Nokia n-Gage: Age of Empires III - Detailed Review

We had reviewed n-Gage: Brother in Arms and n-Gage: One earlier when Nokia gave us a Nokia N81 for n-Gage reviewing purpose. This time around its Age of Empires III and you sure don’t need an introduction for this one. Age of Empires has been one of the most acclaimed and popular strategy games over the years in video games industry. So to put it in mobile gaming was an obvious choice for Nokia. Let’s see how this first real time strategy game faired to our first impression.

The story line

Age of Empires III is set during the siege of Malta by the Ottoman Turks. Similar to what the desktop game is all about, AoE III works upon a simple objectivity. You build up an army and destroy you enemies. But the fact is, you will have to sweat it out to do that.

You start off with your home city and a couple of villagers. Your villagers will need to harvest the riches that the world has to offer. Wood, gold and last but by no means least, food. When your resources increase you will be able to spend them on new buildings, technologies and your army which will give you a better chance to win battles.

Quick Glance at the Features

• Historical  Setting – Protect Western Europe from the Ottoman Empire
• Real-Time Strategy – Use battle strategy and resource management to conquer rival colonies and build the ultimate empire
• Multiplayer – New skirmish mode features real time OTA (over the air) multiplayer for the first time on any strategy game on N-Gage
• New Skirmish Maps and mini maps to help you with the full picture
• New animated introduction sequence with quick tips.
• Enhanced In-Game Graphics – New floor tiles create a more varied terrain and map edges will be comprised of stunning shorelines and mountain edges
• Enhanced Music and Sound Effect - Very entertaining to say the least.

Game Play

In the first mission you are told about what to do. The tips are pretty direct and you won’t have a problem I feel. Even if you haven’t played AoE ever, this mobile mode is easy enough.

You can save at any point of the game. You can go back to an earlier stage and play from there if you want to work on a previous strategy to strengthen your chances.

There are plenty of options. What impresses me the most is Nokia’s way of getting every single thing into a small 4 MB mobile game.

1. You’ll be introduced to new types of troops, from Pikemen to mounted soldiers, and they each have their own advantages and disadvantages. You need to understand who will be more deadly against whom. Here your previous experience will count a lot.
2. You’ll be able to build Stables and train cavalry. So you can see, the more advanced you are age-wise the better and stronger your army will be
3. Also there you need to take expenses into consideration as well coz training them will cost you more.
4. One of the best parts of this game is, you can see details of each troop: how strong he is, what he’s good at fighting against and how much health he has left. It is really really useful if you use these information effectively.

Graphics

For a 4 MB game, I expected the graphics to be kindda average because Age of Empires is such a big game with hell lotta data. But, to add to my delight, the graphics are quite good. Not as good as One or Brother in Arms but you can’t compare those two games with this one. The game is obviously completely 2D but from a side perspective it makes things look 3D. One more thing: clarity and differentiation are more important than accurate ray-traced 3D graphics. So even if developers have left some portions a bit blurred or blunt, its good from the perspective of not adding too much so that it compromises on the other front.

Interface

The interface is a bit confusing for the new users because there are so many stuffs within such a short space. Inside that small mobile screen they have charted out everything. Tips at the bottom, health and other resources at the top, there are mini maps to help you with. In the pop up menus and construction dialogs the icons are clear, and as they fill up (which happens as they are built) they retain enough information so you know which things aren’t going to be ready in time!

And?

And you have multiplayer gaming mode. The future of mobile gaming lies just there when you and your friend can play multiplayer via any connecting media. AoE is just an interesting start because, as we have seen, RTS games get very popular in multi-player mode. Then again, you have computer to play against you.

Glitches

This is the first real time strategy game we have got for mobile phones. So there is pretty much to explore. Still there are some things Nokia may consider worth changing

1. It takes painfully long amount of time for villagers to complete a task. It may be reduced. I know about the reality feel, but sometimes its annoying.
2. Disappointing that you can’t have both music and sound effects on at the same time. The music is soothing and goes well but when you are a serious gamer, you’ll probably end up switching to sound effects only.

Conclusion

I don’t want to sign off with a negative wave. It is a wonderful game. n-Gage gaming experiences are always satisfying to say the obvious. With quick moves, plenty of options, and decent graphics, the first real RTS game is bound to make an impact. However, I wonder how many of us (even the hardcore gamers) will feel like completing tasks, arranging troops and go for mission that will take at least 1 hour to complete with only 10-15 minutes of serious excitement or battle unless you die for strategy games.

Strategy games have so many things to consider other than fast action that you really need a big screen. At least I felt so. A mobile phone screen was too short for me to concentrate for a long time. Its a real pain in the eye because I think hardly any game enthusiast plays mobile phones on a regular basis unlike PC games. A passtime of that amount of time may well not be that popular. We will have to wait and see. I predict a very good initial reaction in the market but the sustainability may become an issue.

Having said all that, if you are a gamer, you must play it for the experience it comes with.

[Information source: allaboutngage.com, s60blog.com, n-gager.co.uk]