An
optimist is a man who starts a crossword puzzle with a pen.

   
I enjoy a good crossword puzzle. But if you’ve read my other reviews,
you already know that I’m a big puzzle fan in general. So when BinaryFish
contacted me about their new game, Mobile Crossword, I asked if we could
review it.

WHAT’S
HOT

  
BinaryFish has
done a great job of reproducing the pen(cil) and paper feel of crosswords
while adding a lot of great features (such as letter checking). They’ve
also included a plethora of puzzles with the intial install, with links
to additional puzzles on their website.

SETUP

  
The install routine is normal. This review was done on my iPaq 2215
running XCPUScalar, using my 512Mb CF card.

PROGRAM
FEATURES

   
First, let’s review the list of features (copied verbatim – more or
less) that BinaryFish
has on their website:

Looks
and feels like a typical Pocket PC application so there is nothing
to
learn, complete puzzles right away!

Bundled with 20 crossword puzzles to get you started. More available
from
the Internet.

Automatically saves current progress when closed.

Supports Across Lite puzzle format.

Import your own crosswords using the plain text format.

Multiple zooms.

Can handle puzzle grid sizes of up to 30×30.

Hint and cheat options.

Useful statistics for each puzzle.

Automatic jumping of completed cells.

  
After you start Mobile Crossword, you are greeted with the list of
available puzzles you have installed on your Pocket PC. I moved mine
from the default My Documents location to the CF card. Note that if
you move the puzzles, you can’t embed them more than 1 level deep
at this time or you won’t be able to find them in the list. To look
for other locations, you can click on the folder drop-down menu. And
to sort the puzzles, you can click on the default "Name".

The
tools menu at the bottom of the puzzle list screen gives you the
Options, Receive via Infrared, About Mobile Crossword, and Help
selections.

If
Options is selected, then you can change the way that the list is
displayed, and opt to delete original files after conversion (if
you are using a crossword file that needs converting).

&nbsp

Receive
via Infrared is fairly straightforward (ie you can receive puzzle
files from other PPCs). The About and Help selections show the standard
info.

&nbsp

&nbsp
Once you select a puzzle (by tapping on the puzzle name), the default
puzzle view appears and you can start filling in clues. The puzzle
clues appear at the top of the screen as you select which area you
wish to work on. If you tap an area twice, then the orientation
of the clue will change from across to down and vice versa. You
can also use the D-Pad to move around the puzzle.

Across
the bottom of the screen are several menus and buttons which are
not necessarily needed to start playing, but augment the whole crossword
experience. First is the Puzzle menu, which contains Information
and Statistics for the current puzzle.

&nbsp

Also
found within the Puzzle menu is Check, which gives you the ability
to check the Current Letter, Selection Only, or All Letters for
the puzzle.

&nbsp

&nbsp

The
Reveal selection (found in the Puzzles menu) should be used with
extreme caution! The ability to get just a little hint will always
be tempting you. Begging you to let it show you it’s wonderful hintiness.
But it comes at a price – little red triangles. Yes folks, if you
cheat, EVERYONE WILL KNOW! *chuckle* In the example below, you can
see a Complete Solution revealed along with a Selection Only.

&nbsp

The
next menu is Edit, from which you can select Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete
Selection, Clear Grid, and Use Pen. I didn’t really find any use
of using Pen/Pencil. When you choose Clear Grid, then you are given
a warning before it actually removes the existing answers.

The
view menu gives you the option of turning on/off the scroll bars
and setting the zoom level.

50%
Zoom

Next
on the list is Tools, from which you can open a Notepad (I believe
this was left in to create your own puzzles), change Puzzle Options,
Send via E-mail, Beam Crossword, Save Puzzle As, Delete Puzzle,
About Mobile Crossword, and Help.

Within
the Puzzle Options are the capability to change the game colors
and choose items such as "Jump to next blank…" and "Indicate
incorrect letter immediately".

The
button that looks like a crossword puzzle (and that is highlighted
by default), is the puzzle view. Next to it is the Across and Down
buttons. Via which you can view the clues in list format. Finally
is the entry button (depending on what you have set) which you will
use to enter answers.

&nbsp

Once
you finish a puzzle, you are greeted with a Congratulations screen.

If
you had the notion, you could even create your own puzzles. The
help file has detailed instructions and even an example puzzle to
work with.

&nbsp

HELP
SUPPORT

   
The in-game instructions are quite extensive. In addition, BinaryFish
has a support email address and forums on their website.

SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS

   
According to BinaryFish,
Mobile Crossword requires a Windows Mobile 2003, Pocket PC 2002,
or Pocket PC 2000, with 250 Kb of storage space. Pocket PC 2002/2000
requires .NET Compact Framework.

BUGS
AND WISHES

   
I found no fatal errors. I really didn’t find any errors at all.
But I do have a short wishlist:

• A
  PC-based crossword creator/convertor would be nice
• Add
  an in-game timer (for a little competition)
• There
  wasn’t any way to embed the crossword files more than 1 directory
  deep.
• Upgrade
  the "Congratulations" to something a little more flashy.
• Multiple
  player settings (so more than one person can work on the same
  puzzle)

PURCHASING

   
You can buy
this software directly from Clickgamer
or from Handango.
The price shown is $12.95 (although if you buy from Handango
through Feb. 9th, you can use discount code 494A08 to get a 15%
discount).

PROS

• 
  

  Lots
  of available puzzles

• 
  

  Ability
  to create additional puzzles

• 
  

  Fast

• Easy
  to learn and use

CONS

• 
  

  Jump
  mode doesn’t keep you from accidently overwriting letters

• Can’t
  store puzzles in directories more than 1 level deep
• No
  multiple player settings so more than 1 person can work on the
  same puzzle at the same time

OVERALL
IMPRESSION

  
Once again, BinaryFish
has created a simple-to-use, but complete game package. Add in
the ability to download additional crosswords from the internet
and just gets better and better. This is not something I would
normally expect from a software company with only 3 PPC titles,
but they’ve taken things to the next level and shown a great desire
to make software that’s easy and fun at the same time. If you
consider the price per puzzle, the average cost of $12.95 (or
about $11 if you get in on the 15% discount) quickly approaches
mere pocket change. Overall, it’s a fantastic game for a great
price that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to other crossword/PPC
lovers.

Have
you played Mobile Crossword? See something that isn’t quite right?
Tell us what you think! Click on the Discussion Link below.