Rocket
Mania , by Astraware,
$17.95
By Korey
Marciniak
Many games have offered a similar style
of play as Rocket Mania in the past; games like Pipe Dream
have been around in many forms and platforms for a while.
Rocket Mania goes beyond this and offers a premise of launching
the most fireworks, or beating the clock. It's a premise
that although simple at heart works well overall. Rocket
Mania is available for both Palm OS and Pocket PC, and I
tested it on Palm OS.
Gameplay in Rocket Mania is simple at first
glance; basically as the player you match up the various
pieces of fuse scattered about the playing field, and when
the fuse touches a match on the left and a rocket on the
right things blow up. The real challenge comes from launching
more than one rocket at a time, and using up the right amount
of fuse to do it. There are two different types of game modes: ‘classic'
and ‘strategy'. In ‘classic' mode the object
is to set off as many rockets and collect as many coins before
time runs out. In ‘strategy' mode the game changes
slightly by removing the coins and timer, and adding in a
match limit and match items to pick up to increase your stockpile.
Rocket Mania controls as well as expected; using the stylus
to rotate the tiles around to build all the fuses.
PalmOS games have begun making leaps in
terms of graphics quality, and Rocket Mania is no exception.
The fireworks, rockets, and explosions in Rocket Mania all
look impressive. Although limited by the puzzle style of
the game, Astraware did an excellent job of making the game
look visually impressive. Some of the sprites and backdrops
do seem to suffer from looking a little grainy, but it's
difficult to see this on the small PDA screen, and I assume
it's to keep the game size down.
From the first time you load Rocket Mania
you are treated to well executed sounds; the intro screen
has a voice clip, and the game itself is accompanied by explosions,
whistling, and popping much like you would expect from a
fireworks show. Every sound in the game is crisp and clear,
and does the job of immersion well. The game also features
original background music, but like many other games on the
market my TG50 was incapable of playing the music due to
Sony's proprietary API.
Overall the game is well executed; the
game has very little learning curve, and it's easy to get
into. I am saddened that not all PDA's have music support,
since games like Puzzle Bobble prove it is possible. This
is a minor issue, but it does give the game a different experience
based on hardware. I would like to see more items, and adjusting
the amount of fuse tiles based on difficulty would be a nice
addition, but none of this detracts from the game as a whole.
Playing Hints and
Tips
Rocket Mania rewards the amount of simultaneous
launches, but in classic mode time is of the essence. I found
it easiest to launch one or two rockets all the time, and
then make attempts for more when I had time. Strategy mode
is different, and it's worth it to spend the time setting
everything up. Make sure to rotate the tiles closest to the
match so they won't accidentally set off your carefully set
up launch. |
 |
 Palm |
 |
| Pocket
PC |
|
