Issue 4

the mobile phone and gaming magazine

Issue 4

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phonica magazine uk

WHAT’S INSIDE VOLUME 1 ISSUE 4 2009

PREVIEWS

NEWS HTC HD2 starts shipping in Europe and Asia Nokia Founda on Awards 2009 Vodafone unwraps great value handsets for Christmas Sony Ericsson launches XPERIA X10 Motorola DEXT available exclusively on Orange Orange Wednesdays App comes to iPhone Orange launches electronic goods recycle program Balloon Boy on Twi er Golden Joys cks 2009 Eurogamer 2009 Blitz Arcade releases Encleverment Experiment

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FEATURES PHONESMARTS: THE DEATH OF SYMBIAN? Is this OS nearing the end of its shelf life…. or is Nokia holding out on the good stuff?

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THE PHONE BOX: 10 FREE ANDROID APPS Here’s our pick of the 10 free apps you must have on your Android device.

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A MORE REFINED PALETTE Some games do leave a sour taste, but what makes a game enjoyable?

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COMMUNIST LAN PARTY GAMING IN CHINA Explore the development of China’s gaming industry and market….communist style.

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FORGOTTEN GEMS: F ZERO GX Before there was Fast and Furious we had F-Zero GX. Join us as we take this baby for a spin one more me!

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Le 4 Dead 2

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VIEWS Samsung Genio Touch Sony Ericsson Aino Nokia 5530 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Grand The Auto 4: The Ballad of Gay Tony Pro Evolu on Soccer 2010 Forza Motorsport 3 Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Winter Games Tekken 6 Risen Cursed Mountain Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes Borderlands

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COMPETITION Win a Samsung B3310 mobile

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THE GUIDE Games: Phonica’s 20 Recommended Racers Mobile Phones

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EDITOR IN CHIEF Kevin Leonce

GAMING EDITOR Sco Tierney

CONTRIBUTORS Rob Hobson Ian Duncan Paul Park Charles Thompson

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 Š 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 TIS THE SEASON… TO BE WHAT? As we edge closer to the epicenter of the holiday season I’m sure you’re thinking about what treats you’d be buying/ge ng this Christmas. Already we see the high streets have begun their priming, with the likes of Vodafone and the Carphone Warehouse en cing customers with some sleek touch screen phones at a bargain.

So many phones, so many deals….s ll some me. Yes!!

I’m s ll not sure what my Christmas games collec on is going to be. With companies looking for the much needed boost in sales this is one season that’s sure to leave you smiling.

From this point onwards brace yourself to be bombarded with specials, deals and giveaways.

Before you get all excited tho, maybe best to start preparing that wish list; the PSP Go that you so greatly crave, the relief you could stay on Vodafone and finally get the iPhone, and that top game that’s about to be released. Whatever it may be, make a list…..check it twice…. then let the shopping begin!

I have my eyes on a HTC phone. Although I am tempted by other handsets something about their design (HTC) always catches my a en on (a er my BlackBerry that is). So let’s get cracking on those wish lists. Feel free to surprise me with an HTC phone this holiday season!

And for those who are not quite sure what you’d like to buy, get your issue of Phonica and see what’s the must have’s for the season. You can even email me, but please….. no ‘Dear Santa’!

Enjoy reading.

Your Editor in Chief

Kevin Leonce kevin@phonicamagazine.co.uk

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NEWS

HTC HD2 SHIPS IN EUROPE AND ASIA COMING TO THE US IN EARLY 2010 HD2 DEMONSTRATES THE TIGHT INTEGRATION BETWEEN MICROSOFT AND HTC

HTC Corpora on chief execu ve officer, Peter Chou, joined Microso Corp. chief execu ve officer, Steve Ballmer and Harvey Chang, chief execu ve officer of Taiwan Mobile to announce the availability of the highly an cipated HD2 in Europe and Taiwan. HTC and Microso also announced that the HD2 will be available in the United States with a major US carrier in early 2010.

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NEWS “The HD2’s amazing customer experience is a testament to the close partnership between HTC and Microso and we’re excited to be bringing the HD2 to Taiwan and the United States,” said Chou. “The HD2 is the first Windows phone with HTC Sense, an HTC user experience focused on making the phone more simple and natural to use by enabling people to personalise their mobile experience in their own unique way.”

“Working with HTC, we’ve delivered great phones that help customers connect to the people and informa on they care about, wherever they are,” said Ballmer. “The HTC HD2 shows what’s possible through our close partnership with HTC and it breaks new ground for Windows phones by delivering a beau ful mul -touch screen that people will love.”

The HD2 is the first Windows phone with HTC Sense, a customer experience focused on pu ng people at the centre by making their phones work in a more simple, natural and personal way. With its industry leading, high-resolu on, 4.3-inch capaci ve touch display, the ultra thin HTC HD2 delivers more visible content in a sharper, brighter and richer way.

“THE HD2’S AMAZING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IS A TESTAMENT TO THE CLOSE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN HTC AND MICROSOFT.” The HD2 uses the first capaci ve touch display on a Windows phone to make viewing, zooming and resizing websites, Microso Office files, PDF documents and pictures easier with just a pinch of your fingers.

The large display also enables faster, more efficient and accurate typing using the onscreen keyboard. U lizing Qualcomm’s new 1Ghz Snapdragon mobile processor, the HTC HD2 offers enhanced performance that improves the speed of applica ons, videos, games and more.This device was developed with a passion for enhancing people’s lives through innova on, design and ease of use.

As a new Windows phone, the HTC HD2 showcases the powerful messaging, browsing and produc vity capabili es delivered by Windows Mobile 6.5. Offering a best in class e-mail experience complete with the ability to synchronize with Microso Exchange, you have the ability to check and manage mul ple email accounts. Microso ’s new My Phone service enables you to automa cally back up and synch photos, music, contacts and text messages for free from the HD2 to the web. www.htc.com

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NEWS

NOKIA FOUNDATION AWARDS THE FOUNDER OF WIKIPEDIA “The theme for this year’s award is Open Innova on, a way of working which is very important for our ac vi es at Nokia Research Center, and a value which we believe is embodied in the par cipatory and inclusive approach of Wikipedia,” he con nued.

Since its crea on in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference web sites, so far a rac ng an average of more than 330 million monthly visitors this year. There are more than 75,000 ac ve contributors working on more than 14,000,000 ar cles in more than 260 languages. Wales is also the co-founder of Wikia.com, a project which expands the par cipatory edi ng model into new areas, allowing the global community to come together to build the “rest of the library”.

The Nokia Founda on has granted its 2009 award to Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, the free, mul lingual encyclopedia. Wales was awarded for his contribu ons to the evolu on of the World Wide Web as a par cipatory and truly democra c pla orm.

The EUR 10,000 award was presented at the Nokia Founda on scholarship awards ceremony which took place on 4 November, 2009.

“It’s a great honor to present this award on behalf of the Board of the Nokia Founda on to an individual who we believe has made a unique contribu on to accelera ng online collabora on and interac on for millions of people around the world, and effec vely democra zing informa on sharing,” said Henry Tirri, head of Nokia Research Center and Chairman of the Board of the Nokia Founda on.

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“IT’S A GREAT HONOR TO PRESENT THIS AWARD ON TO AN INDIVIDUAL WHO WE BELIEVE HAS MADE A UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION TO ACCELERATING ONLINE COLLABORATION AND INTERACTION FOR MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD.” This year, the Nokia Founda on also awarded 77 scholarships with a total value of EUR 385,000. All 77 scholarships were granted to post-graduate students to support the comple on of their doctorate studies in the field of informa on and data communica ons technology.

NEWS

VODAFONE UK UNWRAPS GREAT VALUE TOUCHSCREEN PHONES FOR CHRISTMAS UNWRAP £100 WORTH OF CALLS AND TEXTS WITH A FREEDOM PACK INCLUDED ON THESE PAY AS YOU GO PHONES AND KEEP IN TOUCH ON FACEBOOK AND WEBMAIL OVER CHRISTMAS WITH FREE MOBILE INTERNET ACCESS

Vodafone UK unwraps its great value Christmas pay as you go touchscreen phones: Vodafone 541, Samsung Genio Touch, Samsung Tocco Lite, LG Viewty Lite and Nokia 5800 all complete with £100 worth of calls and texts ready to use on Christmas Day. Suitable for a wide range of budgets and needs, each one of these phones comes with a Freedom pack giving £100 worth of calls and texts at no extra cost, offering customers quality and great value making them an ideal Christmas gi .

For even more value, Vodafone pay as you go customers can get free mobile internet this Christmas. Accessing popular websites like Facebook and webmail won’t cost a penny between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, so customers can stay in the loop while enjoying the fes vi es. phonica magazine uk

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NEWS

VODAFONE 541

SAMSUNG GENIO TOUCH

Don’t be fooled by its great value price tag, the exclusive Vodafone 541 offers a whole host of features delivered in a smart li le phone.

The Samsung Genio Touch is now available in pink exclusively to Vodafone UK.

Available in both eye-catching pink, classic black, retro white and luscious red, the Vodafone 541 includes all you need to surf the web, take photos with the 1.3 megapixel camera, film a video and listen to music on-the-move on the FM radio. Just glide your finger over the touchscreen to access and customise your menus.

The Vodafone 541 is the most affordable touch phone around at just £40 with £100 worth of calls and texts included.

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Also available in white, the Samsung Genio Touch packs great features into a sassy curved handset.

Users can customise the layout to easily access the 2 megapixel camera, MP3 player, FM radio or surf the web on the large touchscreen. Or those wan ng to change the handset to suit their mood can swap the look with a spare in-box cover.

Available with £100 worth of calls and texts, the Samsung Genio Touch is £80 on pay-as-you-go.

NEWS LG VIEWTY LITE The silver LG Viewty Lite is super stylish and boasts an array of features usually found on much more expensive handsets. Firstly there’s a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus to capture pin-sharp images, which you can view on the large 3” touch screen.

Browse web pages and download files up to 10 mes faster than a standard 3G phone. All this for just £100 including another £100 worth of calls and texts.

SAMSUNG TOCCO LITE

NOKIA 5800

The sleek Vodafone colour-exclusive silver Samsung Tocco Lite offers quality features at a great price.

The fast-response touchscreen rotates the display as you turn the phone, enabling users to view video and photos in widescreen. The impressive 3 megapixel advanced camera includes smile recogni on to capture perfect shots every me.

The Nokia 5800 is the perfect companion for all your entertainment needs. The one-touch music player with powerful surround speakers delivers your favourite tracks in crystal-clarity, while the high defini on widescreen makes for easy naviga on and eye-catching images. The superfast 3G internet rne access makes downloading quick and easy.

Customise the homescreen to display all your favourites, whether it’s browsing the web, taking photos, or listening to music on the inbuilt MP3 player.

The phone boasts a full QWERTY keyboard through the feature which recognises touchscreen, or make use of the feat your handwri ng. Available with £100 £10 worth of calls and pay-as-you-go. texts, the Nokia 5800 is £180 on pay

The Samsung Tocco Lite is available for just £90 with £100 worth of calls and texts included.

For more informa on on all these great touchscreen phones and terms & condi ons visit: www.vodafone.co.uk/christmas www

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NEWS SONY ERICSSON XPERIA X10 INTRODUCES AN OPEN AND INTEGRATED WORLD OF SOCIAL MEDIA, COMMUNICATION AND ENTERTAINMENT XPERIA X10 IS THE FLAGSHIP PHONE IN A FAMILY OF PHONES SOON TO BE UNLEASHED DURING THE FIRST HALF OF 2010.

Sony Ericsson has unveiled the XPERIA X10, the first phone in a family of phones to deliver a consistent user experience where communica on truly becomes entertainment. Building on Sony Ericsson’s entertainment heritage and combining rich graphics with intelligence capabili es, the X10 introduces a new UX pla orm that will evolve across the product por olio and expand over me con nuously introducing new features and capabili es.

The UX pla orm builds on top of the Open OS and creates a unique Sony Ericsson user experience by combining best-in-class entertainment features with signature applica ons, unrivalled integra on of social media services and a rich graphical user interface.

The XPERIA X10 is the first mobile phone to truly humanise the way people interact with their phones.

Sony Ericsson’s open approach gives consumers maximum choice and with the XPERIA X10, users can download any applica on that they want direct from a wide variety of stores including PlayNow and the Android Market, co-crea ng an experience that is en rely unique to them.

Rikko Sakaguchi, EVP and Chief Crea on Officer, Sony Ericsson said, “The XPERIA X10 is a fantas c example of our make.believe philosophy because we are pushing the boundaries of what is possible and demonstra ng that anything consumers can imagine, we can make possible. With the X10, we are raising the bar we have set ourselves with entertainment-rich phones like Aino and Sa o by making communica on more fun and playful, mul plying and enriching opportuni es to connect.”

Sony Ericsson is also introducing the new Hi-Fi Wireless Headset with FM radio MW600. Featuring advanced Bluetooth technology and a built-in FM radio, Hi-Fi Wireless Headset with FM radio MW600 lets you stream music to your headset in high fidelity through sound-enhancing ear-buds. With a crystal clear OLED display, easy access controls and RDS radio sta on informa on, you don’t even need to take your phone with you to tune in to your favourite radio sta on.

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NEWS

WORLD’S FIRST MOTOROLA DEXT WITH MOTOBLUR ON SALE - EXCLUSIVELY ON ORANGE MOTOROLA DEXT CURRENTLY ON SALE IN ORANGE RETAIL OUTLETS AND PHONES4U Motorola DEXT, the first Android powered device from Motorola and the first to feature the innova ve MOTOBLUR solu on, went on sale in the UK from October. Ranged exclusively on the Orange network in the UK, Motorola DEXT can be bought at any Orange retail outlet and Phones4U stores.

Launched globally in September, Motorola DEXT with MOTOBLUR manages and integrates communica ons — from work e-mail to social messaging ac vity — all to your home screen. Updates to contacts, posts, messages, photos and more are streamed together and synced from sources including Facebook, Twi er, MySpace, Gmail, LastFM and Yahoo and work and personal e-mail.

MOTOBLUR automa cally delivers these updates to the home screen in easy-to-view streams so there is no need to open and close different mobile applica ons to keep up with the latest content.

Orange is offering the DEXT free to customers who take out a £34.26 per month, 24 month contract.

The package includes 900 any network call minutes, unlimited texts, Orange Maps as well as inclusive any me internet browsing so users can make the most of their mobile experience.

For more informa on, visit Orange stores, www.orange.co.uk/shop or Phones4u stores, www.phones4u.co.uk

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NEWS ORANGE WEDNESDAYS APP NOW AVAILABLE FROM APP STORE Orange has announced that its first UK exclusive app, Orange Wednesdays, is now available on the App Store.

For those who love films, the free Orange Wednesdays App brings the hugely popular Orange Wednesdays cinema experience to the iPhone. The app combines the latest film reviews and trailers with up to date info on what’s on, where films are showing, informa on on how to get there and the ability to redeem the 2 for 1 Orange Wednesdays cinema voucher on your Orange iPhone.

The Orange Wednesdays App lets users: * Find their local Orange Wednesdays cinema and show the loca on on a map * See what’s showing at the cinema and when * Read film reviews and watch trailer previews as well as find out about upcoming releases * Invite a friend by email – showing film, venue and me details * Request, receive and redeem the Orange Wednesdays 2 for 1 voucher from the app on your Orange iPhone

The Orange Wednesdays App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

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NEWS

RECYCLE ELECTRONIC GOODS FOR CASH AT ORANGE STORES Orange has launched Recycle & Reward, a scheme for people to recycle their old mobiles, laptops and personal music players in UK Orange stores in exchange for cash. Two thirds of Brits have old mobiles gathering dust in their homes which equates to approximately 90 million unused handsets worth approximately 450 million pounds.

Millions of people are eligible to receive cash rewards as the scheme is available to any member of the public at any me in all UK Orange stores. Underlining Orange’s commitment to becoming a more sustainable, greener business, Recycle & Reward will help reduce the amount of electronic goods sent to landfill and, instead, help consumers obtain a compe ve price for them.

Orange is making a decisive step to innovate the ‘Care’ support it provides its customers and today it has also launched a new Copy and Keep service to enable customers to transfer essen al contacts, music, and photos in all Orange retail stores. Copy and Keep removes the hassle of transferring mul media content from old to new handsets and makes it easier for people to recycle old handsets through the Recycle and Reward scheme. The demand for such a service is illustrated by the fact that 38% of people in the UK do not back up their content because they do not know how to do it and 25% because they never remember to. The Copy and Keep service is available free to all Orange care customers or costs just £6.

“THE DEMAND FOR SUCH A SERVICE IS ILLUSTRATED

BY THE FACT THAT 38% OF PEOPLE IN THE UK DO NOT BACK UP THEIR CONTENT BECAUSE THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO IT.” Paul French, Head of Care Products said: Recycle & Reward enables customers to find out the monetary value of their old electronic goods straight away in UK stores, and the money is sent to the customer in the form of a cheque received within approximately 7 days. Orange offers a range of cash rewards depending on the par cular device and whether or not it currently works. For example, consumers can receive up to £85 when recycling a Nokia N95, £75 for a Sony Ericsson C905 and £95 for a Samsung SCH 900. Orange will also recycle electronic devices and accessories with no monetary value, helping the public to minimise their impact on the environment in disposing of old goods.

“At Orange, we’ve made some significant strides recently in reducing the environmental impact of our business. For instance, 80 percent of our electricity now comes from renewable sources while in July we introduced the mini-SIM to reduce the amount of waste associated with new SIM cards. Recycle & Reward is just another small step, for us as a business and for the public, i n our journey towards greener, more sustainable prac ces.”

For more informa on on Orange Care General Terms and Condi ons visit: h p://www1.orange.co.uk/mobileterms/careterms.html

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FEATURE

PHONE SMARTS

THE DEATH OF

SYMBIAN? Every tech-lover has experienced the disillusionment of having their beloved opera ng system bested by their arch-rivals – the understated underdogs; the mantra of their die-hard fans glimpsed in forum tag-lines and worn proudly on t-shirts, the guy who repaired your PC telling you as he takes your money, “once you go mac you never go back”. Happily there are some things which never change, the Sun will rise in the East, Arsenal will always play sexier football than your team and Nokia makes the best mobile phones.

So what is it that makes Nokia the undisputed King of communica on? The answer is of course the simplicity of their capable opera ng system, the element which allowed the same opera ng system to reign triumphant over mul ple incarna ons of Nokias from the humble 5110, through the iconic 7110 all the way up to the universally adopted 3210 – possibly the single sexiest phone when compared to its contemporaries of any genera on. But this is all ancient history, in the world of mobile phones you need only blink to recognise the redundancy of the slow, ugly, func onless brick you currently possess and that 18 month contract can be transfigured into a prison sentence.

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Sadly the last phone Nokia released to excite anybody was the N95, a phone whose breeze-block dimensions and sexless styling made it a polarising object. Die hard tech lovers with (massive) gaping pockets could hardly wait to get to grips with the 8GB version but it failed to impress the fashion conscious and its revolu onary Wi-Fi wasn’t enough to draw in the Blackberry wielding smartphone market. So what’s changed since then? Well, nothing. Nokia is s cking by the clunky and outdated Symbian opera ng system which has powered its devices for the best part of a decade.

FEATURE As with any gadget in the infancy of its universal use and at the peak of its assimila on into our everyday lives, the rate of progression in the technology of mobile phones is exponen al. The release of Sony’s 12.1MP camera-phone came as a surprise to none, but the lack of excitement aroused may well be unexpected. The fact is that the Sa o will probably be adopted by a large number of consumers as those who aren’t clued up are tricked into accep ng it as an iPhone beater by a spo y teenager in a dimly lit middle-man phone shop whose adverts depict their customers as people with special educa onal needs.

Let’s be honest, there are two reasons you don’t own an iPhone; either you can’t jus fy the price or you’re ed into a long and unsa sfying contract with an N97.

Nokia’s latest contender is almost laughable in its resigna on to failure against the company whose technological innova on has put the most crea ve minds at Microso , Sony and HMV to shame. It just doesn’t come close to an iPhone.

So who are the understated underdogs in this heavyweight clash? Sneaking quietly through the back door with the backing of a hotshot tech giant of its own is the fantas cally useful HTC, packing the clout of a new contender opera ng system. Google’s Android system is the snake in the grass, sidling slowly into striking distance with a number of features which seem to oppose the clean cut regula ons of Apple’s genius device. A seldom men oned but key element of Android is its unregulated apps; demonstrated wonderfully by iMusic, an applica on which allows the user to download mp3s direct to mobile from the internet for free with blatant disregard for copyright laws (something I certainly can’t recommend but hypothe cally take great pleasure in). If you’re not so much an armchair thief as a toilet twi erer, there are an abundance of official and unofficial social networking apps and widgets allowing your home screen to be constantly updated with the mundane ac vi es of your librarian. If your pleasures are simple, think of the wonderment of seeing your very own girlfriend’s face beaming from between your metal detector and BBC iPlayer apps on your home screen.

“IF YOUR PLEASURES ARE SIMPLE, THINK OF THE WONDERMENT OF SEEING YOUR VERY OWN GIRLFRIEND’S FACE BEAMING FROM BETWEEN YOUR METAL DETECTOR AND BBC IPLAYER APPS ON YOUR HOME SCREEN.” But HTC is not alone, inspired in its new adver sing campaign which places it firmly in the back-seat with likeable results by asser ng that it is “quietly brilliant”, soon HTC will have to brave the storm of new Android phones des ned to test their brilliance. The amazing Motorola Droid will be pu ng iPhones (and every other phone) to shame star ng Friday next week; coupled with the release of Android Eclair, the new and improved OS, packaged in a typically stylish and unusually hi-spec, qwerty enabled box. And we can expect an atomic explosion of Android based phones under other brands in the very near future with Samsung having already adopted the opera ng system in its i7500, Philips releasing the V808 and others likely to jump on the bandwagon.Accep ng that there is significantly more support for Apple’s App Store at present, there is of course the glaring dis nc on that Android will eventually be adopted by other mobile phone brands crea ng a much larger market for apps and increased developer interest.

What we have here is the recogni on among mobile phone brands that Android is the only way to compete with the 3210-like popularity of the iPhone.

The only company yet to no ce is the only one we all want to. Please Nokia, kill the Symbian and give us a phone we can all drool over.

Charles Thompson

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FEATURE THE PHONEBOX

10 FREE ANDROID APPS 10 OF THE MOST USEFUL, ENTERTAINING OR JUST PLAIN AMAZING APPS ON ANDROID. ALL FOR FREE!

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FEATURE SHAZAM A u lity with which all music lovers should be in mately familiar. This bemusing system has been wowing the mobile community long before apps were anything like the wonderfully simple technology they are today. Years ago the system was operated through a phone call, today the Shazam app sits cosily on Android (and iPhone) home-screens just begging for your DAB to pump out a sound you don’t recognise. If the music is at a comfortable listening level, Shazam will provide users with the song tle, album, label and ar st name along with a convenient link to both YouTube videos and Amazon mp3 (a slightly redundant op on if you decide to “reference” the song from my next app).

iMUSIC A cheekily named app which allows the user to search for and download mp3s direct to the phone’s memory card from all over the net by providing links to downloads from its own fairly usable interface.

A emp ng to waver the slightly dubious nature of its legality with a user agreement which refers to the usage of the mp3’s as “for reference only”, be aware that this is not an app the music industry will thank you for downloading. Phonica cannot endorse the use of this app, its inclusion in this list is purely to highlight the dis nc on between an app store which monitors and sanc ons its content and one which is much more open and inclusive.

SHOPSAVVY The best of several barcode-reading applica ons available on Android Market. This app u lises the phone’s camera to read barcodes and performs a search of local shops and online stores for the cheapest availability of the product. Frighteningly accurate and annoyingly useful, the more frugal among you might find yourselves scanning the back of a packet of crisps before you realise there is a limit to its money saving usefulness – that is a er you’ve scanned everything you already own to gra ng effect.

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FEATURE chompSMS

beebPLAYER

An SMS and MMS client which transforms the slightly dull Messaging applica on bundled with the phone.

Along with unfathomable visual customisability, this applica on allows you to change several no fica on op ons which would ordinarily be impossible to alter and generally glosses up the SMS experience to a standard even the iPhone’s IM inspired messaging client can’t hope to emulate. If bundled with the free SMS Popup app, the experience of messaging on the Android becomes a great pleasure.

An unofficial BBC iPlayer mimic. Comes with all the usability of the official iPhone app (if not all the gloss) and sees almost monthly upgrades to the service by the developer, something he deserves great credit for as it’s a massively popular app and yet con nues to improve. The slightly smaller screen of the Android phones means a slight deprecia on of the video quality when compared with the iPhone’s alterna ve but this may change with the Droid’s giant high resolu on screen. Watching Kidulthood on the bus is a rewarding if not slightly daun ng experience.

METAL DETECTOR A bit like Ronseal, it does exactly what is says on the screen. Not necessarily the most useful app, it’s certainly not overcomplicated by any distrac ng aesthe cs, however when you tell your friends your phone has a metal detector it’s a bit like telling them it makes sandwiches. Not the most exci ng thing it could do but confusingly intriguing all the same.

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FEATURE FACEBOOK

GOOGLE SKY MAP

The eventual arrival of the official Facebook app was met with mixed responses, but despite the confusingly foreign interface (and it must be said inferior performance and usability when compared with the iPhone’s version) the Facebook app does have a few nice li le tricks up its sleeve.

The widget is a slap in the face for iPhone users, allowing seamless status pos ng from the homescreen, and the Facebook phonebook handily provides a few friends’ numbers you misplaced along with a fair few you deliberately lost. If you’re a Facebook fiend you won’t be happy un l you have this.

Almost excessively geeky but s ll interes ng. If the loca on of heavenly bodies concerns you then this star, planet and satellite mapper will use your GPS and compass to point you in the right direc on. Also useful for tricking unsuspec ng girls that you’re actually NASA smart.

“GET OUT THERE AND GET LOOKING FOR MORE DRIBBLE INDUCING APPS.”

PHONALYZR Apart from a Z in its name, this app holds absolutely nothing even slightly exci ng. However, you’d be surprised how interes ng your telephone sta s cs can be. This app tracks all calls and provides informa on which makes for o en surprising reading such as: top callers by minutes, top callers by calls, outbound vs. inbound calls and other stats which sound dull but might shock you when you realise you’ve been calling that a certain young lady more than anyone else.

LAYAR The best of the current crop of augmented reality apps. Having your own 3D mapping of local sights and sounds is very useful and the recent addi on of the tweep layer is strangely fascina ng.

The camera allows an HUD-like overlay to be placed on top of live images producing an effect akin to being in an FPS (although hopefully not the same maniacal bloodlust). The tweep layer maps the loca on and content of twi er posts along with their twi er iden es on screen, very interes ng when not evoking a feeling a li le like being 1984’s Big Brother. Other layers map anything from homes for sale to halal food stores. A very cool app and one with a massive variety of possible func ons in the future.

There are thousands of apps on Android Market and this list is by no means exhaus ve. There are bound to be a fair few killer apps I’ve missed out and there’ll be thousands added in the next few months to take advantage of increased market exposure. If you’ve already tried out these awesome addi ons to your handset, get out there and get looking for more dribble inducing apps.

Charles Thompson

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REVIEWS

SAMSUNG GENIO TOUCH IT’S BRIGHT, DAZZLING AND CUDDLY; BUT WILL YOU LOVE IT OR HATE IT? I’ve got mixed feelings about the new Samsung Genio Touch. On one hand, I love the quirkiness and cuteness of it, but on the other I hate how preten ous and slightly cheesy it is. And the whole adver sing campaign slogan, “What colour is your life?” (black if you’re asking) just makes me want to vomit. But will you like it, and should you pop out immediately and snap one up?

The first thing that strikes you about the Samsung Genio Touch is the ‘florescent’ design. Samsung (and I’m not making this up) call the rear sec on, a ‘Fashion Jacket’; if that’s not a reason to avoid this phone, I don’t know what is. From the front, it looks like a very sensible phone, but on the back there’s a massive slab of blinding, crazy colour. It’s like a poli cian; looking smart and formal in a suit, but when he turns around he’s got two holes in the back of his trousers, revealing two shining cheeks. It’s a very odd mix, and I personally can’t make my mind up whether I like it or not. The backs can be interchanged though, so if you’re like me, and hate the bright colours one day but love them the next, you can just swap and change accordingly. One thing’s for sure though, I hate the names of the colours. Roman c Pink; jeeeez…

Ge ng away from the design for a moment, the Samsung Genio Touch is actually pre y well stocked with features. The touch screen is reasonably good considering the price, the 2MP camera is manageable (no flash though) and the 40MB memory and MP3 playback are all very nice. No 3G or Wifi is a bit of a bummer, but as said, this is a budget phone, so beggars can’t be choosers.

The Samsung Genio Touch’s interface is reasonably good. You get three main screens to work with and customize, and the widgets are all of a good standard. The screen can act up on occasions though, and at mes you’ll need two or three a empts to get a response, but all in all it’s not bad.

The Samsung Genio Touch is predominantly aimed at teenage kids, who can’t afford a top spec phone (or to be more precise, their parents can’t) but s ll want something that’s cool and funky. The Samsung Genio Touch caters for this sector perfectly, with some very handy features, a wacky design and a very low price. For around £100 (even less in some places) that’s very good value, and you can surely pick one up on a cheap contract.

“IT’S LIKE A POLITICIAN IN A SUIT, BUT WHEN HE TURNS AROUND HE’S GOT TWO HOLES IN THE BACK OF HIS TROUSERS, REVEALING TWO SHINING CHEEKS.” So should you get a Samsung Genio Touch, and will you grow to love or hate it? To be honest I’ve only spent brief moments with the Samsung Genio Touch, and although I love it occasionally, every me I see it, I just want to smack it. Regardless, the Samsung Genio Touch is a nice li le phone, and if you’re on a budget, you could do a lot worse. But, Fes val Orange; Yuck!

Sco Tierney

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REVIEWS

SONY ERICSSON AINO IT’S ONE OF THE MOST ADVANCED HANDSETS SONY HAS EVER RELEASED, BUT IS IT A BIT CONFUSED? The Sony Ericsson Aino promises an awful lot.

A touch screen and keypad combo, PS3 remote play, PC access from the handset and massive mul media features have all been touted as the makings of this phone. So, does the Sony Ericsson Aino live up to these expecta ons and deliver the goods?

Let’s start from the outside and work in, star ng with the design. Overall, it’s a really clean and sharp looking phone, and although it looks par cularly weak in white, in black it looks fab. At 134g, it’s quite heavy (yeah, those extra few grams are going to rip your arm out of its socket!) but let’s not forget this Sony has a screen size of 3inches. As men oned, the Sony Ericsson Aino has both a touch screen and keypad.

This is due to the fact that the touch screen is only available for certain occasions. During general moments, the screen is just a screen, and you’ll have to rely on the bu on, but for ac va on of the camera and mul media func ons, the screen comes alive. Frankly, I’m not of fan of this ‘half and half’ mix, as I just see it as a waste of a good screen, but only me will tell if this idea takes off. Note also that the bu ons are quite small, and quite fiddly; just what you need, no touch screen and average bu ons!

The Sony Ericsson Aino comes with a very impressive 8.1MP camera, which has an excellent range of se ngs to explore.

Photos appear crisp and sharp, and with the usual package of Sony camera features (autofocus, LED flash, Touch focus, geo-tagging, face detec on, smart contrast, red-eye reduc on) you’ll be hard pressed to find a camera be er than this.

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REVIEWS

“THIS ‘HALF AND HALF’ MIX JUST SEEMS A WASTE OF A GOOD SCREEN, BUT ONLY TIME WILL TELL IF THIS IDEA TAKES OFF.” The mul media func ons of this phone are top draw though, with excellent features such as radio, video, music and external computer access. With the use of the Bluetooth adapter, you can access your PC wirelessly, so you can transfer your music, videos and documents with ease. This also applies if you have a PS3. When connected to your PS3, you can access your videos and music, chat with friends via the PSN network, and order new games direct to your PS3.

Annoyingly, since the applica on is called ‘Remote Play’, you can’t actually play any PS3 games on or via the Sony Ericsson Aino. Curses!

Overall, the Sony Ericsson Aino is a fantas c piece of kit. It has a tremendous quan ty and quality of mul media features, an excellent camera, and all the other stuff you’d ever need. It’s a bit pricy at around the £450 mark, but you do get a lot for your money.

It’s just a shame that the pointless touch screen/ keypad combo had to get in the way; otherwise this could have been a truly epic handset. Fingers crossed a revised version will be available soon, with a removed keypad and a touch screen that actually works.

Sco Tierney

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REVIEWS

NOKIA 5530 NOKIA HAVE RELEASED A CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE TO THE 5800...GENIUS? The Nokia 5530 is one of the most puzzling handsets Nokia have released in recent years.

The predominate marke ng behind the Nokia 5530, is that it’s a smaller, more focused and cheaper alterna ve to the Nokia 5800.

But why should you buy the Nokia 5530 over the 5800?

The defining dis nc on between the two handsets is the size. The Nokia 5530 is smaller than its big brother by a few millimetres, and due to this it has a smaller screen. The 2.9inch display is very sharp, with some lovely vibrant colours and a sublime smoothness of picture. The screen itself can be a problem though, with sunlight being a major issue, and the screen a racts fingerprints worse than a DeLorean.

One sta s c that does stand out though, is the weight. Despite the major reduc on is size, the Nokia 5530 is only 2g lighter than the 5800...weird.

Aesthe cally, the Nokia 5530 is OK. It’s got a nice welcoming feel, and the blacks work well with the outer band of steel. But to be honest, it’s bit underwhelming as a whole, and when compared with the Nokia 5800, it looks inferior.

Features wise, the lack of 3G and GPS are a nagging absence, and although the Nokia 5530 is supposed to be a cheaper alterna ve, these features should really have remained. The music player is excellent though, with some excep onally crisp sound via headphones, and surprisingly good results with the built-in speaker.

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The interface on the Nokia 5530 is also impressive, especially the contacts band that runs along the top of the screen. Nokia have upped the contacts list to twenty names and faces, which is a welcome inclusion. Scrolling though the menus and apps is rela vely easy also, but as men oned previously, that screen will mark up, so wipe regularly. Be quick when talking though, as the Nokia 5530 only has a talk me of 4h 54mins (oddly precise?) which is just barley half of the 5800.

“NOKIA HAVE UPPED THE CONTACTS LIST TO TWENTY NAMES AND FACES, WHICH IS A WELCOME INCLUSION.” Other features worth no ng are the 3.5MP camera, with impressive LED flash, the internal memory of 70MB, and…………well, that’s about it. To be honest, there’s not a lot else worth men oning.

To sum up, everything on the Nokia 5530 is smaller, less abundant or worse than on the 5800. The only reason I can think of for buying the Nokia 5530, is if you’re scared of the number 8, rendering the 5800 a thing of terror.

Sco Tierney

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COMPETITION

WIN A SAMSUNG B3310 IN THIS ISSUE ONE LUCKY READER WOULD WIN A SAMSUNG B3310 THIS PHONE COULD BE YOURS! ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!

COMPETITION RULES Join our group on Facebook; search for Phonica Magazine UK. Follow Us on Twi er: @PhonicaMagUK. Email your full name, address, email and mobile contact, along with your Twi er username to phonicacompe ons@phonicamagazine.co.uk.

One entry per person

TERMS AND CONDITIONS (1)The prize is one Samsung B3310 (2) No cash or other prize alterna ves are offered. (3) All entries must be received no later than 27th November 2009. The winner would be no fied within 7 days of this date and would be published in the following issue. (4) The Editor’s decision is final. (5) Compe on open to UK residents only, except employees of Phonica Magazine UK.

CONGRATULATIONS TO DAVID C WHO WON A FREE COPY OF FIFA 10 ON PS3!

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NEWS

TURNS OUT BALLOON BOY WAS ON TWITTER ALL THE TIME, SORT OF A STORY OF A GAME THAT WAS AS CRAZY AS THE HOAX THAT HELPED TO PROMOTE IT While shocked Americans were watching the apparently horror of six year old Falcon Heene being blown across the country in a homemade spaceship, one small iPhone game developer was making hay.

Gimme5Games is the developer of an iPhone game called Balloon Headed Boy. To promote the game they had registered the Twi er account @balloonboy. As the story of Heene hit the news, people began sending messages to the account.

Not about to miss a chance for some good PR Gimme5 began replying to messages and pos ng that Balloon Boy was fine and had been playing games up in the a c.

Unfortunately they didn’t predict that the whole Balloon Boy episode was derived as a publicity stunt by the poor boy’s deranged father.

Not wan ng a couple of crazy hicks to get the one up on them, a Gimme5 spokesperson later commented, “We’re glad Falcon is okay. If there are any publicity addicted families out there planning a Hallowe’en trip to a Phantom Mansion, please get in touch!”

Phantom Mansion is the name of another of the company’s upcoming games.

In the actually Balloon Headed Boy game you play a boy who was raised by balloons and has to go on some kind of crazy pla orming adventure, probably avoiding pins along the way. I know – almost as crazy as the original story of the Balloon Boy. Ian Duncan

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NEWS

GOLDEN JOYSTICKS 2009 FALLOUT 3 TAKES HOME THE BIG PRIZE, BUT IS THERE A BIT OF CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING A ‘RECORD-BREAKING’ SPEED RUN? Apparently, post-nuclear wastelands are in fashion. Fallout 3 was voted game of the year at the 27th Golden Joys ck Awards.

But represen ng the stage before apocalypse, Call of Duty: World at War also took three prizes.

THAT LIST OF WINNERS IN FULL:

1.2 million people voted, making the Golden Joys cks the most popular gaming award in the world, and making them about one-thousandth as popular as X-Factor. Unlike X-Factor the Golden Joys ck Awards are actually worthwhile.

Retailer of the Year: GAME

Just in case there wasn’t already enough hype surrounding Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 it took the ‘one to watch’ award. Which seems a bit of a waste of me since everyone already is watching it.

The event’s organisers were upbeat about the state of the videogames industry in the UK. Spending on games this year reached £2.7 billion and Bri sh developers were well represented among the winners.

Also going down at the awards was a Sonic the Hedgehog 2 speed run contest. James Richard completed the first level of the game in 22 seconds.

He will be recognised in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest completer of that level.

But there’s a YouTube video of someone doing the same level in just 20 seconds who probably really deserves the prize.

Perhaps even cooler than fraudulent World Record claims was the man at the a er show party spinning records (I thank you). None other than DJ Shadow himself turned up to lay down some beats and promote his digital self appearing in DJ Hero.

Ian Duncan

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Family Game of the Year: LITTLEBIGPLANET Bliss Handheld Game of the Year: GRAND THEFT AUTO: CHINATOWN WARS

Mobile Game of the Year: METAL GEAR SOLID TOUCH Nintendo Game of the Year: CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR MSN Mul player Game of the Year: CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR The Rampage Soundtrack of the Year: GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR Xbox Game of the Year: GEARS OF WAR 2 PC Game of the Year: FALLOUT 3 Amiqus Games UK Developer of the Year: JAGEX PlaySta on Game of the Year: KILLZONE 2 Publisher of the Year: ACTIVISION BLIZZARD Online Game of the Year: LEFT4DEAD ShortList One to Watch: CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 Ul mate Game of the Year: FALLOUT 3

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NEWS

EURO GAMER 2009 THE PAST UPSTAGES THE FUTURE AS THE BIG NAMES SHOW OFF THEIR NEW TOYS.

Judging by the literal mile-long cue outside the Old Billingate, this year’s Euro Gamer hasn’t been affected by the current economical climate. As long as the crowds keep flocking, the big names in the gaming industry will keep a ending in abundance. So, what have the big developers provided for our amusement and gaming pleasure this year, and what game proved to be the most popular a rac on?

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NEWS

Well, judging by the current explosion of hype and media coverage surrounding it, you’d expect Assassin’s Creed 2 to steal the show. Well despite all the massive publicity, at the end of the day the game doesn’t lie, and AC2 wasn’t the star of the show; not by a long way. It’s a good game, with great visuals, improved controls and a seemingly hastened play speed, but it s ll looks flawed. Just like the original, it’s all show and no trousers, and although only a true play-through will unveil its true proper es, it’s not looking too good for the cloaked wonder.

So what about God of War 3, was that the big crowd puller? Well it did look epic, and during certain sec ons it played superbly. A standout moment came when your character shoots up through a rapidly crumbling tunnel, all the while having to dodge vast lumps of falling debris and fight off various enemies.

Upon exit, you’re greeted by a giant flaming-rock monster, that dwarfs you like a planet does an ant.

GOW3 looked terrific, but again, s ll not best in show.

“ASSASSIN’S CREED 2, DESPITE ALL THE MASSIVE PUBLICITY, AT THE END OF THE DAY THE GAME DOESN’T LIE, AND IT WASN’T THE STAR OF THE SHOW; NOT BY A LONG WAY.” One par cular tle that did draw-in a vast crowd was Alien vs. Predator. What was apparent (apart from the truly mind-blowing levels of gore) was the sheer pace of the game. During moments when in control of the Alien, you can literally run up walls, or any surface for that ma er. When viewed from the first-person perspec ve, the sense of speed was tangible, as you shot like lightning thought the dense undergrowth of a deep jungle. Hopefully AVP can deliver on this brief promise, and go onto become the tle the franchise truly deserves.

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NEWS

Other tles worthy of a men on were Heavy Rain, which looks be er and be er with every turning day, Le 4 Dead 2, that con nues to stand out as the best online shooter of the year, and Split / Second, a racer that mixes both arcade racing and cinema c explosions. Red Steel 2 looks to be shaping up nicely, and a er a massive overhaul is hardly recognizable from the Wii original. Dante’s Inferno also looked terrific, as did Army of Two and Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time. Mass Effect 2 was hidden away in the depths of the show though, and sadly at the me of my visit it’s main show-sec on was out of commission, but I was able to get a quick viewing, and although it’s impossible to judge the overall quality of such a deep game in such a short space of me, it’s looks to have built upon the original epic.

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“NEW SUPER MARIO BR OF EURO GAMER 2009, A quick men on must be made of the 3D technology that was being demonstrated with Avatar, the game of the future James Cameron release. Although this kind of 3D technology is a few years away (it is available now, but it’s not cheap) it was nice to see it in ac on. And the 3D specs are ace.

NEWS

ROS WII WAS THE STAR , AND RIGHTLY SO.” So what was the star of the show? Amongst all the flashy new games with HD graphics, immensely detailed FX and future technologies galore, what game could possibly stand out? Well, ironically, it was a game that’s based upon an idea that’s over 20 years old; the good old fashioned 2D pla ormer.

Yep, New Super Mario Bros Wii was the star of Euro Gamer 2009, and rightly so.

A er squeezing through the massive crowds surrounding the mighty Mario’s newest venture, I finally got my hands on the game that was the focus everyone’s a en on. There’s nothing really to be said, all that I can say is that it’s Super Mario Bros, on the Wii. It’s as simply, and as brilliant, as that. Simple gameplay, excellent level design, immortal charm and some superb controls thanks to the Wii remote made for an experience that was memorable and well as enjoyable. It’s was simply brilliant, and all around seemed to agree en rely.

So, although there was no massive voyage into the future of gaming at this year’s Euro Gamer, the classic pla ormer made a welcome return.

Some mes, the old ones are the best, and New Super Mario Bros Wii defiantly proved this.

Sco Tierney

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NEWS BLITZ ARCADE’S ENCLEVERMENT EXPERIMENT LAUNCHES NOVEMBER 11 BRAIN-TEASING XBOX LIVE ARCADE GAME COMING IN TWO DAYS; HOW CLEVER ARE YOU? Blitz Arcade has announced a November 11, 2009 release date for their Xbox LIVE Arcade game, Encleverment Experiment – a clever game for clever gamers.

Encleverment Experiment is an Avatar-supported original tle for 1-4 players. It’s a fun and challenging “ba le of wits” hosted by the eccentric Professor Ivor Ques on in his funky laboratory. Players get to test their memory, reflexes, and dexterity responding to rapid-fire ques ons with mul ple answers to choose among. The game’s ques ons range from easy (for gamers star ng age 5) to difficult (for adult gamers) making Encleverment Experiment a great game for children, teens, and adults playing alone or in groups, and it’s an ideal game for families to play together.

Response me and accuracy are rewarded with Noodles, the in-game currency. The game’s challenge is to accumulate Noodles, but out-braining your friends and family is great fun, too. Winners are rewarded with Noodles which are used to purchase up to 60 collec ble Mascots to show off their gaming prowess.

Encleverment Experiment offers 16 fun and mind-challenging mini-games and puzzles. Each mini-game offers four levels of difficulty to cater for gamers of all ages and ability.

The game can be played in Single or Game Show mode.

Encleverment Experiment is rated “E” for Everyone by the Entertainment So ware Review Board, and all in-game content is safe for children to enjoy.

Players can buy Encleverment Experiment for 800 MS points from November 11th onwards.

For more informa on, visit www.BlitzArcade.com and www.EnclevermentExperiment.com.

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PREVIEW

LEFT 4 DEAD 2 PUBLISHER: VALVE CORPORATION DEVELOPER: VALVE CORPORATION FORMAT: XBOX 360 AVAILABLE: 17TH NOVEMBER

WAIT TIL YOU SEE THE WHITES OF THEIR EYES...

Being gamers, we know that the zombie apocalypse is inevitable. As a quick aside, if you’re at all interested in the human side of what it would be like to be a walking buffet table in an undead-ravaged society, I highly recommend Kirkman and Moore’s graphic novel series The Walking Dead.

If, however, the only aspect of imminent flesh-ripping madness that appeals to you is the chance to shoot shambling things in the face with a shotgun, Le 4Dead 2 may prove more appealing.

Just like its predecessor, this game is a fran c and breathless struggle through ostensibly linear levels that hide clever li le shortcuts and vantage points for the experienced player to exploit. And, just like its predecessor, it’s best enjoyed with 3 like-minded chums. When the zombie waves start coming hard and fast, you’ll need to be able to both an cipate clusters that demand instant thinning out and keep an eye on the status of your colleagues in carnage.

“WHERE IT DOES UNDOUBTEDLY DELIVER IS IN THE THRILL FACTOR.” The demo build that we played at the recent launch event contained only 3 playable levels, but that was more than enough to get a feel for things. Developer Valve promises new zombie types and new weapons, with my standout shredder being the melee electric guitar. With a wide sweeping arc and serious damage quo ent, it cuts a Hendrix-inspired swathe through a seemingly impossible crowd of drooling foes.

I’m not an aficionado of the original game, so was coming to it a li le colder than some of my fellow reviewers, and I have to say that there were elements that jarred. Played on an Xbox 360, the game’s by no means beau ful, with regular jagged edges to foliage and environment. We were told it was virtually a retail build, so perhaps the Xbox’s 3-year-old innards are star ng to show their age, but character models were crisp and sa sfying and draw distance seemed pre y decent.

Where it does undoubtedly deliver is in the thrill factor. There’s something absolutely primal about the an cipa on and subsequent adrenaline kick as you round a corner to come face to face with a packed square of shambling commuters – sorry, zombies – each one intent on peeling off your face and making tapas out of your cerebellum. And something inexcusably invigora ng about the spread of a 12-gauge, however digital the experience.

I don’t doubt that Valve has delivered another compelling journey here. Co-op gameplay has much more in common with a sport than a game, especially with a clever AI director tracking your gameplay and tweaking difficulty on the fly. Partners, beware. If you lost your guy or girl to the last one for months, you’re going to have the same problem here. On the flip side, it seems a pre y gentle evolu on from the previous effort. You can’t help but wonder if this isn’t really an extensive DLC pack or upgrade rather than a whole new game. Perhaps I’m just being churlish. The last one sold like deodorant in a heatwave, so who am I to pick holes? At the end of the zombie-killing day, Valve’s made a bloody group bonding session that can – and probably will – show extremely well on the Christmas sales lists.

Rob Hobson

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FEATURE

A MORE REFINED PALETTE WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE STYLES AND VISUALS THAT HAVE MADE THE BEST GAMES SO MEMORABLE. I’m reliably informed that the first itera on of Borderlands was heavy on greys and browns. Fortunately for us all, Gearbox realised that we’d all overdosed on that par cular colour pale e post-Fallout 3, and decided to give their role-playing shooter the cell-shaded colour treatment. It works rather well, par cularly as it’s a li le more forgiving when it comes to represen ng depth and distance. All that me grinding the wastes can take its toll on the re na, a er all.

But while Borderlands has moved away from the photo-real look aspired to by most recent FPS games, the actual art style is pure steampunk. Vast wind turbines, dirty industrial interiors, windblown pampas... take away the exo c weaponry and it could almost be the bastard literary child of William Gibson and Zane Grey.

A consistent, strong art style can really e a game together, making it memorable out of all propor on to the role it actually plays. What do you remember more about playing Bioshock... the sub-Randian musings of Andrew Ryan or the Art Deco interiors of Rapture? For that ma er, what really stays with you about the movie Blade Runner? Do you remember the corusca ng performances of Sean Young and Daryl Hannah, or are you s ll in love with perpetually rained-on, neon-lit LA? By the same token, would WipeOut have been the memorable experience it was without the detailed, oh-so-cool stylings of Sheffield-based The Designers Republic? tDr closed in January this year, bringing to an end its illustrious 23-year history.

To get more of an idea of how influen al they were, take a look back at the record sleeves for the Warp label in the 80s and 90s. Autechre, Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada all accompanied their intelligent electronic sounds with tDr’s artwork. WipeOut’s visuals were so strong and consistent, encompassing the packaging, manual, sleeve design and elements of the ships themselves: they transported you to a universe where organic stylings meshed effortlessly with edges and angles, crea ng something almost alien in its fluidity.

Of course, game experiences are as much about the li le details as they are about the grand aesthe c.

I can s ll remember playing through GTA: San Andreas and suddenly screeching to a halt in my stolen Banshee. Hmmm. I backed up a li le. Yup, mine eyes had not deceived. It was a record shop.

You couldn’t interact with it in any way. And above it, the legend “Mike’s Records. We take all 12 inches”.

I laughed l I snorted beer out of my nose. OK, it’s a dick joke, and an old one at that, but I loved the way that it was just sat there, bearing no rela on to the plot or the game in any way. A free gag, for those with eyes to see..Brilliant.

I’m sure – well, I fervently hope – that gameplay is, and always will be, the gold standard by which we judge the offerings from Rockstar, Gearbox, Bethesda, 2K and all their illustrious peers. I loved Fallout 3, despite ge ng hear ly sick of yet another grey trip through the Capital Wasteland’s subway system.

But when truly iconic, inspired design is used as the backdrop for a truly great game, we’re le with something incredibly special. Something of real cultural significance. Something that might even be interac ve, 4-dimensional art. If that li le phrase catches on, you heard it here first. And if it doesn’t, my apologies for sounding so cheesy.

Rob Hobson

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FEATURE

COMMUNIST LAN PARTY – GAMING IN CHINA AS CHINA’S GAMING MARKET CONTINUES TO GROW, WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE PROBLEMS FACING DEVELOPERS AND HOW THEY CAN BE SOLVED. China is rapidly becoming a major market for games but news this month shows that there are s ll many problems facing gamers in the country. Players face government interven on; foreign developers scared of piracy; and their own rela ve poverty. Despite China’s stunning economic growth, the majority of people remain rela vely poor so the country’s gaming scene revolves around internet cafes which allow people to play much more cheaply.

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As with every other area of life, the government is happy to get its fingerprints on the gaming scene making sure no nice li le Chinese boys and girls are ge ng corrupted. The government perceives a real problem with game addic on – a man is infamously claimed to have died in 2007 a er playing for three days straight. To celebrate the regime’s six eth birthday the government flat out banned 45 online games that allowed players to take part in illegal ac vi es like drug trafficking and pros tu on, which they deemed “unhealthy”. They probably don’t look to kindly on games where you play the role of a corrupt official either – you know, like Bureaucrat Tycoon.

Another 135 games are also under inves ga on.

FEATURE

“THEY PROBABLY DON’T LOOK TO KINDLY ON GAMES WHERE YOU PLAY THE ROLE OF A CORRUPT OFFICIAL EITHER – YOU KNOW, LIKE BUREAUCRAT TYCOON.” Even if your game is deemed salutary, good luck actually ge ng anyone to play it. Reports have claimed that foreign companies have been banned from inves ng in the Chinese gaming industry.

Whilst this isn’t technically true, the explana on of how to actually get a game published in the country requires so many graphs and flow charts that it might as well be. MMOs are only given the go ahead if a local firm is licensed to run the game.

World of Warcra was offline for a full two months over the summer because Ac vision was held up switching between two such local companies.

Despite all this control, piracy remains rampant and is a major deterrent to foreign games being made available in China. Nintendo is working on developing a specially adapted version of the DSi with extra an -hacking measures for Chinese players. Nintendo has publicly said that it regards China as the number one source of pirated versions of its products. The concerns over piracy are one reason why interna onal publishers have focussed on MMOs that require a subscrip on to play. The government’s willingness to overlook intellectual property viola ons and then demand strict controls over foreign games is a classic example of the double standards the Party o en employs.

As Chinese people con nue to grow wealthier it seems likely that the market for games in the country will grow too. If we’re lucky we might see a renaissance in gaming led by Chinese developers, just as Korean companies have built on the former success of Japan’s gaming industry. But if that is going to happen, the government might have to loosen up a bit first.

Ian Duncan

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FEATURE FORGOTEN GEMS

F-ZERO GX PUBLISHER: NINTENDO DEVELOPER: AMUSEMENT VISION FORMAT: GAMECUBE RELEASED: 2003

THE FASTEST RACER EVER MADE WAS A BREAK-NECK THRILLER, AND THE FIRST GAME SEGA AND NINTENDO MADE TOGETHER. Very few games can make you actually scream during gameplay, and even fewer of those games are racers. Well, F-Zero GX on the Gamecube wasn’t just scream inducingly fast; it was eye popping, face tearing, skin shreddingly fast!

The F-Zero series started out back in 1990, when F Zero was released on the SNES. A er a couple of cancelled sequels (that were s ll released as bootlegs in Japan) the series returned in 1998 on the N64, with the insanely fast F-Zero X. Then a er a few excursions onto the Gameboy Advance, F-Zero GX was unleashed on the Gamecube in 2003. What’s worth no ng is that F-Zero GX was the first game to be produced under the newly founded Sega / Nintendo collabora on.

When Sega ceased produc on as a console manufacturer, following the failure of the Dreamcast, they moved onto projects as a third party developer, working on tles such as Super Monkey Ball, F-Zero GX and Daytona USA. F-Zero GX was also part of the ‘Triforce’ development program, which was set up by Sega, Nintendo and Namco to look into new and inven ve arcade games. So, what was the resul ng game like…apart from fast?

As racers go, F-Zero GX is everything you’d ever a want from a racer. Phenomenal high speeds, great scenery, intense tracks, challenging racing and most of all, shear thrills. Thanks to the excellent use F-Zero GX made of the available power the Gamecube had to offer, the graphics looked amazing. Even during the constant high speeds and phenomenal fast turns, not to men on a grid of over 30 racers thrashing it out through sprays of sparks, the frame rate never dropped. Visually it was awesome, with a whole host of atmospheric racetracks just begging to be perfected. Some were set under water, some in forests and glass structures, others along vast pipes miles above the earth, while some where set in a mixture of all four. F-Zero GX looked and flowed superbly, but the gameplay was even be er.

F-Zero GX did have a story mode, but frankly it was hardly worth talking about. Not that it was bad, it had some great challenges and some brilliant cut scenes, but the real star quality of this game was the racing itself. Most races were 3 laps of fran c, explosive, mind mel ng ac on, where at no point could you take a breather. If the track didn’t kill you, then your compe tors definitely would. But having said that, racing in F-Zero GX wasn’t just about raw speed, you had to manage your race to the finest detail. Every me you used the power boost, the massive unleash of power would drain your shields. So a er 5-6 full power burst, you’d be one barrier-scratch away from exploding. So you had to manage your speed, and know where and when to really give it the beans. One thing that does stand out though, is the way the game’s voice over says ‘re red’, but in actual fact it sounds like ‘retard’.

Not what you want to hear just as you spin of for the umpteenth me.

To sum up, F-Zero GX was (and s ll is) an amazing racer.

It’s probably s ll the fastest game on the market, and although it’s nearly seven years old, it’s s ll a riot to play.

Sco Tierney

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UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES PUBLISHER: SONY DEVELOPER: NAUGHTY DOG FORMAT: PS3 AVAILABLE: NOW

THIS CHARMING MAN…..

The first Uncharted game, Drake’s Fortune, was far more of a spiritual successor to the great Tomb Raider games of yesteryear than any of Lara’s recent incarna ons. With neat puzzles , sa sfying cover-based gunplay and beau ful environments hiding some very clever technology, you came away from it wondering if Naughty Dog were the only developer who’d really got their heads round the PS3’s Cell processor.

As a cinema c experience, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves can be held up alongside any other narra ve-driven game in recent memory. It hurls you from one stunning set-piece to another: civil war-torn city; train-top skirmish; atmospheric snow-bound ruins. It shows a more mature, more measured approach to story than its predecessor, with the courage to stop the firefights and let the user take a good look around at the remarkably detailed environments. And, of course, it has every bit as good a script – and voice cast – as Drake’s Fortune, with plenty of chances for Lampard-a-like Nathan Drake to crack wise. This me, he even gets a love triangle. Oooh, the sexual tension.

Nathan’s movement was one of the many high points from 2007, with his slightly stumbling, loping gait perfectly encapsula ng his everyman appeal.

It’s just as rewarding here. You may some mes feel slightly hard done-by as an ostensibly makeable leap culminates in your gooey demise, but the pla orming is generally excellent. Combat is more flexible this me round, with opportuni es to, say, open fire whilst clinging onto a ledge. Stealth also plays more of a part, with a variety of thro ling, grabbing and snaffling moves available to give you the edge before the inevitable gunfest. Enemies flank intelligently and switch cover smartly, to the extent that the la er stages – with their body-armoured foes – become a serious challenge without ever feeling too cheap. Much of the game is played with a CPUcontrolled buddy: either blonde feiste e Elena (from U:DF) or new love interest Chloe, with Englishman Harry Flynn thrown in for good measure. It works rather well, with the dialogue helping to push the plot along nicely. And this aspect leads me on to something that is genuinely new for the franchise: mul player.

“UNCHARTED 2 IS ONE OF THOSE GAMES THAT FEELS, RIGHT FROM THE OFF, AS THOUGH IT’S HAD LOVE, DEDICATION AND INTELLIGENCE SPRINKLED ALL OVER IT.” phonica magazine magazine uk uk 46 phonica

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You get the standard formats: deathmatch, capture-theflag and so on. Perks are well thought-out, and the decision to plant the be er weapons around the levels rather than let you start with them gives the game a democra c sort of feel. There are also some neat environmental touches to a few of the levels that can have a serious effect on gameplay, but I won’t spoil them for you.

It feels like I could spend an awful lot more me talking about Uncharted 2. It’s one of those games that feels, right from the off, as though it’s had love, dedica on and intelligence sprinkled all over it. Naughty Dog have always been a smart developer, but here they may very well have found their own Lara: a truly blockbus ng franchise that can deliver over the years. I hope so. Nathan Drake may not have Ms Cro ’s more obvious charms, but what he lacks in fleshy bits he more than makes up in wit and charm.

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

OVERALL

95/100

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GRAND THEFT AUTO 4: THE BALLAD OF GAY TONY PUBLISHER: ROCKSTAR GAMES DEVELOPER: ROCKSTAR NORTH FORMAT: XBOX 360 AVAILABLE: NOW

GRAND THEFT AUTO 4 IS BACK, BUT THIS TIME IT’S COME WITH A BIG BOX OF FIREWORKS AND DRESSED AS A CLOWN. No ma er how many mes I pop Grand The Auto 4 into my console, and take a rage-ridden trip back to Liberty City, I s ll get the same sa sfac on. Every me is like the first me in some respect, and the game never fails to bring a smile to my face. So the arrival of The Ballad of Gay Tony, the second expansion pack for the original GTA4, is just another excuse to go back and have some fun. And that’s good, because The Ballad of Gay Tony is all about the fun!

Whereas the first GTA4 expansion, The Lost and Damned, was a more serious, dark and complex tale, The Ballad of Gay Tony is far jollier. Each mission is no longer a tale of human suffering, or a lesson in accep ng ones background.

Now it’s just an excuse to blow up as much as possible, while cracking a few crude gags and pleasuring a lady of the night. Even the main character, Luis, is a bit less troubled than previous stars, and most of the characters he surrounds himself with are just there for comical relief. If The Ballad of Gay Tony was a film, it would be a Carry On film; but with more explosions. Just imagine Sid James detona ng a skyscraper by squeezing one of Barbara Windsor’s breasts. That’s what this game is like; rude, crude and totally stupid. Fantas c!

Apart from the new, more boisterous gameplay, there are some more new features to play with. There are some cracking new weapons, most notably the shotgun with explosive shells, the s cky bombs and the Desert Eagle handgun. New vehicles are also present, with a whole host of speedy and exo c sports cars, and also an outrageous a ack helicopter and tank. Gameplay is mainly the same, but now at the end of each level you are given a score, which can be improved upon once the game is completed. Maybe not hugely worthwhile, but it will add an extra slice of play me.

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“IF THE BALLAD OF GAY TONY WAS A FILM, IT WOULD BE A CARRY ON FILM; BUT WITH MORE EXPLOSIONS.” One excellent new character worth looking out for is Yusuf Amir, played by Iranian comedian, Omid Djalili.

The guy steals every scene he’s in, and if you don’t find a fat man running around in his pants, while holing a gold Uzi and making borderline racist remakes, funny, then don’t play this game.

I absolutely adore The Ballad of Gay Tony, right from the minor new addi ons like the li le phases a dying pedestrian coughs, all the way through to the enormous set pieces like the destruc on of a building or yacht. It’s simply brilliant, and for around £15, there’s no be er way to spend your lose change.

Rockstar have taken this latest opportunity to make a few tweaks to the original game. There are no major enhancements (and why would there be, the game’s prac cally perfect) but li le fixes and addi ons like improved character graphics, new dialog, new music and other li le t-bits (like the sirens on cop cars now breaking when damaged) make for a much richer game experience. The occasionally inaccurate and random targe ng system is s ll a problem though, but that’s just something you’ll come to live with.

Sco Tierney

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

OVERALL

91/100 phonica magazine uk

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PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2010 PUBLISHER: KONAMI DEVELOPER: KONAMI PLATFORM: ALL FORMATS AVAILABLE: NOW

WITH FIFA 2010 ON THE RISE, THE PRESSURE IS ON FOR KONAMI TO OUTDO THEIR PREVIOUS TITLES. There is no doubt that, for the last few years, Konami have taken the crown in the two-horse race for the tle of the true football fan’s game of choice.

FIFA 2010 though, has been a shining star amongst a number of dimly glowing lights, and have taken great leaps and bounds from previous tles to produce a well playing, aesthe cally appealing football game that seemed to take the spotlight away from Pro Evo Soccer for some me.

A er playing what would be the first of many matches on PES 2010, there is no doubt that the crown is firmly back on Konami’s head.

The PES series always offered the be er gameplay out of the two, and was definitely much more popular as a mul player game to play amongst your friends on a night in, se ng up tournaments with ease and ge ng stuck in. And again, they do the same – some might say that it is not as fluid as it could be, but with less complica ons like special first touches and fancy tricks, you get a much smoother and simpler game to play, which is important when your winger is on the run and about to cross into the box, and you want your striker to be there for the clinical finish, not to twirl about like a Bolshoi dancer – especially when you know he has a ridiculous shot accuracy a ribute (Ronaldo, anyone?).

Addi ons such as the card system for special abili es (previously the star system, for things like Middle Shoo ng and Passing) and the sliding bars for tac cal control give the game a more rounded feeling, giving you that sense of true football management that was some mes lacking in the previous PES games. They’ve even messed around with the highly successful Master League op on, giving it more flesh on the bones and adding the Europa License too.

The biggest change however, was the massive improvement in graphics. Now, let’s be honest, there’s not one of us PES players that some mes zoomed in on a face that is supposed to be Ronaldinho’s ugly mug and thought to ourselves “Damn, they even messed HIS face up!” Certainly, there’ll always be the odd face here and there we’ll end up scratching our heads over, but much of the character detail is vastly superior compared to previous tles, and some of the facial features are superb – even be er than FIFA, at some points. Both the talismanic players of the game, Messi and Torres, look incredibly lifelike and they’ve really gone to town with what the new genera on consoles have given them.

Across the board, PES 2010 delivers yet another game that could be compared to a good centreback – solid, unassuming, reliable and tough to beat. FIFA really need to step it up a notch if they ever plan to knock Konami off the top spot – they did a good job with FIFA 2010, but like Liverpool last season, they need that extra edge to stay on top ll it counts.

Paul Park

PRESENTATION: 17/20 STORY: 15/20 CONTROLS: 18/20 GAMEPLAY: 18/20 DURABILITY: 18/20

OVERALL

86/100

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FORZA MOTORSPORT 3 PUBLISHER: MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS DEVELOPER: TURN 10 STUDIOS FORMAT: XBOX 360 AVAILABLE: NOW

THE MOST DETAILED AND REALISTIC RACING SIM IS BACK, AND BOY DOES IT LOOKING SWANKY! If you like to play your racers in a style that wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of Wacky Races, then this game isn’t for you.

But, if you’re a bit of a petrol-headed nerd, that enjoys taking a technical approach to every corner of a racetrack, then Forza 3 is made exactly for you. Welcome everyone, to the ul mate track-racing experience on the Xbox 360.

When Forza 2 was released, alongside the first Xbox 360’s in 2007, it was praised and commended for its level of detail and precise handling. But it was cri cised (unfairly in my opinion) for its ‘lacklustre’ visuals. They weren’t bad, not by any means.

They were crystal clear and wonderfully smooth, but visually, Forza 2 maybe lacked a certain style, or flair. Well, the guys at Turn 10 Studios were obviously no best pleased with these assessments, and have pulled out all the stops with Forza 3.

To put it bluntly, Forza 3 is a visual masterpiece. Every single nook and cranny has been cra ed with a precise yet passionate detail, making everything from the cars to the tracks look as close as we’ve presently seen to ‘real’. It’s simply gorgeous, and it’s not just the in-game ac on that shines. Even the menus are the epitome of crisp, precise design. So that’s the visual side, but what’s the racing like?

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The Forza series has always been about realism, and with Forza 3, it’s here in abundance.

The handling, as expected, is superb, with every minor adjustment to the wheel resul ng in some form of reac on. The inclusion of an in-board camera angle is much appreciated, and a new feature called the ‘replay’ (where you can rewind the ac on before a smash) may not be new, but is a nice touch. As usual, there’s many a car to choose from, with over 400 at present, and with over 100 track varia ons, there’s plenty of space to test them.

Gameplay wise, Forza 3 has added a far more complete career mode, where you can compete in a personalised racing calendar. With over 200 different events, including drag, ovel and dri events, no two calendars will be the same. This is a huge leap forward from Forza 2, where although there was plenty to do, a er a while it was easy to lose interest as you skipped from race to race. But in Forza 3, it’s a much friendlier interface, and one that’ll keep you interested for lap a er lap.

“TO PUT IT BLUNTLY, FORZA 3 IS A VISUAL MASTERPIECE.”

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A few nagging problems are present in Forza 3, though. There’s nothing major, but li le things like unbalanced AI (they’re either too slow or too fast), a naff soundtrack, small grids and under-developed crash physics to pop up. The crashes in par cular are a problem, as although cars can now flip over, the big smashes s ll feel dumb, with hardly any bodywork coming away from the car. But as I say, these are ny li le flaws that you’ll hardly no ce.

Overall, Forza 3 is the best racer of the year by a fair stretch. It’s miles ahead of Need for Speed Shi , and overall a far more complete package than Colin McRae Dirt 2. If you love to race at high speeds around the best looking tracks in the worlds, then this is definitely the game for you. Just strap on your helmet and buy this!

Sco Tierney

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

OVERALL

93/100 phonica magazine uk

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REVIEWS SONIC AND MARIO AT THE OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES PUBLISHER: SEGA / NINTENDO DEVELOPER: SEGA JAPAN FORMAT: WII, DS AVAILABLE: NOW

IT’S TIME FOR SOME MORE OLYMPIC ORIENTATED FROLICS WITH SONIC AND MARIO, ONLY THIS TIME IT’S A TOUCH NIPPY. I’m one of those people of a certain age, who s ll see Sonic and Mario as compe tors, or at worst, enemies.

When I was growing up, you were either a Sonic fan, which meant you owned a Sega Mega Drive (as I did), or a Mario fan who owned a SNES. So to me, seeing these two rivals embracing on the same game cover is s ll, a er all these years, an unnatural and confusing sight. It’s like seeing James Bond high-fiving Goldfinger, or Captain Hook pecking Peter Pan on the cheek; it’s just wrong. But, I shall put these feelings behind me and get on with this review.

Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Winter Games is the predictable follow up to 2007’s Summer Olympics version. To quickly explain the concept, Sonic and Mario each take a team of their buddies to the Olympics, and compete against each other across all the events. So if you want to see if Bowser can beat Dr. Robotnik (I refuse to call him Dr. Eggman) at Speed ska ng, this is the game for you. And if you find the thought of Princess Peach doing figure ska ng arousing, this is definitely the game for you! Trust me; you need to see this in the opening video…. Phewie!

As with most Wii games, Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Winter Games is best played with a group of friends.

There is an entertaining single player mode, where you take part in the en re Olympic campaign, but it’s very hit and miss. Although some stages are excellent, especially the inspired dream sequences which take place in some insane realms, the overall depth of the single player game is lacking. It’s fun, and at mes challenging, but the AI compe tors are either push-over easy or coffin-nail hard, making for a frustra ng experience.

Another nagging point is the controls, which are at mes numb and insufficient. Overall they’re OK, but at mes, especially during the faster events such as the speed ska ng, you can’t help but feel detached from the experience.

But back to the essence of Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Winter Games; the mul player. The original Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games was a triumph due to the excellent party features, and this new version is, overall, just as good. The downhill skiing, snowboarding, curling and ice hockey stages are all great fun, and in general the other events are a good laugh with friends. A few games are very dull, such as the figure ska ng, but all in all there’s plenty to do. To give you a quick idea of what it’s like, it’s a mix of Wii Sports and Mario Kart; but with snow.

Overall, Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Winter Games is good, wholesome, family night-in fun. It’s a happy-golucky game with acres of charm, and although it’s patchy in places, and when played alone is occasionally dour, it’s a great giggle with friends. Just try to ignore the fact that in reality Sonic would win all the speed events by a mile!

Sco Tierney

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

OVERALL

74/100

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TEKKEN 6 PUBLISHER: NAMCO DEVELOPER: NAMCO PLATFORM: PS3, XBOX 360, PSP AVAILABLE: NOW ONE OF THE MOST WELL-KNOWN GAMES SERIES IN THE WORLD RETURNS WITH THE USUAL FEAST OF MARTIAL ARTS, HIGH KICKS AND SPECIAL COMBO MOVES Choose your character, grip your controller, wipe the sweat off your brow.

The King of Iron Fist Tournament is back, and you’re straight into the mix. With an even bigger line up of available fighters and more refined gameplay, Tekken 6 seems more of the same, but has that added gloss that seems to be layered on and on, me and me again.

The modes of play available in the game are back – Arcade, Time Trial, Survival, Team Ba les – but there are some new addi ons like the Ghost Ba les, which pits you up against an endless list of AI fighters to ba le against, similar to the Arcade func on on Tekken 5, where you can choose to fight AIs that are harder, of the same level, or weaker than you every me you win a fight.

You’ll no ce that the coin system is back in use a er Tekken 5, with money won with every win available to be used to customise nearly every aspect of your character (I ki ed King with an all white ensemble, for example).

The gameplay itself s cks to its simple roots and keeps the ever popular le kick/right kick/right punch/le punch combo, which, at face value, presents a perfect opportunity for the manic bashers amongst us to pull off lucky combos and fluke power hits, but with more in-depth knowledge, unlocks a vast skill base that can destroy your opponents clinically.

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Graphics again are improved, with more and more character detail coming to the fore as game developers begin harnessing the power of the next-genera on consoles. I par cularly enjoy watching my favourite character for a good few years now, Hwoarang, actually managing to speak in Korean with his mouth moving with the words – something I’ve s ll not go en used to since seeing him do something similar on Tekken 5.

Of course, no review would be complete without a look at the new fighters introduced into this year’s Tournament. Notable addi ons include Alisa, a female robot that will have many players immediately drawing comparisons with Jack, and Azazel, an embodiment of evil that was unleashed into the world. Azazel will have a number of players in uproar – one of his trademark moves is a ridiculous stun a ack that leaves the opponent open for some lovely combos, very much like Jinpachi’s foot slam stun that kept killing me over and over.

However, by trying to improve the game too much, Namco have made a poten ally fatal mistake – the load mes are insanely long compared to previous games and this brings the game down a notch or two. We don’t want to be held up wai ng when our thumbs are itching to kick some virtual bu – and a er a number of fights, the wait me starts to really get on your nerves.

I’d also speak at length at the lack of an actual coherent storyline but no such thing existed past Tekken 3. The story is more of the same – the Mishima Zaibatsu bombs some places that coincidentally have the rela ves of fighters in, something supernatural comes alive in the world – but let’s be honest, who really plays Tekken for its enthralling storyline?

PRESENTATION: 15/20 STORY: 8/20 CONTROLS: 17/20 GAMEPLAY: 17/20 DURABILITY: 16/20

OVERALL

73/100

Paul Park

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RISEN PUBLISHER: DEEP SILVER DEVELOPER: PIRANHA BYTES PLATFORM: PC, XBOX 360 AVAILABILITY: NOW

‘RISEN ISN’T THE COMPLETE PACKAGE – ALTHOUGH THE CONTENT LOOKS VERY APPEALING. With so many RPGs on the market in recent years, spearheaded by the immensely popular Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Risen would have needed something special to break away from the trend and make a name for itself.

There are all the staples of RPGs present in Risen – an extensive quest line, a wide array of friendly NPCs and baddies to slay, caves, dungeons, and even a pirate or three. With a rather uninspiring storyline where you assume the role of an unnamed hero in the making exploring an island with mysterious temples, Risen doesn’t really seem to sa sfy some of the more core elements to any RPG game. Nothing really drives you on bar the gameplay itself, and the lack of an inspiring story really does take its toll.

Don’t get me wrong – Risen is very enjoyable, and with a wide cast of NPCs giving the en re game a solid founda on to build on, you quickly get sucked into the intricacies of the li le ffs between the fac ons present on the island you get washed up on. Drawing more comparisons again from Elder Scrolls, your player is given choices that will affect the game as a whole – in par cular, choosing your fac on between various groups of influence, including a group of buccaneering pirates and the local town hierarchy.

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The gameplay could do with a touch up here and there, with some inconsistencies and niggly bits that gnaw away at the back of your mind as they pop up me and me again. The combat system is a great idea – you literally learn every skill that you’d want to use, and the third person view gives you a more accurate view of your surroundings as you hack and slash your way (or throw fireballs) past the lizardmen in your way – but needs refining. All too o en, the target lock feature forces you to look at something rela vely harmless while your actual target takes its me to move around into a be er a acking posi on. You end up ge ng pre y frustrated, especially when the game makes you fight monsters one by one and your sword swing will pass through an enemy harmlessly, as you had something behind it targeted instead.

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“YOU END UP GETTING PRETTY FRUSTRATED, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE GAME MAKES YOU FIGHT MONSTERS ONE BY ONE.” Graphically, the game itself is pre y good – nothing too special, but solidly decent graphics that will run on my now 2 year old laptop without much fuss. Some visuals look absolutely gobsmacking – cliffs on the horizon, flourishing flora, and creepy dungeons – and the environment as a whole is well delivered. It’s what you’d expect from a game of these mes, and you could safely place it above average in the graphics charts.

Giving Risen a more all-round look is the flexibility in character development. As you’d expect from a fantasy RPG, the basics like smithing, alchemy, cooking and your a ributes – strength, dexterity, etc – are all on for show. What Risen does, however, is take these skills and really make you think you’re doing the work, albeit with a mouse.

Cooking will have you frying meat on a sauce pan, while lockpicking will ask you to press bu ons in the correct order. The game manages to present a human face with all these tasks, and rewards the player with pre y useful gear and consumables for their (rather boring) trips to the temples.

Ul mately, it’s the role-playing element that draws us to these games and even a er all of its good points, there just isn’t enough to believe that Risen has what it takes to take the biscuit at the top end of the genre.

Successful RPG games are fuelled on a good storyline infused with a great game experience, and although the gameplay for Risen could be top-class with a li le refinement, the storyline is not, and on top of this the inconsistencies such as the buggy combat system bring this game down a notch or two. It’s s ll very enjoyable, and makes a change from some of the more successful RPGs out there, but Risen would be best used as a foothold for Piranha Bytes to move further into the RPG market with feedback and lessons learnt.

Paul Park

PRESENTATION: 16/20 STORY: 10/20 CONTROLS: 14/20 GAMEPLAY: 16/20 DURABILITY: 14/20

OVERALL

70/100 phonica magazine uk

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CURSED MOUNTAIN PUBLISHER: DEEP SILVER DEVELOPER: SPROING INTERACTIVE MEDIA FORMAT: WII AVAILABLE: NOW IF YOU LIKE TO PLAY WITH YOUR GAMES WITH SWEAT-COATED PALMS, CURSED MOUNTAIN COULD BE THE CHILLER FOR YOU. It’s very hard to make a genuinely scary game. To keep a player on the edge of their seat, with sweat dripping down their face and arm hair poin ng to the heavens, is one of the fiercest challenges game designers face. So, has Cursed Mountain achieved this, or is it as scary as a ernoon tea with your Nan? The se ng to Cursed Mountain is quite simple.

When the game opens, your mountaineering character heads to the ghostly mountains of the southern hemisphere, in search of his lost brother, and the solu on to his mysterious disappearance.

Could evil spirits or the undead be involved?

Probably, otherwise this is going to be one scare-free experience. From then on his journey brings him in contact with spooky characters galore, and enough fog to suffocate a horse. It’s all very cliché, but it’s worth s cking with, at least for a level or two.

The majority of the gameplay involves wandering around deserted villages, solving the occasional puzzle and slaughtering unfriendly ghosts. A lot has been made of Cursed Mountain’s slow pace, and to be honest it does grind at mes. Even during fight scenes, the ac on isn’t par cularly fran c, and what does take place is usually over within seconds. But to its credit, Cursed Mountain does use its pace to build up the tension. It’s just a shame that it’s stuck in the unhappy middle of all-out ac on and steady adventure. It’s not fast enough to be an ac on game like Tomb Raider or Uncharted, but it’s not detailed or clever enough to be as deep as Fallout 3. It’s just a bit damp.

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Visually, Cursed Mountain is a bit of a mess. If you didn’t know this was a new game from 2009, you’d guess it was an old PS2 game due to its rather shabby graphics.

Although the Wii isn’t a patch on the PS3 or Xbox 360 graphically, we’ve seen the Wii do some great things recently. Last month’s Spyborgs was a notable highlight, with some fantas c effects and visuals, so the Wii can pull-off the goods when pushed. It’s just a shame Cursed Mountain doesn’t even get close to the Wii’s limits.

Also, the lightness/darkness se ng are difficult to adjust. Too bright, and you lose any sense of tension (and you can see the lazy graphics even more) but too dark, and it’s prac cally impossible to see where your going.

So, regardless of its abundant flaws, is Cursed Mountain actually scary? Well, it depends on how yellow-bellied you are. It has to be said that Cursed Mountain is very spooky, and it does an extremely good job of delivering haun ng tension mixed with explosive shocks. But a er a while, you become used to the shocks. When a ghost jumps out of a shadow for the first me, it’s genuinely nerve-racking, but a er the twen eth me, it becomes expectantly dull. If you’re easily scared, you’ll probably enjoy Cursed Mountain, but if you have the nerves of a morgue a endant, you’ll see beyond the scares that disguises the dull gameplay at Cursed Mountain’s core.

Sco Tierney

PRESENTATION: 14/20 STORY: 16/20 CONTROLS: 12/20 GAMEPLAY: 14/20 DURABILITY: 10/20

OVERALL

64/100

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STAR WARS:

THE CLONE WARS – REPUBLIC HEROES PUBLISHER: LUCASARTS DEVELOPER: KROME STUDIOS FORMAT: ALL FORMATS AVAILABLE: NOW

TWIST, WHIRL, SLICE AND DICE AROUND THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE…IF THE CONTROLS WILL LET YOU. There’s nothing more fun that running around the corridors of a Star Destroyer, flinging a light sabre about and cu ng hordes of droids in half. It’s the stuff dreams are made off, and if you can’t find even the slightest bit of pleasure in force-pushing a man to his death, frankly I pity you.

But sadly this new Star Wars game isn’t all that fun, no ma er how hard it tries.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes is based upon the TV series baring the same name.

Based between the 2nd and 3rd films, the scene is set with Anakin and Obi One, kicking seven bells out of any droid that happens to get in their way.

The show was mainly aimed at kids, and that theme con nues through the game, so expect wi y one liner’s aplenty.

The game is basically a 3D sabre ‘em up, with your chosen character running around basic stages, chopping up stuff and solving the occasional puzzle.

It sounds like a laugh, but sadly, Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes is flawed in every single department. For starters, the graphics are dis nctly average for a game of this calibre. Even running at full pelt on an Xbox 360, you can’t help but be a li le disappointed at the rather drab levels and textures. Also, the plot is poorly managed, the gameplay - although occasionally brilliant - is very on-off, the camera is at mes a joke and durability wise this isn’t a game you’ll keep on your shelf for long.

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Worst of all though are the controls, that although have been simplified for younger players, are incredibly twitchy and vague. SW-RH uses the same ‘jump’ control system that can be found in Assassins Creed or any current Tomb Raider game, where you simple press the jump bu on when poin ng in roughly the direc on of your intended pla orm, and the character will leap straight at it. When it works it’s great, but more o en that not you’ll find yourself falling to a grizzly death. It’s just so frustra ng, and it ruins an otherwise enjoyable gaming experience. And worst of all (yes I know I’ve said this twice!), you can’t deflect lasers with your light sabre; come on, that’s the best bit!

But come on, who cares? At the end of the day, if you enjoy Star Wars and chopping stuff up, I might as well have copy and pasted an extract from War and Peace in Arabic here. No self respec ng Star Wars fan is going to pay a blind bit of no ce to this review, because at the end of the day, it’s Star Wars and you get to use a light sabre, and it doesn’t get much be er than that.

Die, rebel scum…

Sco Tierney

PRESENTATION: 14/20 STORY: 12/20 CONTROLS: 13/20 GAMEPLAY: 12/20 DURABILITY: 8/20

OVERALL

59/100

REVIEWS

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63

REVIEWS

BORDERLANDS PUBLISHER: 2K GAMES DEVELOPER: GEARBOX SOFTWARE PLATFORM: PC, XBOX 360, PS3 AVAILABLE: NOW

FUN? YES. THE ULTIMATE RPG-FPS CROSSOVER? ER, NO. In Borderlands you’re unceremoniously dumped off a bus into a wasteland and expected to find a mysterious alien site known as the Vault. Taking on one of four characters with dis nct play styles you ba le FPS style through the desert. There’s Brick who is the juggernaut; Lilith the sneaky lady; Roland the straight up soldier and Mordecai the sniper.

Borderlands was hyped up on the back of its RPG elements and whilst these characters are all different, the differences are felt much less at the earlier levels. There are no restric ons on what weapons the characters can use, for example, so if you want to play a Lilith who uses sniper rifles you’d be at no massive disadvantage. This allows for flexibility and different varia ons of each character but it’s also a bit of a shame.

The game is structured like an RPG too. You accept quests – some of which advance the plot, others that merely offer the promise of adventure. The maps are very large but o en this makes them feel empty and there’s a lot of trekking about between objec ves.

There are enemies to fight along the way but they lack varia on. Fortunately, you quickly get access to vehicles which let you cut travel mes considerably.

It’s also very easy to run over even tough enemies which eliminated the need to fight every spawn along the way.

Unfortunately, the compromise between RPG and shooter is not a great one. There are too many gaps in the ac on for it to be a full-blown shooter and they’re not jus fied by solid story development from the RPG. You get the idea that the star ng town is under threat from bandits but they’re poorly characterised and there’s no dialogue with them.

The third big selling point of the game was guns, guns, guns. And on this point, at least, it delivers.

There’s an incredible range of weapons based on a system of randomly generated a ributes a la Diablo.

Even though there are only six classes of weapon, each individual gun s ll manages to feel different from the last which makes collec ng and trying out new ones a lot of fun.

Borderlands is supposed to focus heavily on the online experience. Here there is a massive problem. The PC version requires forwarding of ports for players to be able to connect to hosts. This has confused a lot of people and has made it difficult to get into a game.

That’s really a shame because with four players the game becomes fran c and a lot more fun. Hopefully a patch will come out soon that will address this issue.

If it does it should be a major boost.

Borderlands is fun. It definitely has its limita ons but if the online play is worked out it could be a good game. Collec ng weapons has a certain appeal and the co-op mode is enjoyable. It might just be be er to wait before taking the plunge.

PRESENTATION: 17/20 STORY: 13/20 CONTROLS: 17/20 GAMEPLAY: 15/20 MULTIPLAYER: 6/20

OVERALL

73/100

64 phonica magazine uk

Ian Duncan

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THE GUIDE

PHONICA’S 20 RECOMMENDED RACERS WIPEOUT

GRAND PRIX 4

BURNOUT PARADISE

F ZERO GX

MICRO MACHINES 2: TURBO TOURNAMENT

(PS1, Sega Saturn, PC)

(PC)

(PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

(GameCube)

(Megadrive)

“I suspect most games would be improved by a Le field soundtrack and an ultra-cool design job.

The HD update for PS3 was pre y brilliant too.”

“The ul mate F1 simulator; packed to the seams with detail and realism. ”

“Fast, fran c and totally stupid. The replay feature is excep onal also; nothing beats watching your car disintegrate before your eyes!”

“So fast it will actually make your eyes invert.

The ul mate racing experience, boosted with supreme visuals and glamour.”

“One of the finest mul player games ever made, and here’s li le bit of trivia; it was the first game to receive a 100% playability score from Gamesmaster.”

FORZA MOTORSPORT 3

COLIN MCRAE RALLY 2.0

SSX

WAVE RACER 64

GRAN TURISMO

(Xbox 360)

(PC, PS1)

(PS2)

(N64)

(PS1)

“The best looking (and maybe even ‘the best’) track racing game on the market. Fast, precise and totally joyous.”

“When played with a racing wheel, the sense of control and involvement was startling.

S ll a terrific tle, and possibly the best in the McRae series.”

“Excellent level design and ludicrously improbably tricks.

Christ, but Rahzel’s v/o got old quickly though.”

“Skim the ripples and smash through the waves. Jet skies have never been so much fun!”

“The most important racing game of all me, and the first game to take racing seriously.

An absolute legend of the genre.”

66 phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

MARIO KART 64

MOTORSTORM

RIDGE RACER

GRAND PRIX LEGENDS

CARMAGEDDON II: CARPOCALYPSE NOW

(N64)

(PS3)

(Arcade, PS1)

(PC)

(PC)

“Arguably the best of the Mario Kart series; the perfect mix of ac on and party entertainment.”

“Controversial choice, but it had great physics and looked fantas c.

A surprisingly good launch tle for the PS3.”

“You’ll never forget charging through those mountain roads for the first me. It cost a fortune in 50p pieces though…..”

“If you had the skill to handle the realis c controls and 60s vehicles, this hidden gem was unforge ably rewarding.”

“An absolute riot and one of the first proper ‘sandbox’ games.

Not really based around pure racing, but you got to run people over, including dogs! ”

AYRTON SENNA’S SUPER MONACO GP II

EXCITE TRUCK

MOTO GP 07

POLE POSITION

COLIN MCRAE DIRT 2

(Megadrive)

(Wii)

(Xbox 360, PC)

(Arcade)

(PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii)

“Basic thrills but a superbly cra ed career mode. And it was endorsed by Senna, so come on!”

“Comical controls and ridicules physics, but fantas c fun. One of the most underrated games produced for the Wii.”

“Superb two-wheel ac on that encapsulated everything that is great about Moto GP.”

“Not a par cularly good game, but none of that ma ers when you’re 10 and si ng in a full size cockpit! Again, cost a fortune in 50p pieces though…..”

“Excep onal visuals and superb handling; just a joy to play.

Hate the forced coolness though, it sucks!”

phonica magazine uk

67

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

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 5530

Nokia E75

Nokia 6210

Nokia E63

Nokia N97

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

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

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

MP3/WAV/AAC/WMA

MP3/WAV/AAC/WMA

MP3/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 294 351 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 222 244 Yes

Yes Polyphonic & MP3 660 432 Yes

Yes MP3 570 430 Yes

Yes MP3 340 264 Yes

Sony Ericsson C901

Sony Ericsson C510

HTC Magic

HTC Hero

Apple iPhone 3G S

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

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

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

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

11.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm 135 g Quad-band/3G 480 x 320 3.15 MP

120 MB/Memory S ck Micro ™

100 MB/Memory S ck Micro ™

288 MB/microSD

288 MB/microSD ™

16/32 GB (internal)

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/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

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

MP3/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/AAC/MP4

MP3/MP4

MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA 9

MP3/MP3 VBR/AAC/WAV

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Poly & MP3

Poly/MP3/Aac

Poly/MP3/WAV

Poly/MP3/WAV

Poly & MP3

570 430 Yes

420 400 Yes

450 420 Yes

420 750 Yes

720 300 Yes

68 phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

Nokia 3720 classic

Nokia 5800 (Xpress Music) Sony Ericsson Aino

Sony Ericsson Yari

Sony Ericsson Naite

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

100 x 48 x 15.7 mm 115 g Quad-band/3G 240 x 320 5 MP 60 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10 No Wap/xHTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

108 x 47 x 12.6 mm 84 g Quad-band 240 x 320 2 MP 100 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10 No Wap/xHTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

104 x 50 x 15.5 mm 134 g Quad-band/3G 240 x 420 8.1 MP 60 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10/HSDPA Yes WAP/xHTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM Yes

MP3/MP4/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/AAc/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/AAC

MP3/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/MP4/eAAC+/WMA

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

Yes Polyphonic & MP3 528 406 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3 270 360 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 600 450 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 564 380 Yes

Apple iPhone 3G

INQ Chat 3G

BlackBerry 8520

BlackBerry Bold 9000

BlackBerry 8300 Curve

11.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm 133 g Quad-band/3G 480 x 320 2 MP

114.5 x 61 x 12.8 mm 93 g Tri-band/3G 176 x 220 3.2 MP

109 x 60 x 13.9 mm 106 g Quad-band 320 x 240 2 MP

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

107 x 60 x 15.5 mm 111 g Quad-band 320 x 240 2MP

8/16 GB (internal)

120 MB/Memory S ck Micro ™

256 MB/MicroSD

1GB/microSD

64MB/microSD

Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Yes HTML (Safari) No SMS/Email No

Yes/A2DP/USB Yes Yes Net Front Yes SMS/MMS/Email No

Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 10 Yes HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM No

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

Yes/USB Yes/EDGE No 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+

MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA

Yes

-

Yes

Yes

Yes

Poly & MP3

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

Poly/MIDI/MP3

Poly & MP3

Poly & MP3

600 300 Yes

480 170 Yes

270 408 Yes

300 310 Yes

240 408 Yes

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69

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

Samsung Genio Touch

Samsung B3310

Samsung Jet

Samsung U900

LG BL40 New Chocolate

103 x 56.5 x 12 mm 90 g Quad-band 240 x 320 2 MP 40 MB/microSD Yes/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10 No WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

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 110 g Quad-band/3G 480 x 800 5 MP 2/8 GB (internal)/microSD Yes/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 12/HSDPA Wi-Fi WAP/Dolphin Yes SMS/MMS/Email/Vidoe/MS Exchange Yes

103.2 x 49.3 x 10.9 mm 81.5 g Quad-band 240 x 320 3.2 MP 80MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10 No WAP/xHTML Yes SMS/MMS/EMS/Email Yes

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/MP4/eAAC+/WMV/WMA

MP3/MP4

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

MP3/MPEG4/AAC/eAAC/WMA

MP3/MP4/WAV/DivX/eAAC

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 480 730 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 300 380 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 492 422 Yes

Yes Poly & MP3 210 220 Yes

Yes Poly & MP3 240 400 Yes

IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF PHONICA MAGAZINE UK WE PUT THE RAZOR SHARP SAMSUNG BLADE THROUGH ITS PACES AND REVIEW POSSIBLY THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR, WHEN MODERN WARFARE 2 COMES BLASTING INTO TOWN.

OUT 30TH NOVEMBER