28 March 2008

Next Generation mobile Gaming
Games From The N•Gage Platform

Space Impact Kappa Base, from method-solutions Another really awsem game with a great story line behind it.

It is a classic arcade shooter, which are still very popular on symbian mobile devices, as we know from classic games like from the very popular sky force, and sky force reloaded games from infinite dreams. Method-studios were also responsible for the space impact light symbian game.

Customise you fighter ship with various different weapons and componants which you can purchase, and then fight your way through 10 action packed levels.

Graphics are very nice and smooth on this game, and the sound is just great, works very well with the gameplay. If your a fan of the classic shooter genre of games like sky force, then this game is right up your street.

There are more than 30 different enemies to take on throughout the game, including explosive ballistic cannons and deadly energy leeches. Dodge enemy projectiles to increase your power meter, or unleash devastating combo attacks on them.

Once you have finished the single player campaign, you can connect online through the n-gage arena and fight in the world battle mode. However, when ever i try the world battle mode, it will report to me that

Starting Options, And Allways Problem For World Battle.

As you can see from screenshot above, unable to connect to the arena network, but i am allready loged onto the ngage arena, so im not sure what this is all about, maybe you have to complete single player mode before you can play online. Im not sure, if this is the case, then its not the best solution i dont think, as lots of people (myself included) would like to play online without having to complete the single player campaign first.

In Game Options And The Instructions Page

There is no way to play this game in landscape mode, it is strictly portrait only which is a little bit of a shame, as i think it would be a great game for landscape play.

The instructions are very basic, but tells you everything you need to know, which is great.

Creating Your Character

Starting the story mode (single player) will then ask you to create a player. Same as the other games, you can have up to 4 different profiles saved onto 1 device, so the whole family can benifit from just 1 game key, which i think is a great thing, as so many games these days try to squeeze every last drop of money out of you, by having to either delete your profile for another player to start from the start, or buy the game for your own device. So this is a really great thing on these next generation ngage games.

You can choose your single player campaign game character to be on easy mode, or normal mode. And you can select 1 of 3 different characters. Pressing the button 2 on your device will bring up that characters personal bio, this is also great, it adds so much more to a game when the characters have backgrounds.

Izil Ender (as he pose in the picture above) is the first selection, then Sasha Freeman and the much more experianced and older looking Connor Williams.

Mission Select And The Garage To Select Your Craft

Next, after you have selected your character, you will have to select your mission. At this early stage of the game, only 1 mission is available, as the others will get unlocked as you progress through the game.

And then you select your Skyblade, again only 1 is available to you at this early stage, as same as with the missions, the skyblades will get unlocked as you progress and get better at the game.

Arm Your Skyblade With Weapons

Also in the garage, the next step is selecting your weapens you wish to install onto your skyblade. You have 3 places for a number of various different cool weaponry to be installed to. But they dont come free.

You can earn more money for better weapen upgrades during the gameplay, im rubbish at the game so i cant say which weapons are better to have, and i have not had much free time to play it recently.

Enter The Game

Once happy with your bought weapons, you can choose to enter the game with the current load out you have set up on your ship. Then you will be taken into the story of the game with this pretty cool cutscence cuts in and explains to you what is going on.

Basically, the universe has been taking over with MEKS, half man half machine type creatures who are set out on taking over and destroying any humans they come across who does not join there empire. The usual thing lol.

Accept The Mission And Let The Fun Begin :)

After the cut scene story, youll need to accept the mission and then the game will start. This game is just awsem, i am a huge fan of these classic shooter games, and this one is just great.

Big Nasty Looking Enemys. And Collect Those Coins

You will encounter some pretty big nasty mean looking space ships that would be more than happy to stop you in your tracks by shooting loads of huge flashing missiles at you lol.

You also want to collect those silver coins, as many as you possibly can, as these are credits that you can spend on better more expensive weapon upgrades which you will need later on. What i recomend, is play the first level over and over again untill you have loads of credits to pimp up your ship with some badass weaponry ;)

Also grab all the red and blue things you see coming at you after you destroyed a wave of enemys. The red ones are power-ups and blue ones are health. Both equally important items, and the power ups are cool ;)

Charge Your Special Weapen and Release For Devastating Effect

What you have to do, is fly really close to the bullets coming at you to charge up your special weapen, or, as you see the left screenshot above, fly really close to those electrical type bars (you see them all throught the levels) and this will charge your weapen up real fast.

To activate your special weapon once fully charged, press 2 on the keypad. You can also play this game in landscape, even though it is not phisically supported, and all the text and graphics are set in landscape mode, it doesnt matter, just flip your phone on the side, the controls stay the same, and you can use the 2 keys up on the n81 for your special weapons (also supported on n95 in landscape mode using the play and stop buttons on the multi media keypad)

You Get Your Buddies To Come And Back You Up

You get some hired help to come and help you and back you up from time to time, which belive me, they really can help you a lot at certain times.

End Of Level Boss, And He Killed Me Taking That Screenshot lol

Each end of level you come to the boss, and they get much harder as you progress through the higher levels. So gather as much credits and weapenry as you can in the lower levels.

A good idea would be to re play the easy level over and over again to collect as much credits as you can to pimp up your skyblade with some awsem wepenry ;)

This is a really great game, as i have said before, i just love these classic shooter type game titles, i used to be a massive fan of the 1942 classic arcade game as a kid, i would spend all my change playing this game, and i finished the game a few times. Some great memories.

My Score For This Game