27 March 2008

Next Generation mobile Gaming
Games From The N•Gage Platform

Ok, moving onto System Rush Evolution. I just say right from the start, this was not really my type of game to be honest, and slightly dissapointed over the graphics, but i did find it great fun still.

The ability to play proper one on one mobile online gaming is just great, and i really really hope to see this type of gaming on more ngage games in the near future.

We all the know the phones are very much capable of supporting proper one on one online gameplay, and the connection is more than good too, HSDPA is more than sufficient for it, and most people most likely use a wireless LAN connection for there ngage online gaming as it would be the most fastest stable connection, that is of course if your lucky enough to get connected to the ngage arena at all lol.

At first, this game is quite difficult to understand exactly what it is your ment to be doing, as i feel it is not best explained properly, but after several rounds on single player (story mode) you soon get into it and the feel for what is what.

Select What Game You Like to Play

Here is the options you come to after pressing start on the splash screen, from here you can start the game in story mode, or if you like to play online with someone, then you will select the n-gage arena.

The story mode is quite cool, it is based on hacking, and you (the player) is hardwired into a network system, and your object of the game is to shatter the 10 newly installed network firewalls and prove to the currupt governments that the flow of information will never be halted.

This System Rush Evolution is the part 2 of the original System Rush game for the ngage devices developed in 2005, which was quite the big failure. I think this time around, the new ngage2.0 will be a great success.

This is As Far As i Can Get With It Today :(

Normally, if you are lucky enough to be able to log into your ngage arena gaming profile, then you can go and have some one on one multiplayer action, if of course there is some other players also wanting some 2 player action.

But for me, today i could not get passed this screenshot on the right hand side above. It is very annoying actually, as i was allready signed into the arena before i started the game, but yet this game requires you to log in a 2nd time once the game as started.

All Alone In The World

However, if you are able to succesfully connect, you might get used to these screenshots above. I took these screens some few weeks ago, and since then i was able to get a few rounds in with another player, but it is difficult to find someone, this is most likely due to the lack of players as it is still only available for nokia n81 owners.

Lonely Place

When ngage goes live for all supported devices, then most likely it will be non stop action on this game, with people competing to be the best, as all scores are saved and uploaded to the ranks and ratings within the ngage client application. All games which save your scores are very addictive as people allways want to be the best, or the top of the list of top players.

Cool Graphic Screens On Story Mode Game

There is some really nice still images on the story mode game, which tells the story of the game before you start. However, i did not think it was the greatest story line to it. Just my very subjective opinion.

Game Tips Loading Screens In Story Mode

Game Tips as loading screens are a nice touch, as it helps you to know what your looking for, but the most important key to this game, is you really must learn the maps if you want to become any good at it, as the bends and corners come on you very very fast, and if you dont know the maps (like me lol) you will crash and lose points, or even get traced, which means game over.

Hack Or Practise The 3 Different Game Modes

Practise is key, the age old saying, practise makes perfect. There are 3 different game types to play, Infiltrate, Which is more or less race against the clock:

Infiltrate Game Mode

Shutdown, which is my fav by far, its like a super 3D space invaders type game. Lots of enemy's come at you in waves, and you kill them all for bonus power ups like bombs that wipe the whole wave out in one blast, and extra points too.

Shutdown Game Mode - Awsem

Evacuate Game Mode, which i personally think kills the game, its an awfull game mode, the controls are terrible and the graphics are even worse. The general idea is to fly through the rings without hitting any objects.

Evacuate Game Mode - Terrible

Thats all the game modes, and i do enjoy playing the Shutdown one the most of all, and think the Evacuate game is quite the joke to be honest, but once again, this is just my very subjective opinion, many will dissagree with me, and thats just fine.

What dissapoints me the most with this game, is the fact that the demo version we had on our nokia n95 devices, which made use of the Power VR MBX accelerated 3D graphics chip and OpenGL ES (1.1) was just great, graphics was just awsem, but then nokia thought it be a great idea to release a dedicated gaming phone (nokia n81) which doesnt have this hardware.

And now this final released system rush evolution game has terrible graphics, a huge let down and i really confused why nokia removed this amazing chip from up coming devices after nokia n82. For a mobile gaming platform to work, you need all the help you can get, and the Power VR MBX chip was just that.

I just hope that people dont cast this ngage platform aside like they did with the first ngage games back in 2005. For it to work, the graphics need to be as good as they can be, or people will just not bother with it and continue to play on there xbox or psp system's.

The Hooked On Creatures Of The Deep game is just fantastic, graphics are great, gameplay is incredible, story is great, everything is there for a great game, but this system rush just did not do it for me im afraid, i think the main reason was dissapointment on the graphics, and no one ever to play online with, but this should change. But i wont be buying this one to find out.

My Score For This Game