Ashen

"A good HandHeld Shooter"

While most of us know the N-Gage has been the model of what not to do when you release a game system. Never the less the N-Gage continues to endure.
This is Nokia's first game to be released on the N-Gage and its also the N-Gage's first Exclusive and original game.

Graphics-The graphics of the N-Gage is similar to that of a PS1 and Ashen makes full use of that. Going at a steady 20-30fps this game is quite a jump over the horribly made Red Faction. The environments are in fill 3-D and the reload animations are extremely realistic. Each enemy looks great as well and you can actually tell the difference between certain enemies. Graphics wise this game is ahead of the pack on the HandHeld shooters.

Sound-The in game music seems to suit the Rock/Metal/Techno crowd. While not generic music it sure its original. Each gun sounds different when shot (which it should) and the sounds from reloads are pretty nice as well. The thing I did like about the monsters noises are that they for the most part sound the same.

Game play-The game isn't anything new to First Person Shooters. It's pretty much run and gun game play with a couple puzzles and jumping segments thrown in for good measure. As a new trick Ashen gives you ghost vision but for the most you only really need them to light up a dark corner. The wraiths that they are meant to be used on can be seen by anyone with half decent vision. Also this game is short real short. There are 8 levels each cut in half. If you are an experienced First Person Shooter player you should finish in one to two sitings. Multi player is functional with Deathmatch and several multiplayer only maps. I wasn't really able to test that because there are only three other people in this whole world that own an N-Gage so don't buy this game hoping for good multi player.

Over all Ashen is going in the right direction for the N-Gage but it still isn't the greatest hand held shooter you can buy right now. I give it a 6.5 (which rounds up to a 7)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/10/04