Tetriabetes v1.43 Review

Tetriabetes is a Tetris clone. If you don't know what Tetris is then I'll explain what it is but you also need to crawl out from under that rock you've been under for the past 10 years. Tetris is a puzzle game in which you try to position differently shaped blocks, which fall from the top of the screen, to create rows. These rows then disappear and you continue to place the blocks until your stack reaches the top and you lose.

Tetriabetes v1.43 is far and beyond the best Tetris clone I have played on the PSP. Dragula96 has done a fine job of recreating the Tetris experience with accurate controls and block movements. An added feature is a "ghost" block which shows you where you are going to place the real block. Dragula96 had some help from littlevish in creating very nice graphics. The game music is a little hardcore but I like metal and it seems to go along with the game quite well. The only suggestion I have would be to make the "ghost" block more transparent because when things get frantic sometimes I get focused on the "ghost" and don't realize that it isn't the real block and misplace the real block. Maybe that's just my own problem, but it would be easier to distinguish between the two if the "ghost" looked less like the real block. If you enjoy Tetris then you'll be very happy with Tetriabetes. Well done Dragula96.

Breakthrough: An Inventors Tale Review

Breakthrough: An Inventors Tale is an award winning breakout clone which has been out for a long time but if you are new to the homebrew scene you may not have heard about it. Bounce the ball off of your paddle to break all the blocks and advance to the next level. Sounds easy right?











Breakthrough is by far the best breakout clone I have played. The art is excellent. Graphics, sound, and controls are very good as well. KleptoOne has even created a story to go along with the game. This game is unique to other breakout games in that you can control the ball in flight. The left and right shoulder buttons move the ball left and right which allows you to curve around corners or break that one block that is hard to get to. There are many walls and obstacles in the game which make it quite challenging. KleptoOne has also included some levels where you aren't breaking blocks but are gunning for "the bad guy", Reynoldo. There are also a couple of mini-games included.



The only complaint I have is that the level difficulty doesn't seem to progress quite how you would expect so get used to seeing the screen shot above. Playing through the game as a whole the difficulty increases but from one level to the next the difficulty fluctuates. For me level 2 was much harder than level 3. If you like breakout games then this is one you have to play. This is going on my "Best Homebrew" list.

Polygunwars version 0.4

I did a head-to-head between Trigonometry Wars and Polygunwars v0.2 soon after ahrimanes released it. Here is an impressive update to the Geometry Wars clone. Polygunwars v0.4 is only available for 3.xx cfw.
Some of the major improvements are:

• main menu
• take screen shot with select button
  
• improved graphics
• improved enemy spawning/added enemies
  
• improved scoring system including hi score table
• improved collisions

These advances among others have really brought this game into it's own. One problem that I found after a short time playing is that there is a significant "slow down" or lag in the game which I can not account for. I assume it is due to the number of enemies/graphics which are displayed at one time because it only happens later in the game when things get busy. I suspect this is a coding problem and may be a relatively easy fix.

Even with the lag problem, this is a major step forward over the version I played a while back.

Well done ahrimanes!

site/download

Trigonometry Wars versus Polygun Wars

First off, I want to congratulate both 71M and ahrimanes for creating excellent clones of Geometry Wars. One strange thing is that both seem to be a combination of the original GW and GW: Retro Evolved. Since this is a head to head comparison there must be a winner and by the time I conclude this post it will be obvious who that is.

Trigonometry Wars:
by 71M







Trigonometry Wars (TW) final version was released on Aug. 19, 2006 so it is a little dated but stands the test of time. TW is only available for the 1.5 kernel.

Controls:
They respond the way you would expect. The SELECT button allows you to switch between 3 different control schemes: Original, Analog fire, and Analog thrust.

• Original mode:
  
• Analog stick: Steering
• Left shoulder: Thrust
• Right shoulder: Fire
• Triangle: Destroys all enemies on screen
• Analog Fire mode:
• Analog stick: Fire
  
• Cross: Thrust down
• Square: Thrust left
• Triangle: Thrust up
• Circle: Thrust right
• Left and Right shoulder: Destroys all enemies on screen
• Analog Thrust mode:
• Analog stick: Thrust/Steering
• Cross: Fire down
• Square: Fire left
• Triangle: Fire up
• Circle: Fire right
• Combining two Fire buttons will shoot diagonal; IE: Triangle and Circle fires diagonally up and right.
  
• Left and Right shoulder: Destroys all enemies on screen

Graphics:
The graphics in TW are pretty good. The colors seem a little bland but sufficient. The net background is done very well. It will distort with movement, bullets, explosions, etc. very accurately.

Sound Effects and Music:
Nothing impressive but fit the game quite well.

Game play:
I have played this game several hours and it is fun but a little hard. I believe there are four main enemies:

• Violet Pinwheels: Dumb and lazy. This enemy just wanders around the screen with no purpose waiting to be shot.
  
• Blue Squares: Dumb and slow. This enemy follows your ship but gets in no hurry.
  
• Pink Squares: Dumb and fast. This enemy also follows your ship but is much faster and will tend to take the shortest route possible to get to you. There are two sizes small and large. This makes it interesting because the small Pinks are harder to hit.
  
• Green Squares: Smart and fast. This enemy is the same as Pinks except they will dodge your bullets.

There may also be an enemy similar to gravity wells in the original GW. I caught glimpses of a grew circular thing but could never live long enough to investigate.

You have a set number of lives and bombs but as you progress through the game more lives and bombs are earned.

Artificial Intelligence:
AI was quite good, I was pleasantly surprised. The Green Squares are the most impressive, dodging your shots with great agility.

You need to try this game. It is quality homebrew but the graphics are nowhere near the quality Geometry Wars.

Polygun Wars:
by ahrimanes





Polygun Wars v.02 (PW) was released for 1.xx and 3.xx on Nov. 17, 2007. This recent release is the reason I decided to check out and compare these two clones. I thought there must be some improvements that ahrimanes had made to release another Geometry Wars clone. I was wrong but this is only v.02 so hopefully ahrimanes will continue to work on this game because it is a great start.

I have a few problems with this game:

• First, there is no splash page to start the game. When you start the game it throws you into the game without warning.
• Second, there is no way to pause the game. Pressing start exits the game without warning or notice. If you have to scratch your nose you are dead because this game is much faster paced than Trig Wars (more on that later).
• Third, stats are in what I believe is Spanish. An English version would be good.
  

Controls:
There is only one control scheme in PW. In Trig Wars it is called Analog Thrust (see above). I don't mind only having this control setup because it is the one I prefer, other people may disagree. The analog controls are flawless. They perform accurately and as expected. The left shoulder controls the bomb which destroys all enemies but it doesn't work. The net background distorts and there is a lot of sparks but when the light show is over the enemies are still there. Right shoulder does nothing.

Graphics:
Between TW and PW, I prefer the graphics in PW. The color of the sprites are more vibrant. The net background bends and flexes like TW but when your ship explodes the net blends to red where your ship used to be. This is a nice touch not found in TW. The enemy explosions are more colorful and similar to Geometry Wars.

Sound Effects and Music:
As with TW the music is appropriate to the game. My preference leans towards PW for its sound effects.

Game play:
Polygun Wars is a much faster paced game than Trig Wars. Your ship and the enemies move faster which makes for a game with a little more tension.

PW only has two enemies that I have found:

• Violet Pinwheels: Same as TW. Dumb and lazy.
  
• Blue Diamonds: Similar to the Blue Squares in TW. Dumb but faster. The diamonds come after you but are much faster than the Blue Squares.
  

That's it. Only two enemies. I hope the lack of enemies is due to this being v.02. I believe that the increased speed of PW will become a problem in future versions assuming new enemies will be faster and smarter.

Artificial Intelligence:
The AI is adequate. With only two enemies and the pinwheels having no intelligence there isn't much AI to worry about yet.

This is worth trying, it is fun but needs some work. An option to pause the game is essential; a splash screen, more enemies, and English stats would be nice. To his credit ahrimanes states on QJ forums that he plans to work on some of these problems.

Final Word:
If you were only going to have one Geometry Wars clone on your memory stick then it would have to be Trigonometry Wars. Polygun is doing well but has a long way to go. I will update with new info when later versions of Polygun are released.