If you remember the popular first person shooters of the 90’s such as Quake and Doom then you’ll have a pretty good idea of what to expect from Nokia’s Ashen, the title that headed the launch of the new N-Gage QD.
You play Jacob Ward the brother of Vanessa; a researcher looking for the mythical city of Maqabir. Jacob receives a letter from Vanessa explaining how her explorations have taken her to Seven River City where she is currently teaching. Soon after receiving the letter news breaks that Seven River City has plunged in to chaos, stricken by storms and overcome with supernatural phenomena, Jacob like most others is filled with dread and despair and as its occupants flee the city Jacob decides to return to the city to find his sister who he believes is in some way responsible for this disaster.
As far as First person shooters for the N-Gage go Ashen is by far the most impressive I have seen yet. Gamers will have to guide Jacob around desolate streets and corridors killing everything that moves, although there is a distinct lack of enemies to actually kill. When you do happen to encounter any enemies you will rarely find that the game throws more than three enemies at you once but thanks to the automated targeting system these enemies often prove to be of little trouble.
The enemies themselves range from ‘predator’ style ghouls with guns to ‘alien’ style wall climbing creatures. There are also many Ghost like enemies which are only visible to see with the appropriately named ‘Ghost vision Goggles’ which is a nice feature to begin the game with. Other than the goggles Jacobs weapons arsenal is fairly comprehensive for a first person shooting game, it includes a handgun, two handguns, a bizarre laser style weapon, shotguns, a grenade launcher, a machine gun and a rocket launcher.
As it very unlikely that there will ever be a mouse for the N-Gage the games developers Torus Games have dispensed with the need to free look which does put more emphasis on the right hand controls, this does make some of the manoeuvres, especially when encountering an enemy a little difficult and cumbersome.
The graphics are where this game really excels even though they do look remarkably like the graphics from Quake. The textures used are very sharp and the frame rate is very consistent giving the game a very smooth and accurate sense of three dimensions which the N-Gage handles remarkably well. The biggest issue concerning the graphics is the animation of the enemies. They do on occasions appear to be large blocks of pixelated colour which is a shame considering how well the rest of the game runs.
The soundtrack is very well crafted and reminds me of a cross between the music for ‘Terminator’ and ‘Alien’ which fits the game remarkably well. A great feature about the soundtrack is that it responds to the in-game action adding to those intense bits of gaming an adding a lot to the overall atmosphere of the game. Unfortunately the game effects are not quite as substantial as its soundtrack. The replicated weapon sounds are very average and sound very dated compared to the quality that gamers have come to expect from most FPS games.
Thankfully and as you would expect Ashen features Bluetooth multi-player death matches which are fantastic. And gamers also have the option to play with up to four players in a team death match.
If you have spent time playing modern first person shooter games then Ashen may seem a little basic and dated. However taking in to consideration that it is on a handheld then Ashen stands well.
As far as first person shooting games for the N-Gage go then there is little choice other than ‘Red Faction’ and Ashen is by far the more superior and enjoyable game. Shut the curtains, dim the lights and enter the world of Ashen!
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