Three New Mobile Games Reviewed from Long Tail Studios

This week I tested three new mobile games from Long Tail Studios. I checked them out with an LG VX 8300. The phone was a tough little guy with big speakers on either side. The loudest phone I’ve tried. It would be great for music at the beach. It also has a slot for a mini SD card. It took photos with a 1.3 pixel camera and also had video capability too. It was big and felt substantial like an old Motorola flip phone. Pretty indestructible.

The games which are now available in wireless carriers world wide are Hurry Date Speed Daters, Match Maker and Hollywood Hustle. Match Maker and Hollywood Hustle are only available on Verizon Wireless currently.

The graphics on all of the games is cartoon – like and amusing. The characters are all designed to be funny, a bit like Mad magazine’s caricatures. You aren’t going to get miles of depth of field on your average cell phone which is what these games are designed for. Not everyone has a high end smart phone or an iPhone. Wisely these games will work for just about anybody. They are text based adventures with short amusing stories. There isn’t a lot of action, so they are perfect for standing in line when you don’t want to be button mashing away like a kid.

Hollywood Hustle

Hollywood Hustle is a fun game where you make selections from the text of the dialog to change the course of the life of a young starlet. The choices you make surround a few basic concepts. You’ll choose to be understanding, foolish or smart. You are given an annoying family who you can choose to flatter and cosset or to be sarcastic and blow them off when they interfere with the actresses budding movie career. You meet an agent, a costume designer and others. You have to make the most of the encounter with each character to propel your starlet to the “Orsons”. The star names that are changed to protect the innocent are funny parodies that will make you laugh too.

The game is short but it will keep you engaged when you are bored and need a cell phone game to cheer you up. Hollywood Hustle may not be complex but it is entertaining and it does for you what you need it to. It also includes some mini games like match 3. These are set up so they are easier to use on a phone. You can skip the mini games in story mode or choose to play them. When you finish the game, you’ll be able to play them all. The game has replay-ability value because you may want to see what could happen if you choose her words differently. There are various outcomes depending on how the conversation that you participate in go. It’s funny, has a few twists and it is well made it gets a respectable 7 out of 10.

Hurry Date Speed Daters

This game allows you to choose you own gender, and customize the hairdo, hair color, eye shape, eye color, clothing and color and even lips and lipstick color which is really pretty good for a tiny mobile game. The technology is coming along as time goes on. You’ll set up the options for your character. Then you are sent on a series of speed dates.

The “dates” are mini games where you play for body language, eye contact and listening skills. That’s kind of original, some thought went into the dating. A variety of characters present themselves and depending on your score the game tells you how compatible you are with each one. Hurry Date Speed Daters is a fun diversion game. You will most likely laugh at it. It seems to be designed for the teen market. Young girls might find it to be very amusing. It looks to me like an Americanized shot at what Japanese designers have been doing with mobile content for girls.

One problem though, it doesn’t let you choose the gender of the partner who you would like to date. The teen set that this is targeted to will pick up on that right away. It’s more like ‘Hurry Hetero Speed Daters’. That is something that should be disclosed in a discreet mention in the marketing when the game get more wide release. “A guy and gal match making game.” Or something that cleverly but clearly gets the point across that the game is inclusive of only half the dating possibilities. It’s amusing and the concepts that they use are original. It gets a 6 out of 10.

Matchmaker : Love U

In Matchmaker : Love U you play as Emma who is a cupid in training. Emma and other deities come down from Mount Olympus to learn how to be a matchmaker. This game is much funnier and more charming than Hurry Date Speed Dating. The story it funny and it has a little touch that makes it feel more like a video game.

This time there is an RPG in the mobile phone. It’s pretty tiny but it is fun and detailed enough to get you into it. It is surprisingly psychologically based. You have to help an emo guy get a date. While you are down on earth you have to practicing your love goddess matchmaking skills on college students. It is a cute and fresh game with an unusual and different premise. In there you have a little PDA for stats like smarts, body, social, looks and trust. The more love points you get, the more you can gain a promotion. Completing goals given by the Fates raises your promotion. The game has you chatting or hanging out to boost the stats of your socially handicapped charges. This game is great and time consuming. It gets an 8 out of 10.

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