The first person shooter is no stranger to the world of gaming and from the early days it has now gathered a massive following that cannot live for the next 24 hours of their lives without fragging some kind of mutant enemy. Among the first of such games were Doom, Quake and Duke Nukem, which are now classic titles that have carried on through each new generation of console. Though now they are in full, beautiful 3d graphics where every spec of blood and bullet fired has such incredible detail. There was a time when the FPS was nothing more but blurs of monsters and big splats of red for both gunfire and blood. It was a style that all games of the genre took on and they were well known for it. Ashen now joins with them, into the family of this great traditional genre.
Australian studio Taurus Games are very well known for the many ports that they have created of the old style FPS such as Doom and Quake especially. It came as no surprise to all when Ashen was released that it was so similar in many ways and could easily have been mistaken for one of the old originals.
It all begins when Jacob Ward receives a letter from his sister, telling him that she is close to finding what she has been looking for all of her life and that it has led her to Seven River City. Taking up his gun and boots, Ward hurries off in search of his sister in fear for her safety and to unravel the mystery of darkness that the surrounds the city. Upon arrival he can see that the city has been plunged into chaos of darkness of despair that has caused the inhabitants to flee. However strong his fears, ward must venture his way through the demon infested streets and sewers to find his sister, who he believes to be the one responsible for this. She said it would happen.
The audio of a game, although necessary, is not one of the more important aspects to the whole gaming experience but it is a very good quality that this game offers. It is probably the most positive feature. Though being of a low quality compared to the new titles of today, Ashen’s soundtrack is a very good one and fits in with the location and style of the game well. With music of a dark rock style, pumping in the background as you run and strafe about frantically whilst trying to blow away the demon enemies after you, it adds to the rush and enthrallment of the game.
This, coupled with the blasting fire of bullets, pulsating plasma beams and strangled gurgle of enemies, make the all round atmosphere a fast paced and action packed one.
A lot of the levels within Ashen, although it is purposefully a shadowy and evil game, are very dark, with most of the colours being a variation of brown and grey. Most people at first might recognise the game instantly to be a new Quake title and it is no surprise that it looks so similar because of Taurus Games being the developer. There are so many similarities it is untrue, from the colour pallet to the design of the demon enemies and all of them carry these generic characteristics. Despite the limitation of the colour design, the actual maps themselves are very involved for the level of game that it is and there has been a lot of thinking into the variety of buildings and levels. From swimming through water, running over bridges and blasting your way through winding streets.
Within the game there are only a handful of monsters, just more than about half a dozen, and the model designs are very dull and bland. There are slight variations of the demon enemies but they all follow a suit of design with nothing more than two or three colours maximum to a model. In the far distance they can be seen as nothing more than a few pixels pieced together but when in close range to the angry and murderous creatures, they snarl and growl at you as they try to burn you away with their plasma guns.
Jacob Ward, the hero of the game and even though you can only see his hands, is very detailed for the capabilities of the game and the weapons that he holds are very realistic. Each of them is created with simple detail in mind such as the chamber of the handgun or sloshing liquid in the container of the demon plasma gun. The bullets shots are a little sharp edged, especially the plasma gun but it all adds to the feel of a classic FPS.
With the QD’s new lighter and sharper LCD, the game is more playable but the frame rate at times can be slow. Regrettably, the game's 30 frames per second display constantly drops substantially when more than one demon enemy is on the screen trying to blast you away, making it difficult to aim or avoid attacks. It slows and juts from time to time when strafing during such a gunfight and some times it can become very confusing and frustrating. However, despite this, the game runs along smoothly when simply running through the streets, swimming through water or just coming up against one angry enemy.
The game play in itself lacks greatly. Making your way through the levels of the game there is not much interaction with your surrounds and it is limited to climbing up steps, jumping or flicking the odd switch here and there to open doors or activate a device.
There is not much more in it than that. The fighting between the ranges of demon enemies that you encounter is also very basic but requires a certain level of skill to strafe and manoeuvre to blow them back to the hellhole from whence they came. Such encounters are spread out far apart throughout the levels and you will be able to enjoy a nice tour of the map before you come back to having the need for your guns.
A unique ability in the game is the use of the ghost goggles. Found in your sister’s apartment, this device allows you to see the ghost like enemies in the game that could not be normally spotted with the human eye. Although it is an inventive idea, they have not utilised it to its best effects and harnessed the restraints of its use. The ghost enemies that are supposed to be invisible can still be seen if the player looks hard enough and because of this there is sometimes no need for the ghost goggles.
In terms of playing the game on the N-Gage or QD itself, at times it can become very difficult. Because most FPS are good when the use of a mouse or analogue stick is available, the N-Gage only has a D-Pad. This, along with the number buttons being quite closely put together, the advanced controls of Ashen are difficult to master and fight your way through the game smoothly.
The LCD screen on the QD is brighter and sharper than compared to the N-Gage original and because of this it offers bright and clear vision for the game. However, with the LCD being vertical rather than landscape, it is often hard at times to see the enemies that are shooting at you without turning a full 360 degrees to pin point them and then hope you have enough energy left to blow them away.
The unique feature with many of the N-Gage games is the ability of vast multiplayer through the use of the Bluetooth technology. Ashen can allow up to four players to battle it out against one another in the multiplayer mode with all of the eight levels within the game being available plus two extra levels just for the multiplayer option. This great option holds a lot of fun and hours of enjoyment to play the game with your friends and try to get a bullet in them before they get one in you. But the fun does not stop there. By linking up to the Nokia Arena, there is also more extensive multiplayer fighting to shoot it out against people all over the country. You can pitch it out to become the champion of Ashen and win medals and trophies on the Nokia Arena to show off your skills to those who dare to go up against you.
Ashen compared to games on other platforms such as the Game Boy Advance SP and other portable consoles soon to be released, it seems to be rather standard, reminding gamers of the decade old games such as Doom and Quake. However, in its own right, this demon killing FPS is a very good game once you have got to grips with it. The purpose of the N-Gage is to allow people to play when on the go and there are not many who care for a detailed story plot when travelling in the car or by train---they just want to blow something away to pass the time and Ashen is brilliant for it.
Tobias Rowe
