Gameplay Today - Because You're Always Gaming

Pandemonium was originally released back in 1996 on the PS1 platform and although it was a fun and quirky platformer it still managed to escape the attention of most gamers. But now with its re-release for the Nokia N-Gage I am sure that it will win over many gamers who missed it the first time around as well as new gamers with its fun platforming action.

The first things that you will notice about Pandemonium are its outstanding graphics, at first glance the game would appear to be 3D but once you delve a little deeper this point can be arguable because although the background and characters are three-dimensional the characters are limited to a 2D path meaning you can only move left or right. However this doesn’t hinder the game at all and as you do move left or right the camera angle twists and turns giving you the idea that it is 3D and in-fact this works very well and adds to the appeal of this game.

The game itself is a typical platform game where you have to jump up ledges, jump on your enemies to kill them and fight a boss at the end of each stage. You have the choice of two characters Niki a talented acrobat or Fargus a demented Jester with a hand puppet called Sid. Each has their own speciality, for instance Niki is able to perform a double jump enabling her to reach some of the higher power ups. This is also helpful when encountering enemies which fly at you without any warning which seems to be the standard throughout Pandemonium.

Pandemonium does have the habit of leaving you on a cliffs edge without any indication or visuals of where you are supposed to be going and so more often than not you will need to employ many leaps of faith which can make the game a little tricky at times. The controls are as you would expect from a platform and are very easy indeed, you have the option of jumping and moving left or right making the learning curve for this game very small.

As I have previously mentioned the graphics of this game are definitely where it excels. The backgrounds used here are some of the best or even (dare I say) the best that I have seen on the N-Gage TO DATE! There is a huge range of environments from forests to airships and all are vividly coloured and very smooth and clear. The characters animations are also very good and handle the fast paced bustling action well with out chopping up to badly. Definitely on par with the likes of Tony Hawks and Tomb Raider.

For such a well rendered game I was very disappointed when I found that the game was minus a soundtrack. Although I don’t think that this really lets the game down it’s a shame because it could have made the game so much better. The sound effects used are not the best I’ve heard and are so annoying that I only listened to them for one level. The only effect really used is a ‘ping pong’ when you jump and as this a game where jumping is essential and frequent it’s not long before it starts grating on your inner ear.

The game is made considerably more extensive due to the fact that it not only has the N-Gage Arena feature where you can compete in Shadow Races, add your rankings and download walkthroughs and player tips but it also has the Bluetooth Multiplayer Feature so you can compete against your friends in wireless games.

Pandemonium is an exceptional game and shines when compared to any other platformer on the N-Gage device; however it is flawed by its limited field of vision and distinct lack of audio capabilities which is unfortunate considering how well the game performs in all the other aspects that go to make a great game. If you are a hardcore platform gamer looking for a little jumping action, then this game is for you! Its absolutely jumping, fun crazy……In a very strange way.

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