The Brain Training genre just got the S60 native seal of approval, with Brain Challenge's appearance in the first flight of games for N-Gage. I was pretty impressed when I tried it out and so was Ewan, who's been putting his Scottish grey matter through the wringer with it since N-Gage went live. Here's his full review of Brain Challenge.
Read on in the full article.
I have only bought this one game, though have downloaded and played the others available in trial mode. at �6, this is great value, and a great little time waster for those dull train journeys etc.
The game is pretty good, but I happened to buy it directly from the vendors' site a month or 2 ago in java format. What irks me is that it is now shipped (with slightly better graphics I'll concede) but at a much higher price under the NGage banner. So, if Nokia are going to add their branding to a product and just inflate the price I'm not too impressed.
Furthermore this is not the kind of game that should be shipped to show off the supposed 3d graphics capabilities of the new N series phones. So far the new Ngage has given us tetris and a puzzle game. Come on Nokia, we want Zelda and first person shooters and multiplayer 3d immersive realities and realtime strategy games.
So, if Nokia are going to add their branding to a product and just inflate the price I'm not too impressed.
Nokia didn't publish Brain Challenge, it's a third party game from Gameloft. It's Gameloft's decision about what games to publish on N-Gage, so they're the ones to blame.
To be fair though, Gameloft are also bringing graphics-intensive 3D games to the platform such as Asphalt 3, so if you prefer 3D stuff then they are catering for you as well. The best way to influence what types of games they bring out in the future is to vote with your wallet.
Furthermore this is not the kind of game that should be shipped to show off the supposed 3d graphics capabilities of the new N series phones. So far the new Ngage has given us tetris and a puzzle game.
First of all, you're missing stuff out here. They haven't JUST given us tetris and a puzzle game, there are graphics-intensive titles too.
Have you SEEN the graphics on Creatures Of The Deep? They're better than any phone game so far:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qyDzsRZfqA4
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Pygf_q2v4wg
System Rush Evolution is also pretty darn good even without using the graphics chip.
By the way, the Nseries brand has absolutely nothing to do with the graphics. S60 phones have always had 3D capability, that's why the original N-Gage was able to run direct ports of PlayStation games such as Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk. The N-Gage platform won't just be on Nseries phones, non-Nseries S60 models will be getting it too, and it's probable that eventually all S60 phones will ship with N-Gage built-in.
Come on Nokia, we want Zelda and first person shooters and multiplayer 3d immersive realities and realtime strategy games.
To be honest, I don't think that is what most people want on portable devices. Nokia tried that console-esque strategy on the old N-Gage and it went nowhere.
Even on consoles, what has been one of the biggest-selling portable franchise over the last few years? Nintendo's Brain Training, which is clearly the market that Gameloft is going after with Brain Challenge (even the name is almost identical). The Brain Training games' graphics and gameplay are so basic they could have been done on an 8-bit machine in the 1980s, but that hasn't stopped them climbing to the top of the portable sales tree today.
If you compare games on portables to those on home consoles, graphics are a lot less important. What most portable gamers seem to want is instantly accessible gameplay which they can keep coming back to and play in very short bursts, especially on phone games.
It's quite rare that people play phone games for long sessions, though of course a well-designed game can suit both short and long sessions.
I honestly think ngage in the long run is not going to be huge success and may end up as a flop yet again...
Most games are just sliglty different ports of java/symbian games already released. If they really want gaming to be taken seriously they need to design handsets which has a proper control system like a psp or ds. Atleast allow for landscape orientation with mutimedia playback keys to be utilised...
Graphics & gameplay is so basic... They do not need mobile games developer but real games developers...
Seriously by who? This goes back to the question of who N-Gage is aimed at. Casual gamers are probably going to be happy with games equivalent to premium Java games (at around the same cost). Some N-Gage games (e.g. CotD) are much more involved.
The mobile gaming (as in mobile phones) market is much bigger than the mobile gaming console market... I think this game serves as a good example. Hopefully we'll see a bit of everything. To my mind its the discovery and distribution (+ platform nature) that really makes N-Gage stand out.
I agree completely. I think the mobile gaming market aimed for more mobile phone gaming than actually gaming consoles.
This is just a personal opinion, but I don't think gaming is moving in a serious direction right now, either on phones or on consoles. If anything casual gamers are the audience to aim for.
The PSP, 360 and PS3 are far more hardcore and serious consoles, but they've been totally wiped out by the Wii and DS, usually by very casual games.
Look at this game for example, it's sold absolutely stackloads worldwide but no hardcore gamer would touch it with a barge pole:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-CaHPMPckcE
...and phone gamers will probably be even more casual than console gamers, because phone gamers haven't bought any gaming-specific hardware.
Graphics & gameplay is so basic... They do not need mobile games developer but real games developers...
Do you think Creatures Of The Deep and System Rush Evolution have basic graphics and gameplay?