Pandemonium

One of the games to use that style was Pandemonium.  Pandemonium is a straightforward action/adventure with odd but interesting worlds.  As early as the first stage you'll find yourself jumping on top of bouncy watermelons.  Personally I just wanted to grab a knife and cut a piece, but these watermelons aren't for eating.  As trampolines they give you a much-needed jump boost to access high, hard-to-reach areas.

This is the game's first demonstration of its cool graphics.  Near the end of the first level there is a cluster of watermelons that must be climbed in order to reach the goal.  As you jump from melon to melon, the camera automatically zooms out, changing its angle slightly, showing the world below and all of its polygonal intricacies.  Pandemonium was the first game I played for N-Gage, so it was quite a treat seeing all this happen for the first time.  Likewise, in the following stages you'll experience other eye-popping scenarios where the camera changes in an unpredictable way.  All of this makes me wonder what a survival/horror game would be like if it used a similar graphic engine.

Pandemonium isn't all about melons and camera angles though.  The goal of the game is not at all surprising: get from point A to point B.  This was the goal that every 2D Sonic and Mario game used, as well as the PSone and PS2 versions of Crash Bandicoot.  It worked for them and it works here too.

In typical platformer fashion you can defeat your enemies by jumping on top of them.  This can be used to advantage since enemies act like weak watermelons (trampolines).  Some levels have multiple paths to the goal.  If you take the higher path, you may eventually come to a large gap that cannot be jumped across.  The only way to continue would be to jump on top of a flying enemy (assuming there is one) and ricochet yourself off of him, landing safely on the platform on the other side.

Tactics like that are necessary to win big in Pandemonium's N-Gage Arena online feature.  Pandemonium offers a unique level to shadow race in.  Points are wagered much in the same way they are in Tony Hawk.  You start out with a hundred, and by winning races you could win anywhere from 10 to 60 points.  Point totals are based on each player's score, so if you have 110 points and the guy you're racing has 140 points, you could earn as many as 30 points for winning that race.  This allows you to go even further and win more than 60 points in a race if your opponent has an immensely high score.  It won't be likely that you'll beat him, at least not on the first try, so be prepared to take a loss.

(If anyone's wondering, I was one of the top 15 players the last time I checked.  At that time there appeared to be about 40 people logged in.)

Pandemonium's shadow racing feature isn't as addictive as Tony Hawk's, but it's better than most.  I enjoyed winning (or losing) races for long periods of time more than I did playing through the single-player game a second time.

Pandemonium has offline replay value, but it's not immediate replay value.  It's the kind of game that you'll pull out in a few years and say, "I remember this game.  I've gotta play it again!"  But once you play through it again that's enough for the time being.  Some games are like that.

The only thing that really bothers me is the controls.  They're somewhat stiff, making it difficult to go where you want to go, jump where you want to jump, and land where you want to land.  You could feel like everything is so perfectly lined up, but then you land next to an enemy and end up running right into him, depleting one of your life slots.  Or you might miss an important platform and fall to your doom.

However, as one of the top N-Gage launch titles, Pandemonium is worth more than your typical gaming glance.  You might see some shots for it quickly move on to Tomb Raider, but don't.  Pandemonium is flawed but fun.  It's not for everyone, especially not the impatient crowd.  But that N-Gage Arena feature is a great way to kill time.  I've always felt that games should be more than time-killers, but if you have a long commute to work, school or wherever you go each day, this is one of the best ways to make that time wither away.

Gameplay: 6.8
Run/jump, run/jump, shoot, shoot, shoot!  No, it's not Space Channel 5, it's Pandemonium.  Your point A to point B objective is blocked by the enemies, which you can either run under (in some cases), jump on top of, or shoot with your magical powers.

The awkward controls add an unnecessary amount of difficulty to the game, but if you're patient you should be able to overcome it.

As a whole the game turned out good.  I was really surprised at how addictive the N-Gage Arena feature is.  You don't even race your opponents in real-time!  But that didn't stop me from becoming addicted to it.  That didn't stop me from wanting to beat the score of every person on the list.  That didn't stop me from taking the N-Gage wherever I go...

Graphics: 8.5
Pandemonium has a great mixture of camera angles that move all around the game's polygonal world.  This game may not be three-dimensional like Tomb Raider or Tony Hawk's Pro skater, but its visuals still manage to gain attention by performing camera tricks never-before-seen on a mobile game console.

Sound: 6
Basic music and sound effects round out this game's sound.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Medium is the actual difficulty rating, however, the game becomes hard when you include the controls in the rating.

Concept: 6
This game is a port.  The only new content is the shadow race feature.  It's cool, but all N-Gage games have the option of including shadow racing.  So Pandemonium's concept deserves no proclaim for offering it.

Multiplayer: 7.5
You can't really call the N-Gage Arena a "multiplayer" feature, but it does involve multiple players.  Plus, if you have two N-Gage game decks and two copies of Pandemonium, you and a friend can play through the game together.

Overall: 7.2
Chaos!  Mayhem!  Trouble!  (Synonyms of the word "pandemonium.")  Pandemonium isn't very chaotic, and while the controls can be troublesome, the mayhem that ensues is worth getting into.

This game isn't for everyone though.  There aren't a whole lot of N-Gage options right now, so if you're torn by the choices, don't make a rash decision – rent first.