Would you like to play a game?

Widget software has been around for some years in England, and now also has a sister company in Canada called Widget Software Canada. I took a look at one of their software products for this issue called the Leisure Pack, a group of games for the Series 5.

The disk includes a good selection of games, including Tetrion, a Tetris type program, Chomper, a nice Pacman clone, two card games, one board game, a text based adventure game, and a Vegas style slot machine. Quite a few for one disk. That’s good though, because as games go, you’re probably going to have a couple of favorites, and not use the others much.

The product comes on floppy disk with a Psion installer that works with earlier Series 3 and Series 5 computers. The installation is a breeze. All of the games are installed in one shot. The documentation is light, but that is also to be expected with classic games like these, since they don’t need a lot of explaining. The games are well done and worth the purchase price. I have my favorites of course. Tetrion, the Tetris type program is the best Tetris clone I’ve ever seen on a palmtop. I have never thought Tetris was that interesting, but this program has made this classic game more fun with some unique graphics and tricks. For example, the whole game auto resizes as the board gets full to give you more room. There are various modes of play, speeds, and sound effects.

If you like Pacman you’ll like Chomper. It works very much like Pacman, and the graphics are well done. My only complaint is that it doesn’t always turn on a dime, which is what you need with Chomper. Solo, the Patience type game is designed well, with a nice graphic deck of cards, and good pen support. Reversi (Othello clone) is one of those games I’ve never been able to master, but the 3D board makes it more fun to play. While you might not like every game, there is some fun to be had here. Now if we can only find some time!

Company: Widget Software
Phone: +44 1438 818818
Web: www.widget.co.uk
Web: www.widget.co.uk/canada

Available from New World Technologies:
Web: www.nwt.com
Phone: 800-886-4967

-Mark Esposito