Written By: Victor aka Tangent from Fist Full of Comics and Games

Genre: Action
Publisher: In-Fusio
Developer: Dynamite Mobile, Ltd
Platform: Mobile devices (Java)
ESRB Rating: N/A
Release Date: 01.20.2006

I received my first video game for Christmas, back in 1978,which was a new Mattel handheld game. Most of my friends received the Basketball or Football or even Hockey games. Thankfully, my mother got me the Battlestar Galatica Space Alert game. (Mostly so she could play it, it turns out.) These hand-held games were state-of-the-art technology, for the time, and the precursor to Game Boys, Palm Pilots and the like. They really just were a bunch of lights (LEDs) with a few controls but we were all amazed at the time. Now, they look so primitive compared to today’s standards.

Recently, while at the doctor’s office waiting to see my doctor, I downloaded the new Battlestar Galatica mobile game based on the re-imagined Battlestar Galatica show now on the Sci-Fi channel. I’d been looking for a game to play on my shiny new Motorola Razr phone and was thrilled to find out the Battlestar game was available.

Reviewer’s Slant

I should point out that I cannot be classified a video gamer by any means. I had an original Atari system and my now ex-wife bought me the original Nintendo system when it first came out but I never really progressed past the first Legend of Zelda. I have a PS2, but after spending 8-10 hours on a computer making medical photographs look somewhat less gross, my wrists are in no shape to mess with video games as much as I would like. (The PS2 does make a great DVD player though.)

Story

The game picks up right before the Cylon attack on the Galactica. You are a newbie Viper pilot and Lt. Kara Tharce (Starbuck) guides you through your missions fending off Cylon raiders, collecting surviving colonists, gathering supplies, and etc.

Game Play

The game is in eagle eye point-of-view over your viper as you fly your missions. You are given a primary objective and a secondary objective to complete each mission in a certain time frame. The first sets of missions are fairly simple to accomplish but the game-play gets faster and more intense as your advance through the missions.

Controls seem standard for a mobile phone game, 4-key is left, 6-key is right, 5-key fires lasers, etc. The controls did take me while to get used to but I imagine a more experienced gamer would not have an issue. Surprisingly, playing games on my phone does not cause my wrist issue to flair-up but I find myself holding the screen pretty close to my face while playing. I might need an eye doc appointment now.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics look fairly smooth on my Razr considering the small screen size. In reality, the graphics are probably no different that the graphics for the old NES or SNES consoles, but on a mobile phone, they seem fairly impressive. The sound effects can be a little loud and slightly annoying but I just turned down the sound and that solved the issue. The nurse in the doctor’s office kept giving me odd looks anyway.

Final Thoughts

I have really enjoying play this game on my phone and am thinking about getting the PS2 version, bad wrists be damned. I’m sure the PS2 version is a bit more complex though. Since downloading the Battlestar game to my phone, I’ve more than enjoyed the time whittled away on the game in various meetings and while waiting line for this or that. Time before I would have just wasted surfing the Internet. For the money spent ($4.99 on T-Mobile) vs. entertained time, I would highly recommend the game.