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.

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.

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.




Fade is quite a large game, and as such, includes a wide variety of locations.



Final Product:

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

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
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






