T3: In its previous incarnation Nokia’s N-Gage was a handheld, but now it’s back as a mobile games service, where you can download games on the move and play online. Sounds good?
It is if you’ve got an N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95 and N95 8GB which allows you to download the service, and its even better on the new 5320 Xpress Music which come with the application pre installed. Rubbish, if you’ve got any other Nokia blower as it’s not compatible.
If you are one of the chosen few to get the “Gage” the choice of games isn’t bad. Fife 08, Asphalt 3: Street Rules and World Series of Poker are available now, with Tetris, The Sims, Dogz, Crash Bandicote and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, promised soon. You can bag these from Glu, EA, THQ Wireless and Gameloft but a hefty price of £8. Cheeky.Use is unlimited though, and you can try every game for free. Unfortunately if you change your handset, you lose the game, which sucks if it’s close to upgrade time.
When it comes to playing the games there’s no comparison to a DS Lite or PSP. On a N81′s 2.4in screen, it’s still enjoyable but ramp the complexity up and things become trickier; we’d have preferred a few more inches of pitch in FIFA 08. The headphone connection gets in the way as well, so a Bluetooth stereo headset is essential.
The N-Gage Arena Community is pretty impressive. You can chat and play with other gamers and take part in mass online tournaments. Just make sure you check your network charges first. You can get your competition juices flowing; the more you play, the more points you score and the better your ranking.
If you’ve got a compatible handset and access to WiFi, N-Gage lets you play alone (or with others) in the bath, on a train, or even up a mountain. But we’re not totally convinced. At £8 a pop, games are pricey and really need to check with network download costs. If handset and game choice improve, N-Gage could be a winner, but we’ll stick with our handhold for now.
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Rockman | Friday, May 9, 2008 at 20:51
Network download the only reason not to be convinced?
WLAN is free, and the games can also be downloaded and installed via PC, which results in no network fees at all.
Hopefully more games are released soon, because I would rather carry around my N95 with 15 games inside, than a PSP with a pouch full of crap.