Best N-Gage Game
Pathway to Glory
Publisher: Nokia
Developer: Nokia
Read our preview from E3 2004 >>
Pathway, Pathway, Pathway. If you ask Nokia reps which N-Gage game they're most excited about, the answer will be the same almost every time. The Finnish mobile giant is betting the reindeer farm on its in-house WWII-themed strategy game, hoping that it will pack enough addictive gameplay to help boost the N-Gage out of the doldrums and into sales contention with other consoles. Although we took a very abridged sneak peek at a pre-alpha build of Pathway in early April, Nokia kept a very tight lid on a playable version, polishing it up for by-appointment-only battles at E3.
When we finally got a crack at a playable Pathway, we were amazed at one feature in particular--the extent to which the live product verified Nokia's hype. Pathway's color palette is as dark and forbidding as the Big One itself, lending an aura of endless attrition to the multiplayer map we sampled. Our squad of soldiers was animated to an incredible degree, demonstrating the extensive motion-capture work put into the game. The in-engine animations and effects were also phenomenally realistic. Buildings didn't just explode when their damage capacity was overwhelmed; they actually appeared to crumble into debris, complete with clouds of mortar dust and a groaning, crashing sound effect. Between the many graphical details and a pounding soundtrack overlaid by old-school news broadcasts and the screams of the dying, Pathway appeared to use the N-Gage's audiovisual abilities to an as-yet-unmatched degree to capture the feel of warfare.
Pathway's multiplayer gameplay and control schema amounted to an additional coup. The development team had obviously taken great pains to ensure that the turn-based multiplayer was as seamless as possible, and it showed. The experience was so immersive that we didn't mind waiting for our Allied opponents to finish their turn. We simply spent the time examining their continuously updated maneuvers in map mode and planning counterattacks. The game's interface also delivered on Nokia's promises to a great extent. Although many of the complex commands (such as switching weapons) were disabled for the purposes of the demo, we could see that the contextual cursor system satisfied many of the core gameplay's needs. For instance, the cursor changed to indicate whether a vehicle was in usable condition, and the color-coded range finding system was a great help in quickly identifying a soldier's feasible moves and available shots.
Pathway to Glory is our N-Gage Best of E3 pick because it offers a cohesive, refined, and original take on the strategy genre. The fact that Nokia appears to be pulling it off on a developing, port-laden platform makes the achievement all the more impressive.
The other Best N-Gage Game finalists:
Operation Shadow
Pocket Kingdom
Spider-Man 2
Worms World Party
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