INTRODUCTION
Aside from Infocom game
interpreters, the Pocket PC platform hasn’t had much
action on the adventure gaming front. However, an
exceptionally large, long, and exciting adventure
game has been created by The Fade Team. When I first
heard about the game, I was immediately intrigued
because Fade was the first game of its kind to be
released for the Pocket PC. It wasn’t until I heard
about Fade that I realized what a perfect platform
the Pocket PC is for adventure gaming, largely because
all the input is with a mouse, or in this case, a
stylus. As the Pocket PC has been around for a considerable
amount of time already, I began to wonder why there
weren’t more adventure games for it. After talking
with Alex (AKA McloaD), one of the developers, and
hearing about all the work they put into Fade, I quickly
figured that out. I received Fade and got to work
immediately, and after just a little bit of playing,
I could tell all the work was definitely worth it.
SETUP
The installer is distributed
in the form of a single executable.

When the installer is run, a
window will open displaying Fade’s README file. It
will explain to you how to play the game. When finished,
click Next to proceed with the installation or click
Exit to abort the installation.

After clicking Next you are brought to another screen
where the license agreement is displayed. When you
finish reading through the license agreement you can
then click Yes to continue with the installation or
click No causing the installer to quit.

Once the license agreement is accepted, Fade is installed
through ActiveSync.
PROGRAM FEATURES
When Fade is started,
a loading screen is displayed while the game puts
everything it needs into memory.

On my Jornada 548, this takes about
15-20 seconds. However, it is well worth the wait.
I am then presented with the title screen.

Here, you can make a new game,
load a game, save a game, read the credits, or quit.
While loading/saving you can choose from 3 different
slots. When you save, it stores your current game
position, a screenshot of where you are (displayed
at the load/save screen), and how long you’ve been
playing.

At
first, being the compulsive saver that I am, I didn’t
like the fact that it had only 3 save slots, but I
got used to it quickly. I had been playing for quite
a while when I realized that there was no reason to
save other than to keep your place so you can resume
the game at another time. There is no reason for you
to have to go back in the game, nor is there any time
where you can die, causing you to start from the beginning.
After taking a minute to become accustomed to the
menus, I began the game and took a couple minutes
to become accustomed to the UI (User Interface).

There are four buttons in the UI,
each of which I have outlined in a different color.
The first button is indicated by a red circle. When
clicked, this button brings you back to the menu.
The second button, is indicated by a green circle.
When this button is clicked, it displays your logbook.

When something important happens,
you automatically write what happened and your thoughts
on it down in the log book. This is a good place to
check for what you need to do next, or for more information
on your current task. The third button on the UI is
indicated by a blue circle. This button, when clicked,
will display your inventory.

Here
is where you can access the items you’ve collected
so far. You collect a wide variety of interesting
items throughout the game, and using this menu, you
can use an item with other things in the landscape,
or combine an item with another item in your inventory.
Finally, the fourth button in the UI which I have
outlined with a yellow circle, when clicked, will
display a list of exits in your current area. You
can then choose where you want to go when you’re done
with your current location. After my quick review
of the UI, I moved on to the game.
While playing Fade, you can click
on virtually anything in the room and be presented
with several options on what you would like to do
with the object you selected.

Certain
things can be inspected. When they are, a zoomed view
of the object is displayed allowing for a more in-depth
look.


You
meet a great many people throughout the game, and
have a great many conversations with them. I found
this was done quite easily with Fade’s dialog system.

When
the person you are having a conversation with speaks,
their text will be highlighted in yellow. Most of
the time, you will then be presented with a couple
of options of what you would like to say.
Fade is quite a large game, and
as such, includes a wide variety of locations.



All
of these have been modeled by the fantastic artists
of The Fade Team with the help of Blender.
Thanks to Alex, I was able to get a screenshot of
this in action.
Final Product:

In addition
to the amazing 3d renderings, Fade includes:
Cutscenes

Varying Times of Day


Strange People and Humorous Dialog

Including Repetitive Insinuations Regarding ASPCA
No-Nos
However, the thing you’ll most
likely find yourself doing is solving puzzles and
the like. In Fade, there are many times where you
must discover clues

and
gather evidence, maybe to bring to the police station?

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
size=2>As I said, Fade is a LARGE game. It demands a whopping 11.5 MBs of storage space and 10.5 MBs of program memory! Luckily, Fade runs great off of a storage card. Fade currently supports all 3 major Pocket PC processors (ARM, MIPS, SH3). The Fade Team warns that the SH-3 version is untested, but you know what? I just played the whole thing through and encountered no problems, so I just tested it. Go SH-3!
BUGS AND WISHES
There
are only two things that I see a problem with in Fade,
and both have to do with the English version. The
first thing is that a lot of French is still in there
from the translation, and that needs to be gotten
rid of. The second, is that the translation can be
difficult to understand at some points in the game
and that might want to be edited as well. Other than
that, this game is absolutely perfect!
PURCHASING
The
game can be purchased from GameLoft
Pocket for $29.95. If you don’t have this game
yet, get it! It’s amazing! It took me 9 hours and
28 minutes to completely finish and that was with
a walkthrough from the developers, which helped a
lot, I can assure you. This should last you for hours
and hours, and if you don’t buy it for the game, at
least buy it for the story. I played the game all
the way through, and the plot was extremely interesting
and unpredictable right up to the end. However, if
you don’t want to take my word for it, and you want
to try it out first for yourself, you can download
a demo from The
Fade Site.
PROS
First Game
of Its Kind for Pocket PC
Great UI
Great Story
Unpredictable
Amazing 3D Art
Long
Humorous
Great Dialog System
Great Cutscene System
Supports SH-3 Processors! WHOOHOO!
CONS
Some French Left in the English Version
Some Bad French->English Translation
Some Puzzles Very Hard
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