Issue 9 by PhonicaMagUK

the mobile phone and gaming magazine

Issue9

phonica magazine uk

WHAT’S INSIDE VOLUME 1 ISSUE 9 2010

PREVIEWS

NEWS HTC and Telefonica O2 introduce the HTC Smart Sony Ericsson X10 coming to Vodafone UK Pre order your Nokia X6 on Vodafone UK Intel and Nokia merge so ware pla orms for future compu ng devices Nokia unveils plans to develop a Salo plant Nokia 5230 arrives on 3 3 UK adds to it’s Android range with the HTC Desire New Resident Evil 5 episodes due early this year Hellgate : Resurrec on in 2010 Starcra II beta requirements on the net, beta imminent Oh my God Game 2K releases Bioshock 2 ‘Uber Edi on’ No Half-Life 2 Episode 3 this year

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Deus Ex 3 Max Payne 3

Mass Eﬀect 2 Bayone a Winter Sports 2010 MAG Star Trek Online

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

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FEATURES FACEBOOK GAMES Games on social networking sites have taken the addic on to another level…and we’re eager to know why!

GAMING HORIZONS A game is nothing to enjoy without the environment it is set in. Let’s delve into some that really stand out.

ARCHIVE GAMES.NET ROUND UP Great games for PC lovers.

FORGOTTEN GEMS: BIO HAZARD BATTLE Bio warfare isn’t a new addi on to the gaming world, but on the Mega Drive it can become a forgo en gem. Reminiscence me!

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

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EDITOR’S LETTER THE WORLD OF GAMES, QUITE LITERALLY. This issue we’ve been peering into the worlds created in games, and discussing what they bring and contribute to our gaming experiences. In recent years the environments, backdrops and worlds that developers have created have become as influen al and memorable as the games themselves. Whether it be the truly terrifying underwater prison that is Rapture, or the skip inducing merry towns of Fable 2, these worlds bring games to life, and give them a much richer more memorable depth. We’ll certainly not forget Ravenholm in a hurry, and at mes (especially at 3:00am in a sweat-soaked bed) we wish we could. Also, we’ll be having a look at a few recent games, and giving them our expert opinion. Has Mass Effect 2 built upon the founda ons of its predecessor, and washed away the original flaws? Will Bayone a’s cut-scenes ever end? Does the promise of massive mul player death matches get our destruc ve juices flowing, when we trudge through MAG? And finally, is Star Trek Online as bad as everyone is saying? So enjoy this issue, tuck into the features we’ve provided, and most of all enjoy your gaming. By the way, the answer to the last ques on is…yes, it’s awful. Have a good one!

Sco Tierney Games Editor & Senior Designer sco @phonicamagazine.co.uk

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NEWS HTC AND TELEFÓNICA O2 INTRODUCE THE HTC SMART HTC Corpora on, a global designer of smartphones, and Telefónica recently announced an exclusive partnership to sell the HTC Smart, an affordable and easy-to-use smartphone on O2 in Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The HTC Smart is a new type of smartphone that offers easy-to-use widgets, browsing and connec vity at an affordable price.

“WITH THE HTC SMART, HTC AND TELEFÓNICA SHARE A SIMILAR VISION FOR BRINGING EASY-TO-USE, AFFORDABLE SMARTPHONE EXPERIENCE TO THE MASSES.” “More and more people are craving advanced mobile phone experiences with email, web browsing and social networking but the cost and complexity o en represent a significant obstacle for many. The HTC Smart introduces this func onality in an intui ve phone that is affordable,” said Peter Chou, chief execu ve officer, HTC Corpora on. “With the HTC Smart, HTC and Telefónica share a similar vision for bringing easy-to-use, affordable smartphone experience to the masses.”

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HTC SENSE The HTC Smart embodies HTC Sense, HTC’s unique design philosophy that focuses the mobile experience on people. The HTC Smart’s compact touch design integrates the pillars of HTC Sense - Make It Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected to deliver a user-friendly user experience. People can customise their own, personal HTC Smart experience using a variety of widgets for quick access to contacts, photos, music, weather and more. People are able to follow their friends’ status updates using HTC Friend Stream, an applica on that seamlessly aggregates all of your social communica on including Facebook, Twi er, and Flickr into one organised ﬂow of updates. This simple aggrega on makes it easier than ever to focus on what friends are doing as well as the images and links that they share.

NEWS “THE BENEFITS OF WEB BROWSING ON THE MOVE AND ABILITY TO EXPERIENCE APPLICATIONS LIKE MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING WILL NOW BE BROUGHT TO THE MASS MARKET”

“We believe this is a key move in our ability to bring smartphones to a far wider cross sec on of the popula on,” said Ma hew Key, chief execu ve officer of Telefónica Europe. “The benefits of web browsing on the move and ability to experience applica ons like mobile social networking will now be brought to the mass market and reinforces O2’s posi on as the home of the smartphone.” HTC Smart u lises Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile Pla orm (Brew MP), a powerful and popular mobile opera ng system that enables HTC to deliver the HTC Sense experience on more affordable smartphones. By pioneering a new era of mass-market smartphones, Brew MP also provides the HTC Smart with a mass-market opportunity for new applica ons and services from so ware developers worldwide. www.o2.co.uk

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NEWS SONY ERICSSON X10 COMING SOON TO VODAFONE UK The Sony Ericsson X10 is coming soon to Vodafone UK. The Android-powered device is easy to sync with your Google account - and with Picasa, Google’s popular photo sharing site. It’s a looker too, with a huge four inch touchscreen that’ll blow you away. Switch fast to widescreen by turning the X10 on its side. Then enjoy movies and the web in stunning deﬁni on - as well as photos taken with its 8.1 megapixel camera.

“IT’S A LOOKER TOO, WITH A HUGE FOUR INCH TOUCHSCREEN THAT’LL BLOW YOU AWAY.” Want great apps for your X10? Choose from hundreds at the online Android market. Get everything from the latest sports, news or weather updates to favourites like Last.fm and Facebook. For more informa on visit: h p://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/ sony-ericsson-x10?serverName=managed2

PRE-ORDER NOW OPEN FOR NOKIA X6 ON VODAFONE UK The Nokia X6 can now be pre-ordered from Vodafone UK, and is available for free on a £30, 24 month price plan, with 600 minutes, unlimited texts and mobile internet. Pre-order the Nokia X6 now at: h p://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/ nokia-x6

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NEWS INTEL AND NOKIA MERGE SOFTWARE PLATFORMS FOR FUTURE COMPUTING DEVICES MEEGO ENABLES AN OPEN ECOSYSTEM FOR RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF EXCITING NEW USER EXPERIENCES In a signiﬁcant development in the convergence of communica ons and compu ng, Intel Corpora on and Nokia are merging their popular Moblin and Maemo so ware pla orms. This will create a uniﬁed Linux-based pla orm that will run on mul ple hardware pla orms across a wide range of compu ng devices, including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems. Called MeeGo, the open so ware pla orm will accelerate industry innova on and me-tomarket for a wealth of new Internet-based applica ons and services and exci ng user experiences. MeeGo-based devices from Nokia and other manufacturers are expected to be launched later this year.

“SIMPLY PUT, MEEGO HERALDS A NEW ERA OF MOBILE COMPUTING.” “MeeGo will drive an even wider range of Internet compu ng and communica on experiences for consumers, on new types of mobile devices,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO, Nokia. “Through open innova on, MeeGo will create an ecosystem that is second to none, drawing in players from diﬀerent industries. It will support a range of business models across the value chain, building on the experience and exper se of Nokia, Intel and all those who will join us. Simply put, MeeGo heralds a new era of mobile compu ng.”

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The Ovi Store will be the channel to market for apps and content for all Nokia devices, including MeeGo and Symbian-based, with Forum Nokia providing developer support across all Nokia device pla orms. The Intel AppUpSM Center will be the path to market for Intel-based MeeGo devices from other device manufacturers, with the Intel® Atom(TM) Developer Program providing support for applica ons targe ng devices in a variety of categories. The MeeGo so ware pla orm, running on high-performance devices, will deliver a range of Internet, compu ng and communica on experiences, with visually rich graphics, mul tasking and mul media capabili es and the best applica on performance. Since MeeGo runs on mul ple device types, people can keep their favorite applica ons when they change devices, so they are not locked into one kind of device or those from any individual manufacturer.

NEWS

NOKIA RE-THINKING SALO NOKIA PLANS TO DEVELOP SALO PLANT OPERATING MODE TO FURTHER INCREASE PRODUCTION SPEED AND EFFICIENCY FOR A GROWING SMARTPHONE MARKET Nokia is planning to develop the opera ng mode of its Salo plant to ensure produc on is focused fully on the high-value smartphone market, especially in Europe. The key drivers for a new opera ng mode in Salo plant are diverse customer requirements, faster deliveries in high-end mobile device manufacturing and the company’s transforma on towards a solu on-driven oﬀering. The plans will result in the introduc on of new and highly specialized manufacturing methods and also entail changes to personnel at the facility. The planned new focus for Salo is expected to aﬀect a maximum of 285 employees involved in produc on and in related support func ons at Salo. Today, Nokia’s Salo facility employs approximately 2,200 people.

Nokia will support alterna ve solu ons, such as ﬁnding new posi ons at Nokia for as many employees as possible. Nokia will begin consulta ons with employee representa ves about these plans, including discussions about voluntary severance packages. Addi onally, Nokia plans to stop currently ongoing rota onal temporary lay-oﬀs at the Salo plant by the end of June 2010. “Salo is a crucial part of Nokia’s global manufacturing network. Plans involving changes to employees are always painful, and they are set in mo on only a er thorough considera on. However, with these plans our aim is to ensure the plant’s future compe veness and its special role as one best suited to the produc on of high value mobile devices,” says Juha Putkiranta, Senior Vice President, Markets, Nokia. Nokia has a strong global mobile device manufacturing network with ten manufacturing sites in nine countries - Brazil, China, Finland, Hungary, India, Mexico, Romania, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

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NEWS THE EYE CATCHING NOKIA 5230 ARRIVES ON 3 EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO STAY CONNECTED. In addi on to all the mobile internet treats you expect from 3 - Skype, Windows Live Messenger and Email on 3, the Nokia 5230 has an integrated Facebook applica on with access to live feeds and photo uploader along with a Twi er applica on so you can upload and view tweets easily. In case all this communica on power isn’t enough for you, the Nokia 5230 will keep you entertained thanks to Spo fy . Download the Spo fy for Symbian applica on and enjoy the hugely popular music streaming service on the move. The Nokia 5230 is available on 3 for £18 a month on an 18 month contract with unlimited text and internet and 200 any network, any me minutes. Alterna vely get the phone for £149.99 on Pay as You Go, where every top-up comes with a bundle of free texts and internet allowance which will last for up to 90 days, even if you run out of credit. Now available online, in 3 Stores and telesales. www.three.co.uk Note: Spo fy premium costs £9.99 a month and can be bought via Planet3 with a minimum 6 month subscrip on

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NEWS 3 UK ADDS TO ITS ANDROID RANGE WITH THE HTC DESIRE THIS SPRING WILL SEE HTC’S MOST ANTICIPATED PHONE COME TO THE UK’S BIGGEST 3G NETWORK. The HTC Desire’s huge 3.7” touch screen allows you to view your photos, video and webpages with improved clarity. With all your social networking needs in one device, this phone features the latest Android opera ng system - Android Éclair, which gives consumers increased flexibility and more ways to personalise their experience, helping to create a mobile internet phone that suits their needs. Sylvia Chind Head of Branded Devices, 3 UK “HTC is producing some fantas c internet phones at the moment, and are really leading the pack. Like us, they really understand what consumers want from the internet on their phone a flexible and intui ve interface, coupled with a reliable 3G network that offers a strong and speedy connec on. Our network is growing every day and the HTC Desire is one of many internet phones set to enter our range this year to really make the most of it.” HTC Desire will feature Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Email on 3 and Twi er alongside an integrated Facebook applica on. Available in store, online and via telesales in Spring 2010. www.three.co.uk

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FEATURE

FACEBOOK GAMES HERE ARE THE BEST GAMES FACEBOOK HAS TO OFFER; BUT SHOULDN’T YOU BE WORKING? We all know how much me Facebook takes up in our lives; most. If by some miracle you’ve managed to ﬁght the beast long enough to know that poking is over-rated (or maybe you’re just doing it wrong), here’s a list of games that’ll soon make up for misspent reality me.

MAFIA WARS Anyone who’s ever played an old footy manager game will know the feelings this game has the ability to produce. Despite having lost all of your friends, desperately fending off the rival Mafia bosses for the sake of your virtual billions, you just can’t bring yourself to stop. Your girlfriend has told you that if you invite her to be part of your mob one more me she’ll dump you. You’ve told your Mum that it’s a banking simulator (but she thinks that’s cockney rhyming slang for masturba ng). You’ve forgo en how to do your real life job because a $20,000,000 scam only takes a click and anything else feels like hard labour. You realise that you’ve played this game for 5000 hours. You need sleep but just one more heist or you’ll be was ng energy. This is hazardously addic ve. It’s a one click at a me RPG with no gameplay, no video, no sound. You can’t understand how you’ve managed to make $20,000,000,000,000 in game with no real interest in it, but you’ll be back. You won’t be sa sfied un l you’ve completed every city in the game, and that’ll take you literally years- especially as it’s s ll expanding. This is more of a warning than a recommenda on. This game will take over your precious Facebook me and nothing deserves that privilege, right?

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FEATURE WORD CHALLENGE Countdown is boring. Fact. Word Challenge is infinitely be er. Fact. Sort of. I’ll not mince my words, Word Challenge is Countdown a er it’s been chewed up and spat out by Miffy. It’s cutesy and Japanese, it’s shiny and condescending, it’s well suited to children under the age of 7. It’s s ll brilliant. Another hyper addic ve game with tonnes of charm and lots of fun. Even though most of the words you’ll find will be monosyllabic you’ll s ll feel quite smart a er you’ve beaten your friend’s score. In fact, that’s the reason it’s so good. It isn’t drearily difficult, it’s simple and accessible. Don’t let that fool you though, if you ever get all the words in a single challenge, you’ve been chea ng. It would take a four handed lexicographer months to master this game.

BEJEWELED BLITZ Everyone knows the game, it’s a li le like Tetris but of course is NOT Tetris. Shi the jewels around to line them up, once there are more than 3 in a row you get some points. It’s pre y good fun and very addic ve, just like all the rest. If not a li le on the 80s camp side of the colour spectrum, it’s well presented and has a good deal of glitz and shimmer (just like Boy George). It runs smoothly and will have you clicking like a madman/woman- easily taking over a half hour or so every me you decide to give it a quick go. And quick is the word, if your brain runs as fast as this game then you deserve to be at NASA, as a computer. It’s blisteringly fast. The fact that this runs on ﬂash is impressive because the way it plays is a lot like something with a lot more horsepower behind it.

FARMVILLE Good wholesome agricultural fun growing a li le garden into a farm. Think of it as Viva Piñata with more vegetables than explosive sweet wrappers. Sell your vegetables and make money for more vegetable seeds. I’ll be honest and say that farming really doesn’t appeal to me- guess I just don’t have the rural roots to enjoy virtual toil but there are enough fans of this game out there to conﬁrm that this game is a hit. If you’re more Alan Titchmarsh than Alan Wake then you might ﬁnd this game scin lla ng. There are millions who’d agree with you. More than 25,000,000 daily users in fact. This is numerically the number one played game on Facebook- by a long way. God knows why though.

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FEATURE “IF YOU’RE STUCK IN AN OFFICE WITH NO WINDOWS OR OTHER STAFF THEN BY ALL MEANS SLAM OUT A FEW HANDS OF ZYNGA ON FB OR BRIBE A POLICE OFFICER TO GET YOU THROUGH THE DAY ON MAFIA WARS.” TEXAS HOLD’EM POKER AKA Zynga Poker. Poker is a great game any me and in any format. Texas Hold’em will make the gamblers out there very happy. A good way to test if you’re actually any good among your mates or Joe Public before you go professional but also a fantas c way to lose the last 3 hours, as I just did. Progress is marked by awarding points for playing full rounds and most importantly, winning rounds. You’ll be hustled a lot, you’ll be outplayed a lot- but the losses are what’ll make you a be er player. It’s a learning curve with high stakes rooms reserved for the frighteningly successful. But best of all there’s no real money involved (or worst of all, depending on if you’re brilliant). Probably the most addic ve game of the lot just because you’ll realise that these are actually real skills you’re learning and next me your friends pops out a poker table you’ll probably wipe the ﬂoor with them. Massively fun and sociable game- which should probably be the point of Facebook games, right?

THE VERDICT Though I’ve happily lost hours to Facebook games over the past few weeks of my life, with hours of repe ve strain injury inducing clicking doing horrible things to my right index finger, there’s something a bit hollow about the whole fiasco. While I see how crea ng an open compe on for everyone you know to join in is something that’s never really been done before, certainly not on this scale, there’s a lot lacking from the social side of social networking games. The level of involvement and communica on between people is somehow diminished in these applica ons. Think about games like GTA 4 online, where all of your friends could hang out of the windows of cars- shoo ng and yelling obsceni es for all to hear. There’s just nothing like that on here. Perhaps it’s a li le unfair to compare the two, but if I wanted a social networking experience which incorporated games- I’d get on Xbox Live. However, if you’re stuck in an office with no windows or other staff- as I had the displeasure of being one horrible winter- then by all means slam out a few hands of Zynga on FB or bribe a police officer to get you through the day on Mafia Wars. Just don’t do what I did and lose hours of your life, your boss won’t be happy and neither will you. What am I going to do with half a trillion virtual dollars?! Charles Thompson

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NEWS

NEW RESIDENT EVIL 5 EPISODES DUE EARLY THIS YEAR CAPCOM OPENS-UP ANOTHER SACK-FULL OF ZOMBIE GOODNESS My Nan used to have a saying, “You can never kill too many zombies.” She would also spit at pigeons and gargle jelly, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, it looks like Capcom agree with her (on the zombie killing, not the pigeon spi ng) as they have announced two new expansion packs; Lost in Nightmares & Desperate Escape. Available individually as digital downloads or together in the Gold Edi on, the deﬁni ve version of RE5, both Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape are expected to deliver an addi onal bleeding chunk of zombie-bashing goodness, on the dates below.

LOST IN NIGHTMAREs Marketplace PSN

February 17th February 18th

DESPERATE ESCAPE Marketplace PSN

March 3rd March 4th

RESIDENT EVIL 5: GOLD EDITION Available across Europe for both Xbox 360 & PlaySta on 3 on March 12th

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Expansion packs, new episodes and downloadable content for games don’t always work. Some work well and can li a game beyond its original value, such as the recent Borderlands expansion, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. But others don’t oﬀer anything new or exci ng, and if anything can drag a game down, like the very drab Fallout 3 expansions.

“BOTH ARE EXPECTED TO DELIVER AN ADDITIONAL BLEEDING CHUNK OF ZOMBIEBASHING GOODNESS” Whether these two episodes will offer anything new to the series, or just offer more of the same hit and miss ac on as the original RE5, is yet to be seen. As said, some are good and some are bad, and the quality of the original game isn’t always a clear indicter. But as my Nan said, if there are more zombies wai ng to be killed, then let’s get going. Just put some clothes on first Nan, and take that cucumber out your mouth….. www.residentevil.com/gold Sco Tierney

NEWS HELLGATE: RESURRECTION IN 2010 HELLGATE: LONDON TO UNDERGO A MAKEOVER FOR 2010 A er its mul player shutdown earlier in 2009, the post-apocalyp c RPG Hellgate: London looks to be rejuvenated and renamed a er the Korean developing company HanbitSo announced its acquisi on of the Hellgate franchise rights this month. A er developing company Flagship Studios closed due to ﬁnancial reasons, Hellgate: London seemed to be des ned to the rubble pile of mediocrity. Developed by former Blizzard Entertainment employees, the subscrip on-based mul player ended up not really being a commercial success and the studio closed in 2008, leaving fans in despair, though servers were kept online by Namco Bandai Games for free. However, HanbitSo stepped in to acquire the rights to publish the game in Asia, replacing the business model with a free-to-play one and keeping the game updated with new content. HanbitSo now plan to re-release the tle under a new name, Hellgate: Resurrec on, in China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia later this year, with a re-release to come in Europe and North America a erwards. Taking its inspira on from the Diablo series that many of Flagship Studio’s employees worked on, Hellgate is described as a “role-playing hack and slasher” with randomiza on a major feature of the game – armor, weapons, monsters and maps all stemming from a large database of possibili es. With the MMO market as it stands, free-to-play MMOs have been steadily making good ground on subscrip on-based games, and having already seen success in its na ve Korea under the new name, HanbitSo intends to release its new tle overseas with the same business model, hoping to make a bigger impact than Flagship Studios managed. Paul Park

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NEWS

STARCRAFT II BETA REQUIREMENTS ON THE NET, BETA IMMINENT? LOOKS LIKE GOOD NEWS FOR THOSE OF US WITH RUBBISH PC’S. Blizzard posted then took down a list of minimum system requirements on their website for the Starcra II beta – does this mean the most waited-for of betas to grace the strategy market will be due any me now? By far one of the most an cipated tles for 2010, Starcra II has been a long me coming. With its prequel being an incredible success even a er more than 10 years and spawning tournaments and leagues across the world, Starcra II deﬁnitely seems to be on everyone’s mind coming into the ﬁrst few months of the new year. And with minimum system requirements having been posted (then taken down) on their website for the upcoming beta, it certainly has thrust the topic back into the limelight – simply due to the incredible availability of these requirements. Minimum OSes include XP and XP64 on SP3, Vista and Vista 64 on SP1 and Windows 7 Home Premium, while perhaps rather pleasantly surprising is the memory requirement – or lack of it. Starcra II will apparently run on as low as 512MB on an XP system or 1024MB on a Vista or Windows 7 – incredible numbers considering the huge requirements that are demanded from computers from new releases.

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Processors around the mark of a Pen um 4 1.3Ghz or AMD XP 1500+ are also required, and with a 3D graphic card requirement with at least 32MB of VRAM, hardware transform and ligh ng (e.g. ATI Radeon 7200, GeForce 2) Starcra II beta deﬁnitely looks like it is aiming across the spectrum of gamers.

“STARCRAFT II DEFINITELY SEEMS TO BE ON EVERYONE’S MIND COMING INTO THE FIRST FEW MONTHS OF THE NEW YEAR.” The 15GB hard disk space may s ﬂe some of the cheers ringing across the internet, but with the bar set as low as that you can expect all sorts to turn up online on Ba le. net 2v2-ing it out with the best and the rest. However, as these are only beta specs, requirements may change for the ﬁnal game and even during the tes ng phase. You have been warned! Paul Park

NEWS OH MY GOD GAME EX-LIONHEAD GUYS SET UP THEIR IPHONE STUDIO Remember when Black and White was going to be the game that changed gaming forever? Remember how it was over-hyped but s ll great? Remember how the sequel dropped into oblivion? Well soon you won’t have to even try and remember because Mark Rose, Al Harding and Ma hew Wiggins have announced that they’re taking their deity simulator talents and pu ng them to good use developing iPhone games. Their first project is called GodFinger - kind of obvious when you put God and iPhone together. In the game you will take on the role of a fledgling supreme being, trying to earn his stripes; a set up not dissimilar to Black and White. You’ll have all the usual powers associated with the lords of heaven: terraforming, shoo ng ligh ng and a knack for architecture. You’ll derive power not from your natural place in the hierarchy of beings but by ensuring your followers are slavishly devoted to you. It doesn’t look like GodFinger will break much new territory in the genre but the idea of playing God with your finger seems more realis c somehow. It should be a much more sa sfying system than Black and White’s maddening mouse gestures. The game will be developed by the trio’s new studio Wonderland So ware. On their blog they promise to focus on games involving a social element, so expect polytheism and the chance to convert other players’ worshippers. Wonderland’s games will be published by Ngcomo, another start-up which already has considerable experience pu ng out iPhone games. Wonderland was founded in summer 2009 but has largely skipped along under the radar un l the recent announcement of their first game. There’s already been a lot of interest in what the new studio is up to so stay tuned. Ian Duncan

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NEWS 2K RELEASES BIOSHOCK 2 ‘UBER EDITION’ IT’S CERTAINLY NOT CHEAP, BUT IT’S CERTAINLY WORTH IT! OK, so I admit it, I’m an idiot. I’m a dumb, easily manipulated fool who will believe just about anything if it’s wrapped in the shiny foil of hype. So when I read that the release of Bioshock 2 was going to include a real Big Daddy, for the ny sum of $14,999, I obviously believed it. What a fool be I. But there is going to be a Collectors Edi on, which will feature some really exci ng material. There’s the game (obviously!) which features a shiny metallic cover. Then there is an art book, which contains 164 pages of storyboards, concept sketches, developer notes; basically everything you’d ever want to know about Bioshock 2. There is also a collec on of three posters, a CD with the game’s score, and a vinyl version. Looks like you’ll have to borrow your grandad’s LP player to hear that. All this underwater goodness comes packaged in a nice sturdy box, which you can show oﬀ to your poor (ﬁnancially and emo onally) friends.

Also, if you’re a er some more Bioshock merchandise, then you can pick up an EVE Hypo replica from Play.com. It doesn’t work (believe me, I’ve even tried s cking it in my genitals.) but they do light up when pressed. Not bad for £13.99. For around £60 (£40 for the PC version) this Collectors Edi on of Bioshock 2 sounds like a bargain, and a very temp ng purchase, considering the amount of extra bits and bobs that comes with it. It should make a nice addi on to the other Collectors Edi ons that are currently available, like the Batman: Arkham Asylum pack (with a free life-size Batarang) or the Modern Warfare 2 pack, which came with a pair of night vision goggles; perfect for snooping. Not that I do, of course… But what of the Uber Ed on, with a free fully-func oning Big Daddy? Sadly, it looks like we won’t be ge ng a real Big Daddy with the Uber Edi on, as there are no plans for a UK release. That’s probably a good thing though, as judging by the promo onal video (h p://www.youtube. com/watch?v=hkhxPPGgoDA), they look a bit unruly. Sco Tierney

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NEWS NO HALF-LIFE 2 EPISODE 3 THIS YEAR WHY, VALVE? WHY MUST YOU TAKE SO LONG? There’s nothing worse than bad news. The burning down of a house, the loss of a pet, the death of a rela ve; no one wants to hear this. But frankly, I’d have rather heard that my house had burnt down while my dog mauled my granny to death inside, than hear this latest news from Valve. As expected, Half-Life Episode 3 won’t be hi ng the shelves this year. Nooooooo! According to Game Informer, not only will we not see our favourite orange-clad scien st in 2010, we might not even see Episode 3, ever. With the project taking so long, and with a gap of a minimum of four years between the release of the last episode and the previous, chances are Episode 3 will be scrapped, and reworked as Half-Life 3. This would make sense, as even though Episode 2 was a superb game that mixed the very best of the originals with some new exci ng twists, it looks dated beyond its years. If Episode 3 was to be released, it would either look even more dated, or vastly superior. It would be like Half-Life 2 being released alongside the original Half-Life. It just wouldn’t work, so the best decision would be to just go ahead with a full game. This will take longer, but Valve has never rushed a game, and if anything they are one of the most anal developers out there. Hopefully, by this me next year, there will be some concrete news on a possible Half-Life 3, and I’ll have some press releases to dry my tears with. Frustra ngly, we probably won’t see Portal 2 this year either, and the Black Mesa project is s ll a fair distance away from being ﬁnished. So, un l next year, I’m going to bed to cry myself to sleep. Wake me up when you’re done, Valve. Sco Tierney

phonica magazine uk

PREVIEW DEUS EX 3 PUBLISHER: EIDOS INTERACTIVE DEVELOPER: EIDOS MONTREAL PLATFORM: PC, XBOX 360, PS3 AVAILABLE: TBA 2010

DEUS EX 3 LOOKING AT A 2010 RELEASE…HOPEFULLY. Cyberne c technology, secre ve fac ons, conspiracy theories that come alive... and that’s just the layout of the first in the series. Deus Ex 3 returns to the RPG scene in 2010 heralding the comeback of the controversial links between religion, poli cs and humanity. Ac ng as a prequel to the original that was released back in 2000 by Eidos, Deus Ex 3 will con nue the major feature of the series by offering players the choice of mul ple, game-defining endings depending on their ac ons during their play me. However, those who had played the original may par cularly enjoy the common thread between each ending – the forma on of the umbrella organiza on UNATCO.

Like previous tles in the series, while elements of RPG will be prevalent throughout the game, the game puts the emphasis on ac on and combat, supported by an emphasis on conversa ons, body language and facial expressions, perhaps similar to the feature present in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. With smarter AI based around squads and squad leaders, Jensen will quickly realise the value of cover and stealth, using abili es such as x-ray vision and wires shot out from his hand akin to Spiderman, enabling him to grapple walls and sides of buildings. Mul -kills are a part of the combat with possible bonuses for chaining kills.

“DEUS EX 3 WILL INEVITABLY CONTAIN THE CONSPIRACY, CONTROVERSY AND THE GENERAL SHIFTINESS THAT MANY OF ITS FELLOW TITLES IN THE SCI-FI GENRE ARE UNABLE TO MIMIC SUCCESSFULLY.” Players will find themselves looking through the eyes of Adam Jensen, a chief of security for a cyberne c corpora on, chasing answers following a security breach that required inside informa on to pull off. With the franchise’s unique theme of distrust in organiza ons and governments, Deus Ex 3 will inevitably contain the conspiracy, controversy and the general shi iness that many of its fellow tles in the sci-fi genre are unable to mimic successfully.

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Being developed by Eidos Montreal, the game has no hard release date for its appearance on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 yet. Paul Park

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PREVIEW

MAX PAYNE 3 PUBLISHER: ROCKSTAR GAMES DEVELOPER: ROCKSTAR VANCOUVER PLATFORM: PC, XBOX 360, PS3 AVAILABLE: TBA 2010

THE PAYNE OF WAITING Originally scheduled for release in late 2009, Rockstar decided to delay the release of Max Payne 3 by a year in order for it to “benefit from more me in development”. Nine months seems like a lot more me so it had be er be worth it. What we do know is that this going to be the first game not developed by Finnish studio Remedy and not plo ed by Sam Lake, the author and creator of the franchise. Set 12 years a er the conclusion of Max Payne 2, Max has gone into semi-re rement and is now working for a rich family as private security guard. Predictably, he’s quickly sucked back into the world of intrigue and corrup on he thought he’d escaped. The game will be set in Sao Paolo and the screens release so far give it a dis nct City of God look. It’s definitely a great se ng to air and could play host to all kinds of interes ng characters and grimy loca ons. The bullet me mode that came to symbolise the series will be back in a modified form. Apart from that it looks like things are going in a completely different direc on. The suited and booted Max of the first two itera ons has given way to a bald bearded guy. The screens show Max in a white wife beater vest armed with two machine pistols, hin ng that the gameplay will be pre y much what we’ve come to expect from the series, but the fashion won’t.

The idea, presumably, is to try and highlight Max’s downfall and complete change of character but it’s very unclear to what extent this will be a successor in anything other than name. The developers will have to work pre y hard to convince fans of the series to buy into this new look.

“THE GAMEPLAY WILL BE PRETTY MUCH WHAT WE’VE COME TO EXPECT FROM THE SERIES, BUT THE FASHION WON’T.” Perhaps just as full of intrigue and violence (well the former at least) is the story behind the development of the game. Rock Star claim that the game was delayed because of major financial issues afflic ng the developer in 2009. Employees from Rockstar Vancouver allegedly have a very different story to tell. Rumours have emerged of crippling mismanagement of the project and suggest that as late as January rewrites were s ll going on. It’ll be interes ng to see if Max Payne 3 ever makes it to our consoles. It looks like there’s a lot of poten al from the material that has been revealed so far, but be prepared for a radically different experience. Ian Duncan

phonica magazine uk

FEATURE

GAMING HORIZONS WE TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE BEST ENVIRONMENTS FROM THE WORLD OF VIDEO-GAMES. When you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise. This is definitely the case in the weird and wonderful world of video-games. If you did take a merry stroll through a pixel based forest, you’d find a whole host of strange things. Orks, trolls, SAS Solders, a Jedi, a guy with a crowbar, a blue hedgehog, some zombies, a lady with big breasts, a big daddy, and a fella in a big green suit. The environments in games are as much a part of the game as the central characters, and just as memorable. Environments have come a long way since the early 2D levels of the later eigh es. Now they have become engulfing three-dimensional worlds that a player can interact with and explore. Long gone are the days of repea ng backgrounds and unreachable horizons, now we have worlds that we can get lost in, and go on unwri en adventures in. But what makes a great gaming environment? Is it the knowing that you can explore every nook and cranny, and get lost in a world that doesn’t exist? Is it the fear factor, in that should an environment summon up feelings of terror with just the faintest flicker of a distant bulb? Maybe it’s the ambience, or just the general feeling you get when you walk through an environment? Or maybe it’s just the simple fact that an area can be blown to pieces at the touch of a bu on. Who knows? Maybe it’s a mix of all of them? But what we can be sure of is that we all have our favourites, and the pleasant memories and recollec ons of each. So here we have a few of our favourites, that stretch from the underwater hallways of Bioshock, to the in mida ng alleyways of Max Payne.

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FEATURE

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FEATURE

STORMWIND WORLD OF WARCRAFT PUBLISHERS: BLIZZARD DEVELOPERS: BLIZZARD FORMAT: PC RELEASED: 2005

As a big MMO gamer I’m used to seeing sprawling fields filled with greenery, hills and the odd snarling beast to slay. When I first stepped into the gigan c city of Stormwind, the capital of the human race, I was pre y much gobsmacked. A sense of awe and bewilderment overtook me as I looked down the Valley of Heroes with its statues and the almost perfect fanfare-esque music in the background. Even to this day the music sends chills down my spine. To a certain extent, walking through the highly imposing gates of Stormwind is like walking into the heart of World of Warcra itself. As soon as you enter Stormwind, you are overwhelmed by the design, detail, enormity and sense of depth. Just like WOW itself, Stormwind is somewhere that you can lose yourself in, and spend countless hours exploring, forging friendships and generally escaping from the shackles of real life. If I was a computer game king, complete with sweeping cloak and jewel encrusted crown (something I o en fantasies about) then I’d want a kingdom like Stormwind. Paul Park

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FEATURE RAVENHOLM HALF-LIFE 2

PUBLISHERS: SIERRA DEVELOPERS: VALVE FORMAT: PS3, XBOX 360, PC RELEASED: 2004 To be honest, I could have put any of the loca ons from Half-Life 2 here. The White Forrest, City 17, Nova Prospect, The Citadel; they are all equally superb, and a ﬁ ng tribute to one of the most varied and compelling games of all me. I could have even put Black Mesa from the original Half-Life. But the se ng I have chosen is the dark, ghostly and u erly terrifying town of Ravenholm. Ravenholm was a deserted, zombie-ravaged mining town that you had to pass through at the dead of night. As you fought your way through the in mida ng streets and alleys, you passed heaps of burning bodies, crumbling buildings, a mad priest, and most of all, zombies. What made it even worst was that there was a minimal supply of ammo situated around the level, so you had to conserve what you had and improvise when you hadn’t. Not easy when a dozen hungry face-munchers are coming your way. Figh ng through Ravenholm was one of the most unpleasant and terrifying experiences I’ve ever had. But, it was also one of the most exci ng and ul mately rewarding. Half-Life 2 was successful party because of its variety of se ngs, not to men on its excep onal pacing and narra ve. One minute you were in your safety zone, the next you were ﬁgh ng for your life. Ravenholm was the la er. As they say, “We don’t go to Ravenholm.”, and with good cause. Sco Tierney

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FEATURE NEW YORK MAX PAYNE

PUBLISHERS: GATHERING DEVELOPERS: 3D REALMS FORMAT: PS2, XBOX, PC, GBA RELEASED: 2001 Walking through the streets of a Metropolis always feels the same. Where rural towns heap a en on on the presence of an unknown threat to their perfect (if not mundane) lives- the City couldn’t care less for the a en ons of another nobody. Something about Max Payne’s New York is evoca ve of the real life sensa ons found in any concrete jungle. Oppressive buildings moun ng a cage to the front, rear, le and right; dark corners hiding things you didn’t wish to see, excitement and opportunity abundant, the powerful and the desperate ed inextricably together. Around every corner lurks a new threat or chance, the impercep ble connec ons between seemingly diverse peoples ﬁnally drawn in blood or paved in gold. Max Payne’s New York is a tribute to the fearful awe of the City, a tes mony to the complete absorp on it requires just to survive, a memorial to the twists and turns of City life that could see you win big or throw it all away on the roll of a dice. Above all, the dark draw of that place is a drug, those cre ns who wait in crepuscular corners for dark to fall are addicted to the City, not the drug. Open doors are rare, but a frightening dichotomy of fear and excitement is in store for anyone wai ng outside. The ﬁrst step inside could see a trap shotgun blow you to hell or a clue to the solu on of your problem. But underlying all the triumphs and failings, every lust and loss is the feeling that this is all hollow, that there must be something more, that just one more door should be opened. Charles Thompson

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phonica magazine uk

FEATURE RAPTURE BIOSHOCK

PUBLISHERS: 2K GAMES DEVELOPERS: IRRATIONAL FORMAT: PS3, XBOX 360, PC RELEASED: 2007 If one of Bioshock’s lessons is that free will may be an illusion, and that the control you believe a first-person shooter gives you is ul mately subservient to another agenda, then the design of Rapture constantly reminds you that you’re nothing but another link in a food chain. It manages to be both vast and clu ered, knee-deep in the debris of a hundred stories played out long before you arrive. A vodka bo le here, an abandoned mask there, a forlorn teddy bear in the corner... this is human tragedy, played out under the brave neon Art Deco of Andrew Ryan’s amoral vision. Why else does Rapture work? Well, it’s a city. Lots of us live in ci es. They make visual sense to us. We’ve walked around shopping malls, apartment blocks and theatres. I’ve stolen a li le quote from Hogarth de la Plante, who was the lead environmental designer on the game. “If you’re in a mall and you want to get to the bathroom, you know you need to go from the shop you’re in and go out to the concourse. You follow the concourse one of two ways ll you find the food court and the bathrooms are usually off of the food court. Real world architects have thought of these problems a lot.” And it was this sort of thinking that made the story elements so convincing. When you look around Fort Frolic and see the debris of the human stories that preceded your arrival, you believe it because you believe you’re in a place designed for human habita on. Rapture is many things: a metaphor; an environment; a brilliantly realised gaming environment. But it draws you in because it contains elements of the familiar, however warped and twisted they are. Rob Hobson

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FEATURE

ATHKATLA BALDUR’S GATE 2

PUBLISHERS: INTERPLAY DEVELOPERS: BIOWARE FORMAT: PC RELEASED: 2000 The opening scenes of Baldur’s Gate 2 are some of my favourite moments of any computer game. When you emerge from the dungeon of your captor, John Irenicus, and step out into the sun of Waukeen’s Promenade it’s a revela on. Here’s the real, living, breathing city of Athkatla to explore on a scale not many games had achieved at that me. People cha er and announce good deals to be had in the market. It’s the same set looped me a er me but it’s so charming it doesn’t really ma er. As you explore more you begin to get a real sense of the depth of the environment. The city is split into quarters, each with different characteris cs. The slums are where most of the ac on is at and give you the chance to do away with slavers and break into a wizard’s interplanar travelling sphere. In the temple district the mysterious prophets of the one eyed God try to convert you. In the government district you can gawp at the houses of the rich noblemen. Baldur’s Gate 2 was of course presented in isometric format but the beau ful hand drawn loca ons felt more real than a lot of the Unreal Engine stuff we’re palmed off with today. Ian Duncan

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FEATURE ARCHIVEGAMES.NET ROUND-UP IF YOU NEED A GAME TO HELP KILL THE TIME, THEN WE MAY HAVE THE PERFECT SITE. Li le slices of heaven, some of these online games are. And thanks to archivegames.net, you can download them to enjoy on the train with a laptop, or when your internet provider decides to mysteriously do a week’s maintenance. I think I speak for all online gamers when I say we’ve all experienced an event that has caused the most sacred of inven ons, THE INTERNET, to go down for whatever reason. A power cut, technical issues, or just the damn cat chewing on the wires (and ge ng zapped in the process, I should YouTube it next me). Even at work, when the powers-that-be decide that Facebook is too disrup ve on the workforce and limit internet usage. This is where websites like archivegames.net are a great source of enjoyment in all condi ons. Downloadable games, both free and pay-to-play, easy to pick up and learn and just as easy to drop at the press of a bu on. Being a more in-depth gamer I like to enjoy RPGs and Strategy games when I’ve a spare moment or two, so naturally I picked up something that seemed to be similar to what I was used to – in this case, Glest, a free 3D strategy game based around the core principles of your generic strategy formula – two fac ons, similar units, “brawl it out” ac on. I was most pleasantly surprised when I saw that it ran pre y smoothly on my laptop and the graphics weren’t half bad for a downloaded game. With spell eﬀects that would easily be at home in latest market tles, it’s not easy to tell yourself that you aren’t in fact guilty of the as it is indeed free. A healthy array of units and abili es, the ever-present resource gathering and the fog of war covering enemy movement make for a very enjoyable hour of destroying those pesky mages.

Moving on from ba ering cloth-wearers over the head, I picked up Nethack, another free game, though this me an incredibly open-ended turnbased RPG that had me wondering whether games like Diablo and Elder Scrolls had got their inspira on from here. The graphics and sound eﬀects were outdated, to say the least, but when you’re busy trying to make your way across the room to that oh-so-precious mana elixir that could save you from that pesky goblin chasing you, it really doesn’t come into the whole experience that Nethack brings you. Nevertheless, it remains very simple to begin and very simple to put down, meaning it will probably stay on my desktop for a good few hundred hours of enjoyment yet.

“SOME OF THE TITLES ON ARCHIVE GAMES ARE A LITTLE PRICY BUT FROM WHAT I CAN SEE, A COUPLE OF THEM COULD BE REAL GEMS.” With archivegames.net providing a program available for download that brings with it many of these freebies it seems like they have really stepped out of the generic online game haven crowd and put forward a stall that brings up new possibili es – much like what Steam are doing with their game market, for example. Some of the tles on Archive Games are a li le pricy but from what I can see, a couple of them could be real gems. Paul Park

phonica magazine uk

FORGOTTEN GEMS

BIO-HAZARD BATTLE PUBLISHERS: SEGA DEVELOPERS: SEGA FORMAT: MEGA DRIVE/GENESIS, VIRTUAL CONSOLE RELEASED: 1992

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FEATURE A CLASSIC SLICE OF SIDE-SCROLLING GOLD, ALBEIT QUITE A BLEAK ONE. Man, going to the cinema these days is one depressing venture. Every film seems to follow the same narra ve, where the world ends, civilisa on crumbles and everyone dies. The Road (this is excellent, actually), 2012, The Book of Eli, Terminator 4 (OK that was ages ago); all films that predict the end of life as we know it…Jim. So, to keep up with this miserable spirit that hangs over us like a dripping bucket of Marmite, here’s a game that predicts a similar outcome. Bio-Hazard Ba le, on the Sega Mega Drive. The story behind Bio-Hazard Ba le was quite simple, and equally as a dark. Following the great G-Biowar I, life on earth is mutated beyond recogni on, with human life all but eradicated. With only a few survivors le , most of them frozen in suspended anima on aboard the Odysseus – a space sta on orbi ng the planet - the future looks bleak. Several hundred years later, the crew aboard the Odysseus is awakened, and pilo ng their advance Bio-Ships they make their way to the planet in search of a safe area in which to reform a colony. Of course, with this being a Mega Drive game, so you had to read the instruc on manual to know this, as it’s at no point men oned during the actual game. So of you go on your search. Bio-Hazard Ba le’s gameplay is extremely basic. Flying from le to right across the screen, you have to shoot as much as you can un l you either die, crash, or your fingers drop-off. That said though, in 1992, this wasn’t a big deal, and shoo ng the swarms of nas es was a real pleasure, and to a certain extent it s ll is today. There are giant worms, flying maggots, huge freakish wasps, mad crabs, and even throbbing organisms that look a lot like Fungus the Bogyman’s tes cles (one for the kids there). Luckily there was a vast range of weaponry for you to blast with, which were actually extremely well thought-out and varied. I always liked the yellow stream. Seriously, that’s not a wee joke, it was an actual weapon.

OK, so the gameplay was nothing mind-blowing, and there were enough ﬂying phalluses to shock your parents, but what Bio-Hazard Ba le did have was a thumping soundtrack. It sounded rubbish by today’s standards, but back in 92 it was corking. It just seemed to capture the feel, tension, pace and trauma of the game perfectly, with its clever balance of rhythm, bass and synthesisers. I would give you a li le segment, but it doesn’t really work in text. Der, der der der dit deeer. See?

“YOU HAVE TO SHOOT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN UNTIL YOU EITHER DIE, CRASH, OR YOUR FINGERS DROP-OFF.” To go back to the depressing world of the cinema for a moment, if there’s one thing we hate more than a dreary film, it’s a remake. They’re nasty, empty, soulless cash-ins that makes us want to vomit our spines at the screen and pour paint-stripper over those responsible. It’s the same with games, although there aren’t as many and they are usually handled with more love and care. But, if there was one game that would be ripe for a remaking, then Bio-Hazard Ba le is a perfect specimen. It’s got a great back-story, a terrific concept, some great baddies and some clever sec ons of gameplay that could easily be updated. OK, a new version would probably never be the same as the original, or maybe as good, but we’d s ll like to see it. So, a er spending an obscene amount of money at the cinema, to watch a film that will depress and desaturate you, why not come home and play a li le bit of Bio-Hazard Ba le? It’s extremely dreary, but at least you get to do the killing. And listen to that sound track. Der, der, derderda der der… Sco Tierney

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REVIEWS

MASS EFFECT 2 PUBLISHERS: ELECTRONIC ARTS DEVELOPERS: BIOWARE FORMAT: XBOX 360, PC AVAILABLE: NOW

GOING TO THE DARK SIDE

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REVIEWS When reviewing any sequel it’s hard not to make comparisons to the first game in the series, especially so with Mass Effect 2. This game is clearly set in the same universe as its predecessor but a lot has changed. It’s two years later and the universe has moved on from the climac c ba le that ended the first part of the series. As far as the world knows, John Sheppard was killed when the Normandy was ambushed. In fact, he’s been secretly resurrected by Cerberus, a shadowy human organisa on. The set up feels a bit contrived, as if Bioware couldn’t think of a be er way to stop Sheppard star ng out being overpowered. Cerberus has also rebuilt the Normandy but it’s twice as big to accommodate some of the new features they wanted to include. However, players of the first game can import their character and I enjoyed reassessing my mo va ons in the new situa on Sheppard finds himself in. The graphics have been subtly upgraded so the world feels a bit more polished and a bit richer than the original. The loca ons are darker and more threatening to match the overall tone. Unfortunately the world feels smaller in some ways because the controversial li scenes of the original have been replaced with loading screens and at the end of missions you’re o en spirited to a new loca on. The idea was presumably to speed things up but it disrupts the suspension of disbelief in a lot of cases. Enough comparisons, how does the game fare in its own right? Combat is at the forefront of Mass Effect 2. Your character’s weapons are augmented with bio c and tech abili es which can be used to give you a momentary advantage in a fire fight. The enemies make good use of cover and behave aggressively if they have the advantage making for some tough ba les. With the difficulty a notch above the baseline, even minor encounters were sa sfyingly challenging.

“WITH THE DIFFICULTY A NOTCH ABOVE THE BASELINE, EVEN MINOR ENCOUNTERS WERE SATISFYINGLY CHALLENGING.” The RPG elements are quite streamlined with each character possessing a limited range of powers to use. This lack of depth is a shame but it also forces you to pick the two team mates who accompany you wisely. The inventory system is also quite straigh orward and you collect op ons to upgrade weapons and armour as you move around the world but have to return to the Normandy to research new abili es and equip new items. Mass Effect 2 veers towards ac on much more than the first game. The combat is more challenging and more exci ng. It’s a bit disappoin ng that the trade off is a simplifica on of the RPG elements but there’s enough there to keep things interes ng, and customising your character can s ll give you an edge. It’s hard to not to be sucked into the Mass Effect universe whether or not you played the original or not. Ian Duncan

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

OVERALL

86/100

phonica magazine uk

BAYONETTA PUBLISHERS: SEGA DEVELOPERS: PLATINUM GAMES, SEGA FORMAT: PS3, XBOX 360 AVAILABLE: NOW

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REVIEWS A BRIMMING PINT OF JAPANESE QUIRKINESS WITH THE KIND OF LEGS YOU’D LIKE TO SUCK ON FOR A DAY. Last issue we reviewed the well cra ed but rather tame, Darksiders. Although we enjoyed the vast quan ty of bu on-mashing and baddie-stabbing, we felt Darksiders lacked a certain extra ‘punch’, which le the game feeling slightly cold and empty. But this latest li le cracker from Sega lacks anything but ‘punch’. Meet the lady with the outlandishly long legs, Bayone a. Bayone a tells the story of a generously propor oned witch, who spends most of her days kicking supernatural bo om, and posing in rather arousing posi ons. To be fair, there’s a lot more to it than that, but it’s all a bit too weird and complex for a quick paragraph, so we’ll leave it there. Instead, we’ll just move onto the gameplay, which is outstanding, and far less complex.

“TO GET TO THE GOOD BITS, YOU HAVE TO SIT THROUGH AN ENDLESS DRIBBLE OF CUT-SCENES.” A lot of ac on games fall down due to their lack of ingenuity or depth, both in the form of their controls and their gameplay. Darksiders is a prime case; great in places, but only two real forms of a ack which wore thin a er a couple of hours. But with Bayone a, this isn’t the case, as Sega have got the recipe just about right. There is an almost unlimited list of combos that can be pulled off with rela ve ease, making even the most standard of fights into a fist-flying frenzy of bloody mayhem. Also, there is a fair amount of variety in Bayone a’s gameplay, and some of the giant (and I mean giant) bosses are phenomenal. The graphics are also a delight, with every vast level looking pris ne as well as drama c. Chuck in a healthy dose of Japanese crazy po on, along with a few drops of sexy- me, and you’ve got a recipe for gaming excellence.

But there are a few niggles that at mes hinder Bayone a. One that springs to mind immediately is the camera control on the right s ck, which is slow and difficult to use. But the biggest problem is drawn-out cut scenes; my word, they just never stop! Although they are well produced and terrific to look at, the problem is that they go on longer that the actual play- me. A er you’ve been playing for say four hours, you’ll sit back and think, “How long have I been actually playing this game?” The answer is probably an hour, possibly two at the most. Bayone a is like one of those ero c films you find late at night while channel hopping. All you want to see is a bit of so -focus nudity, but in wai ng you have to sit through long drawn-out sec ons of drab cha er, before the goodies pop out. It’s the same with Bayone a. When you are actually playing, it’s undoubtedly one of the finest games you’ll play this year. But to get to these bits, you have to sit through an endless dribble of cut scenes. Cut this rubbish out and show me some ac on! In Bayone a, the word ‘understated’ appears to have been forgo en, or possibly dismembered and cast into the fires of Hell. Everything from the level design to the ridicules finishing moves is OTT. Usually this would put us off, as would the crass humour, lazy dialogue, pointless nudity and the never-ending cut scenes. But luckily, Bayone a’s fantas c gameplay eradicates any nega ves. It’s brilliant. If you enjoy bu on mashing of the finest order, along with a li le slice of varia on and innova on, then you can’t go wrong with Bayone a. Just skip those cut scenes, and fast-forward to the juicy bits. Sco Tierney

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

OVERALL

90/100 phonica magazine uk

REVIEWS WINTER SPORTS 2010 PUBLISHERS: TRADEWEST GAMES DEVELOPERS: TRADEWEST GAMES FORMAT: WII, PS3, XBOX 360 AVAILABLE: NOW

IT’S MORE OF THE SAME SNOW-COATED ENDURANCE, BUT AT LEAST THIS IS A BIT MORE FUN. Well the 2010 Winter Olympics are nearly upon us, and everyone up and down the country is polishing their skis and discussing the possible winners and loses. You can’t even walk down the streets of Stevenage without hearing the delicate opinions of unemployed chavs, as they weight-up the pros and cons of high cornering speeds in this year’s slalom. The Winter Olympics is quite literally on the lips of everyone in the na on. You just can’t get away from it!

Graphically, Winter Sports 2010 is OK. This is a Wii game at the end of the day, so we weren’t expec ng anything outstanding, but the visuals are reasonably good. But what makes Winter Sports 2010 stand out, and to a certain extent be er than Vancouver 2010, is the controls. With Vancouver 2010, there wasn’t a huge amount of interac on between yourself and the game. It was just the tried, red and tested system of bu on tapping and releasing at the correct me. It’s the same with the Winter Sports 2010, but there’s a lot more to it. You have to use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck together (and a Balance Board if you’re rich), and that includes every single bu on on each. Some may say the controls are overly complex, and they may have a point. Even something as simple as downhill skiing require a lot of thought and concentra on, as you lean forward and back with the remotes, press bu ons, unleash boosts (one of the best features in the whole game) and steer. It takes a while to get used to, but at least this way there’s a far great level of skill involved.

So which is be er; Vancouver 2010 or Winter Games 2010? Well if this was an episode of Harry Hill, we’d decide with a fight (preferably to the death), but sadly it’s not, and we’ll actually have to do some serious thinking. Not really of course, that was just a joke. No one Although Vancouver looks be er, and is arguably a more in Blighty really cares about the Winter Olympics, ‘realis c’ game, it’s just too dull for our liking, and lacking unless some perky 16 year old blonde is posing on any sense of fun. If you really need to have one of these the ice rink, or a bobsleigher is showing their crack. games in your life, then go for Winter Games 2010. But that hasn’t stopped there being two Winter Neither of them is a classic, nor even that good, but Olympics based games being released this month. Winter Sports is just a lot more fun. Sure, it’s not We played through the official version (Vancouver par cularly good looking, and the controls are tricky 2010) in the last issue, and though it looked pre y, we weren’t exactly inspired enough to don a leotard at mes, but there’s far more to do, there’s a lot more depth in terms of playability and challenges, and the and break out our skates. But this new version on gameplay is far more exci ng. So, then winner is Winter the Wii (it’s available on the PS3 and Xbox 360, but those versions are poo), en tled Winter Sports 2010, Games 2010. Hip hip….. Oh sorry, I forgot. No one cares about the Winter Games. looks to be a li le more enjoyable. There’s no need for me to run through what this game’s about, as the tle sums it up. It’s a collec on of a few winter events, such as snowboarding, ice ska ng, ski flying and the classic downhill run. The be er you do, the higher you finish and the smugger you get to look.

PRESENTATION: 14/20 STORY: 13/20 CONTROLS: 15/20 GAMEPLAY: 14/20 DURABILITY: 12/20

OVERALL

68/100

48 phonica magazine uk

Sco Tierney

phonica magazine uk

REVIEWS MAG PUBLISHERS: SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA DEVELOPERS: ZIPPER INTERACTIVE FORMAT: PS3 AVAILABLE: NOW

MASSIVELY IMPRESSIVE How do you play MW2? Are you full of relentless self-sacrifice? Are your thoughts always straying towards the wellbeing of your team, worrying whether they’ve got their woolies on and if they remembered to pack 2 RPGs? Of course not. MW2 rewards the lone wolf at pre y much every level right up to the super-rarefied. Yes, it’s true that if you operate in concert and cover each other you’ll be more likely to, y’know, win. But the vast majority of us strike out bravely into the wilderness, find our favoured choke points and do our thing. So it is wri en. MAG, as you may have heard, doesn’t work like that. Its sch ck is in the set-up hitherto restricted only to the lesser spo ed PC gamer: massive par cipa on. Up to 256 of you can cluster around your PS3s and play 128-a-side in a veritable flashmob of orgias c violence. The ques on is: is this the game-changing (sorry) trope that console gamers have been wai ng for? To judge from the me I’ve spent with MAG... not quite. And part of its problem originates in the hands of the other game we’ve already men oned in this review. MAG lacks many of the a ributes that make MW2 and its predecessor such powerful foes. Where Infinity Ward’s game feels solid and weighty to play, MAG feels lightweight. Where MW2 is pre y, MAG is a li le... well... grubby. It errs on the side of dark and grey. It lacks the other’s crispness. It’s less forgiving... as an example, health doesn’t regenerate when you’re out of fire. But, but.

50 phonica magazine uk

Take some me to get to know the game and you’ll uncover something with genuine intelligence behind it. MAG rewards team play. You’re split into 8-man squads, each with a leader - becoming one is an unlockable - who chooses the squad’s micro-objec ves. Sadly for the lone gunmen amongst you, you’ll progress far quicker by doing what you’re told. It’s much the same principle as sharing a flag capture: s ck together, get the job done more efficiently, and your reward points will be far more forthcoming than if you run off, burrow into a trench and start sniping. Squad leaders also offer health and other buffs to encourage you to stay in forma on, as it were. It’s got the poten al for huge depth. Massive teams require propor onal maps, so you’re able to make decisions about how you control the ground. Go for territory. Hold a posi on while your cohorts run tanks over a bridge. You get the idea. The ques on is: will people persevere? They really should, but there’s so much within the game that strikes me as contrary to how I see shooters played every day of the week. It requires communica on, self-restraint, and a willingness to subjugate your impulses to an annoying child’s squeaky commands. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t listen to ten-year-olds when I was ten. In my mid-thir es, that’s going to have to be one urbane whippersnapper to hold my a en on. You should like MAG. It does something ambi ous and impressive, and it does it well. Ignore the slightly ropey look and concentrate on the wealth of good stuff ready to be unlocked. In terms of replayability, you won’t be le wan ng. You should like it. I hope you will. It’s worth the effort. PRESENTATION: 12/20 STORY: 10/20 CONTROLS: 16/20 GAMEPLAY: 16/20 DURABILITY: 19/20

OVERALL

73/100

Rob Hobson

phonica magazine uk

REVIEWS STAR TREK ONLINE PUBLISHERS: ATARI DEVELOPERS: CRYPTIC STUDIOS FORMAT: PC AVAILABLE: NOW

FACEPALM!

phonica magazine magazine uk uk 52 phonica

I’m guessing the reason you’re reading this review is because you want to know if the rumours are true. Has Star Trek Online flopped harder than Pinky and Perky at a Bar Mitzvah? Well, for the long answer read this review. But if you want a quick sum up of Star Trek Online, just type ‘facepalm’ into Google images. Oh dear, Picard is not a happy bunny….. Star Trek Online is at heart a MMO game, set around the events and adventures that take place in Star Trek Universe. You start out as a bright eyed Ensign, serving on a Starship of your choice, and from there you move on and climb up the ranks as you take on a mul tude of missions. It’s solid MMO stuff, with rewards, scoring and adventuring all taking a leading role. On paper, the concept of a Warcra -like game based around Star Trek sounds awesome. In reality though, it’s all just a bit tame. When reviewing a MMO game, you can’t make a true calling or judgement of it un l you’ve played it for an extended length of me. But, within minutes of playing STO, you can immediately tell that it’s going to be lame. For instance, you’d expect the opening event of walking onto the bridge of your first ship to be a powerful, affec ng and slightly emo onal moment. This is where a lot of the game is going to be based, and the bridge will probably become like a second home to you. So, you wet your lips with an cipa on, lean right up to the screen, and open the li door. Oh…I see. When those doors go back, you’ll walk into a dreary, lifeless, plain, tensionless, dull and ul mately disappoin ng room. It looks awful, and it sets the tone for the rest of the game; dull. Facepalm! The problem with STO is that it lacks any excitement, or any sprinkling of Star Trek magic. All you seem to do is go from one place to another, doing mundane and tedious tasks that lack any form of innova on or crea ve flair. Even the task of flying your Starship around is dull. It shouldn’t be, it should be compelling and exci ng; you’re flying a Starship for crying out loud! But it’s not, it’s just boring. Double facepalm!

And don’t think STO is bug-free either, as there are a few li le crackers that’ll send you plumme ng into the solar system of insanity. For instance, in WOW, your character and those around you can pass straight through each other. This is a simple but eﬀec ve way of keeping the game ﬂowing and removing any irrita ng occurrences, such as ge ng blocked or jammed by someone who’s gone to the toilet. But in STO, this doesn’t happen, so you’ve constantly ge ng bumped around like a demented pinball. If you’re in conversa on with a computer controlled character (say a trader), and someone bumps into you, the conversa on stops, and you have to start again! Triple facepalm with a cherry on top!

“IT LOOKS AWFUL, AND IT SETS THE TONE FOR THE REST OF THE GAME; DULL. FACEPALM!” Star Trek Online is a massive disappointment, despite its record breaking sales and hype. To be honest, we could forgive it for its lacklustre visuals, red gameplay, torrent of bugs and all-round boringness if it felt like Star Trek. If it made us glow a li le with the classic Star Trek charm, then we’d put a hand on its shoulder and bat-away the nega ve back lashing its receiving. But we can’t, and frankly there’s only place our hand is going; right in our face! Sco Tierney

PRESENTATION: 12/20 STORY: 8/20 CONTROLS: 14/20 GAMEPLAY: 11/20 DURABILITY: 15/20

OVERALL

58/100

phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

PHONICA’S 20 RECOMMENDED LEVELS DIABLO II

HALF LIFE 2

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

LITTLE BIG PLANET

SPLINTER CELL: DOUBLE AGENT

(PC)

(PC, Xbox 360, PS3)

(PC)

(PS3)

(PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

THE SECRET COW LEVEL “Bovines, polearms, mooing. Nothing beats blas ng through herds of upright ca le with their moos of despair ringing through the air!”

RAVENHOLM “The single scene/level in any game that gives us chills and an insane adrenaline rush at the same me.”

FLAME LEVIATHAN “Possibly the most annoying boss and gauntlet run, but we ﬁnd it the most fun we’ve had since we found Carmageddon. ”

THE ISLANDS “Ninja training suits Sackboys, and the glossy Japanese styling shows oﬀ MM’s stunning graphics to great eﬀect.”

JBA HQ “Virtually weaponless stealth isn’t for everyone but the two JBA levels slow the pace and build the tension perfectly.”

ONIMUSHA SERIES

GOD OF WAR

CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE

RED ALERT

CRASH BANDICOOT 3: WARPED

(PS2, Gamecube, Xbox)

(PS2, PS3)

(Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

(PC)

(PS2)

THE DARK REALM “Not memorable in itself, but the geriatric tadpole on a rope that took you there was worth the game price alone.”

TEMPLE OF PANDORA “A huge stone cake strapped to the back of a cursed Titan roaming an endless desert. Genius idea brilliantly done.”

PRIPYAT “Why run and gun when you can sneak and snipe? Nothing in MW2 to match the tension in this level.”

ALLIED MISSION 4 “Great because it allows you go back to the original base you built in the second mission and made the world feel a lot more real. ”

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA “You can see it from space…apparently.”

54 phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

GEARS OF WAR 2

HITMAN: BLOOD MONEY

ELDER SCROLLS IV: OBLIVION

RESISTANCE: FALL OF MAN

SSX

(Xbox 360)

(PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

(PC, Xbox 360, PS3)

(PS3)

(PS2)

AFTERMATH CLOSURE “Riding a Brumak into the heart of Locust country is pure gaming gold. Ooo, look at those body parts ﬂy!”

A MURDER OF CROWS “Hiding a corpse in a bin with the Mardi Gras crowds just around the corner... ball shrinkingly nervy.”

THE SHIVERING ISLES “The perfect counterpart to Cyrodil’s anodyne iden kit fantasy stylings.”

MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL “A memorable se ng for a shor sh, by-thenumbers level... but hey, if it annoys the Church.”

TOKYO MEGAPLEX “Best level of a ﬁne game... a giant pinball machine with a hairdryer the size of Belgium at the end.”

FALLOUT 3

MODERN WARFARE 2

FORZA MOTORSPORT 2

HALF LIFE 2: EPISODE 1

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE II: DOUBLE HELIX

(Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

(Xbox 360)

(Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

(PC)

TAKE IT BACK! “A er endless hours of ppy-toeing and playing it safe, it’s me to kick back and enjoy the ﬁreworks.”

NO RUSSIAN! “As a standalone level it’s OK, but the Snowmobile chase at the end is thrilling. That jump s ll looks too far…”

NURBURGRING “We’ve done hundreds of laps around this tarmac deathtrap, and we s ll don’t know what’s coming next”

LOWLIFE “A ﬂood of zombies and a fading ﬂashlight doesn’t make for pleasant gaming. Come-on, will this elevator ever come?”

HOTEL PRAGUE “Nothing to get excited about, but a perfect level for tes ng your aim and weapons. You could also blow limbs oﬀ, which was nice....

phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

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

Nokia 6730

Nokia 5530

Nokia E75

Nokia 6210

Nokia E63

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

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

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

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

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

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

MP3/WAV/AAC/WMA

Yes Poly/MP3 600 500 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 294 351 Yes

Yes MP3 340 264 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 222 244 Yes

Yes Polyphonic & MP3 660 432 Yes

Sony Ericsson Naite

Sony Ericsson C901

Sony Ericsson C510

HTC Magic

HTC Hero

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

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

100 MB/microSD

120 MB/Memory S ck Micro ™

100 MB/Memory S ck Micro ™

288 MB/microSD

288 MB/microSD ™

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

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

MP3/MP4/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/AAC/MP4

MP3/MP4

MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA 9

Yes Poly/MP3/AAC 564 380 Yes

Yes Poly & MP3 570 430 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/Aac 420 400 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 450 420 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 420 750 Yes

56 phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

Nokia N97

Nokia 3720 classic

Nokia 5800 Xpress Music Sony Ericsson Aino

Sony Ericsson Yari

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

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

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

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

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/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/MP4/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/AAc/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/AAC

MP3/eAAC+/WMA

Yes MP3 570 430 Yes

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

Apple iPhone 3G S

Apple iPhone 3G

INQ Chat 3G

BlackBerry 8520

BlackBerry Bold 9000

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

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

16/32 GB (internal)

8/16 GB (internal)

120 MB/Memory S ck Micro ™

256 MB/MicroSD

1GB/microSD

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

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

MP3/MP3 VBR/AAC/WAV

AMR/AAC/AAC+/eAAC

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

Yes Poly & MP3 720 300 Yes

Yes Poly & MP3 600 300 Yes

Yes Poly/MIDI/MP3 270 408 Yes

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

480 170 Yes

Yes Poly & MP3 300 310 Yes

phonica magazine uk

THE GUIDE

BlackBerry 8300 Curve Samsung Pixon 12

Samsung S5600V Blade

Samsung Genio Touch

Samsung B3310

107 x 60 x 15.5 mm 111 g Quad-band 320 x 240 2MP 64MB/microSD Yes/USB Yes/EDGE No HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email/IM No

108 x 53 x 13.8 mm 120 g 480 x 800 pixels 240 x 320 12 MP 150 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes/EDGE Class 10 No WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

102.8 x 54.8 x 12.9 mm 92 g 240 x 320 pixels 240 x 320 3.15 MP 50 MB/microSD Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 12 No WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes SMS/MMS/Email Yes

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

MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/MP4/WMA/eAAC+

MP3/WMA/AAC

MP3/MP4/eAAC+/WMV/WMA

MP3/MP4

Yes Poly & MP3 240 408 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3 180 250 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 120 250 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 480 730 Yes

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 300 380 Yes

Samsung Jet

Samsung U900

LG Viewty Lite

LG GM750

LG BL40 New Chocolate

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

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

109.8 x 54.4 x 15.3 mm 112 g Tri-band 240 x 400 5 MP 100 MB RAM/microSD Yes/A2DP/USB Yes/EDGE Class 10 No WAP/xHTML/HTML Yes

109.8 x 53.5 x 12.9 mm 120 g Quad-band 240 x 400 5 MP Yes/A2DP/microUSB Yes Yes WAP/xHTML/HTML 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

128 MB RAM/256 MB ROM/microSD

SMS/MMS/Email/Vidoe/MS Exchange

SMS/MMS/EMS/Email

SMS/MMS/Email/IM

SMS/MMS/EMS/Email/IM

Yes

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

MP3/MPEG4/AAC/eAAC/WMA

MP3/MPEG4/WMV

MP3/MPEG4/WAV/eAAC+/WMA

MP3/MP4/WAV/DivX/eAAC

Yes Poly/MP3/WAV 492 422 Yes

Yes Poly & MP3 210 220 Yes

Yes Poly & MP3 150 250 Yes

Yes Poly & MP3 380 450 Yes

Yes Poly & MP3 240 400 Yes

58 phonica magazine uk

phonica magazine uk