Two more titles from Nokia today in the N-Gage First Access client - which as you'll recall is officially available for N81 users at the moment - both are classic games in their own right, and like good demos they've helped me make my mind up on whether I want to find out any more about the game.
First up though, is how to get the titles (Tetris from EA, and World Series Poker from Glu), and this is actually so painless, and uncomplicated that you might skip over it. Don't. Through the N-Gage First Access client, you head to ‘the showroom' tab on the far right, and you'll see that the two tiles are listed as new additions. Click on them, and you get the option to try for free. They're downloaded over the air, installed on the handset, added to the games menu, and away you go.
Nokia have sorted the distribution problem out. Every handset has access to every title - no need to ship bits of plastic around the world. It's something that puts them streets ahead of the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Sony's solution still requires a second device (PC or PS3) to download titles, and it's a very small subset of the catalogue. Nokia have everything available from impulse buys to considered purchases. I wonder if they have an affiliate program...
So onto Tetris, an officially licenced version, which means all the expected elements have no reason not to be here. This how to do a demo in my opinion. First of all, the EA logo gives you a sense of ‘big name title.' The Tetris logo comes up, along with a blast of familiar music. I settle back in my chair, and I'm already feeling at home with this title.
Which is good - there are countless versions of Tetris, some of them reasonably similar, some with slight changes in the game play that disrupt the rhythm and skill that a game of Tetris needs to be considered good value.
I'm glad to say that this version does have what it takes. I managed to get into the marathon game (the only one available in the demo) and loved what was happening. Would I buy a version of Tetris unseen? No. Would I buy a version after playing with it? Yes. Would I buy the N-Gage version after this demo?
Definitely.
I wish I could say the same for World Series of Poker - Pro Challenge, from Glu games. Again it's a style of game that a lot of programmers have taken a swing at (I've still got Steve's version of Video Poker kicking around...) so I'm hoping to see something similar to Tetris, that makes me feel comfortable, that shows the sort of game I'll be getting.
The Tetris demo pops up the ‘please buy me' after you finish your game. This in my mind is fine. You've seen enough to work out if the controls work through, you've probably had a good ten to fifteen minutes of game play, and it feels fair. But not in Pro Challenge. You get everything set up, you start a game, you play one hand of poker (and most likely fold, this is Texas Hold ‘em). And that's it, time up. No more, go buy the game.
Sure you can plough through the set up again, and play one more hand, but my initial reaction to this is to throw the N81 against the wall, screaming frustration at the top of my voice. If I was a bit better at doing jigsaws, that's exactly what I would have done.
So Pro Challenge may have some nice avatars. It may have a lot of options in the menus. I have no idea what the game is like. I do know that the developers of the demo are only concerned about getting my money though, which makes me look at this title with trepidation. If they've not got the confidence that their game would sell even after letting me play with it for ten minutes, then why should I have the confidence to buy it, hoping it's as good as the setting up screens.
N-Gage right now is in a strange space. It's been pretty much forced into public view, thanks to the promises made over the last year by Nokia. It's still to be regarded as Beta software, yet every move they make now is going to be examined in great detail by commentators, both friendly and hostile. They need to make sure they don't make a rod for their own backs. The demo of World Series of Poker is one of the most restrictive demos I have seen in the gaming sphere for many a year - and it follows on from a similarly short demo of Block Buster, also on the N-Gage.
Yes there is a one day licence for these games for a handful of Euros', but I sure hope the game plan is to drive people to that option rather than a free demo. Because I think that will simply drive people away.
-- Ewan Spence, Feb 2008