Trust me, ignore the above post. While PB can do most (not all) of what that engine can do. It is still a real pain in the arse to do in PB. ... However, PB 4.x (first beta maybe by christmas 2005), should allow to easily do everything that engine can do right now. So you may want to wait a few weeks then decide.
Hey, what do you mean ignore??? Fine, it's just an opinion, but it's well thought out.
In MY opinion, buy yourself a book on 2d game engine programming for beginners. Theres a good one (two actually) for vb called "Game Programming for Teens" or somesuch. By reading books of this type, you will quickly learn how to string together a game engine of your own design using low level commands. This way, you can not only create an engine that does what you want it to do, but also, you will know it inside out, so you will have no problem building any game you choose.
PB is a great platform to achieve this, because it has oodles of features, is already a language you know of (you own it, right?) and has access to low level functions. Plus, it's cross platform. Your only gap between you and a game system (if you're a beginner) is the higher level api that you are more than capable of writing yourself.
Very often, when programmers wish to build a decent usable engine, they write their own api which sits on top of a lower level one, like DirectX. They do this, not because they can't use the low level api or because they can't read a book, but because it makes for easier to read code, and an easier to code platform.
Fact is, if you can program at all, then with a little help, you can write your own api for use in your own games, and you're already in the write place with the right tools to do this!
Regards,
