Air Hockey Review

Costas Stephanides ’s Review

A surprisingly good transfer from the fun fair to the mobile.

Air Hockey is one of those extremely under-rated games like Table Football and should be an Olympic event. Great skill and quick reflexes are required if you want to be a consistent winner. At least that's my excuse. Air Hockey can usually be found in bowling alleys and amusent arcades and everyone has probably given it a bash,. The concept is very easy. The puck floats on a cushion of air and you must use your mallet to push the puck into the opponents goal. If you can be quick and make good use of the angles then you should have great fun playing this. The mobile version is actually a good recreation with the added bonus of playing friends via Bluetooth.

The graphics are very simple but this does allow for a fast game speed. The game physics are pretty good. The speed and angle of the riccochets are accurate so there shouldn't be too many shocks during the game. You can either play the computer or another Bluetooth handset in a match of 3, 5 or 7 sets. The overall match can drag a little, especially with 7 sets.

Controlling the puck is very easy. D-pad/direction buttons move your mallet around. Use this to hit the puck with your mallet and send the puck whizzing around the table. The 5 button can also be used to give the mallet a little nudge forward for a little bit of extra force.

The main difference between the mobile and the real Air Hockey is friction. In the mobile version, friction does not exist. When you hit the puck its speed seems to remain constant until it hits another object. This gives the freedom to try some funky angle shots. It does also mean that the puck can fly around at high speeds and a lot of the goals can come from inadvertent deflections.

Air Hockey is a classic game and wih enough Bluetooth friends it should be good fun. Great practising and I'll see you in London in 2012.