Dirk Dagger and The Platinum Pistol

So I was looking at the stats of this site, wondering who was coming from where - and a link caught my eye “dirkdagger.grouphub.com” and me being me HAS to look because thats a odd address - But it seems its a official “Private” sort of site for Jadestone staff maybe? Either way this is interesting to find because of that little logo they have on display. No it isnt “Dirk Dagger and the Fallen Idol” its “Dirk Dagger and The Platinum Pistol” maybe completly un-related to a sequel but it sounds rather good if it is

UPDATE: Seems they have rialised someone found it Cough, and they have taken the website offline.

Review: Dirk Dagger And the Fallen Idol

We have anticipated this game for a while, we have also been very unsure of the style and genre and unsure if it could work on a phone, we then had the web demo – We were very impressed.
Humor, Innovative ideas and a rather strange but very good plot – Something original, this is a game N-Gage needed and deserves – was it worth the wait? Read on….

When I saw the demo available I didn’t even have to think twice about buying it, It’s a game I’ve been looking forward too for quite some time.
My first impressions with the game was very high from the start – very nice menu, being clear and professional very console-game like.

The game is in default portrait and it clearly suits this way more for obvious reasons later on in the review.
The style of graphics are just basic 2D but you will love it, if you don’t you will grow to love it because it looks so fine and detailed and the frame rate is fantastic, smooth – everything is full of colour and vibrant, but at the same time this game is a dark sinister game – really adds to the effect that’s its just on a mobile phone, but that’s something you will not realise once you get into it.

The aim of the game is to solve the case of Dirk Daggers partner, who was mysteriously killed whilst on a case. You will have to solve puzzles, grab clues in different locations around the map – It’s a point and click adventure puzzle game, which is very deep and addictive - Something that all ages of different types of gamers will enjoy.
There was 1 problem I found however, despite the game being fantastic and it really sucked me in I was disappointed to see the game only takes a few hours to complete and whilst it has some replay value, its not something everyone will play again – We already await a sequel

The controls of the game are very innovative; you have the choice of using the D-pad or the camera. I liked this idea all you did was move the phone in the direction you wish it to move too – sometimes it was a little slow but it worked very well and I loved it but if you play it for a long while – on certain models etc N95 the phone does get rather hot but its not enough to put you off the game.

The sound of the game is lacking, but what is there is nice indeed. The soundtrack on the menu is great, really suits the genre – The in game music, well its just silence but that silence really does give you a effect of being in the game – with the odd sound of a door and different items that you pick up.

The multi player is rather disappointing but it’s the same with a large amount of N-Gage games, all it the multi player consists off is Rankings nothing special.

Overall a great game, for £8 you will not be disappointed you will submerge into the life of Dirk Dagger. The graphics, sound and story line make this one hell of a game – but I can only award it silver for one crucial mistake of being rather short but it does have some extra bonus items. I defiantly recommend this game, but rent it out instead.

Review: Bounce Boing Voyage

Remember the classic version? Everyone loved that game - The fantastic simple 2D plat former that ruled many mobile devices - But can this hold the same fame as the original? Can it improve what its older brother did so well? Does the transition into 3D work for this game? Read on…

My first impressions for this game were rather high yet rather low at the same time, so I had mixed feelings but when I first started the game, I was impressed by the nice clean menu, it was not too exciting yet It wasn’t too basic – was mediocre, and that soundtrack did slightly put me off.

The games size did put me off being a mere 5MB but that wasn’t enough to make me think it was a waste of time, seeing as other small sized N-Gage games were good.

Now if you remember Pandemonium for the Original N-Gage – it may remind you of it, because of the similarities between the two games -The fairytale land, the 3D run and jump platform action etc like any good plat former should have.

The game is default in Landscape, and it’s defiantly best for it with the cinematic cut scenes in wide screen-like format - but like all other N-Gage titles, it isn’t using the 3D chip as of yet but from what the developer has achieved is impressive indeed – being very smooth 3D effects, a very fine frame rate that never suffers from slowing down and a nice level of detail to each level – Though I cant help but think the style of graphics are aimed for the younger audience.

The aim of the game is well to basically roll your ball around the various levels that vary in difficulty, doesn’t sound too interesting – but the different levels have different obstacles, a different puzzle etc but despite all this varying the game is still rather short depending on how well you adapt to it.

There is a story line to the game, and it does get rather deep but just as your getting into it, your getting out of it due to the games shortness.

The sound of the game isn’t really the best. It’s far too repetitive, boring and in some cases doesn’t match/suit what’s happening on the screen. The further levels do get a little better with the soundtrack but other than that the sound effects of everything else are nice enough, its good quality too but still not the best of what the devices are capable off.

Now like near 96% of N-Gage games so far the multiplayer is just rankings, with this game the multiplayer could really have been expanded a lot – Who remembers Shadow racing? Not really the best way but still an idea that could have been implemented into most Arena enabled games a definite let down.

Overall for those who want to enjoy a solid single player game, get it – it’s a nice enough game with nice enjoyable graphics and a rather decent story line and for just £6 it’s a definite bargain, but for the more hardcore gamers you will be disappointed by the short story line - your choice.

Review: Reset Generation

We waited and we waited, we was then teased, and teased to a point were we grew angry, and rebellious and now it’s here – does this game live up to the hype? Worth all that excitement? I’ll give you a hint “Epic”. Read On…

Now before we start I shall tell you my first impressions, because I was so hyped for this game I did not know what to expect so I was a little worried if the game was a complete letdown, Yet I got to sample the single player demo they released on File planet, and it was bloody fantastic left me gagging for more, and gave me a feeling that the real deal shall be here soon. I was extremely excited, but that being a web browser version wasn’t going to show off its true potential, I expected more of the real thing for the N-Gage platform – And now its here, and what was delivered was truly more than I bargained for, A truly epic title.

When the game first starts, Your greeted by a nice little intro movie – which shows off all the characters that are within the game – and even from this point, it shows care and time was taken into producing the game seeing as the intro movie was at a high standard already.

The menu was also very nice, felt like a proper game, not a java game with a cheap menu very nice indeed.

Already by just being on the menu gives me the feeling this game is deep, complex yet exciting, waiting to be torn apart by fellow N-Gagers – This is “the” title N-Gage needed, at they got it.

The way the game plays, is that you’re on a grid – using Tetris style blocks to mark your paths, and if you haven’t of guessed already using slightly modified gaming heroes from the past, including Sonic, Mario, Princess and much more.

The aim of the game is to rescue the princess from the castle, doesn’t sound a lot but there’s so much to just rescuing the princess – there are different ways of doing so, blowing up the paths of each teams so they can’t get that princess you just stole from them, different unique power ups for each unique character – you will not be bored.

The game is in portrait, and this isn’t a bad thing – it wouldn’t look right in Landscape. Yet the graphics are stunning, bright and vibrant full of colour, the sprites are fantastically animated making this game visually great – I’m rather glad this game is in 2D. 3D just wouldn’t suit it at all, maybe would of ruin the game but Red lynx being Red lynx know 2D, No one could beat them easily.

Now the sound, So far not many N-Gage games have perfect sound or even a decent soundtrack – This stop here. The soundtrack for this game is amazing, it’s retro yet modern at the same time – Pure genius, and Red Lynx have even been kind enough to let us download the Soundtrack … For free (From IGN). It’s catchy, effective and suits the games aim and genre very well.

Now the point where everyone gets excited with an N-Gage game, multiplayer. Now multiplayer in this game is Rankings and real time online play which everyone will be happy about, the best part is that there are people online – ALL the time! This is fantastic news.

With the multiplayer mode, you do exactly what you do in Single player but in multiplayer – don’t sound exciting enough? Just play it – You will not know what just hit you, you will be shouting in anger over loosing your precious princess, but then smug when you get another princess in your life – this game is about to make you waste away, your going love it!

Overall, well this game certainly lived up to the hype if more if that’s even possible, All I can say really is that…. Red Lynx did it again. Epic.

Review: Brothers In Arms

This is another N-Gage game I was looking forward too but also I was expecting the worse. Why you ask? For starters it’s Game loft who made the game and so far there games haven’t been to high standards and 2 because it’s another port of a 3 year old Symbian game. Was I to be this worried or should I relax a little? Read on….

The first thing that got my attention was the game’s size, its 25 MB to download compared to the symbian version being around 2-3MB so whilst downloading I’m sat here wondering what’s so different from the symbian version and this version? Let’s find out.

We start off with a nice clean menu, with a decent soundtrack – This menu does give you the feel of a proper game, and not a typical phone game, I’m already having good vibes from this point already.

The game is a rather deep game for a mobile phone, Think COD for mobile, deep rich levels with different levels of difficulty. There’s not really a story line to the game, complete the level move onto the next one though they all do follow in order, so in some ways there is a tiny bit of story added in – nothing too big though. The levels are fantastic, all take a good bit of time to get through them – and the game just wants you back for more, fantastic replay value.

The game is default in landscape, but can be adjusted to portrait and like all other N-Gage games it isn’t using the 3D chip, but the graphics are rather impressive – You cant tell much difference between the Symbian version and the N-Gage version but there are some small details there that make a tiny difference.

The details of the levels are rather impressive, the 3D models are very good indeed but I think if A bit of tweaking was to happen you could get a slightly more polished look from the game but overall very nice with a good frame rate too.

The sound is where its let down, Very nice menu music – but when In-Game, it isn’t exactly what we call smooth (It seems a few devices are not affected by this problem) when it does decide to work smoothly it is very good indeed, all the officers shouting orders, all the explosions etc and its at a decent level of quality too. The sound overall is impressive, but the game is buggy for some people which could be causing some conflict with the sound lagging out.

The multi player part is once again rankings, this is a game that would have been amazing on line, Game loft could of took it to the next level and created something close to Battlefield but mobile!The possibility’s of half the N-Gage games have just been wasted when it comes down to the on line factor - lets hope future releases see some new on line features.

Overall, after being worried about the quality of the game I wasn’t let down too much, I think the game being another port is the worst thing about the game, If they created a N-Gage only version from scratch maybe it would be worth more but overall the game is decent enough, great sounds (when it wants to work) and Rich deep levels makes this game worth that £8.

Nokia Widsets: Who Uses them? ;)

Who uses widsets? Well I thought why not us N-Gagers use it to our advantage Make the most of it? Now I know some of you may think what I’m about to promote is a little silly, but some may think its useful.Now Widsets is a application for the Nokia devices and any other device for that matter and its made by Nokia.

Widsets collects your widgets you add onto the dashboard and uses a RSS feed to gather all the information thats within the Widget itself, You can also create your own widgets for Widsets on your account online - and its all free.

Now Ive created Widgets for most forums, and all Games (Apart from Upcoming ones) Its hardly future proof, because you can only see the 1st Post for each topic, and not all topics but its still good for getting a quick update and you cannot reply to threads either, Like I said just for a quick lazy update.

You can download Widsets from www.widsets.com

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I will Keep this post updated with any new Game Forums, and any new General forum’s too - I will also update any other widgets that seem useful to us N-Gagers

Enjoy.

Review: Pro Series Golf

I’ll be honest with you from the start, I didn’t expect too much from this game at all. I’m not a big golf fan at all so maybe that was why? But moving onto the history lesson, we had the original N-Gage with Tiger Woods PGA tour which was a huge success within the N-Gage Arena because of the fantastic multiplayer it had. Can Nokias version hold up the fort? Read on…

My first impressions were of course the download size 25 MB download size? Wow finally some real game sizes – Then to install it 60 MB? Wow, this is looks promising from the start! But I had one thought on my mind, will it live up to Tiger woods from the Original N-Gage? Simple Answer – Without a doubt.

We start off with a nice laid out menu you, to quickly get into the action with some very golf like music – this to me already gives me a good impression, you can tell already time and work has gone into this game unlike some of the other N-Gage games, this is a serious N-Gage game.

So now you have worked out the aim of the game, Golf – you play golf, with friends anyone, anywhere, and for once a golf game has excited me.

The game starts off in landscape, and it works – The graphics are simply “Stunning”. They do not use the 3D chip, but the time they have spent has made it look very nice indeed – This is a game to impress and it’s doing a very good job.

When making your shot and you see your ball go across the playing field – looking at all the scenery, the water, the detail in the grass you can notice it all and it looks fantastic.

The sound is also very good, its very golf like and keeps you within the experience, though like every N-gage game – The quality could be a lot higher than what they are maybe this is due to size reasons I do not know, but it could be improved.

The multiplayer part is what the old Tiger Woods users will enjoy the most, 1-4 Players in real time across the N-Gage Arena network, and it actually works. This is a game the N-Gage needed, we saw the original Tiger Woods game bring us the first Real Time online play for the Original N-Gage – Now I know this isn’t the first for this generation, its certainly one of the best for this generation.

Overall I’m deeply impressed by this game – Never have I been immersed in a golf game so much – Mineshaft Entertainment has proved that to me. There are a few flaws but nothing that could put you off the game, the graphics, the sound, the game play make this a worthy N-Gage Title – Even Extonix couldn’t complain (We Hope: P) So go grab this game at a bargain price of £8, this is a game worth buying.

N-Gation’s very own Widsets Widget

Sup all N-Gation readers, Just came to my attention that one reader of N-Gation by the name of “Stupidm4n” has created a widget for the Widsets application.

Go ahead and use the Widget, it will keep you up to date and let you view the latest reviews and whatever news I decide to put up, neat little idea - Thank you Stupidm4n!

Click here to go to the Widsets Widget page for N-Gation

Review: Midnight Pool 3D

Midnight Pool is no new contender, it was released on the good old 6630 and many other older Symbian devices. I remember playing this game on the good old 6630 I used to own and I loved it. The graphics were fantastic, the sound was great too and the game play was addictive but that was nearly 3 years ago and it’s released again, were our expectations met? Is it improved? Or is it the Snakes: Subsonic Story all over again? Read on….

My first impressions of the game were Midnight Pool 3D? I remember this game from time ago so I was hopeful seeing as I loved the original I was soon to be disappointed – I looked at screenshots and it looked identical to the original, and I was in denial I was really trying to work out what was new to the game – It soon dawned on me. Nothing.

We start off with the usual Game loft loading bar, and we are presented with the menu, which is identical to the classic – even the same music background, this made my initial thoughts correct – It’s the same in everyway. This is a fatal mistake.

The aim of the game is to choose a character, and make that character the best Pool player there is through a story mode, seems simple enough and easy enough – but you will find the game gets boring very easily and you wont have the patience to do so. Only the hardcore pool players may see this through, or the point’s addicts

The game does have a challenges mode, which does make the game that little bit more fun, not that much though.

The game starts in landscape, but for some odd reason they didn’t design the game to be in this way with the controls seeing as everything you need to do requires you to input one of the number keys which makes this game being in landscape pointless. The graphics however are mediocre but even these haven’t changed since the early days, effectively these are just up scaled graphics.

The sound aspect, this sounded good 3 years ago to a certain extent – now its 2008 and our devices are capable by standard to accept audio not MIDI, and Stereo sound too yet no N-Gage developer has rolled out a high quality stereo sounding game, but Gameloft defiantly took it to the lowest with there crude version of “Sweet Alabama”.

The multiplayer aspect is once again Rankings, but the only way you can upload the rankings you achieve is right at the end of completing the game with a character which is fair enough but we should have a blue tooth option here and even Real time multiplayer over the Arena network.

Overall the game is not that good at all – Maybe fun for the new people who haven’t played the original, stick with Micro pool the Symbian alternative, at least it’s updated. I think where Game loft have gone wrong is the same way EA went wrong, they release there annual game (Asphalt 1, 2, 3) etc and think because it has the name it will sell. This hurt EA’s reputation, future N-gage titles from Game loft that follow this suit will also harm Game lofts reputation.

Buy this game if you love pool, but don’t expect too much from it and be warned of the price being £8.

Review: The Sims 2: Pets

This is a title the N-Gage needed, a well known franchise from the original PC series. We have had so many different versions of Sims 2 Pets for all the mainstream consoles and handheld’s, is this version worth our money again? Read on…

My first impressions with the game were wow The Sims 2: Pets for N-Gage? And in all fairness the screenshots I did look at before the launch did look rather nice so I was rather worked up for this version, I soon changed my mind.

We start off with the EA logo, and a nice start-up screen which gave me high hopes right from the word go, the menu was clean and easy to understand. Not too messy, not too cluttered just right.

When first starting the game, you’re required to create your avatar or your “sim” along with your pet dog. This is the part where I think EA has gone wrong, why is it only dogs? Where’s my cat? Or even any other animal? This is something they could have added into the game to give it more depth.

The aim of the game is well, Basically look after your pet by training it, feeding it, washing it, playing with it and letting it sleep – that’s all you get to do in the game really and after say an hours play, you really do get bored.

The game isn’t really that deep at all, if you wish to play with your dog you get 2 options Ball or disc (Frisbee) you can buy more toys, well you can “upgrade” your current Balls and discs to well a different colour ball or a different coloured disc.

It’s the same throughout the game, the options are limited, there are only a handful of things to do with the dog, you can’t modify the house in any way – the money you earn is to buy more food for the dog.

The controls are simple, Its like a point and click game, Left and right for the camera and the A and B gaming keys to select things, cant get too lost with that eh?

Graphically the game is rather good, Its detailed and seems to of had some effort put into it which is good, the details on the dog itself and around the house are all decent enough running at a decent frame rate and all the colours and effects used are vivid and rather nice to the eye. Though like all other 3D N-Gage 2.0 games, it isn’t using the 3D chip.

The sounds of The Sims 2:Pets are decent, people who play the PC Sims 2, Will recognise the menu music – but the game lacks music, or anything whilst in-game, only the occasional bark and scuffle can be heard so that kind of lets it down – but its mediocre quality which is nice.

The N-Gage Arena aspect of the game is well, you guessed right – rankings! But to be fair, you can’t really make this game online unless you could walk the dogs with other players and stuff like that, but let’s not get hopeful seeing as we can’t even walk the dog in single player mode.

Overall the game is a let down, It makes you excited and for £8 its also rather expensive for such a quick and easy game which in the end is a waste of money, It has no replay value – I Will only recommend this game to the serious fanatics of The Sims, otherwise leave this one out unless you need the achievement points