The Olympics might be drawing to a close this weekend, but that doesn’t mean that you have to suffer through a complete lack of track and field action. Crazy Athletics II for Palm OS handhelds features six different sports: 100 meter sprint, long jump, javelin throw, 110M hurdles, hammer throw, 100m swimming, and a special bonus– ATHLETICS, which provides a full “Olympic” experience in which you see an opening ceremony, compete in all six events, and then a closing ceremony. There are two different gameplay modes, Champion and Arcade, with options to train your athlete and upgrade him by purchasing better equipment and uniforms, protein drinks, etc., with credit earned by entering events in Championship mode.
The concept is a great one, and Crazy Athletics is very well thought out. The graphics on my Tapwave Zodiac are absolutely superb, and the sound effects are good too. The game suffers a bit in the area of gamer/machine interface. You have the choice of either button or stylus control, and while the button controls are easier to master, it comes down to some “crazy” button mashing to control your character. The game is also very hard– I tried training mode several times but was never able to win my event, which is required to gain experience and earn credits to upgrade your athlete.
The best idea for Crazy Athletics II is to give it a try and see if you would like to buy it, since a full trial version is available. CrazySoft calls it an action game, but it also has some very creative and cool RPG elements (character building) to go with the awesome graphics. If the control scheme is tweaked somewhat, it could be a super game. Crazy Athletics II requires just under 1MB of space on your Palm OS device and is available now for $16.95.
PocketGoddess Rating for Crazy Athletics II: 
Frutakia
Frutakia is a casino-theme puzzle/memory game featuring a fruit-filled slot machine in which you can spin each of the five dials individually, one by one, in order to try and make lines of three or more of the same fruit horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. There are three different gameplay modes: Easy, Hard, and Frutakia. Easy mode is untimed, for unhurried casual gaming. Hard is timed, and if the meter at the bottom of the screen runs out, the game ends. Frutakia is more of a casino-styled gameplay mode, since you actually place bets on the outcome of each move. In each mode you have the option of moving the dials up and down with the stylus, or tapping on the up and down arrows on the screen. You can also use the “spin all” option if you get stumped, but be careful– in hard mode that takes a lot out of the meter at the bottom of the screen.
Frutakia is a very enjoyable game with a lot of variety. Not only do you need good luck and matching skills but it’s something of a puzzler as well– a good memory will aid you, since you can reduce the number of times you move the dials if you know where to find the right fruit to make a match. The high resolution graphics are perfectly smooth and absolutely beautiful. The sound effects are also both fun and appropriate. The expected options are here as well, including the choice of using the hard keys or not, vibration support on the Tapwave Zodiac, and the ability to control the sound volume or mute it altogether. You can also control the speed of the game, choosing normal, fast, or fastest.
Palm OS 3 or higher is required, and Frutakia is optimized to support hi res graphics and landscape mode on newer devices. You’ll also need about 561K of memory to play Frutakia. For more information, a free trial, or to purchase the full version of Frutakia for $12.95, visit the CrazySoft web site.
PocketGoddess Rating for Frutakia: 
Snake Deluxe
Snake Deluxe is a new twist on a classic gaming concept– guide an ever-growing snake around the playing field, eating food and being careful not to hit an obstacle or let the snake cross over itself, or it’s game over. In this modern reincarnation the basic gameplay is essentially the same, but with some great new additions. For starters, the graphics are absolutely gorgeous, and the sound effects are really good too. You can control your snake with the hard keys on your device, the stylus, or the analog joystick on the Tapwave Zodiac. The controls are spot on and a joy to use. That’s important, since pinpoint control is needed in order to maneuver your snake around, eating fruit and bonus items.
If that were all, Snake Deluxe would get a “5 Goddess” score, but there’s more: Adventure mode. Think of it as something like story mode in a game, except that here you’re treated to 24 different levels across 4 different worlds, with 4 different boss characters. Each level cleared in Adventure mode can later be played in both the Easy and Hard modes. It’s a great concept and ensures that there’s always a new goal to reach. Sometimes games can get old pretty fast, but I really like the fact that with Snake Deluxe there are plenty of challenges to master.
I highly recommended that you try out Snake Deluxe. If you’re a fan of action games with great graphics and fun gameplay, you’ll probably like it quite a bit. It’s especially stunning on my Tapwave Zodiac, but as long as you have a Palm OS 3 or higher device you can play Snake Deluxe. (Even in low-res, the game still looks great.) You’ll need 471K for the low resolution version, or 778K for the high res+ version. Snake Deluxe is $12.95 at the CrazySoft web site.
PocketGoddess Rating for Snake Deluxe: 
