Well, I suppose someone must be watching, then!

I noticed today that this blog has reached 500 pageviews, not including my own. A tiny number compared with many blogs, obviously, but I'm actually fairly pleased: given the size of the GP2X community these days, I wondered at first whether anybody was going to look in! I certainly intend to keep going, not least because I have several hundred original games I still haven't reviewed!

(The occasional comment would be nice, though. Anyone?)

Game review: River Crossing

River Crossing
Genre: Misc
Author: Dr_Ian
OHH download: v1 (08/03/07)
Size: 0.8 MB
Licence: Freeware

Description
This is a simple game reminiscent of those old Game & Watch handheld machines. You control a man who has to get across a river while avoiding obstacles -- shades of Frogger there. All you can do is to jump forward, but the key to the game is in the timing, as rocks may be slippy (requiring you to pause until you gain your balance) or sink (requiring speed) and you may be knocked over by swans and debris floating down the stream!

You start off with five lives, but you lose one every time you fall into the river. If you succeed in your crossing, you gain a life, though you can't go above the original five. There is a basic cheat mode -- pressing Start while on the first level will skip forward ten levels. However, if you activate this mode, your score display will note that you have been cheating!

Addictiveness: 7
I could see some people rating this higher than that, actually, as there's a definite "one more go..." factor at play here. Once you get past about the first dozen levels, there's a lot of frustration to be had as you get swept into the stream just short of your goal.

Depth: 5
For the first few levels you're discovering new obstacles, but after that it's really just a case of things getting more and more difficult. Game & Watch games weren't designed to be deep and complex, and neither is River Crossing.

Controls: 6
Extremely simple: you press Start to begin, B to jump and L to quit. That last option is unusual, and I don't personally like it that much as the way I hold my GP2X means that I can occasionally press it by mistake. As there's no confirmation dialog, it can cause problems. B is certainly the best choice for movement, though.

Graphics: 8
I rather like these, and they give a nice sense of the old machines. I particularly like the way in which non-active symbols are still faintly visible (as on the original LCD) and the attention to detail shown by the startup, when (again, as with the old games) every symbol lights up at once as a brief test mode, with your score showing as "888" in seven-segment display numerals.

Sound: 4
This scores poorly, despite having a suitably nostalgic bleepy feel, because not only is it far too loud through headphones, there doesn't seem to be any way to turn it down; even the standard volume buttons don't work. That's really very disappointing, and makes the game slightly but significantly less enjoyable.

Documentation: 6
Nothing in the game itself; a readme which is fairly brief but covers all the necessary details.

Completeness: 7
The core game is largely complete. It badly needs a volume control, and a level select other than cheat mode (maybe via a password system) would be good for experienced players, but otherwise anything to be added would be window-dressing.

Overall: 6
River Crossing is a likeable game, and one which I mostly enjoyed playing. There are rather too many niggles for a game given a v1 version number, that sound problem especially, but it's nevertheless worth a look if you're a Game & Watch fan.

The recent past -- stats and thoughts

On the left of the OHH page you can see a list of the most recent 50 files uploaded. At the time of writing the latest was the PocketSNES update (to v7.2.0) from 16 April -- which, incidentally, makes a substantial difference to speed on my GP2X, although it does always crash on exit, requiring a reboot. The 50th most recent was the FX00 Battery Meter from 30 June last year -- so the software drought since mid-April means that we're almost up to the year mark.

Let's break those figures down a bit. For each complete month in that time (ie July 2010 to March 2011 inclusive) the number of uploads is as follows: 4, 7, 4, 11, 2, 6, 4, 6. I'm not sure you can really infer too much from that sequence, other than that there's never been huge activity during the period. So, how about comparing with the other consoles covered by OHH? The last 50 uploads have taken the following time:

GP32: 1,115 days
GP2X: 347 days
Wiz: 237 days
Caanoo: 90 days
Zodiac: 226 days
Dingoo: 209 days
Pandora: 76 days

Let's be honest, it's not going to surprise any of us that GP2X development has slowed a great deal recently. It's just rather brought home seeing it in stark numerical terms like that. I'm sure there will be more GP2X releases, but there probably won't be very many of them: it'll only be the real enthusiasts who stay interested in the system with so much else available now. So, for the most part we'll have to make do with what we have, and accept that an awful lot of the niggles and bugs that have been advertised as "will be fixed in next release!" won't in fact ever be. That's a major part of the reason I have a "Completeness" score in my game reviews.

Talking of which... thanks for wading through these turgid ramblings. By way of reward, I promise that the next post here will indeed be a game review! I haven't decided what it will be yet, but I have a few candidates in mind. (Incidentally, I will consider requests to review specific games.)

PS: I don't know who you are, but hello to the person who came here via the Wall Street Journal! As it's behind a paywall, I can't see the article you arrived from, but it certainly adds a bit of tone to this place. *grins*

A little tweak

I've changed things so that if you click on the thumbnail above a game review, it'll now appear double size, ie 640x480 pixels. The original size of 320x240 looks pretty titchy on a modern monitor, so hopefully this will help to make things a bit clearer.

Game review: Castle of Dr. Malvado

Castle of Dr. Malvado
Genre: Jump and Run
Author: Eclipse
OHH download: v?.?? (12/01/08)
Size: 4.1 MB
Licence: "None" (?)

Description
First, note that I'm going by the title used on the OHH page, but the title in-game is The Castle of Dr. Malvado. In this review I'll just call it Malvado for simplicity's sake. Anyway, this is a port of an old DOS side-scrolling game, via the GP32. It has much the same object as most of these games: collect coins (or whatever they're supposed to be) and either avoid or squish monsters as you make your way through the levels.

Addictiveness: 7
My main problem with Malvado is its toughness; this one seems to be aimed at old-skool gamers who have the superb reactions and skills needed to get very far. It took me a long time before I even managed to get beyond the first couple of minutes without dying, something it's extremely easy to do: falling in the water will do it, for example, as will being stung by a wasp. It's a nice enough game to keep me coming back, but the first level is a lot harder, even early on, than the equivalent in any Super Mario game.

Depth: 6
It's pretty rare for any side-scrolling platformer to be astounding in this category; Super Mario World has a claim to be, but then that's among the greatest of all console games, in whatever genre, and Malvado doesn't quite measure up to that mighty opposition. There are bits and pieces to discover as you move along the levels (not least which bits of scenery you can stand on!) but the running and jumping come first.

Controls: 7
You start the game with Start (something which seems surprisingly rare!) and the stick moves you around. The only other control is jump, for which you can use either A or Select; I'd personally find B more comfortable, but you can't redefine the layout. Pressing L+R together will quit, without a conformation screen. There doesn't seem to be a pause control, which is unusual and irritating.

Graphics: 8
The first thing you notice, apart from the cheerful (and Spanish!) credits pages, is that the game doesn't fill the screen: this is because the original DOS graphics were 320x200, and that resolution is used here too. It's mildly irritating, but nothing you can't get used to. A shame it wasn't centrally "letterboxed" rather than being shoved up the top, though I don't know how easy that would have been to program.

The actual graphic design is very good. Malvado is a really attractive, bright and colourful game, quite reminiscent of the look of some 16-bit console titles. Scrolling and animation generally is excellent and smooth, and it's easy to distinguish between different items. The only real problem (though it may be deliberate design) is that you often lose your character behind grass, signs etc, thus increasing the risk of losing a life.

Sound: 7
Not bad at all. Although (as usual) it's a bit too loud for headphones users straight off, you can easily turn that down with the normal volume controls. The main music is a jaunty little number which is clearly based on some nursery rhyme, TV theme or similar that I simply can't bring to mind right now. The tune used for the actual gameplay is different, but similarly bouncy and vaguely forgettable. Sound effects are okay without being stunning: bloops when you collect coins, screams when you die, etc.

Documentation: 3
Malvado falls down rather badly here: the readme tells you a fair bit about the port, but nothing at all about the game, other than how to quit -- and even that isn't quite right: it states that L+R+stick will quit, but actually L+R alone will do it, at least on my F100. There's no documentation whatever in-game, though to be fair it's not really needed.

Completeness: 7
The core game is fine, and my only complaints with it are that it's too hard; that's partly down to my lack of skill at games like this, though, and isn't a completeness issue as such. The documentation could do with considerable improvement (like actually having any to speak of...) and localisation of the credits, level screens and so on into English would have been nice.

Overall: 7
Malvado is a good example of a game that looks really nice, has obviously had plenty of work put into it and does most of the basics right, but which doesn't quite have that something extra to lift it above the "pretty good" and into the realms of the truly great. I'd prefer a less unforgiving difficulty level early on, a bit more clarity about where to stand and much better documentation. I could see a tweaked version of this game scoring 8 or 9 without too much trouble, but this is merely a solid 7.

So much still to do...

I've had my GP2X for a couple of months now, and I'm still barely scratching the surface. For example, there are a number of emulators I haven't even downloaded (Atari 7800, Wonderswan, Neo Geo) and quite a few more I've barely tried beyond checking that they work -- even the C64 comes into this category. And, the focus of this blog being native GP2X games, there are hundreds and hundreds of those still to be tested. For all it has its flaws (and you'd have to be in extreme denial to claim otherwise) the GP2X is an extraordinarily lovable little machine.

Game review: Chess2X

Chess2X
Genre: Board
Author: ParkyDR
OHH download: v0.4 (28/12/07)
Size: 8.7 MB
Licence: GPL (see below)

Description
This is a chess program (surprised?) using the popular GNU Chess engine and XBoard. I wasn't entirely certain about the licensing, as there wass no specific mention of which licence the program has in its documentation, but ParkyDR has confirmed that it's GPL; this is mentioned explicitly in the source listing. At any rate, this is very much aimed at people who simply want a game of chess without too much extra paraphernalia.

You can choose to play against the CPU (as either white or black) or to use the program simply as an electronic board to record the movements of two players. While playing, a graphical display shows the location of the last piece moved by your opponent, and a side display gives a summary of the game so far in standard algebraic notation. It's possible to take back your last move, and the CPU can be told to give you a hint.

Addictiveness: 7
This really depends on how interested you are in chess. As there aren't that many bells and whistles, it's a case of "if you like the game, you'll like this". Since I do like chess, I'm rating Chess2X fairly highly here!

Depth: 9
There are 10 difficulty levels, which seems a fair number. On the lowest setting the game is a bit of a pushover for all but the very weakest players, but if you push the level to the top it's likely to make even a good club player sweat. Chess, of course, has plenty of depth of its own, and so this is a game which is not likely to pall.

Controls: 6
In the menus there's a useful strip at the bottom of the screen telling you what different buttons do. In the game itself, it's as simple as can be: the stick moves the highlight square around, while B selects and moves your chosen piece. Start quits (after an "Are you sure?") but this is not stated on the board screen itself. X will force the GP2X to move; useful, as in the higher levels it can otherwise take ages to do so! The controls do feel slightly "sticky" at times, though; that's why this category scores only 6.

Graphics: 6
Quite a nice "crazy paving" background in the menus. The game board is, by default, a very plain black-and-white affair with simple symbols. I like it that way, but if you don't you can customise it to some extent: there are three other skins to choose from in the main menu. The symbols stay as they are, but the board colours change; the "wood" option is probably the nicest. Red, green and yellow highlights on squares show the plain cursor, a selected piece and the last piece moved respectively; simple but it works. The board doesn't quite fit the screen; there's an irritating messy line down the right-hand side.

Sound: 2
A rather nasty "blip" every time you move, and a nearly as nasty "bloop" when a piece is taken. I'd much prefer to play in silence, but the volume controls don't work.

Documentation: 5
Very little in the game. The provided readme is little more than a list of button commands, but that should get you going. It won't teach you to play chess, but I wouldn't expect it to.

Completeness: 6
This is v0.4, and in truth it sometimes feels like it. The program itself works, and you can play a decent game against the console. What's missing is polish: the default move/take sounds are horrible, the "sticky controls" thing is a pain and it doesn't seem possible to quit merely to the menu instead of completely. Another problem is poor "common sense" -- if you try to move an opponent's pawn to the top of its column, Chess2X will ask you what piece you want to promote it to and only then tell you you've made an illegal move!

Overall: 6
This is the first chess program I've tried on the GP2X, and to be honest I wasn't blown away by it. That's not to say it's terrible, because it isn't -- its solid score is testament to that -- but it could have been a good deal better. It's a shame that development ceased at this point, because I suspect v1.0 of Chess2X might have been a very good game indeed.

Update 18 Jun 2011: As well as confirming Chess2X's GPL status, Parky2X has mentioned a couple of other points, for which many thanks. First, during a game "Select" will allow you to quit or save a game. Second, pressing A will launch an audio player, but there's not enough CPU free for anything beyond low bit-rate files. Finally, the move_sound and take_sound files can be edited (or deleted) to change (or remove) those beeps.