// Pocket Picks //

In the shadow of the new N-Gage platform’s imminent shake-up of the somewhat complicated platform, the kinds of mobile games our sister site Pocket Gamer has garnered a love for over the last couple of years are showing no signs taking things lying down, even if this week’s collection wasn’t all that it could be.

The squad of mobile reviews began last week with Rafa Nadal Tennis which unfortunately like the man himself failed to live up to its reputation, scoring 5 out of 10.

Sport of a much less sweaty (and more bearded) kind followed with The Big Lebowski Bowling which similarly failed to live up to its license, knocking down 6 of a possible 10 pins.

Medal of Honour Airborne gave the week its first decent score. A combination of good presentation and an intuitive control scheme landed the solid shooter 7 out of 10.

EA’s Skate proved to be a flawed but thoroughly enjoyable graize, bruise and break-em-up with stunning visuals but a score fairly capped at 6 out of 10 due to poor mission structure.

There was yet more sport next, this time in the form of the seldom visited rugby playing fields (in gaming anyway) with Real Rugby. The slick combo of sim like detail and pick up and play accessibility earned the title a stocky 8 out of 10.

The week’s high water mark was delivered by Might and Magic II. Vast, immersive and deep, Might and Magic II scored a well earned 9 out of 10 for its portable RPG perfection.

Pinball Rocks and Rush Hour 3 both dropped the ball somewhat with the first’s lack of content limiting its score to a 6 and the second’s repetitive though pretty gameplay scraping 4 out of 10 and the accolade of worst game of the week.

And finally, pulling things back on track was the mobile remake of Metal Slug 3. Making the transition to the small screen effortlessly, the classic in the series easily achieved 8 out of 10 leaving our thumbs satisfied and a nostalgic smile on our faces.

That’s it for this week; check back next Monday for another bout of quickfire mobile gaming critique.