WHAT’S
HOT

   Six different games – Hangman, Mastermind, Hexapawn,
Concentration, Jumbled Words, Arabian Blocks – for one low price.

SETUP

   I found the setup process to be very frustrating.
First of all, it should be noted that IM Games Pack requires
Microsoft .NET framework to operate. In many cases, you would already
have this component installed on your devices (as I did). The trouble
appears when you begin installing IM Games Pack. For one thing, this
is not an all-in-one installation. You are actually installing six different
games that are bundled in one "installer." That means, you
have to go through the installation procedure six times in a row. This
alone would be enough to make you mental, especially if you wanted to
install on a storage card. I found clicking "no" to the default
directory and clicking the dropdown to point the installer to storage
card six times in a row to be a total wear-out. But what makes it even
more maddening is that for each and every game you install you are prompted
to install the .NET Framework on your device. I already had this on
my Windows Mobile 2003 system, so I did not want to install it again.
This meant I had to cancel out out of the installer every time it asked
to install the .NET Framework. Not fun! Otherwise, I encountered no
issues with the installation.

PRODUCT
FEATURES

    Six games are included with the IM Games
Pack, and I will discuss each one individually. First up, IM Hangman.

IM
HANGMAN

   
Just like in grade school (and more recently "Wheel of Fortune"),
Hangman is a game with which most users will be familiar. You are presented
with underscores that represent the letters of a word or phrase. Your
job is to guess the word or phrase with 6 or less mistakes, or else!

   
For each mistake part of a body is added to the body of the cartoon
man. You make a guess by clicking one of the letters represented in
the alphabet displayed on the lower portion of the screen.

To
aid in your rescue, you are given a hint as to the meaning of the word
in question. There is no time limit, you just have six guesses before
the "body" is complete.

   
If you guess six letters incorrectly, the body is complete
and the Hangman has won. The correct word will be revealed and you can
play again.

   
When you guess the word in less than six mistakes, you win! In IM Hangman
you do not progress in levels You can play over and over, as much as
you like. There is no "end" to the game, each play is self-contained.
However, a high-score is retained (which can be reset) with which to
compare your progress. This is not a traditional high score where you
enter a name or initials, it just keeps a record of the highest score
achieved in one session before the game is closed.

   
Options for IM Hangman include Category selection (which has several
from which to choose), toggle sound on or off, hint display and score
display. IM Hangman is a fun game which does not require a huge time
commitment. You can just fire it up, play a round or two and be done.
It isn’t a complex game by any means, but with all of the category options,
IM Hangman is sure to keep you occupied when you have a little bit of
time to spare.

IM
CONCENTRATION

 
Another game many of us know by heart is the classic "Concentration."
In this game you lift up cards trying to find a match, until all cards
are showing.  IM Concentration takes this concept and gives it
a new face.

   
IM Concentration gives you many, many options for game play. In "Basic"
you match two cards, in Intermediate you match three and in Advanced
mode you match five. Other options include sound toggle, having the
cards go away when a match is made and selecting a "theme"
for your game.

   
Several themes are available, including cartoon characters, food, famous
faces (shown above) and miscellaneous. As far as sounds, you hear a
beep for each tap and a chime for every match.

   
Like IM Hangman, each game is self-contained. You do not progress to
greater levels of difficulty, but it does retain your "Best Moves"
& "Best Time" to keep you challenged. I found this to
be a good implementation of Concentration, but I felt that the graphics
felt a little "cheap." This was most apparent in the "food"
and "cartoon" themes. It would be nice to have the option
of adding your own images for a custom theme. Another "want"
would be to have be able to select how many cards were present on the
game board. It might be nice to have fewer cards showing, so younger
children could play as well. I found the game play for IM Hangman to
be solid, but not very deep.

IM
MASTERMIND

   
This is a Pocket PC implementation of the "classic" game of
logic known as "Mastermind." From the INSIDEMind website:
"The computer (code maker) selects a colour code which is a
random sequence of 4 colours from those available. The object of the
game is to guess the exact positions of the colors in the code in as
few guesses as possible." I was not familiar with the Mastermind
game, so I had read up on it. Thankfully, the in-game help explained
how to play.

   
The goal is to determine the pattern of the red and blue pegs, and you
have eight chances. As you can see from the capture above, it isn’t
always as easy as it looks. The top row shows the computer’s pattern,
which was not revealed until I had either guessed correctly or had eight
incorrect guesses. The black and white dots to the right of each row
show that you have guessed some elements correctly. From the help file:

For
each of the pegs in your guess that is the correct color and in the
correct position, the computer will give you one small black peg
to the right of your colour combination. If you score 4 small black
pegs on a guess, you have guessed the secret sequence.

For
each of the pegs in your guess that is a correct color in an incorrect
position, the computer will give you one small white peg to the right
of your colour combination. Together, there will be no more than four
small black and white pegs for each move.

If
none of the pegs in your guess is of a correct color, you will see no
small pegs to the right of that colour combination.

   
Game play is no more than clicking on a red or blue
peg then clicking the empty peg holes. Simple and effective. When you
guess correctly, you will see the screen above. Clicking "Yes"
will start another game, "No" will end the game (but not close
the program). Eight incorrect guesses gives you essentially the same
dialog box, and choices.

   
You can also change the settings of the game, by adding more pegs and
increasing the difficulty.  You also have the option of "Surrender"
where the game ends and the secret peg pattern is revealed.

   
I found IM Mastermind to be an entertaining game of logic and one that
was very challenging. As I mentioned, I had never heard of Mastermind
before this game, so I am unable to compare it to the board game from
which it was inspired. Regardless, INSIDEMind has created a very
good game for the Pocket PC and if you like mind-bending puzzles, then
this is definitely a game you would enjoy.

IM
HEXAPAWN

 IM
Hexapawn is a slimmed down version of Chess. There are no Kings, Queens,
or Rooks, just Pawns and a very small playing field. As in Chess, Pawns
can move on space ahead in a straight line, and can capture diagonally.
The first Pawn to the other side wins. You can either play against the
Artificial Intelligence (AI) or against another player. A nice touch
is that the AI actually learns from it’s mistakes each time it plays
against you.

The
game ships with four "skins" that change the look of the playing
field: Classic (first screen shot), Good and Evil (seen above), PPC
vs Palm (you play as the Palm), and INSIDEMind (featuring their logo
character). The "skins" do not change the mechanics of the
game play, but rather give a new look to the playing field and players.
The "skins" also come with their own set of sound effects,
each with a different sound for victory. Another option is that you
may reset the AI thus clearing out the knowledge it has gained while
playing against you.

The
playing field can also be reset to various sizes to increase the difficulty.
A two-player option is also available. When selected, you would pass
your device back and forth or lay it flat on a table so you could both
play. IR "beaming" is not supported in the two-player option,
though that would be a great enhancement.

    As with "IM Concentration,"
I hope INSIDEMind will at some point allow the user the ability
to develop custom skins. However, the included skins offer a good set
of options. It would also be nice if there was a "toggle sound"
option to turn off the game noises. IM Hexapawn puts a clever spin on
Chess and makes for a nice little game that can be played in a short
amount of time.

IM
JUMBLED WORDS

   
Similar to the "word" puzzles found in many daily newspapers,
IM Jumbled Words asks you to decipher a word, but adds a twist – a countdown
clock. You the player are presented with a set of scrambled letters
that you must re-arrange before the countdown hits "000."
The game includes over 600 words and each is presented with a hint as
to the meaning.

   
To play, you use your stylus to select the first jumbled letter that
corresponds with the first letter of the word you want to spell. You
then proceed to spell out the word using the jumbled letters in the
correct order. Once you have the word completed you then tap "Done"
to see if you are correct. You are allowed to "Undo" two letters
you have typed in, but no more. Also, the "Undo" begins where
you are in the word, so if you are on letter four and realize letter
one is incorrect, you can’t change it. Your best hope is to click "Done,"
get a "Try Again?" pop-up and re-enter the word again.

A correct guess presents you with a dialog box that asks if you want
to move to the next level. At this point, you get another jumbled word
and game play continues as before.

An incorrect guess gives you the option of trying again, provided that
the clock has not yet ticked down to "000." You can continue
to make as many guesses as you wish, as long as time remains on the
clock.

   
If you do not make a correct guess in the allotted amount of time, the
game is over. You must tap the "OK" in the circle to exit
the dialog box, otherwise you are stuck. I found this to be an unusual
way to get out of this pop-up, considering the others boxes within the
game had an grey buttons to push (this could, of course, just be a limitation
of the operating system).

   
IM Jumbled Words has only two options: sound on or off and starting
level. The sounds in the game are a "click" for each second
of the clock ticking away and a chime when you complete a level. I found
the ticking sound to be especially annoying and toggled the sound off
right away. The "Start at Level" option is a good way to step
up the difficulty if the words seem too easy for you.

   
I found that several times I would play the game and have the same words
show up on level one or two. Not always, but it became noticeable. With
600+ words, I was surprised that it happened so often. That and the
ticking sound made IM Jumbled Words one of my less favorites of the
IM Games Pack. If you enjoy "word" games, then IM Jumbled
Words should prove to be a nice addition to your Pocket PC.
It is a good game, but not anything spectacular.

IM
ARABIAN BLOCKS

   
IM Arabian Blocks reminded me of the square sliding blocks puzzles that
you used to get as a child at Birthday parties. But the similarities
end there, because this game is much more challenging. The goal of this
game is to move the green blocks around in such a way that the "King"
can exit through the "gates" at the bottom of the screen.

   
All of your moves are counted (as you can see above,
I had trouble with this level) and once you help the "King"
exit the palace, you progress to the next level. Each level increases
in difficulty.

   
Options for IM Arabian Blocks a few, but it really doesn’t need many.
You can select which level of difficulty on which to begin, reset a
level (start over), or skip a level completely. You can also turn the
sound on or off (you hear the sound of a stone being pushed when you
move one of the blocks). One thing worth mentioning is that there is
no in-game save option. So if you have not yet finished the puzzle and
have to close the game, you will start fresh on the same level when
you re-open the program.

   
I never made any use of the "Moves" counters, and I really
wish I would have been able to toggle it off at times. Once my "Moves"
counter entered the hundreds I became a little discouraged. Since the
"Moves" count does not seem to serve any purpose I am not
sure why the counter is even displayed. There is no apparent in-game
benefit for less moves, nor do they  seem to impact difficulty
on later levels. I suppose the challenge would be to solve the puzzle
in the fewest moves, but the game does not keep a scoreboard (or "High
Score" type of method) of fewest moves. So unless you jot it down
somewhere, you won’t be able to compare your "Moves" from
one game to the next. I wish the game board changed images on each level,
it gets a little old looking at the same "King" and blocks
every time. Once again, it would be nice if the user could add their
own images to the puzzle. Still, of all the IM Games in the Games Pack,
I found this one to be the most challenging. I found myself coming back
to this game more than any of the others, probably because it was so
difficult to get the "King" out. IM Arabian Blocks is a fun
logic puzzle that should keep you entertained and challenged.

HELP
SUPPORT

    Each game has it’s own help file, which
is actually a HTML page that is displayed in Pocket Internet Explorer.
Each help file is very good about explaining how thegame works, the
rules and options. I found all the help files to be very informative
and efficient. Online, INSIDEMind does not have any sort of support
forum for posting questions. However, they do have a Frequently Asked
Questions page and also offer email support.

SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS

   
IM Games Pack is available for Pocket PC, MIPS & SH3. No system
requirements are noted other than Microsoft’s .NET Compact Framework
must be installed on your device. None of the games require more than
800KB of space, and some are much smaller. I chose to install IM Games
Pack on my storage card and the total space used was 3.5MB. No mention
of Program Memory requirements are mentioned, but I was able to have
several programs open while also playing one of the IM Games with no
noticeable slowdown.

BUGS
AND WISHES

    My biggest wish is that the IM Games Pack
had a single installer rather than six individual installers packed
into one. Another wish would be for each game to have a "High Score"
system where you would be able to see the Top Five high scores, the
date and maybe the name of the person with that score. I find it odd
that all of the games have a scoring system but that none of them do
anything with that score. Why even bother keeping score if you can’t
compare it to your previous scores? Also some of the games had several
"skins" from which to choose, but no method of allowing the
user to create their own. In future releases, I hope that INSIDEMind adds
the ability for players to create skins using their own images.

PURCHASING

    You can download a 5 day trial or purchase
IM Games Pack for $14.95 directly from INDISEMind by clicking
here. Purchases must be made via PayPal, and as such they accept
Visa, Discover, American Express and Master Card. Games included in
the IM Games Pack are:  IM Hangman, IM MasterMind, IM Hexapawn,
IM Concentration, IM Jumbled Words, & IM Arabian Blocks. All games
offered in the IM Games Pack are available for purchase separately for
$2.50 (as of this writing) and all available as a single installation
with a 5 day trial.

PROS

• Nice
  variety of games
• Smooth
  game play, no noticeable slowdown of the device
• Games
  do not require large time commitment to play
• Most
  games are easy to understand and begin playing
• Games
  of logic were challenging and fun

CONS

• 
  Installation program makes you install each game separately, not all
  at once
• 
  Installation program pushes the .NET framework to be installed when
  even when it is already present
• No
  High Score ability within the games
• Graphics
  on some games need more variety and could be of higher quality
• 
  

  No
  option for players to create and use their own game "skins"

OVERALL
IMPRESSION

   Though my "Cons" seem to be as plentiful
as my "Pros" that doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the games.
In fact, quite the opposite. I very much enjoyed the IM Games Pack.
It has plenty of variety in the games offered, which is nice when you
have a short attention span. I also liked that the games did not make
me feel like I had to invest a lot of time in playing them. The time
I have for playing games on my Pocket PC usually only comes in five
and 10 minute increments, so being able to play a quick game and be
done is nice. I think the games could be easily improved with a High
Score function and allowing users to make (and share) their own skins.
For $14.95, I think this is a good investment, and a bargain. IM Games
Pack offers six games that put your mind work with plenty of variety
and challenging game play.  If you’d like to give your brain some
exercise without a huge time commitment, IM Games Pack might just what
you need.