Score
Gameplay:	7
Graphics:	7
Sound:	5
FunFactor:	6
PlasmaFactor:	8
Overall:	6.6

Warhammer 40,000: Glory In Death Review
June 8, 2006 by by Kenneth Seward, Jr.

The folks over at THQ Wireless are playing with some real fire power by bringing their new game, Warhammer 40,000: Glory in Death, to the N-Gage. If you are one of the few out there that owns a Nokia N-Gage, you might want to check out Warhammer. Just be sure to read my review first!

Drop the Hammer!

 

If you have never played a Warhammer game, don't worry about not knowing the characters because they are different for each game. This is similar to the Dungeon and Dragons games in that each one tells a different story while using familiar characters and locations (every DD game has an elf character but each one is different). Warhammer does the same thing. The races that are involved in the games all come from the Warhammer universe. In this version you're given four of WH's races to choose from. They are the: Orks, Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, and Elder. In campaign mode you can choose from the four races which, in turn gives you the story from four different view points with four different endings. Add this to the sixty maps, five environments, nineteen map objectives, and fifty different squad types and you have a fully loaded game on your hands. The only problem is whether or not you really want to bear the load.

Warhammer 40,000: Glory in Death, developed by Razorback Developments, is a turn based strategy game for the Nokia N-Gage. Before each mission you are given the opportunity to make your squad from the unit types of your chosen race. After selecting your troops, the current mission loads. You are then taken to your side of the map where you will begin placing your troops. This is where the action begins. The battles take place with each side taking turns trying to out smart their opponent. Each turn is broken into phases; the first phase being the move phase. This is when you get to move each one of your troops around the map. How you can move each one depends on what "type" of unit it is (an assault vehicle moves farther than a single soldier). If you are able to maneuver your troops within range of the enemy, then you will be able to being the attack phase. Each unit type has different types of attacks. For example, if you're in a tank, then most likely you can only attack opponents that are a pretty good distance away from you. Where as a group of soldiers can attack from a distance as well as from close range. During the attack phase, when you click on one of your troops, you are shown the enemies that are in its attack radius. After you tell one of your minions to attack someone, they will try to carry out your orders. When this happens you're taken to a more close up view of the battle. First you will see your selected troops firing at your opponents (if you're attacking from a distance). Then the screen transitions over to a close up of the targets. This is where you will see how many of your shots actually hit someone and whether or not they have killed them. After each one of your troops has finished attacking, then the attack phase is over and it's your opponents turn to make some choices. This is how most of the game is played. Even though Warhammer's mission objectives range from totally conquering an enemy to holding a particular area for a set amount of turns, the fighting is still pretty much the same.

Warhammer 40,000: Glory in Death, while all of the mechanics seem to work well, has a few short comings when it comes to gameplay. First of all, being that this is a turn based strategy game each battle tends to take a decent amount of time to complete. That's to be expected. However the battles in Warhammer move a lot slower than one would desire. Each mission is broken down into turns (you're given a certain amount of turns to complete your objective). Each turn is broken into two phases. Add these facts together and Warhammer makes a skirmish between a couple of enemies feel like an all out war with battles lasting years at a time. Also because this game is running on the Nokia cell phone, it has to load between each phase. This makes the battles seem even longer. Then there are the unit types. For the most part, all of your units will follow your orders and try their best to take out the enemy. What I did find out, however, is that the assault vehicles that fire missiles have a hard time finding their targets. They never found them! All the time I spent playing Warhammer, I never once landed a hit with one of my missiles. What makes matters worse is that the vehicles that shoot missiles don't have any other means of attack. One of my tanks was taken out by a group of soldiers that walked up and started hitting it. I couldn't get away because once you're in a "close" combat situation with an opposing force you're pretty much stuck together until one of you goes down. When you have to wait because of long load times just to miss your target every time you attack, even though you are well in firing range of the enemy, you tend to get a little frustrated. Like that time when you got pissed at a video game and threw your favorite controller against the nearest wall. You were a little frustrated then too.

 

 

Warhammer's graphics are decent at best. You can't really expect too much from a cell phone game. The visuals really shine with the comic book style cut scenes that help to push the story along between each mission. As far as the 3D in game graphics, they're okay but not great. Warhammer's sound isn't all that great either. All the right sounds are included. You can hear explosions when your tank bites it from getting whacked by a group of enemies. The bullets from the guns make different sounds depending what they are hitting. Again, all the sounds are present but that's it. They don't really help the overall feel of the game. If anything they cause the games replay value to go down. I spent a long time playing Warhammer and not once did the music change. Each battle had the same song stuck on repeat. Also, the characters that were fighting onscreen seem to be stuck on repeat as well because they would say the same lines over and over. Each faction has like five lines apiece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honestly, Warhammer can be a fun addition to your N-Gage library. The Warhammer universe makes for a good backdrop for any strategy game. You just have to get around its shortcomings first. With that being said, you can't expect too much from this game. It is on a mobile phone after all. It would be unfair to put all our expectations for games on stronger consoles onto a cell phone game. This fact helps to make Warhammer more tolerable. All in all, if you like turn-based strategy games (and own the N-Gage) I would recommend picking up this title. At the same time if you don't own a N-Gage, this game won't make you want to buy one.