When I was a kid I used to play Battleship quite often. You all remember the game with little plastic pegs that you used to mark your hits and misses as you shot at your opponent's battleships. That game was a blast back then and Handmark has implemented this favorite for the PDA. With both Palm OS and Pocket PC versions of this popular game Handmark has done a great job with its implementation.
I tested the Pocket PC version of this game on a HP iPAQ 2215 running Windows Mobile 2003. The install was easy and took only a few seconds. When I launched the game I was surprised how great the screen looked. It's colorful and very easy to look at and quite frankly, it blew me away. With the great visuals comes sounds too. I played against the computer and that was a breeze to setup. Basically there is no setup, you just start playing.
I deployed my ships and started firing. It was really that easy. The computer made me feel good as it missed its first several shots but I sson realized that there are different levels of play and I was playing the lowest level. There is a harder level where the computer will be more accurate.
You can have the screens advance automatically or manually if you wish, and you can switch back and forth between your ships and your firing grid so you're always aware of where you are in the game.
When you get tired of playing against the computer you can play against a friend through an IR connection, or even over the Internet. How cool is that?
I give this version of Battleship the pdaBlast! Top Pick award. I can't say enough about how great this game is. This may be in fact, my most favorite game I've played so far. The graphics are great, the sound is good, and Handmark has stayed close to the classic Battleship game that I played as a child. At $19.99 it's a deal and you'll get hours of enjoyment out of it. If you commute via public transportation or you find yourself waiting in airports a lot, get this game. It will definitely help you pass the time. Great job Handmark!
Features:
Single player against computer AI
Two levels of AI (Normal and Hard) Multi-player
Multi-device play via IR and TCP/IP
Chat room interaction prior to game, when using multi-device play
Traditional game play with alternating single shots
Salvo game variant with number of shots determined by the number of ships remaining in each player's fleet
Adjustable game volume and speed
Rich media graphical help system
Realistic game sounds
Statistics presented at the end of the game
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