPERS: ROCKSTAR FORMAT: XBOX 360, PS3 AVAILABLE: NOW

SAND BOX Is there a cultural mythology that chimes as well with the videogame as that of the Western gunslinger? One man against the world, with only his peacemaker to protect him and his steed to keep him moving. You hardly need a plot. Rockstar’s latest opus casts you as John Marston, once the worst kind of outlaw but now (of course) able to see the error of his ways. His mission, whether he chooses to accept it or not, is to track down and deep-six his former gang. What follows is a mournful, thrilling and en rely sa sfying piece of Americana that takes you from the Southern states to Mexico and right back, ingeniously cking oﬀ cliche a er cliche and turning them into a genuinely solid, coherent piece of gaming. If you’re already thinking of skipping to the end and checking the score, I’ll save you the eﬀort. This is an outstanding produc on that improves on its stablemate, Grand The Auto 4, in numerous ways. If you thought Niko lacked that certain special something, Marston could well be the character that makes you fall back in love with Rockstar.

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The key is in making such a yawning chunk of geography feel so packed with misadventure. Yes, the towns and se lements are few and far between and yes, you’ll spend a fair old bit of me galloping across an arid chunk of desert with only a horse for company. You are, of course, able to fast-travel but RDR’s genius lies in the fact that you very rarely want to. It’s only towards the end of the game, when you’ve opened up the full map and distances start becoming a tad prohibi ve, that you’ll succumb to the tempta on. The game’s storyline quests are punctuated by frequent random encounters, including hapless horse the vic ms, a damsel in distress ac ng as a front for half a dozen banditos, or a cannibalis c fron ersman. For a dry, desolate wilderness there’s a hell of a lot to do. Ac vi es are ed into Fame and Honor, with stepped rewards for both. Become a shining beacon of jus ce and gallantry and you’ll get paid more for your boun es, for example. Act like a murderous bastard throughout and ci zens will sensibly keep their mouths shut if they see you butcher someone in the street. Fame brings similar perks as you progress from Nobody to Legend of the West.

REVIEWS

“I’LL FREELY ADMIT IT: I HAD MORE FUN WITH RDR THAN WITH ITS LIBERTY CITY-BASED STABLEMATE.” Then there’s the combat. GTA4’s cover and fire is present and correct, but any concerns you might s ll have about the snap-to-target aiming are offset by the return of Red Dead Revolver’s neat Dead Eye system. Ac vate it, and me is slowed down, allowing you to point targets then unleash a volley of lethally accurate shots. And whilst I’m running out of space to cover mul player with the depth it deserves, there’s enough co-opera ve and compe ve gameplay here - with all the usual suspects like deathmatch and capture the flag - to keep you going long a er the campaign’s over. Rockstar promises new (and free) co-op missions over the coming months, making this a seriously thought-through package. I’ll freely admit it: I had more fun with RDR than with its Liberty City-based stablemate. Rockstar’s excellent scriptwri ng, ac ng and sense of theatre shines through this incredibly polished piece of work. A must-buy on every level. Rob Hobson

PRESENTATION: 18/20 STORY: 20/20 CONTROLS: 19/20 GAMEPLAY: 19/20 DURABILITY: 18/20

OVERALL

94/100 phonica magazine uk

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SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV PUBLISHERS: CAPCOM DEVELOPERS: DIMPS/CAPCOM FORMAT: XBOX 360, PS3, ARCADE AVAILABLE: NOW

ADD THE WORD ‘SUPER’, THROW IN A FEW NEW FEATURES AND YOU’VE GOT A SURE FIRE HIT. phonica magazine magazine uk uk 48 phonica

REVIEWS Street Fighter IV brought the classic Capcom series back to the fore, and back to its righ ul place at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings. With a glamorous new art style, revamped controls, snazzy features and a pick-up-and-play gameplay that was easy to learn but hard to master, Street Fighter IV had everything that made the originals great, while s ll being individual enough to stand out. But there were a few flaws, that although didn’t ruin the experience, did at mes leave a bi er taste in the chops. So has this expansion pack/sequel righted all the wrongs of the previous, while s ll being capable of delivering that knockout punch to the kisser? 25 characters was probably enough for anyone, and if you couldn’t find a character that best suited your skills as well as fantasies, then you were probably being too picky. But s ll, for all those Picky Percy’s, Super Street Fighter IV offers up another 10 characters, from the greasy devil of Hakan, to the archetypical Bri sh Gent, Dudley. These new fighters all come with the obligatory back story, played out in the resome and always dull cut scenes (that said, we’d miss them if they were deleted). So that’s some new punch bags lined up for a pounding, but what else does Super Street Fighter IV have to offer? Well the online features Street Fighter IV showcased were o en cri cized for being user unfriendly, so this is a wrong Super Street Fighter IV has tried to right. A er a li le bit of tweaking and fiddling, the online features are now far more invi ng, for both the bu er fingered newbie and the raw-knuckled veteran. The online leaderboards have been reworked to now feature a much clearer and more rounded ranking system, players can now chat together and watch past fights on the replay channel (one for the die-hards or bored!) and although a tournament mode isn’t featured with the release of the hard copy, a free download to set to follow in Mid June. To be honest, there’s not a lot else to say about Super Street Fighter IV. It’s a polished copy of arguably the best fighter on the market, the online features offer far more enjoyment and diversity, and at around £15-£20, it’s considerably cheaper than the original. If you haven’t got a copy, and fancy a bit of retro face-smacking enjoyment, bag it now and get sucked into the world of Street Fighter! Sco Tierney

PRESENTATION: 18/20 STORY: 17/20 CONTROLS: 19/20 GAMEPLAY: 19/20 DURABILITY: 18/20

OVERALL

91/100 phonica magazine uk

REVIEWS

BLUR PUBLISHER: ACTIVISION DEVELOPER: BIZARRE CREATIONS PLATFORM: XBOX 360, PS3, PC AVAILABLE: NOW

MARIO KART FOR THE GROWN-UPS? Take Mario Kart 64. Modernise. Add hot graphics. A touch of class. Result? A fantas cally exci ng, edgeof-the-seat racing ac on with weapons and abili es thrown in for good measure – Mario Kart v2.0. Very few games have encompassed mul player ac on from across the board in terms of ac on, progressive gameplay and the raw thrill of blowing your friends away, and in Blur we may see one of these rare beasts. Blur, to put it in a very simple manner, brings together the best of the prim and proper racing games - such as the Project Gotham series and the Need for Speed series - included some of the awesome graphics on show, and tossed it to Crazy Ivan from Red Alert to mess about with.

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As expected, the graphics, the handling of the cars, the racing itself is pre y much spot on; you get what you expected, nothing le out, and it’s a good ride by itself. Dri ing, blas ng down straights, hi ng curves like a baseball pitcher – it’d be a passable imita on of any of the aforemen oned games by itself. Given that there is a very similar rewards system like the Kudos feature in Project Gotham Racing, with also a similar singleplayer campaign involving various diﬀering types of races, boss races, et cetera, you’ll some mes ﬁnd yourself wondering why you bought this game when you already have PGR... Un l you get to the racing itself.

“BLUR HAS MADE A SLOW START IN THE MARKET AT THE MOMENT BUT I EXPECT TO HEAR GREAT THINGS IN THE FUTURE.”

Here you ﬁnd the essence of the racing combat so widely loved in the Mario Kart games coming to the fore in Blur. Power-ups such as Shunt (Red shell to you MK gamers) and Bolt allow players to literally blow the crap out of each other mid-race, with these power-ups available, again like in Mario Kart, hovering over the racetrack. However, the abili es don’t stop there. The ability to infuse abili es with perks allows incredible combina ons, ins lling a depth of strategy and tac cal mastery that rivals some of the leading tles in other markets. Players fast to iden fy these will be able to switch from defence to oﬀence with the pickup of one ability and the use of their perk loadout (similar to Modern Warfare perk loadouts in the case that you choose them before combat) and combina ons such as using a shield power-up then augmen ng it to form a ba ering ram just goes to show how deep the game can be at top level racing.

It was only a ma er of me before someone stepped up to the plate where Mario Kart was pitching with it’s already infec ous gameplay, but Bizarre Crea ons really has given an almighty swing of things and by the looks of it, connected where it ma ered. Having taken what Mario Kart was so good on and expanded on it in all direc ons, Blur has made a slow start in the market at the moment but I expect to hear great things in the future with regards to this tle. Paul Park

PRESENTATION: 18/20 STORY: 14/20 CONTROLS: 16/20 GAMEPLAY: 19/20 DURABILITY: 18/20

OVERALL

85/100 phonica magazine uk

REVIEWS SPLIT/SECOND: VELOCITY PUBLISHERS: DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS DEVELOPERS: BLACK ROCK STUDIO FORMAT: XBOX 360, PS3, PC, MOBILE AVAILABLE: NOW

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REVIEWS IT’S GOT MORE EXPLOSIONS THAN A BURNING PROPANE WAREHOUSE, BUT IS THIS RACER ALL SHOW AND NO GO? We’ve been excited about Split/Second: Velocity, ever since we had a brief playtest last year. We loved the pace, the ac on, the fran c combus ons and the thrilling sense of speed. Those brief yet compelling minutes le us begging for more, and now that Split/Second: Velocity has finally made it to the shelves, we’ve gorged ourselves on the raucous delights it posses. But strangely, we can’t help but feel a li le underwhelmed. If Jerry Bruckheimer was to replace Bernie Ecclestone as the ringmaster of F1, Split/Second: Velocity would be the likely outcome. In this fic onal TV show, that caters to those that crave a flashy cocktail of speed and destruc on, racers go up against each other on racetracks lined with enough explosives to split the Earth in two. The racing goes as such. When you’ve gained enough power or charge, either by sliding the car, ge ng into the slipstream of another car, or just by pulling some wild and crazy moves, you can unleash that power onto other racers. When you have filled your meter with enough charge, you are allowed to detonate predetermined bombs or traps, preferably when your compe tors are in the vicinity. For example, if you were behind another driver, when prompted, you could detonate a large skyscraper, that would crumble down and crush all those around. It’s a drama c and heart-pounding gimmick, which really li s the excitement up above the mediocre racing. Apart from racing, you can also par cipate in other events. There’s the classic me trial (a lot be er than it sounds), the elimina on races, an event where you have to dodge incoming missiles from a helicopter gunship, and a test where you have to dodge the explosive barrels that fall from the back of lorries and straight into your chops. But sadly, these are the only excursions from the standard races, and although they’re all jolly exci ng, we’d have liked to have seen a lot more diversity. They’re good solid events, but a er the third or fourth incarna on, they get rather tedious.

Split/Second: Velocity survives on a very simple gimmick, that although is the making of this feisty li le racer, is also its biggest flaw. The races themselves are essen ally elevated by the epic explosions that take place, and let’s be fair, they’re bloomin amazing! But, strip the TNT and helicopter gunship away, and Split/Second: Velocity le feeling rather stale. During races, you’ll o en find yourself quietly driving around on your own, either far ahead at the front or in a massive gap away from other racers. When this happens, nothing happens. No explosions go off, no one is close enough for you to a ack, you’ve got no way of catching up other than driving faster, and as the tracks and car handling are effec ve yet simple, you won’t be tested for driving ability. It just becomes very dull, and although these moments only happen in occasional patches, they suck the excitement out faster than a fat kid with a half-price milkshake.

“SPLIT/SECOND CAN’T LIVE UP TO ITS INITIAL WOW FACTOR.” Split/Second: Velocity is a really good racer, that although steals a lot of its ideas from the superior Burnout series, is s ll a lot of carefree, white-knuckle fun. But ul mately, those explosions do become repe ve and dull. It’s like those ‘Destroyed in Seconds’ program’s you see late at night, when buildings fall down and rockets explode. They’re great for a quick half hour, but you wouldn’t want to watch a 4 hour marathon of them. It’s the same with Split/Second: Velocity; great in short bursts, but it can’t live up to its ini al wow factor. Sco Tierney

PRESENTATION: 17/20 STORY: 14/20 CONTROLS: 18/20 GAMEPLAY: 16/20 DURABILITY: 13/20

OVERALL

78/100 phonica magazine uk

REVIEWS SIN AND PUNISHMENT: SUCCESSOR OF THE SKIES PUBLISHERS: NINTENDO DEVELOPERS: TREASURE FORMAT: WII AVAILABLE: NOW IS THIS A NEW VERSION OF OLD, OR AN OLD VERSION OF NEW? There are lots of ways to tell if an arcadestyle game is any good. Is it fun, is the ac on non-stop, can a buddy play as well, is the replay factor any good? All worthy ques ons, but the one that stands out for me, is the scoring. Are the points measured in the millions, and does the line of rapidly escala ng digits take up the en re top sec on of the screen? Well, in the case of Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies, it’s a big, high-score exploding YES! Sin and Punishment 2 is an old-school rail shooter, with the very basic yet en cing premise; the more you shoot, the more points you score. Played either alone or with a trigger-happy pal, you control two charming characters, Isa and Katchi, as they try and evade the grasp of the chasing villains. The plot follows on from the original Sin and Punishment, although it’s hard to ﬁnd a dis nct correla on between the two. But ul mately, the plot, although interes ng and silly, is nothing but a clothes line, designed to hang the drying clothes of arcade ac on and mayhem.

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To class Sin and Punishment 2 as just a simple rail shooter would be rather harsh, as Treasure have done a splendid job of varying the dimensions of the gameplay. During some sec ons, your character is side on, with enemies approaching from the right as you a empt to carve a way through, just like in any other rail-based shooter. But, in other sec ons, you control you character from behind, as they either ﬂy around the environment on an invisible rollercoaster, or run through the ac on like a laser unleashing combine harvester. These varia ons bring a lot of extra excitement to proceedings, and as the changes of view/direc on are seamless, you quickly adapt and keep on blas ng like you life depended on it. As this is a Wii game, it comes as no surprise that the visuals are predictably weak. But, it should be said that the graphics found in Sin and Punishment 2 are very sub-par indeed. OK, so the lack of visual luster or detail goes a long way to maintaining a smooth frame rate, and we are massively thankful for that, but Sin and Punishment 2 could really have done with an extra polish, just give the whole experience a bit of a li .

“OVERALL, SIN AND PUNISHMENT IS JUST A JOY TO PLAY.” Thankfully, the controls are wonderfully prac cal, enabling even the most honey-glazed-ham fisted of gamers the chance to enjoy the fran c mayhem without fluster. You point and aim with the Wii Remote, shoot via the trigger, fire special shots with the A bu on and move and evade via the Nunchuck. Done.

PRESENTATION: 14/20 STORY: 16/20 CONTROLS: 18/20 GAMEPLAY: 18/20 DURABILITY: 18/20

Sin and Punishment 2 feels like a game from years gone by, with none of the distrac ons of today’s games that impede gamers from the pure enjoyment of playing. The controls are simple, the gameplay is smartly cra ed yet instantly enjoyable and overall, Sin and Punishment 2 is just a joy to play. It feels like one of the games you played with your best chum a er school, knelt down in front of the TV, shou ng “go le , look out, take the baddie on the right”, un l it was me for tea. Everything that distracts from the simple enjoyment of shoo ng stuﬀ and bea ng the high score has been striped away, leaving Sin and Punishment 2 as an almost perfect arcade shooter. It’s a fantas c, joyous piece of video gaming, that reminds you that games, in their simplest form, are wonderful.

84/100

OVERALL

Sco Tierney

phonica magazine uk

METRO 2033 PUBLISHERS: THQ DEVELOPERS: 4A GAMES FORMAT: XBOX 360, PC AVAILABLE: NOW

THE ENRICHED UNDERWORLD OF A POST-APOCALYPTIC MOSCOW DOESN’T QUITE DISGUISE A MULTITUDE OF FLAWS.

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REVIEWS There’s something about descending the steps of a London underground sta on that makes me feel a li le uneasy. With every step, I go another few feet below the surface, into a world that is almost separate from the reality above. It’s dark, gloomy, compact, and I just don’t feel at ease. Ah well, at least it’s not as bad as the world portrait in Metro 2033; there’s ghosts and mutants and everything. Although it is a lot quieter, and no one sneezes in my face… Metro 2033 is a FPS/adventure, set in a post-apocalyp c Moscow. Following a massive disaster of its own making, mankind now hides below the frozen and dilapidated surface, making a new home in the underground tunnels of the metro network. Living in fear of the mutants that roam the surface, and on occasion break into the sealed civiliza ons to reek some unpleasant havoc, all is far from merry, especially when a new form of mutant is heard within the whispers. It’s a very intense and crushing se ng, which has been created with an enormous amount of detail and care.

“METRO 2033 IS A HARD GAME TO SUM-UP, MOSTLY DUE TO THE EXPANSIVE GAP BETWEEN ITS SUCCESS AND FAILINGS.” It could be said that Metro 2033, like its characters, survives en rely on its se ngs and story. As you walk around the underground shanty towns, you’ll be struck by how much humanity and life there is. Conversa ons fill the narrow corridors, people recognize and communicate with you as you pass, campfires send shadows dancing around the larger areas and the general ambiance send a nervous shiver down the spine. It really is a fantas c se ng for a game, and some of the environments set outside the camps, such as the creaking sewage tunnels and crumbling ci es, are a sight to behold and experience. But, apart from this, Metro 2033 doesn’t offer a lot else, and its flaws are naked for all to see.

As an actual game, Metro 2033 is packed with problems, glitches and technical decisions gone wrong. You don’t really no ce them when outside the ac on, as the inspiring se ngs take up most of your a en on. But once the ac on heats up, all the li le rough edges start to come to the fore. The controls are far too heavy, reloading takes an eternity, leaving you open to a acks without an op on to block and no speed to maneuver away, the AI anima ons are too clunky, the baddies are far too tough, and overall Metro 2033 just isn’t that scary. There’s a deﬁnite sense of tension, and some of the occasional moments of shock do rise up, but Metro 2033 is not a scary game, and a lesser adventure due to this. Metro 2033 is a hard game to sum up, mostly due to the expansive gap between its success and failings. As an experience, it’s second to none. Simple, underplayed moments such as walking through a crowded bar, catching part of a stress-weary conversa on between mother and child, or wai ng at the gates to another compound, are genuinely fantas c. But the moments of actual gameplay are very poorly managed, and go a long way to ruining Metro 2033 as an overall piece. Think of Metro 2033 as a lesser version of Fallout 3, but without the tac cal aiming system. Shoo ng ‘freestyle’ in Fallout 3 was nearly impossible, but thanks to the clever system of pausing the ac on and strategically selec ng which body part to blow oﬀ next, completely eradicated the problem of missing, and went a long way to making Fallout 3 the classic we know and adore. If Metro 2033 had a li le more technique to add to its enormous style, then it would/ could have been a truly excep onal piece. But sadly, due to a few elementary mistakes, it falls short of gaming excellence. If there was ever a missed opportunity for a game to excel beyond it’s basic fundamentals, Metro 2033 was it. Such a shame. Sco Tierney

PRESENTATION: 17/20 STORY: 16/20 CONTROLS: 12/20 GAMEPLAY: 14/20 DURABILITY: 14/20

OVERALL

73/100 phonica magazine uk

REVIEWS LOST PLANET 2 PUBLISHER: CAPCOM DEVELOPER: CAPCOM PLATFORM: XBOX 360, PS3, PC AVAILABLE: PS3, XBOX 360 EXCELLENT GRAPHICS. SHAME ABOUT BLOWING THE CRAP OUT OF THE GORGEOUS WORLD AND ITS DENIZENS. MORE FUN FOR US! The Lost Planet 2 previews that had popped up over the past few months promised us beau ful scenery, giant aliens and armoured mechs bristling with more weaponry than an NRA conven on. In this respect, Lost Planet 2 doesn’t disappoint. Thrown into the original arc c wastelands in the beginning of the single player mode, travelling through the vast, lush, tropical jungles of the first chapter, the graphics are simply stunning – it all reminded me of the jungle scene in Avatar, with all the mechs and footsoldiers in tow. Add a fantas c selec on of weapons and gadgets into the mix and you find yourself gasping as crisp explosions rip your screen apart (along with any surrounding foliage) while you blast down some unruly aliens who threaten to cause havoc in your ranks. It has to be said and universally agreed that the graphics are superb – there is no argument there. The environments are visually fantas c and more than once I’ve lost myself just staring into the sky. However, that’s where the simple joy in the game ends. As you progress into the game you find yourself in increasingly co-op situa ons, where the ac ons and the survivability of your allies become as important as yours. Missions usually revolve around the core idea that data nodes across the map must be taken control of, to act as respawn points and to award you 500 points for the mission. Every me you die, 500 points are taken off you un l you reach 0, at which point the mission restarts from the beginning. Now, this wouldn’t be so bad, and it isn’t in the singleplayer, but that is because you are reliant on your own performance (and a li le on your AI teammates, who can, at mes, be complete morons).

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In the mul player, however, throw in one inexperienced player into the fray and you’ll ﬁnd yourself swearing loudly every me you see another 500 points lost because li le Jimmy can’t s ck to good cover and has to do a Rambo-esque charge at the enemy lines – and this is where the ﬂaws of the game begin to rack up. Because of this, the game begins to shi more from actually achieving the objec ves to that of survival – if you die, it’s a massive kick in the teeth because you’ve just set yourself back by a good 15 minutes. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to have a great challenge and to know that every shot missed could result in a big loss is an extra mo va ng factor to do your best, but when it’s the 5th me you’ve died to that same giant alien boss simply because he chose to target you instead of any of your team mates, it gets frustra ng as heck. For all its good points, it seems to be that Capcom tried to streamline it into today’s gaming market a li le too much and ended up spoiling what was good about the game with a load of overcomplicated details. An excellent shooter it is, but an excellent game it is not. Paul Park

PRESENTATION: 17/20 STORY: 12/20 CONTROLS: 14/20 GAMEPLAY: 16/20 DURABILITY: 15/20

OVERALL

74/100

phonica magazine uk

RESONANCE OF FATE PUBLISHERS: SEGA DEVELOPERS: TRI-ACE FORMAT: XBOX 360, PS3 AVAILABLE: NOW

TURN-BASED ACTION THAT YOU’LL EITHER LOVE OR LOATH. phonica magazine magazine uk uk 60 phonica

REVIEWS I don’t like turn-based fights. To me, it’s like watching two heavyweight boxers stand totally mo onless in front of each other, while taking turns to land roundhouse punches to the opponents jaw. Once one has swung and hit, he stands s ll and lets the other guy have a go, without moving, avoiding or defending in any way. This goes on un l either of the fights drops to the ground unconscious, or both fighters lose interest and go home for tea. Turn-based fights, to me, just lack any flair, skill, excitement or fluidity, and therefore ruin any RPG they inhabit. But, this new and snazzy RPG from Sega looks to have added a li le spice to proceedings. Resonance of Fate takes place in a magical, clockwork city high above the ground. Due to a change in the earth’s environment, mankind has built a device, the Basel, which keeps humans immune from the poisonous gases that threaten everyday life. Basing their lives around the Basel, the remaining humans now live out their lives way up in the sky, above the poisonous landscape below, in a city that resembles that of a Victorian cake n sketch, and the inners of a giant clock. It’s a fascina ng and fantas c se ng, which although rarely develops or explores too far beyond its most basic parameters, s ll feels alive and bustling with magic and charm.

“RESONANCE OF FATE DOES REQUIRE A GREAT DEAL OF SACRIFICE AND TIME, BUT IF YOU PUT THE HOURS IN AND KNUCKLE DOWN, YOU’LL BE GREATLY REWARDED.” You take control of three characters, Vashyron, Zephyr and Leanne, as they go about their tasks within the city. Most of this centers around hun ng monsters and helping the locals, as you would expect from any self respec ng RPG tle. As the game progress, the plots they create develop around them, and although you’ll really have to s ck with Resonance of Fate for the long haul if you want to get the most out of it, it’s well worth the me.

From the outset, it’s very hard to figure out what Resonance of Fate is. Is it a puzzler? Is it all about the ac on? Is it a slow and steady strategy? Well, a er a good few hours, you’ll discover that it’s probably a mixture of all three. When you go into the map menu, you’ll no ce that the land of Resonance of Fate is broken down into lots of li le hexagons. As you progress, you’ll defeat enemies and be rewarded with these hexagon slots, that can then be used to navigate the land and create paths. In this respect, you’ll need a head for puzzles, and an enjoyment of Blockbusters. But when the ac on kicks in, you’ll need a head for excitement, and pa ence. Sega have tried to recreate the turn-based system used in the Final Fantasy series, but with a li le more spunk. Whereas the fights in Final Fantasy could be occasionally tedious, even for die-hard fans of the series, the scraps in Resonance of Fate are far more exhilara ng and pacey. I haven’t got me to go into them in full, but the Tri-A ack system that is used allows for far more input such as character movements and commands, and also adds more spectacular shoot-outs to the proceeding. I personally s ll find it infuria ng, but it’s a decent mix, if a li le frustra ng. Resonance of Fate is a magical RPG, that although is flawed in a few departments such as the art direc on and the overall pacing, s ll makes for a wonderful piece of endurance gaming. It may not be to everyone’s taste, and it’s probably fair to say that Resonance of Fate does require a great deal of sacrifice and me, but if you put the hours in and knuckle down, you’ll be greatly rewarded. I just wish that turn-based figh ng would just go away and die. When it is its turn, obviously. Sco Tierney

PRESENTATION: 16/20 STORY: 15/20 CONTROLS: 16/20 GAMEPLAY: 15/20 DURABILITY: 16/20

OVERALL

78/100 phonica magazine uk

REVIEWS NIER PUBLISHERS: SQUARE ENIX DEVELOPERS: CAVIA FORMAT: PS3, XBOX 360 AVAILABLE: NOW

A WONDERFUL SOUNDTRACK AND…? When you hear the word ‘fantasy’, chances are you’ll immediately think of the same scene. Lushes lands of grassy hills, hordes of trolls, magic, dragons, and a scan ly dressed lady whose dress of leaves can’t quite contain her generously propor oned assets. It’s the classic world of fantasy that we all know, and one that has been copied and pasted more mes than we care to imagine. And of course, it crops up again in this latest ac on-based RPG, Nier. Nier is based around the rela onship between a devoted father, Nier, and his sick daughter, Kainé, as they live out their lives in a li le village, under the threat of invasion by an evil known only as the Black Scrawl. As the plot unfolds, you deﬁnitely feel a connec on between the young girl under your protec on, and this is a theme that the developers have played well, making certain sec ons of the game extremely exci ng. Sadly, these excep onal moments take far too long to get to, and the resome opening two thirds of the game needs to be waded through before Nier’s goodness can be unlocked.

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“THE TIRESOME OPENING TWO THIRD WADED THROUGH BEFORE NIER’S GO Cavia have tried to mix a wide variety of genres together, in an a empt to make Nier a rich and diverse experience. Sadly, in their a empt to do so, Nier doesn’t really do anything right, while doing nothing wrong. The RPG elements are solid, as you build your characters a ributes from the start, while taking on greater and ﬁercer quests. But the typical fetch-based mini quests are hugely frustra ng, and add nothing to the overall experience. The ac on is again, solid, with a nice selec on of weapons available from the start, and some truly explosive spells crop up near the end. But there’s a severe lack of variety and diversity in the ac on, with only one basic a ack available and no real poise in the methods. There are a few puzzles to be solved, but they’re not par cularly ﬁendish or clever, and the occasional camera changes do add variety and spice, but not nearly enough. The load screens also drag the pace down like you wouldn’t believe, as they appear a er nearly every door and gateway.

DS OF THE GAME NEEDS TO BE OODNESS CAN BE UNLOCKED.” Nier’s visuals are also very poor, with even the most gigan c and in mida ng of castles lacking any sharpness or shine. There are some nice se ngs, and the enemies (shades) are cleverly conceived, but overall Nier is underwhelming and stale. One aspect that does li proceedings is the excellent soundtrack, which smartly builds the tension, while adding to the charming and magical ambiance. Whether it’s worth slugging through the first 20 hours of Nier, with its dull ac on, pointless quests, resome dialogue and underwhelming plot, just to get to the excellent closure of Nier’s final hours, is debatable. If you are a die-hard fan of the RPG genre with a craving for typical fantasy, and you have 20 hours that you can just widdle away (how I envy you), then do consider Nier. But if not, then aside from the soundtrack and occasional glimpses of excellence, there’s not a lot that Nier can showcase or offer as an argument against ignoring this tle. Sco Tierney

PRESENTATION: 11/20 STORY: 13/20 CONTROLS: 14/20 GAMEPLAY: 10/20 DURABILITY: 12/20

OVERALL

60/100 phonica magazine uk

REVIEWS DEAD TO RIGHTS: RETRIBUTION PUBLISHERS: NAMCO BANDAI GAMES DEVELOPERS: VOLATILE GAMES FORMAT: XBOX 360, PS3 AVAILABLE: NOW

64 phonica magazine uk

REVIEWS I WISH MY DOG WAS THIS CLEVER…AND BLOODTHIRSTY My dogs are dumb. I’ve got two Greyhounds, and although I love them both to bits, I wish they had just one brain cell between them. At best they recognize their own name, and if I put my shoes on they know it’s me for a walk, but apart from that, I can’t get them to respond to the simplest command. All I want is a nice big dog that’s friendly and comfor ng, but also intelligent and useful. But where can I find such a creature? Well, Shadow from this (sort of) new game, Dead to Rights: Retribu on, looks just about perfect. Although I wish he’d stop dragging disemboweled vic ms by the face. Dead to Rights: Retribu on is a reimagining of the Dead to Rights series, which originally started in 2002. It tells the story of Grant City police officer, Jack Slate, accompanied by his faithful dog , Shadow, as he goes around speaking gruffly and spreading around his unpleasant style of bloody jus ce. He’s a hard cop, who doesn’t play by the rules, and he’ll take any ac on to ensure those criminals spend the rest of their lives in a cell. One day that chief will take his badge away and throw him off the case, if he’s not careful… Jack’s not afraid to use his fists, and if any sucker gets too close, he’ll pop a sack of knuckles in their kisser without a second thought for the den st bills. Well, I say that. What’s more likely to happen is that you’ll bash the bu ons randomly, and he’ll throw some differing shots in a baddies general direc on. To be honest the figh ng is pre y dire, thanks to some iffy mechanics and dumb controls. Dead to Rights: Retribu on uses the classic fast/weak and slow/hard punch combina on, with one punch being a fast jab and the other being a stronger but slower a ack. But, in reality, both punches feel exactly the same, and both result in the same amount of damage. If you do pull-off a nice combo, you’ll be prompted to polish-off the scrap in a needlessly violent finishing move. These vary, with some resul ng in Jack snapping a villains arm, or breaking their neck, or even throwing their floppy caucus into the air before boo ng it in the face. They’re funny the first me, but as the old saying goes, ‘once you’ve seen one man’s spine sha er, you’ve seen them all.’

If punching the baddies gets frustra ng, then you can start shoo ng them instead, with gra fying results. Dead to Rights: Retribu on again uses the standard system of mixing both fran c shootouts with slo-mo precision. For instance, if you pull-off a skull-burs ng headshot, you’ll be rewarded with slo-mo stock, that can be used later when in a ght situa on when you need to take more care with whose head you pop. To be honest, the shoo ng is more enjoyable than the fis cuffs, but it’s a very flawed system, with accuracy being limited and ammo being frustra ng sparse. A quick word should be said about the features a ributed to Shadow, the friendly yet deadly canine. During sec ons of the game, you can control Shadow in situa ons when Jack is in need of help, or when an objec ve cannot be reached by someone on two legs. These li le ou ngs are good fun, as you run around ripping the faces off baddies and chowing down on their throats. But Shadow can also be given orders by Jack, and sadly these are a pain. To give you a quick example, at one point I told Shadow to stay behind a wall, and he just ran off and got shot. Maybe my Greyhounds are smarter than I thought? If I was going to sum Dead to Rights: Retribu on up in one word, it would be scruffy. Everything, all the way down from the en re gameplay to the minutest of ligh ng effects on a bathroom le, are just, simply…scruffy. The graphics are poor, the sound is naff, the plot is resome, it’s drained of incen ve and unrewarding, the gameplay is highly frustra ng and the controls are lackluster. Overall, it’s all a bit of a loosely built, needlessly violent mess, and although it can occasionally dazzle and excite, in general, Dead to Rights: Retribu on just bores and annoys. Sco Tierney

PRESENTATION: 14/20 STORY: 9/20 CONTROLS: 12/20 GAMEPLAY: 13/20 DURABILITY: 13/20

OVERALL

61/100 phonica magazine uk

PRISON BREAK: THE CONSPIRACY PUBLISHERS: DEEP SILVER DEVELOPERS: ZOOTFLY FORMAT: XBOX 360, PS3, PC AVAILABLE: NOW

IS PRISON REALLY THIS EASY? I’ve never been to prison, but from what I gather (mainly from watching episodes of Porridge and lis ng to Johnny Cash albums) it’s not a nice place to spend an exiled period of ones life. Conﬁned spaces, crooked guards, brutal assaults, murderers and rapists; all in all not a par cularly nice situa on. But if prison is anything like that portrayed in Prison Break: The Conspiracy, prison life looks like a jolly li le holiday amongst friends.

The gameplay involves a mixture of sneaking and smacking, either around the conﬁnes of the prison or the faces of other inmates. Sadly both these ac ons are extremely poor, with both oﬀering neither challenge nor excitement.

Prison Break: The Conspiracy is based around the events of the first series of the TV show, Prison Break (although you’ve probably guessed that!). But, instead of le ng you play as the TV show’s main protagonist, the ta oo dripping Michael Scofield, in the game you get to play as a new character, undercover agent Tom Paxton. Paxton is sent undercover to follow the ac on and spy on Scofield, and try to figure out what he’s up to. It’s not a par cularly clever way of regurgita ng the first season of the show, but it’s probably be er than actually having to replay it.

As for the sneaking, which takes up the majority of Prison Break: The Conspiracy’s gameplay, it’s ruined by abysmal controls and appalling AI. I’m guessing the ﬁrst ques on you get when applying for a job as a prison guard, is ‘can you see?’ Apparently this ques on isn’t asked at this prison, because unless you stand directly in front of a guard, blas ng a foghorn and waving a sparkler, they won’t see you. At one point I didn’t even bother to hide when a patrolling guard came along a narrow corridor, and out of frustra on I decided to just crouch next to a perfectly lit wall, in plain view. Did he see me, apprehend me, kick me in the Jacobs and hurl me down a ﬂight of stairs? Nope, he just walked past, and actually altered his path so not to bump into me!

phonica magazine magazine uk uk 66 phonica

The ﬁghts lack any bloodthirsty exhilara on or spice, with the standard mix of 2 punches (quick or hard) and block the only tools for combat available. You occasionally have to press a bu on on command, but that’s such a red piece of gaming it’s not funny.

REVIEWS

“TO BE HONEST, WE COULD FORGIVE PRISON BREAK: THE CONSPIRACY AND ITS MANY, MANY FLAWS, IF IT JUST HAD ONE THING; TENSION.” Everywhere you look in Prison Break: The Conspiracy, there’s a ﬂaw. The controls are terrible, giving you no sense of control or feel as your character appears to glide around the corridors on shoes made of ice. The graphics are very average, the voice ac ng is lazy, and the plot is at mes laughable. Paxton, apparently a fully trained undercover agent of the highest order, has a habit of standing in plain view of everyone in the prison, and ‘discreetly’ talking into his voice recorder. In any other prison he’d have been shancked or penetrated, but here no one blinks as he merrily chats away into his hand at the top of his voice.

To be honest, we could forgive Prison Break: The Conspiracy and its many, many ﬂaws, if it just had one thing; tension. As I said at the beginning, prison is a nasty, savage and unforgiving place (apparently), yet there’s not a single fragment of that aura in Prison Break: The Conspiracy. As you walk down the stale corridors, past lifeless inmates who rarely speak, and guards that do nothing more than call you a ‘ﬁsh’, you don’t get any sense of tension. It’s totally devoid of anything resembling a crackle of claustrophobic, nasty or brutal intensity, and for that if fails as a game miserably. On second thought, maybe I won’t go to prison for my holidays, it’s probably really frustra ng and dull. Sco Tierney

PRESENTATION: 10/20 STORY: 5/20 CONTROLS: 5/20 GAMEPLAY: 9/20 DURABILITY: 10/20

OVERALL

39/100 phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

PHONICA’S 20 RECOMMENDED COIN PINCHERS BREAKOUT

STREET FIGHTER 2

RIDGE RACER

VIRTUA FIGHTER

PACMAN

(Everything)

(Arcade, PS1, PS2)

(Arcade, Saturn, 32X, PC)

(Everything)

“Tennis meets Tetris. Can you handle three balls at one?”

“S ll the best incarna on of the SF series, and in the arcade it was a face-pounding joy.”

“At the me it was the most advanced driving sim around. It felt real…what more can you say?”

“OK, so the ﬁghters look like they’ve had a ﬁght with a chisel, but at the me we’d seen nothing like it.”

“Arguably the deﬁni ve arcade game.”

DRAGON’S LAIR

ALIEN 3: THE GUN

FATAL FURY

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION

(Everything)

(Arcade)

(Arcade, Megadrive, SNES) (Arcade)

“You’ll probably best remember this Disney-like adventure on the Sega CD or Laser Disc, but it started out in the arcades of 1983.”

“Pesky face huggers, making me jump and spill my extor onately priced beverage.”

“Not quite in the same league as Street Fighter 2, but in my local corner shop this is all we had, and in those days, you made do!”

68 phonica magazine uk

“OK, so we hate the sight of this embarrassment dispenser, but it’s keeping the ﬂag ﬂying for the arcade, so fair play to it.”

2 SPICY (Arcade)

“A smart pedal feature (allowing the player to actually move using the foot pedals) makes this a decent eﬀort in these tough mes.”

THE GUIDE

HALF LIFE 2 SURVIVOR

TETRIS

TIME CRISIS

AFTERBURNER

SPACE INVADERS

(Arcade, PC)

(Everything)

(Arcade, PS1)

(Arcade, NES, MSystem)

(Everything)

“Half-Life 2? In an arcade with big chair, real gun and foot pedals? And I can upload my own stats…how much?”

“It’s been a phenomenon on everything from the big consoles to the mobile, but in the arcade it was at its ﬁnest.”

“If those baddies had any sense, they’d stop popping up from behind those walls with such regularity.”

“When played inside the rolling cockpit of the arcade, you actually felt like you were in Top Gun.”

“Do you shoot the shields to push them closer, or do you shoot through the gaps? Regardless, a classic evening waster… and nice crisps”

NBA JAM

BOXER I

MISSILE COMMANDER

GUITAR HERO ARCADE

PAPERBOY

(Everything)

(Arcade)

(Everything)

“Any game that you control via a ball has to be good!”

“More popular in the conﬁnes of your own living room, but good fun in the arcade.”

“If being a real Paperboy was this fun, I’d seriously consider it as full- me employment.”

(Arcade, Megadrive, SNES) (Arcade)

“Even if you didn’t like basketball, this fourplayer was fantas c fun.”

“These test your strength machines are all the same, but there’re jolly good fun, and a great way to a ract women. Yep, women love men with broken wrists…”

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70 phonica magazine uk

phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

Size weight Frequency Screen Pixels camera resolu on memory/compa bility bluetooth GPRS WLAN Browser Java Messaging Radio Music downloadable games downloadable ringtones Ba ery talk me - mins (max) Ba ery standy - hours (up to) bluetooth carKit compa ble

Nokia 7230

Nokia 6730

Nokia 5530

Nokia E75

Nokia 6210

98 x 48 x 14.8 mm 100 g Quad-band/3G 240 x 320 3.15 MP 45 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 32 No Wap/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

112 x 46 x 12.6 mm 83 g Quad-band/3G 240 x 320 3.15 MP 48 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 32 No Wap/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

104 x 49 x 13 mm 107 g Quad-band/3G 640 x 360 3.2 MP 70 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 32/HSDPA Yes Wap/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/AMS Yes

111.8 x 50 x 14.4 mm 139 g Quad-band/3G 320 x 240 3.2 MP 50 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 32/HSDPA Yes Wap/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

103 x 49 x 14.9 mm 117 g Tri-band 320 x 240 3.2 MP 120 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/miniUSB Yes/EDGE Class 32/HSDPA No Wap/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

MP3/MP4/WAV/WMA

MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC/WAV/WMA MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC/WAV/WMA

MP3/AAC/WAV/WMA

MP3/WAV/AAC/WMA

Yes MP3 300 370 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3 600 500 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 294 351 Yes

Yes MP3 340 264 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 222 244 Yes

Sony Ericsson W395 97 x 47 x 14.9 mm 96 g Quad-band 176 x 220 2 MP

Sony Ericsson C903 97 x 49 x 16 mm 96 g Quad-band/3G 240 x 320 5 MP

Sony Ericsson Aino 104 x 50 x 15.5 mm 134 g Quad-band/3G 240 x 420 8.1 MP

Sony Ericsson Yari 100 x 48 x 15.7 mm 115 g Quad-band/3G 240 x 320 5 MP

Sony Ericsson Naite 108 x 47 x 12.6 mm 84 g Quad-band 240 x 320 2 MP

10 MB/Memory S ck Micro

130 MB/Memory S ck Micro

60 MB/microSD

100 MB/microSD

Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10 No Wap/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS Yes

Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10/HSDPA No Wap/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10/HSDPA Yes WAP/xHTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10 No Wap/xHTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

MP3/AAC

MP3/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/MP4/eAAC+/WMA

Yes MP3/AAC 420 480 Yes

Yes MP3/AAC 600 400 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3 270 360 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 600 450 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 564 380 Yes

72 phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

Nokia E63

Nokia N97

Nokia 3720 classic

Nokia 5800 Xpress Music

Sony Ericsson W995

113 x 59 x 13 mm 126 g Quad-band 320 x 240 2 MP 110 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 32 Yes Wap/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm 150 g Quad-band/3G 640 x 360 5 MP 32 GB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 32 Wi-Fi WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

115 x 47 x 15.3 mm 94 g Tri-band 320 x 240 2 MP 20 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 11 No WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm 109 g Quad-band 640 x 360 3.2 MP 81 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 32 Yes WAp/xHTML/HTML/WML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

97 x 49 x 15 mm 113 g Quad-band/3G 240 x 320 8 MP 118 MB/Memory S ck Micro Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10/HSDPA Yes Wap/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

MP3/WAV/AAC/WMA

MP3/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/MP4/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/AAc/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA

Mp3/MP4/AAC

Yes Polyphonic & MP3 660 432 Yes

Yes MP3 570 430 Yes

Yes Poly/MIDI/Real Tone/MP3 420 450 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3 528 406 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 420 360 Yes

Sony Ericsson C901 105 x 45 x 13 mm 107 g Quad-band 240 x 320 5 MP

Sony Ericsson C510 107 x 47 x 12.5 mm 92 g Quad-band 240 x 320 3.15 MP

HTC Desire 119 x 60 x 11.9 mm 135 g Quad-band/3G 480 x 800 5 MP

HTC Magic 113 x 55 x 13.7 mm 118.5 g Quad-band 320 x 480 3.15 MP

HTC Hero 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm 135 g Quad-band/3G 320 x 480 5 MP

120 MB/Memory S ck Micro

100 MB/Memory S ck Micro

ROM:512 MB/RAM:576 MB/microSD

288 MB/microSD

Yes/A2DP/USB Yes No Wap/xHTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10 No Wap/xHTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 10/HSDPA Yes HMTL Yes,via 3rd party SMS/MMS/Email(Push)/IM Yes

Yes/miniUSB Yes/EDGE Class 10 Wi-Fi HTML Yes,via 3rd party SMS/MMS/Email/IM No

Yes/A2DP/miniUSB Yes/EDGE Class 10 Wi-Fi HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

MP3/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/AAC/MP4

MP3/AAC/MID/M4A/WAV/WMA

MP3/MP4

MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA 9

Yes Poly/MP3 570 430 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/Aac 420 400 Yes

Yes Mp3 400 360 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 450 420 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 420 750 Yes

phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

Apple iPhone 3G S

Apple iPhone 3G

INQ Chat 3G

BlackBerry 8520

BlackBerry Bold 9000

11.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm 135 g Quad-band/3G 480 x 320 3.15 MP 16/32 GB (internal)

11.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm 133 g Quad-band/3G 480 x 320 2 MP 8/16 GB (internal)

114.5 x 61 x 12.8 mm 93 g Tri-band/3G 176 x 220 3.2 MP 120 MB/Memory S ck Micro â&#x201E;˘

109 x 60 x 13.9 mm 106 g Quad-band 320 x 240 2 MP 256 MB/MicroSD

114 x 66 x 14 mm 133 g Quad-band/3G 480 x 320 2MP 1GB/microSD

Yes/USB

Yes/A2DP/USB

Yes/A2DP/microUSB

Yes/A2DP/USB

Yes/EDGE Wi-Fi HTML (Safari) No SMS/MMS/Email No

Yes/EDGE Yes HTML (Safari) No SMS/Email No

Yes Yes Net Front Yes SMS/MMS/Email No

Yes/EDGE Class 10 Yes HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM No

MP3/MP3 VBR/AAC/WAV

AMR/AAC/AAC+/eAAC

MP3/AAC/WMA/AAC+/MP4/WMV MP3/WMA/AAC+

Yes

Poly/MP3

AMR/AAC/AAC+/eAAC/MP3/WAV

Poly/MIDI/MP3

Poly/MP3

720 300 Yes

600 300 Yes

480 170 Yes

270 408 Yes

300 310 Yes

Samsung B3310

Samsung Jet

Samsung U900

91 x 54 x 17 mm 101 g Quad-band 240 x 320 2 MP 40 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 10 No WAP/xHTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

108 x 53.5 x 11.9 mm 103.2 x 49.3 x 10.9 mm 110 g 81.5 g Quad-band/3G Quad-band 480 x 800 240 x 320 5 MP 3.2 MP 2/8 GB (internal)/microSD 80MB/microSD Yes/microUSB Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 12/HSDPA Yes/EDGE Class 10 Wi-Fi No WAP/Dolphin WAP/xHTML Yes Yes SMS/MMS/Email/Vidoe/MS Exchange SMS/MMS/EMS/Email Yes Yes

Yes

LG GD510 Pop

LG GM750

97.8 x 49.5 x 11.2 mm 87 g Quad-band 240 x 400 3.15 MP 42 MB RAM/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 12 No WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

109.8 x 53.5 x 12.9 mm 120 g Quad-band 240 x 400 5 MP 128 MB RAM/256 MB ROM/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes Yes WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

MP3/MP4

MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA/AMR

MP3/MPEG4/AAC/eAAC/WMA

MP3/MP4/WMA

MP3/MPEG4/WAV/eAAC+/WMA

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 300 380 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 492 422 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3 210 220 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3 200 360 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3 380 450 Yes

74 phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

BlackBerry 8300 Curve

Samsung Galaxy S

Samsung Pixon 12

Samsung S5600V Blade Samsung Genio Touch

107 x 60 x 15.5 mm 111 g Quad-band 320 x 240 2MP 64MB/microSD

122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9 119 g Quad-band/3G 480 x 800 5 MP 8GB/16GB/microSD

108 x 53 x 13.8 mm 120 g 480 x 800 pixels 240 x 320 12 MP 150 MB/microSD

102.8 x 54.8 x 12.9 mm 92 g 240 x 320 pixels 240 x 320 3.15 MP 50 MB/microSD

103 x 56.5 x 12 mm 90 g Quad-band 240 x 320 2 MP 40 MB/microSD

Yes/USB

Yes/A2DP/microUSB

Yes/A2DP/USB

Yes/USB

Yes/EDGE No HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM No

Yes/EDGE Class 12/HSDPA Yes HTML Yes,via 3rd party SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

Yes/EDGE Class 10 No WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

Yes/EDGE Class 12 No WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

Yes/EDGE Class 10 No WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/MP4/eAAC+/

MP3/MP4/WMA/eAAC+

MP3/WMA/AAC

MP3/MP4/eAAC+/WMV/WMA

Yes

Poly/MP3

Poly/MP3/WAV

240 408 Yes

803 750 Yes

180 250 Yes

120 250 Yes

480 730 Yes

LG BL40 New Chocolate

Dell Streak

128 x 51 x 10.9 mm 129 g Quad-band 345 x 800 5 MP 1.1 GB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 10/HSDPA Yes WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/EMS/Email/IM Yes MP3/WAV/DivX/eAAC Yes Poly/MP3 240 400 Yes

152.9 x 79.1 x 10 mm 220 g Quad-band/3G 480 x 800 5 MP 16GB/512MB ROM/512MB RAM/microSD Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 12/HSDPA Yes HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email No MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA Yes MP3 580 400 Yes

phonica magazine uk