The bit-tech Winter Games Preview 2008

Trackmania DS

Released: Q4 2008
Platform: DS Exclusive

The Trackmania series has been a quiet favourite of bit-tech for a long, long time – not least because there’s at least one version of the game which is entirely free, but now the franchise is making the jump to handheld consoles.

Racing games on the Nintendo DS are things we’d usually meet with an equal level of disbelief and disappointment as the low-power handheld isn’t entirely suited to pushing polygons out at great speed and there’s always the threat that the designers will hamfistedly shove stylus-based meaning into a game.

Thankfully though the first footage from Trackmania DS seems to confirm that these fears need not apply and the game is promising to be a faithful port of the high-octane PC racer from the zero-collision gameplay which is a constant divide in the audience right down to the track creators.

There isn’t a huge amount of detail to go into with any of the Trackmania games. There are no leagues, objectives, stories or achievements. All there is is a huge arena, some very fast cars and a bunch of crazy loop-the-loop tracks that go well with the inventive game modes.


It’s simple. It’s streamlined. It’s Trackmania, but portable and on a system that can deliver around twenty hours worth of gaming before the battery dies off. If that isn’t a reason to get excited, we don’t know what is.

Why we can’t wait: Track creating and WiFi abilities mean this could be great for multiplayer.
Want to know more? Check out the latest gameplay trailer for more info.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Released: Q4 2008
Platform: DS Exclusive

The next big game that’s grabbed our attention in the handheld market this year is the next Castlevania game, Order of Ecclesia. This will be the third game in the long-running series to make an appearance on the Nintendo DS – and that’s no bad thing.

Although the Castlevania games are commonly seen as simple, but super hard platformers from Japan, the truth is that the latest iterations have leaned far more to the RPG side of things than ever before and players spend more time collecting new spells and skills than facing the game over screen.


Which isn’t to say that the platform fans will be disappointed, as the games are still 2D platformers in presentation and players will have a fair old amount of running, jumping and thumping to do if they want to stand a chance against any of the game’s huge bosses. Hardcore fans will also note that the game has taken a new direction in the art style; harnessing a more illustrative and classic look to the gameplay than in the previous, anime-styled versions.

Telling the story of a heroine Shinoa, a mystical priestess tasked with killing Dracula again, Order of Ecclesia is boasting all the features you’d expect of a top quality DS game ; WiFi battles, equipment trading and over 20 levels of sheer, unbridled Gothicism, all of it delivered in a brand new art style and in a portable form.

The first Castlevania games were excellent adventures, though slightly flawed through some mug-handed stylus implementations. Over the various iterations of the series Konami has refined the mechanics while also bolstering the content - both of which mean that Order of Ecclesia should be as addictive as ever.

Why we can’t wait: Longevity is king here - we can't count the hours we've spent playing Castlevania over the years.
Want to know more? Check out the debut trailer for a first look at the gameplay.