INTRODUCTION

WHAT'S HOT

SETUP

PROGRAM FEATURES

   When you start Escape Velocity, it rotates the screen (into a landscape mode), and begins loading. The load time ends up being approximately 10 seconds. After the delay, you are greeted with the main menu. A nice addition is the battery meter (which is shown in just about every aspect of the game).

    Tapping the Options menu allows you to adjust the volume for music or sound effects.

    The instructions menu displays a single page of, well instructions. These seem to be copied verbatim to their website and Handango.

    Next is High Scores (very important!). The keyboard that is used for the registration process is also used for entering your (lowercase) name into the high score table. While this provides continuity, it also presented a problem. The "Enter" arrow acted as the "OK" button, and the "OK" button acted as a backspace. The ????????? entry is what appears if you get a high score but do not enter a name. Lastly, the high score table represents all levels of difficulty in one. Lastly is the Exit button - which, of course, exits the game. There really isn't any other way out, and you can't use any other features without exiting the game. If you are in the middle of the game and need to look up a phone number, be prepared to enter your name into the High Score table - because there is no save feature when you exit either.

LET'S PLAY!

    On to the gaming. Clicking the New button then brings up a seperate menu from which you can determine the game difficulty (easy, medium, or hard). You can also choose Exit to return to the main menu.

At the beginning of every level, you see the Starting Mission Level XX screen. A tip: You can start tapping the peices _before_ this text disappears, giving you an extra couple of precious seconds.

    Once the game has started, you have access to the 3 buttons found in the lower right corner. The first is the End Game button - DO NOT PRESS THIS UNLESS YOU WISH TO END YOUR GAME! No, it doesn't ask if you are sure you want to quit - it just quits, gives you the high score table (if you were lucky enough to get any score at all), and then it's back to the main menu. Next is the Options button - this is the same as the Options found on the main screen. Lastly is the Pause button (ignore my upgraded rocket for now, we'll cover that in a moment *wink*).

    To play, you tap on the pipe pieces in order to rotate them. Blue pieces signify that they connected in some way to the fuel tanks on the left side. Red pieces signify that they are attached in some way to the fuel lines on the right side. Green pieces are connected to both sides (and will quickly disappear, to be replaced by others). Occasionally, you will see a miscolored peice (as in the screenshot below) due to the fact that that piece was connected before it dropped (it refreshes as soon as the drop finishes).

    The green bar at the bottom left is your time while the red bar on the right indicates your progress towards "Escape Velocity". As you get closer to the end of the level, the rocket begins to smoke (engines beginning to fire).

 

Once "Escape Velocity" is reached, the launch pad unlocks and the rocket blazes away (with the theme from 2001), followed by the congratulations screen.

 

Failing to reach "Escape Velocity" before time runs out, you receive the infamous "Game Over".

As you progress through the game, you will receive rocket upgrades (first one is at level 5) and multipliers at various points on the left side (fuel sent through those points receive additional points).

 

HELP SUPPORT

    Along with the in-game instructions. Clickgamer has a support section on their website (as of this review, no FAQ had been written for Escape Velocity). I sent an email to Clickgamer early in my review asking for a screenshot-enabled version (Pocket ScreenSnap was crashing if I tried to take a timed screenshot over 30 seconds when playing Escape Velocity, so I couldn't get screens of anything but the first 30 seconds of the game). Somehow my email got forwarded to someone who was on holiday, and then the response that I received only contained screenshots (that I already had). *grumble* dotPocket to the rescue! The support team was friendly and apologetic for the delay, however. So I can't feel too terribly bad.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

    According to Handango, the game requires ARM/XSCALE 32MB+ PPC/PPC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003.

BUGS AND WISHES

    I found no fatal errors (other than the bizarre problems with ScreenSnap). But my wish list is short.

• Add a warning to the end game button
• Slow the game timer down a little bit, and then slow down the rotation/removal animations so you can enjoy them longer.
• Need a faster load
• Fix the keyboard issues with the highscore table
• Add different high score tables that correspond to the level of difficulty chosen.
• Add either a save game feature or give the ability to drop back to the today screen so you can accomplish other tasks without losing your winning streak.

PURCHASING

    You can buy this software directly from Clickgamer or from Handango. The price shown is $9.95.

PROS

• Great graphics and music

• High replay value

• Price

CONS

• Slow load time

• No exit warning from game
• High score table tracks entire game (rather than individual difficulties)
• Almost too fast to play and enjoy (making it difficult to progress through levels)
• Full screen mode keeps user from accessing functionality in the rest of their unit
• No save game available

OVERALL IMPRESSION

   So I listed a lot more CONS than PROS - is this a bad thing? In the case of Escape Velocity, no. Clickgamer has done an awesome job with this game, it's just that there are a few items that need to be addressed to make it even better. For the price ($9.95), most of the problems can be overlooked because the game runs so smoothly, looks great, and is stable. If my wishlist came true, then the CONS would all but disappear, making this game an absolute must-have for all puzzle gamers out there. I still would recommend this game to the hardcore puzzlers out there - if for nothing else but to get in on the <$10 price before they fix everything and raise it a few $$.

Have you played Escape Velocity? See something that isn't quite right? Tell us what you think! Click on the Discussion Link below.

 

Back to pocketnow.com | Discuss this Review

LET'S PLAY!

    On to the gaming. Clicking the New button then brings up a seperate menu from which you can determine the game difficulty (easy, medium, or hard). You can also choose Exit to return to the main menu.

At the beginning of every level, you see the Starting Mission Level XX screen. A tip: You can start tapping the peices _before_ this text disappears, giving you an extra couple of precious seconds.

    Once the game has started, you have access to the 3 buttons found in the lower right corner. The first is the End Game button - DO NOT PRESS THIS UNLESS YOU WISH TO END YOUR GAME! No, it doesn't ask if you are sure you want to quit - it just quits, gives you the high score table (if you were lucky enough to get any score at all), and then it's back to the main menu. Next is the Options button - this is the same as the Options found on the main screen. Lastly is the Pause button (ignore my upgraded rocket for now, we'll cover that in a moment *wink*).

    To play, you tap on the pipe pieces in order to rotate them. Blue pieces signify that they connected in some way to the fuel tanks on the left side. Red pieces signify that they are attached in some way to the fuel lines on the right side. Green pieces are connected to both sides (and will quickly disappear, to be replaced by others). Occasionally, you will see a miscolored peice (as in the screenshot below) due to the fact that that piece was connected before it dropped (it refreshes as soon as the drop finishes).

    The green bar at the bottom left is your time while the red bar on the right indicates your progress towards "Escape Velocity". As you get closer to the end of the level, the rocket begins to smoke (engines beginning to fire).

Once "Escape Velocity" is reached, the launch pad unlocks and the rocket blazes away (with the theme from 2001), followed by the congratulations screen.

Failing to reach "Escape Velocity" before time runs out, you receive the infamous "Game Over".

As you progress through the game, you will receive rocket upgrades (first one is at level 5) and multipliers at various points on the left side (fuel sent through those points receive additional points).

HELP SUPPORT

    Along with the in-game instructions. Clickgamer has a support section on their website (as of this review, no FAQ had been written for Escape Velocity). I sent an email to Clickgamer early in my review asking for a screenshot-enabled version (Pocket ScreenSnap was crashing if I tried to take a timed screenshot over 30 seconds when playing Escape Velocity, so I couldn't get screens of anything but the first 30 seconds of the game). Somehow my email got forwarded to someone who was on holiday, and then the response that I received only contained screenshots (that I already had). *grumble* dotPocket to the rescue! The support team was friendly and apologetic for the delay, however. So I can't feel too terribly bad.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

BUGS AND WISHES

• Add a warning to the end game button
• Slow the game timer down a little bit, and then slow down the rotation/removal animations so you can enjoy them longer.
• Need a faster load
• Fix the keyboard issues with the highscore table
• Add different high score tables that correspond to the level of difficulty chosen.
• Add either a save game feature or give the ability to drop back to the today screen so you can accomplish other tasks without losing your winning streak.

PURCHASING

PROS

• Great graphics and music

• High replay value

• Price

CONS

• Slow load time

• No exit warning from game
• High score table tracks entire game (rather than individual difficulties)
• Almost too fast to play and enjoy (making it difficult to progress through levels)
• Full screen mode keeps user from accessing functionality in the rest of their unit
• No save game available

OVERALL IMPRESSION

   So I listed a lot more CONS than PROS - is this a bad thing? In the case of Escape Velocity, no. Clickgamer has done an awesome job with this game, it's just that there are a few items that need to be addressed to make it even better. For the price ($9.95), most of the problems can be overlooked because the game runs so smoothly, looks great, and is stable. If my wishlist came true, then the CONS would all but disappear, making this game an absolute must-have for all puzzle gamers out there. I still would recommend this game to the hardcore puzzlers out there - if for nothing else but to get in on the <$10 price before they fix everything and raise it a few $$.

Have you played Escape Velocity? See something that isn't quite right? Tell us what you think! Click on the Discussion Link below.