Windows Phone Thoughts: Gilbert Goodmate v1.06 reviewed

Saving, Loading and Other Things
At some point, you will want to save the game. No, honest, you will. You may think that you are going to just start playing and keep on going but this game is big (had I mentioned that before?) and I really don't think you are going to be able to complete this game in one sitting. Apart from anything else, you may just want to save occasionally in case your Pocket PC decides you need a break and stops working.

Pressing up on the D-pad brings up the game control interface, as shown in Figure 13. If you press up by mistake, you can tap on "Back".


Figure 13: Control interface.

Tapping on "Save" changes the interface to that shown in Figure 14. From here, you can scroll up and down the existing game entries or you can scroll down to the bottom and enter a new save name. I found the scroll bar a bit hard to see and it took me far too long that you could have almost as many saved games as you liked because the scroll bar didn't make it clear that you could keep on adding new save slots.

The only restriction that is placed on you with regard to saving is that you cannot do it part way through an ongoing conversation. This is to prevent the game from saving a position that cannot be returned to later on.


Figure 14: Saving a game.

The converse action, loading a game, gives you the interface shown in Figure 15. As with saving a game, you can scroll up and down the slots. Tapping on a slot causes the image for that stage of the game to be displayed as a reminder of where you got to. I should point out that I used a really boring naming scheme of incremental numbers, which is why my saved games are called 38, 39, 40, etc. (apart from NOTVERYFAR which I did for this review).


Figure 15: Loading a previously saved game.

Apart from saving & loading, you can also quit the game, turn the speech text (a.k.a. subtitles) on or off, or change the game from right to left handed. You also have control over how loud the music, speech and sound effects are. Like the music and the speech, the sound effects really do add to the ambience of the game.

Conclusions
By now, you've probably gathered that I enjoyed playing this game. Z-Logics have done a great job of porting the game from the PC. The graphics look stunning, the sound really adds to the game and the puzzles, although tricky in places, are pitched just about right.

This game is heaps of fun. It helps if you've got a wacky sense of humour, but it isn't compulsory. In case you haven't realised by now, the game is big and should keep even experienced adventurers busy for several days-worth of solid playing. Let's hope there is a sequel.