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PRODUCT REVIEW
Pocket Express Entertainment Pack: a personal arcade
By Chris Phillips
Let's face it, no matter how many killer business applications they develop for the Palm OS, it's still more fun to play games. And, of course, one game is never enough. The question you have to answer is, how much memory are you willing to sacrifice to maintain your personal arcade? Thanks to our friends at Pocket Express, this is no longer a problem. They have released a game pack on MMC (Multi Media Card) for the Palm m500 series that has six popular games for you to play, yet it doesn't take up any memory on your Palm handheld. You can find it at http://www.pocketexpress.com/Catalog/Product_Pages/Entertainment_Pack_mmc.html.
Overview
The Pocket Express Entertainment Pack includes the following games:
- Tetris Classic;
- Lode Runner: The Legend Returns;
- PocketChess;
- Pocket Express Blackjack;
- Pocket Express PokerDice.
As a bonus, they have also included smallWare's Solitaire Free (at http://www.smallware.com).
The Pocket Express Entertainment Pack is designed for retail sale and comes neatly packaged in a plastic case with a glossy product literature card inside. The box and card are pictured in Figure A.
FIGURE A
 
Here is the product literature and Pocket Express Entertainment Pack MMC. Roll over picture for a larger image.
The card itself has a unique and attractive label on it that quickly distinguishes it from the other MMC/SD cards I own. You can see it in Figure B.
FIGURE B
Here's a close up of the Pocket Express Entertainment Pack MMC.
When you pop the card in, a menu comes up that lists each game title and prompts you to start any game by tapping on its title.
The games
I won't review each game, because multiple reviews have already been done on each of these games and it would take too much time to review each game in depth. Instead, I will just give you an overview of each game.
Tetris
Ah, Tetris…If you are not already familiar with this game, you're either brand new to the world of computer gaming, or you've been living on Mars for the last decade. Suffice it to say this is probably one of the most popular games of all time. Tetris is pictured in Figure C.
FIGURE C
Tetris is probably one of the most popular games of all time.
The object of this game is to manipulate certain shapes as they fall from the top of the screen and cause them to land in such a way that they form lines across the bottom. As a line is completed, it disappears. As the game progresses, the shapes begin to fall more quickly. When this game first came out, I played it for hours on end. I haven't played Tetris for several years now, so naturally it was the first game I chose. This version is definitely as fun as I originally remember it, and again I spent several hours playing it.
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