LodeRunner review by Alon Ainbindar PocketPClife.co.uk

Me and lode runner go way back to the old, nearly 14 years ago, apple era. It was one of the best games I had on that rig and when I got my first pc it was also one of my fonds. No wonder I was glad I got to review this great game. And it's great, and fun like the original.

The game is a pure platformer – you have to collect all the treasures in each level to go on to the nextnone using ladders and polls. As you progress through the level you have to avoid the bad monks (or at least that what they look like) by using your special ability - creating gaps for the bad guys to fall in. Very simple, very challenging, very fun.

If there is one thing that always bothers me in an arcade game that plays on a pda - especially my ipaq 4150, is the fact you have to use the buttons and the pad, and to be honest, I don't think that the developers of the ipaq had arcade games in mind. However the guys at BallShooter had came up with a great way to control your runner, you can do it in the old fashion way meaning pad and buttons or the new way (which I prefer, heck, I think it's better then playing with the keyboard arrows!) – You just use the stylus to pinpoint where you want to go and the runner will do the shortest trip to that location.

The game flow is great. The first 3 levels are tutorials which explain the basics of the game. From there you continue and as the levels get harder you start to use special tools that widen your abilities (vertical dig, horizontal dig, etc.). The game offer 50 levels and with the Christmas addition its 90 levels of increasing challenge.

My playing device is a new ipaq 4150 and as far as i am concern this game runs great and is very stable. I play it for a couple of hours every time and never encountered a bug or a hiccup.

The graphics are nice and the animations are fluid, you can even choose the background image from numerous options (I wish they will give us the option to use custom background). The sound effects and music are really cool and add points to the game. Another important feature is the ability to select which level to play - great when you get stuck in the same level and can't complete it.

The Xmas addition contains 40 new levels, with a new holiday look and some new backgrounds. Great when you finally became an addict. No game is perfect and what bothered me a little is the lack of buttons mapping function and the absence of a speed slider so you can control the speed of the game. Those two flaws are minor and almost insignificant, my main concern is the replay value - there is just one game mode, meaning, after you completed all the levels you probably won't play anymore. I wish in the next version there will be a timed game mode, tournament (maybe even multiplayer?), user made levels and more creative modes.