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> Review :: 3D Mini-Sportbike by OmniG, Rating 3 out of 5
Sean
post Jan 19 2005, 04:12 PM
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Mini-Sportbike for SmartPhone is one of six 3D games currently available from OmniG Software. They offer two flight simulators, two road racing games, and two watersports games. Mini-Sportsbike is a 3D motorcycle racing game that lets you choose between on-road superbike racing and off road motocross racing. Lets see how these things drive...I struggled with this review at first, I sat here thinking "this game isa joke" (keep reading, this is not my conclusion), but I wasn't thinkingclearly. I was comparing it to my previous motorcycle racing gamehistory. Once I stopped trying to compare Mini-Sportbike to Motocross Madness2 and Road Rash, I realized I should be comparing this to games like old Atariand Arcade games and the other SmartPhone games. Once I got my mind straightand practiced some, I began to see the benefits and the enjoyment of the game.This one is not a small package as far as SmartPhones are concerned, it wasnearly a 3MB install but you can throw it on a storage card and you will not eatup your valuable 32 MB of RAM. This install went fine, and once installedthe game loaded with no difficulty. This is not a game you will want toplay if you only have a couple of minutes to play, there is a time commitment toload it on the MPx (and probably other smart phones too.) From clickingthe program icon to the first throttle kick on the track involves a minimum of 5clicks and just about one minute, fifteen seconds. This is really not toobad, but it does take longer that the average program to load.In the options you can select, as I said before, either sportbike or dirtbikeand then select from 13 total tracks, many different bike colors, and then getready to run.

Sportbike Tracks
  • Chicago, USA
  • Hawaii, USA
  • Hong King, China
  • Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
  • Moscow, Russia
  • Sidney, Australia
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Tulip Farm, Netherlands
Dirtbike Tracks
  • Glacier
  • Mountain
  • Oasis
  • Timberland
  • Tundra

The backgrounds are photographs and look quite nice to race in frontof. Some of the tracks are night racing also which look really great.The graphics in this, as well as all of OmniGs games, is really amazing for aphone. You will see some pretty good 3D rendering and some interestingeffects including shine off the motorcycle, shadows, and very detailed trackdecoration. The look of the game is better that any other phone game Ihave seen.The game play takes some getting used to. My learning curve was about30 minutes before I could make a lap without getting in the fence (I still am inthe grass all the time) and my lap time got quicker and quicker as I wenton. It is a little difficult for a big fingered guy like myself to playusing the directional control pad but I got used to the control and then beganto have some fun. The one control problem I had was trying to slide myfinger from up (throttle) to the upper right or left (steering) and backagain. If there wasn't a distinct up click, the throttle would be off andyou would slow to a crawl, I soon employed a more lift and press technique and Iwas back to racing again.The movement model of the bikes is fairly complex with bumps and jumpsplaying a large part of the performance of the dirtbike and it was all wellsimulated.

There are quite a few options for the game including turning the sound on andoff, and steering wheel sensitivity and video refresh rate. The settingsfor game window size and game window orientation do not have a effect on theSmartPhone version of the game (and a window pops up to tell you this). The one setting that made a real difference to me was the setting for steeringwheel sensitivity, I found high made the bikes much easier to control.There is also an on phone user manual that describes all the settings, gives drivingtips, and a FAQ.Overall I would say that this game will be a nice diversion. Theplayability is difficult at first but once you figure out how to hit the buttonsand for how long, you can start to make some lap times. The graphics areimpressive for the SmartPhone platform and there has been a lot of effort put inon the function of the game. Overall I would say that it is work the smallfee that OmniG charges for the game.Take a look at the games for sale at Handango here:* 3D Mini-Sportsbike (Motorcycle Racing)3D Mini-Jetfight (Air Combat)3D Mini-Aquabike (Watercraft Racing)3D Mini-Kayak (whitewater kayaking) 3D Mini-Dogfight (Air Combat)3D Mini-TransCanada (Car Racing)



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Sean Murphy
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Main Devices - Cingular 8125, Sony/Ericsson GC83 Edge Card, PSP, Creative ZEN PMC, iPod Nano, Mobile Crossing BT GPS
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