Vivendi Announces Its Mobile Line-Up for 2008

I feel like I've been hit by a truck, except that truck was full of diseased bodies, and they all spilled out the back afterwards and buried me in a sea of sickness and death. That sound somewhat grim? Well, you know where my state of mind's at right now then. Vivendi's got a couple titles from some big brands this year, and its my job to tell you about them, so let's just run down the list while I make an effort to gather my thoughts and what's left of my sore and endlessly flowing nostrils.

Celebrity Hangman is essentially what it sounds like, except it allows users to create their own pop culture themed lists for other users to download on the game's official website.

Crash Nitro Kart 2 is the sequel to the sequel of the original playstation hit, Crash Team Racing. Players will be able to choose from eight different karts and 16 tracks with a variety of racing conditions including weightlessness in levels that take place underwater or in outer space. Game modes will include the usual cup/tournament mode, arcade for quick races, the more ambiguous challenge and sudden death modes, and finally, a first for the series, a monster truck mode. The last game in the series got some flack for not allowing some form of auto acceleration, and for the sake of our fingers, I'm hoping that's changed for the sequel.

Prison Break allows players to take control of Michael Scofield in his quest to free his brother from prison. Gameplay will puzzle-based with skills acquired from other inmates. It will integrate characters and stories from the show to create an authentic Prison Break experience for fans.

Pub Darts 180 a simple darts game that will let players kick back in a bar and hurl deadly objects at a target board. The game will feature multi-player and a selection of wacky characters.

The Bourne Conspiracy will hopefully continue the trend of good mobile movie games by offering a range of gameplay mechanics for players to enjoy. These will include on-foot pursuits, dodging sniper fire, and rappelling (climbing down stuff on a rope basically).

The Spiderwick Chronicles is another book/movie-based game that will feature two separate visible and invisible worlds for the player to explore while they utilize a cast of five characters with unique skills to solve the mysteries of the land. There's potential for some good Zelda-style light world/dark world gameplay here that, hopefully, the developers can see as well.

Finally, Wordox: Word Snatcher is a traditional word challenge game with a twist. As Vivendi's first network-enabled mobile game, players will be able to steal letters from opposing players to increase their score (and presumably decrease their opponent's). It will feature a built-in dictionary that recognizes over 100, 000 words, and while the focus is on the multiplayer, it will also feature an offline practice mode against virtual players.

It's a mix of casual and not so casual games that will, ideally, all accomplish what they set out to do in some fashion or another. I've got a massive headache and a stuffed up head, so I've got my own release list to announce. I'll be starting off with Cough My Throat Out, a five star release that will pave the way for the sequel to Drowning Myself In Water, and then finally, I'll be topping things off with the critically acclaimed Wish I Was Dead for the rest of the day.