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Epocware recently released 4 games for the Nokia 9210. These games were 15, Checkers, Reversi and Lines. There are review of all four in the reviews section.

Lines

Of the four recently released Epocware games Lines is the only one without a famous history already behind it. You wont find this in your Christmas Cracker (15) nor do find large online communities playing it (Reversi & Checkers), but that doesn't mean its a bad game. In fact I suspect many will find this the pick of the bunch, simply because it something new and ingenious.

The basic rule of the game is that once you line up 5 balls if the same colour they will vanish (leaving behind blank space). The aim of the game is to remove as many balls as possible (you get one point for each one removed) before the board fills up completely with other balls. The playing of the game is divided into two stages which happen repeatedly over and over until the end of the game.

First you select a ball (by using the arrow keys to move around the grid), you then select where you want to move it to (using the arrow keys once again). Once you have done this the second stage occurs (unless by moving the ball you made a line in which case you get another stage one go). For every ball that you move 3 more are added. Thus unless you are removing balls the grid will fill up very quickly. There are a few caveats though, you can only move a ball between two places that have a direct line between them (thinking of it as having a path that the ball can be pushed along). While this doesn't have much effect early in the game the more the grid fills the more important it becomes. The corners seem to fill up very quickly, always trapping the ball you need to finish your line. The balls being added will also appear at random places and can thus upset your line that you are just about to make disappear by arriving in the middle of it.

The game ends once all the space have been filled. Apart from the board your current score is displayed on the left and optionally the next three colours that are going to 'drop' into the grid. If you take a note of these you can give yourself a higher points score by thinking tactically. For example getting four colours in a line when you know another of that colour is about to appear - if your lucky it will even appear in the right place. Once you made a line disappear you get an extra go of moving another ball.

As with all Epocware games the user interface can not be faulted its nice and easy to use, but is not over-featured.

Everything is very intuitive and its unlikely you will even need to look at the help file, which is clear if not very long.

You can make the game hadrer or easier by selecting to show next colours, and the sound can be turned off. Sound is something missing from many PDA games, but in Lines along with the little animation's when moving and watching vanishing balls it adds to that professional feel that seems to permeate the game.

OK its not an action 3D game, but you get the impression that someone has put in a lot of effort to this game, and the result is something which is genuinely fun and addictive. It reminds me of Cascade for the Revo which became quite a success with people exchanging high scores, something which this game will also allow.

One of the things I have mentioned in reviews of other programs is the registration system. Epocware have an excellent approach. Once you have registered (which you can do online) they will send you a registration key which you use in conjunction with your name. This means even if you do get a new machine (which some people seem to have to rather a lot) you dont need to reregister. At $10 it is also excellent value. The demo is exactly the same as the full game, except that it is time limited, this is by far the best way if limiting shareware program because people can get a real feel for it and the program isn't crippled in anyway. The try before you buy principal of shareware is often prasied, but I will do so here, its really nice to see authors letting their users try out the programs first. And remember if you do like it register it - it will encourage more software development.

With Lines Epocware add some originality to their line up and for people who aren't brilliant at games like Checkers (like me!) it bring a welcome dose of fun to 9210!

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