Meteor
from Mobile-Stream

Mobile-Stream is new to the Pocket PC game market. Their first endeavor is a Breakout / Arkanoid type of game called Meteor. The game play is simple, keep the ball bouncing and break the blocks to complete the level. There are a total of 90 levels to this game.

The game is played in landscape mode. Turn the device 90 degrees clockwise to play. Sorry left handed players, there isn’t an option to change the rotation. The options are for changing the sound and music levels as well as full sound effects. The game also includes voice sound effects naming off the power up you’ve caught with the paddle.

On the start menu, you have the option of selecting easy, normal or hard play. You will also see nine boxes below. From here, you can select any of those levels to play, even starting out on mission three. During the game play, you have several different power ups that will fall from the blocks, including big paddle, small paddle, extra lives. There are other moving objects such as spaceships and moving blocks. The paddle is actually the top of your spacecraft. Keep the stylus on the spacecraft to move the paddle back and forth. To launch the ball, click on the ball itself , any place on the screen higher than the rocket itself or one of the buttons on the device. One of the power ups will give you missiles, you can also shoot by pressing one of the keys. There are no other keys to remember. During the game play, you’ll see your score in the lower left hand corner and the number of remaining balls in the top right.

The sound effects are good. The music can be a bit repetitious during the game play. Personally, I didn’t seem much different between easy and hard levels. The ball seemed to move at the about the same speed. Perhaps on the easy level it was a little slower, but not by much. Easy levels give you 10 balls, on the hard level you receive only 6.

I like the ability to start out at a higher level immediately. That is a great feature. High scores are saved for each completed game. There is a pause button in the upper right hand of the screen.

The game has been written for the Pocket PC (ARM/X-Scale processors) and Palm devices, including the high resolutions VGA versions of Pocket PC.

• PalmOS5 320x320 (Palm Hi-Res and Sony Hi-Res)
• PalmOS5 320x480 (Palm Hi-Res+ and Sony Hi-Res+)
• PalmOS5 480x320 (Sony Hi-Res+ Landscape and Tapwave Fullscreen)
• PocketPC2002 240x320
• PocketPC2003 240x320
• Windows Mobile 2003 SE both VGA (480x640) and 240x320

The game graphics are sharp, especially on the VGA devices. Check out the screenshot below for the VGA version. It makes me want to go out and buy a VGA device!

Conclusion

I’ve been playing Breakout and Arkanoid for years. Breakout has always been one of my favorite games. It’s basic enough for anyone to play and is addicting enough to make you come back for more. If you are looking for a brick destroying clone that isn’t too frantic and quick, check out Meteor. It’s a great way to introduce a classic game to the beginners.

The game sells for $14.95 (for any device). Download a trial version and check out the game for yourself. The demo version will play only eight levels. You must purchase and register for the full version. This will require a second download and installation. As always, it’s recommend to uninstall the demo version before installing the full version. The download is slightly less than 2MB. The game does require 4MB of storage space as well as 4MB of program RAM to play. It runs beautifully from a storage card. Keep your eye on the ball and catch the power ups. Keep it moving and have fun!

Special thanks to Mobile-Stream for sending us a full version of the game to review.
This game was tested using the Samsung i700 Pocket PC Phone Edition from Verizon running at 200 mhz.