Windows Phone Thoughts: The Most Fun You Can Have in a Warehouse! - Resco's Sokoban reviewed

Are There Any Downsides?
As with even the best games out there, there are always downsides. Sokoban has three very minor problems.

The first is the music. While it creates an excellent atmosphere, it's just too repetitive. A good option for the future would either be a music select option, or the ability to play a folder of mp3s in rotation or even play playlists out of Windows Media Player. Anything to break up the monotony. Even good music can get tiresome after awhile.


Figure 5: The level yours truly is hopelessly stuck on.

The second is the speed at which the difficulty in this game ramps up from easy to impossible. I'll readily admit I'm not the smartest guy ever, but I've been stuck on Level 10 of the second set of levels (the one that the screenshot above is from) for weeks to the point where I may give up on it altogether. I understand that game difficulty is part of what makes a game replayable, but this might be a bit too much too quickly. That brings us to a related third problem, which is that there's no hint system. I understand that this game is somewhat non-linear, but a hint system would be a blessing when you're about to jump out a window while struggling with a level.

I guess that's open to everyone's tastes (and brainpower!), honestly, so do play the demo before you take my word on it.

Worthy of Note
Resco.net, on its website, has made available 3 extra characters for the game, and according to Eduard Kirchner at Resco.net, more level graphics and characters will be made available from their website in coming weeks.

Bottom Line
I highly recommend anyone who spends a large amount of time with their handheld playing games give this game a try. It's addictive and challenging at the same time. The presentation is excellent and even though it's a tweak on a classic, it doesn't dismember it in the process, proving that some classics don't really need to be rethought and overly modified to stand up over the years.

Sokoban is one of the best games I've played on a Windows Mobile device, and even though this review is over, I'm still enjoying it. Now if you'll excuse me, I still have to try to get past Level 10!

Vincent Ferrari is a Systems Analyst for a Cellular Master Agent in New York City. He enjoys photography, music, and cycling, and is an avid early adopter.