WHAT’S HOT

    Geo Rally 2005 has over 30 different
cars, each with their own, realistic performance specifications and
handling.  You’ll need the different cars because some will work
better than others on each of the 15 different tracks in the
game.  The game also sports a real-time, 3D rendering engine with
dynamic lighting effects.

PROGRAM FEATURES

size="2">Geo Rally 2005 starts with with an opening animation that shows off
some of the scenery of the game:

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/startAnimation.gif" alt="">

size="2">After a short time (or when you tap the screen), you’ll get the main
game menu:

alt="">

    The
“Configure” option allows you to set up the game.  The “Load”
option allows you to load a saved game.  The “Replays” option
allows you to view a “movie” of a previous run.  The “New Game”
option will allow you to start over as a rookie driver.  The
“Exit” button at the bottom of the screen exits the program.  This
is a true exit.  The game is unloaded from memory when you exit.
    Taking each option of the main game menu in turn, the
“Configure” option opens a series of panels for various options. 
The first is the “Controls” panel, which lets you bind any of the
hardware or directional pad buttons to various functions:

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/controls.gif" alt="">
Controls
configuration with the controls configured for landscape orientation

size="2">    The labels for the directional pad make
sense.  The labels for the other buttons probably have meaning to
programmers, but will not inform the average user.  I really
appreciate the ability to reassign the controls, however, it would have
been even better if they could be assigned to keys on an attached
keyboard.  I was unable to do that.
    Tapping the “Cancel” button on the bottom of the
screen will restore whatever values the controls originally had and
return you to the main game menu.  Tapping “OK” will install
those values and return to the main game menu.  Tapping the left
or right triangles at the top of the screen will move to a different
configuration panel.  If you tap the right one, you’ll get “Graphics” configuration:

alt="">

    Graphics
configuration has four options.  The “View” option lets you toggle
between Portrait, Landscape1, and Landscape2 orientations. 
Landscape1 allows you to hold your Pocket PC rotated 90 degrees to the
right.  Landscape2 allows you to hold your Pocket PC rotated to
the left.
    “View Distance” sets how close the camera is while
it follows you along the track.  All the way to the left will give
you an aerial view.  All the way to the right works like a camera
attached to the car itself.
    “Texture Resolution” allows you to adjust the detail
of the rendering.  For slower Pocket PCs, you may want to set this
down a bit.  For faster ones, you can set it all the way to the
right and still get responsive game-play.
    “Enable Fog” allows fog effects on certain tracks,
obscuring upcoming details.

The next panel to the
right is the “General” configuration panel:

alt="">

    “Sound
Volume” controls the volume of various sound effects throughout the
game.  “Music Volume” controls the volume of the background
music.  While on the subject of the background music, I should say
that I found it somewhat cheesey.  It does have the appropriate
driving rythm.  (What would you expect for a racing game, but a
driving rythm?)  The notes, themselves have a Whurlitzer-like
synthesized quality that doesn’t suit my tastes.  Fortunately, you
can turn them all the way off.  The “Large Buffer” option is
useful on slower Pocket PCs so that the game-play will not outrun the
sound effects.  When that happens, the effects get clipped.
    “Default Camera” allows you to set the beginning
camera “angle” to Chase, Bumper, or Hood.  You can change the
camera from the default using the hardware key you bound to that
function in the first configuration screen.
    “Speedometer” allows you to set your speed read-out
to either Miles Per Hour, or Kilometers Per Hour.

General configuration
is the last panel in the rotation.  Returning to the main game
menu, the “Load Game” option allows you to take up where you left
off in a saved game:

alt="" border="0">

    Each saved game has
its own, user-defined title.  That makes it much easier to find
the exact saved game you want, especially if more than one person
is keeping saved games on the same Pocket PC.  I really appreciate
it when developers allow you to name files yourself.  IonFX Studios
goes a step further and allows you to delete saved games as well.

The “Replays” option
allows you to view “movies” of your successes (and failures):

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/loadReplay.gif" alt="">

    As with saved games,
replays sport user-defined names like the appropriately-named one
above.  The replays use a format that only plays within Geo Rally.  If you are much better than I am at this game and want to share your
prowess with others, you will have to find a method to capture the
video.

The final option on
the main game menu is “New Game.”  As the label suggests, this
starts you as a new driver at the beginning of your career.

style="border: 0px solid ; width: 240px; height: 320px;">
First,
you enter your driver name…

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/new-Difficulty.gif" alt="">
…then
select your difficulty level…

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/meetDenrod.gif" alt="">
…then
you get to meet Denrod.

    Denrod
explains the back-story of the game to you as well as some of the
features of the game-play.  He moves his head around and shrugs
a lot while doing so.  When he gets done, the screen switches
to the garage menu screen:

The garage menu screen
has four options and a “Back” button that is unfortunately obscured
by the background.  Tapping on the Back button returns you to
the main race menu.
    The “Configure” button takes you to the configuration
screens we just looked at.  The “Garage” button lets you select
the car you want to drive and the “paint job” on the car:

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/garage.gif" alt="">

    When you
start, you only have one selection, the Essix i1.  As you progress
through the levels and gain proficiency, you will get other vehicles
which perform better on certain tracks.
    The “Test Drive” option is also only available at
later levels when you have additional cars.  This allows you to
check out the handling on a new vehicle before taking it out in a real
race.
    The final option in the garage menu is “Race.”  This option takes you to the track selection menu:

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/trackSelection.gif" alt="">

Each of the three tracks
is available to you from the start.  Once you select the track,
the screen rotates into the stage selection:

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/stageSelection.gif" alt="">

    Only the initial “stage” is available at the beginning. 
As with the cars, you will only be allowed to select specific stages
until you have gained proficiency.  When you select your stage,
you immediately go to the track and stage selected:

alt="">

After a countdown, the
race begins:

    The
Highland and Savannah tracks are time trials.  You win if you
are able to run the course and beat the posted time.  The Mediterranean
track (shown above) pits you against three other cars.
    When you complete the race, your time and success
(or lack thereof) is shown:

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/myTime.gif" alt="">

The game then goes
into an immediate replay of your race:

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/replay.gif" alt="">

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/off-road.gif" alt="">
…including all the mistakes…

…and
culminating with Denrod’s commentary.

While watching the
replay, you can tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the replay
controls:

src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000556/review/replayControls.gif" alt="">

    The
Camera icon allows you to switch camera angles.  The Play/Pause
icon will stop and start the action.  The slider allows you to
quickly move to any point in the replay.  The Save icon allows
you to save the replay for later humiliation or bragging rights:

style="">The final control on the replay screen, the “Continue” button, stops the replay and lets you continue the game.

HELP SUPPORT

    Geo Rally 2005 has no built-in or
on-line help file.  That is a shame because I could have used a
little information on what the Power Slide option actually does.
    If you need assistance with the program, you can
also contact IonFX using href="http://www.ionfx.com/studios/contact.htm" target="_blank">their online help page.  You can also get technical support through href="http://www.ionfx.com/studios/community.htm" target="_blank"> the IonFX forums.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

    Geo Rally 2005 runs on any Pocket PC running
Windows Mobile 2003 (First or Second Edition) with a 200MHz or greater
processor speed.  The program takes 10MB of storage memory and
10MB of program memory to run.  The program memory requirement
may vary somewhat, depending on whether you use the Large Buffer sound
option.

BUGS AND WISHES

    The issues I had with the program do not qualify as bugs or errors. 
I do wish the game came with a help file which explained the various
options in the configuration panels.  I wish the game were able
to bind controls to keys on an attached keyboard.  I also wish,
for those of us who are seriously lacking in eye-hand coordination,
that IonFX Studios would add a “Rediculously Easy” and even a “Ludicrously
Easy” setting.  Lastly, it might add some fun to the program
to have some tracks taken from the real world.  I’d like to see
the Indy 500 oval and some of the Formula 1 venues as well.

PURCHASING

    Geo Rally 2005 is available for href="http://www.clickgamer.com/moreinfo.htm?pid=1701" target="_blank"> purchase from
Clickgamer Technologies for $19.99.  There is also href="http://www.clickgamer.com/download.htm?pvid=1413" target="_blank">a
level-limited trial version.

PROS

• 15 different tracks
• 30 different cars,
  each with specific performance specs
• Real-time 3D rendered
  images
• Dynamic lighting
  effects
• Realistic car
  handling and physics
• Very responsive game
  engine

CONS

• Extensive memory use
• style="font-weight: bold;">Can be difficult even in the “Very Easy” level
  

OVERALL
IMPRESSION

style="">    The gameplay
held my interest very well and the controls were quite responsive. 
They might even have been a bit too responsive for me as I consistantly
found myself going “off road.”  There is a “Sensitivity” slider
on the Controls configuration screen that helped adjust for my slow
reaction time.  From my own experience, I’d say this isn’t a
game for those lacking in that area but, even with my limitations,
I found it fun to play.
    If you want a fast-paced, responsive, racing game
with good quality, 3D rendered images and realistic car handling,
then race over to Clickgamer and download it right away.

All screen shots in
this review are taken using href="http://www.handango.com/pocketnow/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=287&jid=DB28AX992F8X249BF2F7893FFC5B673F&platformId=2&productType=2&productId=18480&sectionId=0&catalog=30" target="_blank">
SOTI’s Pocket Controller Pro