Find Games

Go

• Channels
• Home

1. News
2. Games
3. Reviews
4. Previews
5. Cheats & Tips
6. Features
7. Blogs
8. Tags
9. Forum

• Mobile Gaming
• Nintendo DS
• Sony PSP
• iPhone
• Game Boy
• N-Gage
• myMO
• Forums
• Modojo Biz

• myMO
• Register

• Tools
• For Developers/Publishers
• Private Messaging
• Search Forums
• New Forum Posts

• Modojo Partners
• 
• 
• 

Modojo Awards: E3 2006

E3 2006 was the single great showing handheld gaming has ever had. Between the second wave of DS and PSP titles and mobile gaming finally maturing enough to take its rightful place with the big boys, there was a hell of a lot to see (and judge)...

...Continued From Page 2

Mobile Runner-Up

Super KO Boxing

Justin Davis: Super KO Boxing bears more than a passing resemblance to Nintendo's classic Super Punch-Out!, but can that really be described as a bad thing? In my opinion the world could use plenty more cartoon-style boxing games filled with over-the-top attacks and opponents. Super KO's huge, colorful sprites put the game on Modojo's radar a while ago, and after spending some time with a near-complete version on the E3 show floor I can confirm that the game plays great and looks great.

The sprites are absolutely huge; probably the largest I've seen in a mobile title. Their huge size also shows off Glu's absurdly colorful cast of characters. It seems every opponent in the game adheres to some sort of ridiculously over-the-top stereotype, but the ones that I saw came off as humorous and cute, not meanspirited. 15 Cent, Sake Bomb, and Van Roider are among the line-up of enemies that will require humbling. Controls were easy to pick up, but the challenge comes from learning and memorizing opponent tells, which proved to be a blast.

Mobile Game of the Show

Lumines Mobile

Scott Armstrong: It was hard to pick a mobile title this year. When you have a ton of companies showing up with so many great looking games, it can be difficult to really settle down and pick out the one that shines a bit brighter than the rest. We saw some classics like Bonk's Return and Super Pac-Man, and other great renditions of some of the best time-wasters of the 70s and 80s. We also saw a lot of new, more mainstream titles announced, like Final Fantasy Agito XIII from Square-Enix and EA's Orcs & Elves, proving that the much underappreciated mobile division of games is steadily on its way to becoming a largely accepted medium.

But at the end of the day, there was indeed one mobile title that stood out for me, and that game was Lumines Mobile. I was somewhat disappointed by what I had seen of Lumines 2 for the PSP, but the surprising new features and solid design of Gameloft's version for mobile phones really came out of nowhere and brightened my day. Three block colors in a single level, special blocks, and new block shapes do a lot to further the Lumines experience. Even more importantly, my hands-on time showed that this mobile "downgrade" still felt fantastic. It still looks, sounds, and feels just as smooth as the PSP original. It felt better than the Xbox Live Arcade version, in fact. Gameloft noted that it spent a lot of time getting that feel correct, and it shows.

Nintendo DS Runner-Up

Mario Hoops 3-on-3

Jeff Downs: The Mario Sports series of games are usually great arcade adaptations of mainstream sports that most know and love, but rarely do I find myself wanting to play them. First of all, games like tennis and golf just don't do it for me in a real world sense, so it comes as no surprise that their arcade counterparts aren't very high up on my must play list. Conversely, Mario Hoops 3-on-3 is the first game in the series that I can honestly say I'm truly interested in, as I'm a big fan of basketball in real life. My sit-down session with the game at E3 failed to disappoint, vaulting the title to elite status - my personal game of the show.

This just in! The stylus and the touch screen make an awesome one-two combination when it comes to controlling a game of basketball. I know some of the devout 2Kers are reading this and thinking I'm crazy, but let me tell you, 2K Games and EA need to take note. Mario Hoops 3-on-3 is paving the way for the future of basketball titles, sim or no sim, and it all starts with how you control the rock. Using the stylus to actually be able to control the direction, and speed of your dribble is nothing short of ingenious in my opinion, and it has serious implementation possibilities with some of the mainstream hardwood simulations. But that's not what I'm here to talk about, I'm here to tell you just how fun Mario's ball game is. All of your favorite characters are here, featuring all of their noted strengths and weaknesses. High flying, high scoring 3-on-3 hoops is here, all wrapped up in a sweet looking package that doesn't stop short of online play. I'm telling everybody now, so be prepared. This is the new king of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Nintendo DS Game of the Show

Yoshi Island 2 - Nintendo

Justin Davis: All week Jeff wouldn't shut up about how surprisingly great Mario Hoops was, and while we agree with him (it is our runner-up, after all), Yoshi Island 2 was just too damn sweet to not take the top spot. Is nostalgia causing us to judge this sequel too fondly when it's still many months away? Maybe, but in our defense, Yoshi Island was really damn sweet. Just to see once again the brilliant art style of the wonderful SNES game, now properly displayed with such fantastic vibrancy, was enough to get me teetering on the brink of some kind of excitable hysteria. That coupled with the fact that the game seems to genuinely mix up and add to the already-rich Yoshi Island formula creates a 2D platforming experience far too good to ignore.

PSP Runner-Up

Silent Hill Origins - Konami

Scott Armstrong: The main factor in Silent Hill Origins getting this nod lies with my ever-growing anticipation of a new Silent Hill title, and after seeing that Silent Hill 5 was a no-show (it better be at TGS, so help you Konami), the prospects of any new form of Silent Hill game quickly piqued my undying interest. Konami thankfully met that interest with a unique and terrifying demo, introducing several new gameplay elements and enemies. Just what exactly caused Silent Hill to become the hotbed of incredibly creepy occurrences it is today is finally promised to be revealed. How can any horror game fan say no?

PSP Game of the Show

Killzone: Liberation - SCEA

Justin Davis: Modojo stresses gameplay over graphics in every piece of editorial we put online, but damn if its hard to not point out how amazing Liberation looks. Our time with the game at E3 showed us that Guerilla has put as much care and attention into the gameplay itself as they have into the impressive, geometry-rich environments. The game plays from a 3/4ths overhead perspective, which takes some getting used to, but creates an entertaining and rewarding experience once you've wrapped your head around the controls and perspective. Most of the fun came from using cover and line of site to your advantage. Enemy has an elevation advantage over you? Crouch behind a crate, lob a grenade in his direction, and watch him (futilely) try to run. The perspective was met with some harsh opinions when it was revealed, but it makes it extremely satisfying to dive from one piece of cover to the next while taking potshots at surprisingly tenacious and intelligent AI enemies.