Looks not too good.....but I love it!!

2005! YEAH! N-gage is still going and proving that it doesn't take a Nintendo DS to kick a brother out. It also proves to be N-gage's strongest year for games. Nokia, I think, has come a long way in terms of experience in the game industry, and in such a short couple of years. Because there's no denying that the games for N-gage are finally living up to the potential we all knew that N-gage had.

Call of Duty. Ya know this one? It's basically the story of America's un-pretty chapter in our history. The time we went after the Germans! In Call of Duty, you experience the dramatic intensity of World War 2's epic battles including the Russian Charge at Stalingrad, the Battle for Berlin, and the one and only D-day. In this game, you come together with your squad, take on enemy forces through a variety of authentic combat missions just as realistic as the nightmare of being there.


If we're honestly saying we're loyal N-gage veterans, we know now at this point that the N-gage can never graphically compete with the Nintendo DS and not a chance in heck at competing with the upcoming PSP by Sony.
But I think we also know now that the quality of the games is something that game developers are being made to take seriously now more than ever. I'm the type of guy that likes to get negatives out of the way first and I'm proud (and sad) to say that the graphics are the only downfall of this rather exciting N-gage title. If I were to get my explanation clear in every Sega system fan's mind, for example, I'd say that this game literally has the fun of Goldeneye 007 for N64 with the graphics of Sega 32X. The pasty textures and poor polygon draw-in quality are at times hideous to look at, and not many polygons can appear on the screen at one time. This means that until you're very close to anything, there's absolutely nothing on screen. If life were like that in real life, nothing would be more terrifying than fighting in this war for real! I think that the graphics of each soldier, however, are incredible and even better than Ghost Recon for N-gage. And the frame-rate, although moving quite sluggish, is acceptably detailed and pretty good-looking at most times.


But don't get me wrong. Graphics are not everything. The truth is that most people can really get into this game. The first time is a nightmare, though. One thing I hated about this game at first was that dying is so easy, it's retarded! You start out with your group of 3 soldiers in the first mission right on the border. Your mission is to give covering fire to your teammates while you kill enemy combatants hiding in the trenches and then run a suprise attack through the enemy's own trenches. Everytime I got close enough to even see an enemy, he unleashed rapid fire on me and drained me of almost my entire life meter. By the time I took another step into their trench trail, the screen just goes silent and to this "game over" screen. What happened was I got shot and died, but the game doesn't even tell you what happened. There's not even any little cinematic animation of you falling to the ground in slow-mo or anything. But a casual reading of the instructions really gave me a few pointers that every owner of this game should get to know (instructions! I never read this thing! It actually gives you information!)

Wherever you are, the "0" key gives you three nice little choices. The ability to stand, crouch, or crawl face down like a snake. Something I couldn't have survived without knowing. I noticed that when you crawl on your belly, the enemy fighters are more prone to not noticing you until you're pretty close. If it makes you comfortable, you can crawl around everywhere. The physics aren't too realistic. You crawl at the same speed as you run. It's as if you're moving across the ground on a skateboard! Sweet! "Now I can blast your bloody lungs for making me die all day!"

The "#" key gives you a tiny map of the area so that you can get a quick low-down of what to expect up ahead. The enemy has some pretty nasty stuff up their sleeves. "That's a what? A grenade launcher? They're pointing it WHERE????!!" Heehee!

The "7" key is one of the most helpful buttons. It's gives you a very "zoomed" look at what's ahead. When enemy soldiers are too far away to be loaded up in the background, you can just press the zoom button to be aware of their stupid little bodies. Plus, you can fire them down easily with your cross hair!

Your teammates are what make the experience all the more realistic. They move and look brilliant, they give you helpful advice, and they actually shoot people. Always glad to have 'em!

And like any version of Call of Duty, you can of course jump, reload your weapons, and shoot them. Heehee.


Forgiving the sluggish speed of the graphics and the slow feeling of turning left or right, what you'll find is that the game is actually very playable. But above everything else, these levels are huge! On some, it doesn't matter that they're huge, though, because stepping out of the marked bounds of your mission automatically makes you lose and start over. But the levels are filled with sooooo many different places to run to to find weapons, powerups, bonus items, basically anything you need to fight the enemy. There's really no feeling more glorious in this game than finding medical boxes on the ground. They repair 1/3 of your life meter. It means you can basically make it on through this level.

You'll also find that there was indeed some real effort put into the realism of these characters' graphics. I'm sorry, but blasting these enemy fighters just feels incredible, just like Goldeneye 007 all over again. They flop around in agony, they hit their heads on things, and some even have the vague strength to get back up and then....(chachick!.....POW!!!!!!) ;) AND STAY DOWN!!

But bad graphics can often mean sloppy control. Getting the feel of this game is tricky the first many plays of this game, which makes me thank Activision so much for allowing the player to save their place wherever they're standing. I make it a little further, grab a medical box, and save RIGHT AWAY! Plus, the game automatically saves your place for you once you finish a level. That's a relief! You don't want to have the lucky streak of a lifetime and then die on the 4th level and realize you have to begin the whole game again! You might as well pre-order a new phone. You'd be throwing that sucker upside the WALL!


Oh, there's going to be picky group of players out there who'll say that this game is more of a slimplistic short version of the PC version. They're going to be right of course. Because aside from lackluster graphics, the N-gage doesn't seem to fit a massive amount of action on those MMC cards. Surprising! I thought that it was incredible how they fit Tomb Raider on one small file card. And that game was incredibly long. Well, perhaps it felt that way because it took a long time to figure out.

Well, you definitely don't get the professional presentation of the PC or console version. You do get a decent feel of realism, though. You get all the real-voice rantings from your fellow soldiers. They're refreshing to listen to since they actually give helpful advice and not just annoy you. There's no denying that the sounds of battle are real and outstanding. I do really get immersed in this game after only a few minutes! But every mission is not all that deep. Just basically fight for your life against all the soldiers, make it inside their forts, grab "important documents" by pressing key "3" and then follwing wherever the rotating compass arrow in the left-hand corner points to. It's helpful having a "what-to-do" list constantly updated. But once your teammate says, "Good job. Let's get outta here!" or something like that, the level just ends right there and a cheap little "mission completed" screen comes up. Overall, the experience itself is mmmmmmmmmmuch more fulfilling than the ending you get.


But seriously, this is not an N-gage game to be overlooked. Very realistic, very fun to play, and very challenging to boot! Make sure not to give up so easily. It's an extremely close-call, but I have to give it three stars only because it's kinda short and the graphics are a tad too far on the slow side. But it's so close to getting four stars, but somehow I just can't do it. I do, however recommend it strongly. This game is tricky to get the hang of, but once you know where you are, it's one of the most realistic and must-have portable war-games ever (arguably, of course).