Using the Nokia N95 as a video game console
200 years ago as a teenager, I would hang around in dodgy fast food places to play arcade video games. One of the games I played was »1942«, a game which I have recently (re)discovered for my mobile phone.
In fact, I have not just been playing it on my mobile phone - I have also been using the TV-out capability of the N95 to use the phone as a video game console with my TV.
Total Air Mayhem (TAM) »1942« is pure old skool shoot 'em up - the gameplay is simply to destroy as many enemy air planes, gun positions and war ships as possible.
There really is not that much more to it - if you like shoot 'em up, »1942« is a classic which is also fun to play on the mobile. If you have a N95 (or other mobile with TV-out capability) it just gets better playing it on the TV…
Here is some video evidence:
I have two observations with regards to the experience of playing »1942« on the Nokia N95. One observation concerns the game itself, the other only pertains to the N95.
First observation: The N95 is - in part because of the fast 330 MHz CPU - pretty adept at rendering 2D/3D-graphics and it is pretty obvious that »1942« has been designed to be playable on most S60 3rd handsets. So the game does not fully exploit the capabilities of the N95 and the graphics appears somewhat low-res. A positive consequence of this is the speed and responsiveness of the game. Same issue with audio - the awesome sound and speakers of the N95 are not utilized - listen to the sound of the guns in the above video - they sound like someone beating on a cardboard box. The TV is not to blame (it is a B&O - have you heard of them?), mind you.
Second observation: The N95 keys are not designed with gaming in mind and if you have thick-ish fingers, you will get in trouble with the keys. In the heat of battle I hit the wrong key on the numeric keypad from time to time. That is not too bad, but what is worse is that I inevitably hit the »Menu«-key just left of the navigation keys on the D-pad. It happens in the video above - look towards the end. Hitting the »Menu«-key is particularly bad since you hereby exit the game. Same goes for the »Multimedia«-key just right of the navigation keys on the D-pad. The games I have played so far have fortunately all (inc. »1942«) been designed to pause if the user switches to another task. So the damage of accidentally exiting the game may not be critical, but it quickly gets very annoying exiting and re-entering the game in this way. Ruins the »flow« so to speak…
BTW: it looks as if many of these old arcade games are having - or getting - a bit of a comeback as mobile games. I have come across several.
Link: Download free "1942″ game from my collection at mosh.nokia.com (possibly a trial-version).
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January 10th, 2008 at 06:04
Pls give the license code for TAM 1942… Tnx…
January 10th, 2008 at 11:02
I only have a trial version and even if I had a license, I would not give it to you. If you like the game, buy it - it only costs something like $8…
May 19th, 2008 at 16:17
[...] am trying out TAM 1942 on my N95, using the N95’s TV-out. Used in blog posts here: http://www.gersbo.dk/2007/08/using-th…; and here: [...]