INTRODUCTION
Come one come all come short,
fat, skinny or tall… The next act on the program
is a brand new game from Astraware,
and Game House called Shape Shifter. My
first thought was
:
i
s this the kind of game where
things transform
from one
shape
to
another? Will I be able to play
using my stylus?
and see how to match your wits with Astraware
and Game House’s Shape Shifter.
WHAT’S HOT
Shape Shifter is
designed to make you concentrate on and identify shape changes. With colorful
carnival graphics, vintage circus style posters and the ability to play two game
for the price of one, you have your front row ticket to the Shape Shifting Show.
PROGRAM FEATURES
Shifter starts with a colorful start up menu. From
the opening screen you can tap on the Help to
get the screen below.
size="2">
This screen gives a brief
description of BEAT the CLOCK or SHAPE SPEEDSTER
and
what each game does.
Next,
tap on MENU, to view the screen below.
the Menu screen you can go to SETTINGS, REGISTER,
ABOUT, SCORE, or RETURN.
SETTINGS.
This is where you set your Game’s Sound or Music
levels or MUTE them completely. Press OK to return
to MENU. Then tap SCORE to go to the screens
below.
From
these screens, you can choose to RESET the SCORES
or EXPORT your score. If your HIGH SCORE is
more than 1,000,000
you can EXPORT them. From either of the screens, tap CONTINUE to
go back to the opening screen.
Now
it is time to start the game of your choice. Push
the arrow at the right of each of the game posters
to choose which LEVEL you want to begin.
style="width: 240px; height: 320px;">
put it into the blanks above. Hint: This
is done by tapping on the SHAPE and
then above on the matching silhouetted SHAPE. What’s cool is that
you don’t have to drag the SHAPE. face="Verdana" size="2">
style="width: 240px; height: 320px;">
left of the screen. Notice the green hoop. If you look at the left
of each screen play, you will notice the time left and the level.
face="Verdana" size="2">
On some levels, when you tap on the SHAPE,
the silhouetted SHAPES change to gray and flash, this really helps when the
shapes are almost the same.
alt="nothing" width="240" height="320"
style="width: 240px; height: 320px;">
Sometimes,
the SHAPES in the bottom row don’t have any place
to go. Use the red,
green, blue and purple paint brush symbols to fill
in any of the blank shapes, or tap on the RED and
BLUE spinning wheel to advance the shapes. These
hints are not in any of the instructions.
style="width: 240px; height: 320px; font-weight: bold;"> style="width: 240px; height: 320px; font-weight: bold;">
then tap continue, to advance to the next level of
play.
face="Verdana" size="2">
alt="unknown" src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000594/review/unknown.gif" style="width: 240px; height: 320px;">
Throughout the game different SHAPES
appear, many of which I have never seen at a Carnival or Circus.
style="width: 240px; height: 320px;">
If you are too slow, the SHAPES will start
falling. RAAAAATS!
HELP SUPPORT
style="width: 240px; height: 320px;">
section on their website,
just in case you run into any trouble. They also
have a helpful forum.
Although the HELP screen has a brief description of what you do on each game
the problem is, IT IS BRIEF. For instance, you are not told that you don’t
have to drag the SHAPES with your cursor. All you have to do is tap
the shape and tap where you want to put it.
HINT:
red, green,
blue and purple soda pop symbols
can
be put into any blank SHAPE. You
can also TAP on the Red and Blue spinning wheel
to advance the SHAPES, when you have no matches.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
A
ccording to Handango, the system requirements
is any color Pocket PC 2002 or later.
BUGS AND WISHES
A
hint is needed telling how to skip to the next
SHAPE especially when the SHAPES offered don’t
match the choices available. I would
also let players know that the soda pop SHAPES
can fill in any of the blank SHAPES. The soda
pops cause the only shape shifting I found
in the whole game, unless “shift” means to
move across the screen. How about adding
an export file for those people who may never
reach a one million points score? A font
change might make some of the lettering of
the words and numbers easier to read. I believe
that the level of difficulty could be changed
by making the rows advance quicker. And finally,
since this is a circus theme, it would be fun
to add shapes that represent cotton candy,
hot dogs, clown hats or noses, a cannon, animals.
PURCHASING
This game can be
purchased at Astraware or Handango for $19.95. There is also a free trial Demo
on these sites.
PROS
The ability
to switch between the 2 High Scores- Vintage
circus graphics and posters - Options
to change levels in both games - The
ability to export scores - Two
game modes - Visible
scores, levels, and rows
CONS
- Too
many symbols that look similar - Symbols
that you don’t ever see at a Carnival or Circus - Can’t
export score unless greater than 1,000,000 - Lettering
is not very clear, hard to read some of
the numbers and letters
| Value |  |
| Ease of Use |
|
| Features |  |
Overall |
 |
OVERALL IMPRESSION
I must say
that I don’t remember ever playing a game like this before. I
give a thumbs up for the ability to switch high scores and being able
to play any level between 1- 99. I did enjoy playing Shape Shifter,
but I have plenty of other games by Astraware and Game House that I
like better. I can see parents purchasing this game to improve visual
perception for their kids. This is a unique game with themed
graphics and a great price: 2 for $19.95.
HELP SUPPORT
style="width: 240px; height: 320px;">
section on their website,
just in case you run into any trouble. They also
have a helpful forum.
Although the HELP screen has a brief description of what you do on each game
the problem is, IT IS BRIEF. For instance, you are not told that you don’t
have to drag the SHAPES with your cursor. All you have to do is tap
the shape and tap where you want to put it.
HINT:
red, green,
blue and purple soda pop symbols
can
be put into any blank SHAPE. You
can also TAP on the Red and Blue spinning wheel
to advance the SHAPES, when you have no matches.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
A
ccording to Handango, the system requirements
is any color Pocket PC 2002 or later.
BUGS AND WISHES
A
hint is needed telling how to skip to the next
SHAPE especially when the SHAPES offered don’t
match the choices available. I would
also let players know that the soda pop SHAPES
can fill in any of the blank SHAPES. The soda
pops cause the only shape shifting I found
in the whole game, unless “shift” means to
move across the screen. How about adding
an export file for those people who may never
reach a one million points score? A font
change might make some of the lettering of
the words and numbers easier to read. I believe
that the level of difficulty could be changed
by making the rows advance quicker. And finally,
since this is a circus theme, it would be fun
to add shapes that represent cotton candy,
hot dogs, clown hats or noses, a cannon, animals.
PURCHASING
This game can be
purchased at Astraware or Handango for $19.95. There is also a free trial Demo
on these sites.
PROS
List each
pro
Here
One by one
CONS
List each
con
Here
One by one
| Value | |
| Ease of Use |
|
| Features | |
Overall |
|
Did you like it? Tell briefly what you
OVERALL IMPRESSION
really liked and really didn’t like, and sum up the review. Allude to
the problem proposed in the introduction. Be sure to give some kind
of a quotable statement! (ie: "XCompany has done an outstanding
job at producing an affordable (yet comprehensive) dictionary suite
for the Pocket PC.")
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