Diamond Islands 2 has a strong pedigree to live up to. Digital Chocolate have, to my mind, developed some great classic games for Symbian smartphones in the past. While I've not seen Diamond Islands (released over two years ago), titles in their "Cafe" series on N-Gage were always must downloads for me. And that reputation makes Diamond Islands 2 an immediate download from the Ovi Store.
Am I happy with it? Yes I am - and while there are some control issues, this is a spatial puzzle game. It challenges you to rock a totem (possibly a stone idol) around various small islands, picking up jewels as you go before installing the totem, vertically, on the target square.
Simple? Nope, because the only move you have is to "push totem onto another one of its sides", so you'll need to go through some mental gymnastics to work out where you wan to put it, and then implement those ideas. You can't really just roll around and hope it works out, you do need to do some planning. It's not just limited to getting to the exit either, but also picking up all the jewels on each level, hitting switches to raise bridges, and generally doing lots of puzzle type things before you can leave.
There lies one of the only problems I've found in Diamond Islands 2. The game world is made up of lots of small islands (you can't roll into the water) but in an isometric layout. I've yet to find a smartphone that handles isometric action smoothly - they are always a forced into the "up down left right" model. Digital Chocolate have gone with two control options - slide on the screen, and tilting the device.
Both of them work, although I had accuracy problems with both. It's rare in the game to have a move that is not reversible, so you just rock the totem back if you miss, but it can be a bit annoying until you get the hang of it. The tilt controls don't work on the isometric angles, but on the cardinal "up down left right" directions, which just feels wrong. The touch screen asks you to tap in the direction you want to go - which is a more accurate but... feels wrong. At the same time, it could just be me.
One thing Digital Chocolate have always been good at are small graphics that carry a lot of detail, and that is true here. With sea shores, switches, shells, palm tree decorations, jewels and more, there's a lot going on and it's a testament to good design that they're never confusing. As to the background music? Let's just say it wouldn't be out of place in a 1970's lift, stuck in the corner of a Hawaiian themed shopping centre in Leeds. It's rather repetitive, in an annoying way!
Control problems aside, Diamond Islands 2 is a nice game. The problem for me is the control issue. Too many mis-interpreted commands rack up the bad kind of frustration, and when accurate moving and placing of your totem is the key to the game, this is a big mistake to me. Your mileage may vary, but it's enough for me to think twice about playing the game.
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