I borrowed this from:
http://www.consolevision.com/forums/YaBB.cgi?board=ngagecompat;action=display;num=1069372146
Great news for Ngage Fans from C&VG:
Ever since the N-Gage was announced, there have been dark mutterings about Nokia's handheld games console that doubles as a mobile phone. With the release of the gamedeck in October, antipathy towards the unit has only intensified, with widespread complaints of a poor unit design and an unrealistic price point being the main issues.
Leaving aside the irritation of having to take the phone apart every time you want to play a game - and it is a legitimate concern - what about the actual software? In purest gaming terms, is the N-Gage punching its weight? We try four of the biggest titles on the horizon below.
FIFA 2004
If there's one game likely to transform a disinterested punter into a fervent admirer, it's a footy title. EA receives a lot of grief for its arcade-simple approach to the beautiful game in its FIFA series, and on N-Gage the title is similarly accomodating, but that's not necessarily such a bad thing.
As soon as you get your head round the controls - and that really won't take too long - you'll be experiencing the same primal, lairy enjoyment you derive from hurling advice or insults at the telly whilst watching England play (usually insults).
The game packs a mindblowing amount of real life players - 6,000 of them, figuring in more than 300 teams, and all the Premiership teams are available. Those impressed by stats may be interested to learn you can also fiddle with subs and formations; you can also watch an instant replay at any time, via a button press, should you want to revel in the vision of a particular move again and again. You loser.
The games are furious, fast-paced affairs. Typically you'll streak the entire length of the pitch passing to your guys before hammering a shot toward goal, before the computer gains possession and repeats the same tactic. Most matches tend to offer implausibly high scores.
Perhaps a deeper game will manifest itself upon continuous play, but for now FIFA 2004 is an entertaining kickabout. Which is all some people want...
Splinter Cell
Just like in the original Splinter Cell, T'bilisi is the jump-off point for this black ops stealth-based adventure. You play Sam Fisher, a super-hard agent working for the US government who initially finds himself hunting for a couple of missing agents.
Wisely, the developer hasn't tried to ape the visuals of its bigger brothers; instead Splinter Cell is reminiscent of a classic side-scrolling arcade game like Rolling Thunder or Strider. Sam can crouch, leap hazards, zip down rope slides, and pull out a pistol should the need arise.
There are more sophisticated items however; go to the pause screen and you can select a different vision mode or weapon, whilst other gadgets will become available as you progress.
Initially this is a platforming affair, though, as you dodge flames, jump gaps, and swing from pipe to pipe. The stealth element of the game is still in evidence, with an indicator in the bottom of the screen that lets you judge how visible you are in your current position.
As well as the ten single-player missions, the game also boasts four-player connectivity through Bluetooth, as well as versus and co-op modes.
Developer Gameloft has also included features familiar to fans of the original, including lock-picking, sniping, and the promise of various gadgets with which to fight communism, or whatever it is the US of A's getting so het up about this time. For now, the single-player affair is promising enough; we'll have more on the multiplayer game soon.
Virtua Tennis
On other systems, Virtua Tennis is rightly judged to be one of the finest tennis sims of all time, which is perhaps to damn the title with faint praise. A better recommendation is probably that practically anybody, whether a dedicated videogames fan or a technology shunning luddite, quickly succumbs to VT's charms.
Under the circumstances it would be difficult to imagine Sega messing up the N-Gage version of the game; however, while Virtua Tennis on the N-Gage is a solid enough title, it's not quite as compelling as we remembered it from the Dreamcast days.
Real life players are notable by their absence, but that's not really a big deal. The slightly-longer-than-is-necessary pause that occurs between the end of one match and the beginning of another is a minor irritation, but that's probably just nit-picking.
In terms of design, Virtua Tennis is perfectly suited to N-Gage. The oft-cited failings of the Gage's narrow screen aren't a worry here, while the simple controls and straightforward nature of the game mean you can pick up and play this within seconds, so it's great for a quick fix.
Though the visuals are colourful without being astounding, your character dives and leaps around the court with all the aplomb of his Dreamcast counterpart. And he needs to; from the very start on the default difficulty setting, opponents are surprisingly challenging.
The player at the bottom of the screen seems to be afforded a slight advantage over his opponent at the top, because he has more time to react; no change there. The speed of the ball seems oddly slow, but we'd guess this is because it can be very, very tough to reach certain shots - essentially, you need whatever breaks you can get.
The game also supports four-player wireless play, and there are arcade and exhibition modes as well as a world tour to take part in.
Red Faction
Red Faction is a first-person shooter that attempts to translate the wall-destroying, Geo Mod funk of the console and PC action game onto a tiny little sliver of a card. As you'd imagine, it's a bit of a tall order, but Monkeystone games has given it a shot...
Thing is, Red Faction was only a good, rather than great FPS in its former guise. Add a control system which is never going to work particularly well on a handheld console, and it's difficult to work up to much enthusiasm for this one.
Red Faction's visuals are impressive for what they are - this is a fully three-dimensional shooter on a card only slightly bigger than your fingernail, after all - but the brown, blurry textures aren't going to entice your average casual punter.
Monkeystone might have achieved a small miracle with the engine, but as an immediate, visually arresting spectacle it doesn't convince.
The game itself features twelve levels across various environments, and once again you take on the role of Parker, a proletarian miner who decides to rebel against a corrupt regime that forces him to slave away in deepest Mars. All of which seems to be an unnecessarily convoluted backstory to a game where you're essentially running around shooting bad guys.
Red Faction is one of the most eagerly awaited titles on N-Gage, but as a technical achievement we found this easier to admire than to enjoy.
But with John Romero involved in the development, at the very least this game should cause a stir. The prospect of multiplayer death-matches are a fine idea; we'll be testing the deathmatch mode in a future feature.