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November 10, 2003
Mini-Review: 'Stuntcar Extreme' for Tapwave Zodiac
The only noteworthy app included with the Tapwave Zodiac handheld gaming device is Stuntcar Extreme or SCE. Mini-screenshots (about 1/3 scale) of SCE are shown to the right.
The game is basically just a racing game. It is replete with different racing modes. Quick Race gives you just a single race starting immediately once you select which car and which track you want to use. Tournament allows you to join an online tournament with rankings and what-not -- this feature isn't yet activated because the online portion isn't up.
Championship mode is where you get to compete against virtual opponents for points and prizes. Of course, you can also go head-to-head and race for cars -- if you win, you get access to use your opponent's vehicle in future races.
Finally, there's Multiplayer mode -- this is a Bluetooth-enabled head-to-head one-on-one race mode. Unfortunately, I don't know anybody else locally with a Zodiac, so I haven't been able to try this mode (am dying to though!).
One of the more interesting aspects of SCE is how it integrates into the Palm Desktop application. A conduit sucks down your lap and race times to the desktop each time you Hotsync your device. Then, if you've told it to, it will upload these times/scores to the server automatically -- no extra logging in or website visiting necessary. Very cool.
Playability is important, of course. I've found the game to be very easy to grasp yet a challenge to get really good at -- this isn't a game you're going to master in a few hours. I've only made it to the second Championship level, and the courses there are incredibly difficult (is it even possible to make it all the way through Rollercoaster without tumbling off the track?!?).
The game is not bug-free, however. Even though Vasara Games has made available an update to SCE (get Stuntcar Extreme v1.1 here), I've experienced multiple fatal errors, each requiring a soft reset of the device. Of course, Palm OS is robust enough that no info is lost -- restarting the game takes me right back to where I was in terms of rankings and points. A few other folks have also experienced these fatal errors. I was told by Vasara rep Samuli Syvahuoko that all bug reports for SCE should be submitted directly to Tapwave rather than Vasara.
Anyway, I'm hooked on Stuntcar Extreme (like I need yet another way to spend my time). Good going, guys!
Comments
Please post (if you figure out) waht causes these bugs and how to stop them (if there is one).
Posted by: Jake Klein at November 11, 2003 5:54 PM
I'm working with the folks at Tapwave about it and will post any fixes or solutions that they might come up with.
Posted by: Craig at November 11, 2003 7:48 PM