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Sunshine Dice Palace
.: By:
Corn Bread :: Device
used:
iPAQ H3630
:: January 17, 2002 :.
Puzzle games is one of the most popular genres
for handhelds, but game makers seem to be running out of ideas as most puzzle
games are simply rehashes and imitations of popular titles that have gone
before. Here, however, is a semi-original game as it incorporates two separate
game concepts into one game,
Sunshine Dice Palace.
Sunshine Dice Palace
is a sort of a hybrid puzzle game, a cross between the dice game Yachtzee
and the famous falling brick game, Tetris. Six sided dice will fall one
by one filling up the screen, which in order to remove from the screen, you must
arrange horizontally or vertically following the combinations in Yachtzee games
(Straight, Full House, 4 of a kind, etc.). Once you have made use of a
combination, it becomes unavailable until the next level. The level is finished
once you have created all of the possible Yachtzee combinations and any left
over dice will be carried over to the next level.
The game certainly looks extremely good. From the well-animated intro screen to
the backdrops and falling dice,
Sunshine Dice Palace
simply screams of eye candy. I was very impressed to see high quality graphics
used in a puzzle game. The dice drop smoothly and I really like the disappearing
effect the dice make when you form a hand.
Too bad, though, there is only one backdrop
available throughout the game. It would have been nice if the backdrop would
randomly change every few minutes, or perhaps once you had conquered a level. As
beautiful as it is, it gets a little boring to look at after a few hours of
playing it.
There is ambient music that plays in the
background, which is really appropriate for a game like this. I liked the music,
which was very relaxing and not irritating to listen to. In case it doesn't
agree with you, however, there is an in-game control to turn the music off.
There are no other added special sound effects in the game; the dice fall and
disappear silently. A high score chart is also available in the game, plus you
can also send your high scores to the
Sunshine Dice Palace
website and have them posted there.
The controls are handled by the device's joypad - there is no option to
customize the controls or even use the stylus to control the dice. This, of
course, is really a non-issue, as the game is really quite simple and doesn’t
need the ability to customize the controls. For those of you who are not
familiar with the game Yachtzee, fear not, there is a very well written set of
rules and instructions included in the game. Combine that with the simple
controls and you’ll be able to play this game in no time.
As much as I love the way this game looks, the
combination of Yachtzee and Tetris in this game is simply not enough to have me
play this for hours.
Sunshine Dice Palace has only one game mode and, as you progress further
into the game, the only difference is that the dice fall faster. There’s no
insane combos to set up or power-ups that you can look forward to in this game;
you simply keep doing the same thing over and over again. The game is just too
simple, and not challenging enough to entertain.
There are no options available in the game
other than the music on/off setting; there isn’t even a difficulty level
selector. The game only costs $9.99, but for $9.99, I expected a little bit
more. As it stands right now, I feel that
Sunshine Dice Palace
would have been a good game if only the developer had put more thought into
adding some more options, game variations and surprises into the game. In its
present incarnation, I find it pretty boring.
Sunshine Dice Palace
is available for all major Pocket PC's and can be installed in either the main
RAM or onto a storage card. The game requires 540 KB of storage space.
Pros:
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Gorgeous graphics.
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Good background music.
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Good documentation.
Cons:
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PocketGamer.org
score: |
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.: Game category:
Action
& Arcade Games :: Reviews
Index :.
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