Over the past year with my new-ish non-Apple phone, I’ve taken some time here and there to check out a few new, or new-to-me, mobile games — by which I mean Java-applet games one plays on their mobile phone. Hereforth I will weigh in with brief remarks.
Lego Star Wars: It would’ve been impossible to make a bricks-out action game like the console versions, so we get an overhead-perspective action-puzzler. If it actually seemed to save my progress I probably would still be playing it but playing the same first few levels over and over is even more tedious when you know how to solve it. It’s about holding the 4 key and waiting for duder to waddle over to the green switch.
Time Crisis: Somehow Namco didn’t figure out a way to include a bundled peripheral in the download — hardy har har — so the point-of-view playfield has been split into a nine-square field corresponding to the keypad. See a guy, press a button to shoot him. Like whack-a-mole, only you have to duck when the moles shoot back. The 3D looks pretty good but my phone’s a little too slow for it to play well. I get the impression this was intended for those Nokia superphones.
Doom RPG: Awesome throwback game, adapting the Doom universe to a turn-based role-player. The “dungeons” are different areas of the UAC Mars base and scroll smoothly in a style reminiscent of Wolfenstein [I mean Wolfenstein -- the "camera" doesn't bounce the way Doom does]. The writing is top-notch, filled with geeky references. My favorite moment was when the Marine tries to access a SQL database with typed insults.
Orcs & Elves: Newer game in the same vein from the same developers [Fountainhead Entertainment, now "id mobile"]. Medieval theme and beautiful graphics but too slow. Probably my phone.
Midtown Madness 3D: Too slow for my phone. Even if it wasn’t, I can’t imagine a 3D “free roaming” driver playing well on a phone.  Just because you can do something like that doesn’t mean you should. I bet a drive-straight and steer game like outrun would play great on modern phones, though — I’ll have to look for one.
Drakengard: Too, too tough. Always wanted to try the PS2 version, may still check it out someday.
Zelda Legend: Humorously poor Zelda-themed sprite swap and string edit hack of “Drakengard.”
