Pathway to Glory Impressions

As far as the world's gaming journalists are concerned, Pathway to Glory, Nokia's upcoming WWII N-Gage title, is about a half step shy of vaporware. PTG hasn't quite been nebulous enough to be mentioned in the same breath as Duke Nukem Forever, but it has certainly tantalized to a Doom 3-ish level--complete with Masonic helpings of secrecy from Nokia, wildly unfettered speculation in the press, and waves of N-Gagers waking up in cold sweats. Although the title was announced a while back, nobody knows the first thing about it, other than the fact that it will be an N-Gage exclusive. We have had reason to believe that PTG is probably a fighting game of some kind (the diplomatic, social, and cryptological details of the Second World War, while interesting, probably wouldn't make for a compelling experience on the N-Gage), but what flavor, from real-time strategy to first-person shooter, Nokia could not confirm or deny. As I found out this weekend, this state of affairs isn't limited to the media, as only a bare handful of Nokia personnel have the faintest idea of what the product is shaping up to look like; in essence, the Finnish superpower has been sitting on its own mobile gaming Manhattan Project.

Consider this article the Trinity explosion. I was blessed with an opportunity to garner a ton of Pathway to Glory facts, watch a small amount of in-game footage, and even view a very early build of the game itself at a Nokia event in Finland--more than enough to tell you that PTG is the most promising title that the N-Gage has even seen. The fleeting glimpse I caught of the pre-alpha version already stood at a jaw-dropping level. In my opinion, if the developer can sustain this level of progress and deliver the promised feature set, the game will floor the entire industry and propel N-Gages from shelves to pockets like bazooka rounds.

Pathway to Glory is a turn-based strategy game that has been developed with the N-Gage's suite of capabilities firmly in mind. This is no PC port or rehash; it's an entirely new game, based on enormous amounts of historical research (the development team hired a university professor to ensure that all of the game's missions and objectives were consistent with actual events) and crafted with an obsession that borders on frightening. A litany of figures will suffice to demonstrate the amount of painstaking detail that has gone into PTG. The tally thus far: 160 actual Finnish soldiers photographed and motion-captured; thousands of real-world locations shot, from Sicily to Utah Beach; 800 different sprites; 100 in-game illustrations; and 16 different in-game languages.

Instead of parking you in the war room, Pathway to Glory puts you in control of a platoon of soldiers who accrue experience with an assortment of weapons and skills, earn medals, and have their own personalities; in other words, you'll care when they die--and not just because you'll have to train a rookie to replace your grizzled veteran. PTG features fully destructible environments filled with usable vehicles and weapons--everything that was at hand for your gramps (no matter what side he was on in the European theater) during the Big One. You can direct your soldiers to hide in a burnt-out house and snipe the enemy, but you must take care to avoid the destructive power of mortars, rockets, and radioed-in air strikes. The combat is turn-based insofar as each of your soldiers has a certain number of action points for moving around and assaulting enemies; if you blow all of a soldier's points on your turn, however, he'll have no juice left to respond to enemy moves or defend himself. In this regard, the gameplay reminded me of a cross between X-COM and Starcraft. This mixture is intended to combat the latency issues associated with mobile multiplayer and finally make full-on N-Gage Arena battles a reality.[In addition to Arena, PTG will support Bluetooth network games, as well as a pass-and-play "hotseat" mode so you can share the wealth among your N-Gage-less friends. Arena mode has the most entertainment potential, as Nokia's built-in Arena tools will enable an overarching global ranking system and chat functionality.

Despite the very real coolness of Arena battles and persistently damaged environments, Pathway to Glory's little touches impressed me the most. For example, I was afraid that control issues would impede gameplay, but as I saw the game played on the N-Gage, I noticed that the pathfinding algorithm has been cleverly designed to bend the multicolored trail you use to direct your troops around obstacles. Also, the overhead tactical map shows each soldier's field of view and dynamically updates so that you can get a big-picture view of a battle. Multiplayer battles are extremely customizable. A host can set everything from the number of soldiers involved to their overall skill level. The 3D graphics and sprites are fantastically detailed and bright, and everybody is wearing an authentic uniform. The voice acting (yes, voice acting on the N-Gage!) is second to none. There was probably more, but the drool got into my eyes somehow.

Pathway to Glory is due out in the fourth quarter of 2004, and many more details (including screenshots, hopefully) will be released at E3. Not only will this one be worth the wait; it may very well be the first N-Gage title (The Sims Bustin' Out is a close candidate as well) to force you to buy a Game Deck. WWII isn't over, folks. Just think of it as Wireless Warfare Times Two.