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Puzzle games for Pocket PC are pretty much an overabundance. When they are released, they usually don't cause too much of a stir. This is due to the many dull clones of Tetris, Pac-Man, etc. that are constantly released into the market. As I played through Podz, I got the feeling that many will find this puzzle game to be a lot better than the norm. It is a new game developed by Ace Pocket and their first handheld game. I must say they did a very nice job. Everything from the gameplay to the graphics and audio are very professional. The main idea behind Podz is that a stream of said podz are heading towards the "inner core". Your job is to stop them using whatever means available to you. In this case, the only thing available is the pod cannon and the power-ups that may come along. The gameplay section will explain how the game is played in a little more detail.
The graphics in Podz are no less then stellar and are very appealing to the eye. Not only do the backgrounds look very professional, but also everything from the explosions to the podz themselves scream high-quality! This is pretty apparent by just looking at the screenshots of the game. Podz also has a different background screen for practically every level. While these backgrounds follow somewhat of a general theme throughout each stage, they still differ somewhat from one another. By that I mean that in Stage 1 most of the backgrounds have an earth theme, while Stage 5 is a snow theme. At the end of each stage though (after 4 levels) you are taken back into space to battle it out!
As I mentioned before, the game also includes some nifty effects such as trails following the flying podz, cartoon-like smoke effects when you blow up a group of podz, and even shadows of the podz themselves. This keeps it interesting by offering a diversity of game related graphics. On the whole, the graphics in Podz are just plain great, and that's pretty much all that can be said about them!
From the start of Podz, the background music and other audio effects really get you hyped up and ready to go. Most of the music that I have encountered in the game has had a nice techno beat to it; this really fits quite nicely with the theme of the entire game. The levels also have the same type of techno/adventurous background music as the rest of the game. Like any well designed game, there are also many sound effects that can be heard while playing. Some examples include when you blow up sets of podz or even when you fire a pod from the cannon. Even minor things like the menu buttons flying onto the main game screen have a nice swoosh sound effect. Overall, these just help to make the game more enjoyable. I also compliment the developer on making the background tunes fairly lengthy; you don't hear the same thing constantly repeating. That can sometimes get a little old, but in Podz I haven't experienced that problem too often.
While this type of a game could have used the directional pad as a means of control, it pleases me that it doesn't. The game instead uses a mix of the stylus and the application buttons on the PDA. The stylus is used to control the pod cannon, and the application buttons are used to fire podz and switch between pod colors. The developer also included an option to change the button configuration and screen orientation (which I was very happy to see). Pocket PC's with odd control schemes, like my Axim, can be set up to control the game however you desire. Since the game runs in landscape, I use the last two application buttons. This seems to work out pretty well, but it is up to you. My only suggestion is that if you don't use a screen protector, you may want to get some before you start playing this game! There could be some potential screen scratching because of the amount of stylus movement needed to play the game. Overall, Podz has a very efficient control system.
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