It has been another month of diverse mobile game releases, the industry moving ever further from the days of Space Invaders and Pac-Man clones. Korean publisher Com2Us has released its neat scrolling beat-'em-up Werewolf, set in a weird futuristic city where lycanthropes battle with killer robots and mutants.
The set-up is straightforward: you wander through a series of scenes, kicking and punching anything that comes at you while learning more powerful combo moves. The chunky visual style and repetitive, but mindlessly compelling, gameplay will remind late-80s arcade dwellers of classics such as Double Dragon and Streets of Rage. As usual, the keyboard controls make it difficult to access diagonal movement, which can get frustrating in the heat of battle.
Much more cerebral is GameLoft's excellent 1,000 Words, a simple brain teaser where you are presented with six letters and must make a set amount of words within a strict time limit. Achieve this, and it is on to the next round, and a new set of letters. The longer your words, the more points you pick up.
Power-ups are awarded for constant success, while forfeits are handed out when you fail to find a word in time. There are various gameplay modes and skill levels to keep the challenge fresh, but sadly, there is no two-player mode. If nothing else, it is great Scrabble practice.
However, the piece de resistance is the almost self-explanatory Jumbo Rumble from Sumea, a three-player combat game in which you guide your tiny elephant around a small platform, attempting to knock your opponents into the sea.
Three players can take part on one handset as you only need one button to control your jumbo - a cursor revolves around your character and when it is in the position between you and your desired destination, you hit the key to move. It is daft and insultingly simple but easily one of the most amusing multiplayer mobile games we have ever played.
Offbeat but instantly entertaining titles such as this are quite commonplace in Korea and Japan, where developers have a real understanding of clever, throwaway entertainment. Hopefully, Jumbo Rumble will prove the first of many attempts to import that eccentricity to the west.
Useful links
www.com2us.com/english/index_e.asp
www.gameloft.com
www.sumea.com
