The success of the Anthelion Pocket PC game space shooter has spawned a successor.PDAMill always seems to put their best gaming foot forward, especially with their arcade game downloads.
I was duly impressed with the improvements after extensive testing of the new Anthelion 2 Pocket PC game demo that's been released.
Anthelion 2: Celestial Alliance sports larger menu options, with a slicker graphical user interface than its predecessor.
You're given a choice of four ships in the demo.
I noted that Hyperjumping (where you travel at warp speed) now looks much slicker, with a kaleidoscopic white light burst of speed.
Experienced Anthelion Pocket PC game zealots will quickly polish off the Survival mode in which you destroy waves of enemy ships.
I successfully completed the demo missions in a few minutes.
With no apparent way to change the difficulty, you're stuck in Easy mode for the trial.
A huge asset is the inclusion of a mode allowing for stylus steering of the ship, simply by dragging your targeting reticle.
As for the targeting reticle itself, you'll find your in-flight experience a bit less turbulent with a much needed auto-fire feature, allowing you to eschew hardware buttons and focus more on dogfighting logistics.
Also, a circle surrounds your central reticle, making it easier to pick off enemies.
The first Anthelion: Galactic Alliance version only allows for moderately more awkward D-Pad play, with somewhat effective results regardless.
The 3D game engine runs as fluidly as its initial incarnation and now includes enhanced VGA graphics for units capable of such Pocket PC game rendering.
My non-VGA 400 Mhz iPAQ fared quite well, with extremely smooth frame rates reminiscent of the first version.
I managed to make my way through several levels, acquiring a new guided missile weapon, prior to the demo finale.
The Anthelion 2 Pocket PC game release is compatible with all Windows Mobile based PDAs.
