As I have frequently discussed, over the course of the past couple of months, I have been a judge in the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine Best of 2007 Software Awards. One of the real thrills for me that came from judging these awards was finding what I would call a hidden gem.  This is a game or program which I never would have found had I not been a judge in this competition.  These games and programs are all fantastic, but not well known.  I decided to take some time to display some of these hidden gems, beginning with Obulis: The Second Epoch. 

Obulis is a fantastic puzzle game, in which you have only a single goal, drop all of the colored balls into the like-colored buckets.  Let’s take a closer look at how this game works.

Installation and Registration: Installation of the game is fairly standard.  Just load it via ActiveSync, and you will be ready to start your free trial.  Once the trial expires, however, you will need to register in order to unlock all of the fun.

Overview and Gameplay: This is actually the second game in the Obulis series.  Gameplay in both games is identical, however, the graphics in The Second Epoch are significantly improved.

You do not need a vast working knowledge of physics in order to understand the two concepts behind Obulis.  In fact, the whole thing is based upon the teachings of Isaac Newton, which we all learned in grade school:

• An object at rest tends to stay at rest and that an object in uniform motion tends to stay in uniform motion unless acted upon by a net external force (Inertia).
• If you do place a force on an object, it will accelerate, i.e., change its velocity, and it will change its velocity in the direction of the force (Applied Force)
• for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Couple these three laws with the Universal Law of Gravity, and you have the basic underpinnings of the game.

So, is there going to be a test on this?  No.  Do you need to understand a word of what I just said in order to play the game?  No.  However, understanding a little of what Newton had to say will help you understand why things move the way they do in the game.  For more, I suggest you read the following Wikipedia articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton#Newton.27s_laws_of_motion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

So, now you are all wondering, what does any of this have to do with the game of Obulis?  Or did we get lost and end up in science class?  Well, I can assure you that you are all in the right place.

Each level of Obulis consists of one of more balls suspended from ropes or chains.  Beneath them are colored bowls.  You must cut the chains in order to drop the balls into the bucket of the same color.  Some balls have no color, and must not not be dropped into any buckets.

The game starts off easily enough with a yellow ball suspended over a yellow bucket.  This is level one.  It uses only gravity in order to illustrate the process of cutting the chain and dropping the ball.

In order to complete this level, simply tap the chain to highlight it…

…and then tap the scissors to cut the chain.  The ball will then drop into the bucket.  End of level and end of lesson.

Of course, the game does get considerably more complicated, ultimately requiring you to use all three of Newton’s Laws of Motion (whether you are aware of it or not) as well as the Law of Gravity. 

In some of the higher levels, timing will also become an integral part of the game, as you must strike a moving ball with another ball at just the right time to push it toward the bowl.  By the end of the game, as the levels grow progressively more difficult, you will find that it will take all of your skills, and all of Newton’s laws to guide the balls into the appropriate bowls.  Just to add a little extra difficulty, different chains and ropes will exhibit different properties.  Some will just hang, dropping the ball straight down, others will swing and toss the ball, while certain ropes will be springy and bounce or toss the ball.

Graphics: The graphics in The Second Epoch have been significantly updated since the original Obulis game was released.  The game is now played in front of what I felt was an impressive 3-dimensional backdrop.  The balls and bowls are extremely well drawn, as are the platforms from which the balls hang.  The animation was smooth and, most importantly for this game, it followed the rules of physics extremely well.

Audio: The background audio was probably the weakest part of the game.  The graphics screamed for a rich background soundtrack.  Instead, the game had a few bars of extremely digitized music.  The in-game sounds were not bad, and included the sound of scissors cutting the ropes, and balls clanging against the floors and bowls.  Again, however, more could have been done here to improve the in-game experience.  I tended to play the game without the sound and did not feel I was missing anything.

Saving: Saving in Obulis is no problem at all.  Each level is a completely new puzzle.  So, at the beginning of each game, you can choose to start at any completed level, or (of course) the first unfinished level.

Conclusion: Obulis is a completely original game, which grows more addictive as you pass through the various levels.  Each level is progressively more difficult than the last, and before you know it, you will have reached the more complicated levels which will test your timing, as well as the Laws of Motion and Gravity.  This is a fantastic game, unlike any I have played before.  See, all of those times you snored your way through those grainy high school science films really did pay off in Obulis.

Vital Stats:

Name: Obulis: The Second Epoch

Developer: IonFx

Test Platform: Windows Mobile 6

Also Available: Windows Mobile 2003SE, Windows Mobile 5

Available From: IonFx

Price: $6.99 (currently marked down from $11.99)

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