Yet another first person shooter dives into view, this time on the N-Gage. Are you fed up with tales of eerie deserted towns, friends and family members in trouble, evil creatures that want to eat you and big guns? Then you don't really want this title, as it's pretty much more of the same. The story is set in the town where your sister lives and the last time you heard from her, she'd discovered some secret manuscripts. However, not only do you lose contact with her, but the entire city itself. Upon sneaking into the city on foot you discover it has been taken over by bizarre creatures from the other side…

Doom anyone? Not only is the story achingly similar to that cult classic but the gameplay is too. You run from corridor to corridor, from open area to enclosed area, shooting any goons that come at you and finding switches to open doors and the like. What does make a difference is that the control options are a little cramped compared to the blessed PC keyboard or the expansive controller of home consoles, but that's not to say that the developers haven't tried. The raised '5' button is fire and immediately to the left and right are your strafe buttons. It's surprisingly easy to strafe left and right, just by the angle you place your thumb over these three buttons; steady pressure on the middle ensures some nice rounds being unleashed on the hordes from hell, while slight pressure from left to right allows you to quickly dodge their attacks.

The rest of the controls aren't so well placed and make for some awkward gameplay. One such instance was while swimming through what seemed to be a canal or open sewer. It was so easy to slip underwater (where an obligatory breath gauge appears) just because you have to press '2' or '3' to angle yourself up or down while pressing the direction pad, whilst still trying to take pot shots at enemies with keys '4' to '6'. If you don't angle your line of sight up, you sink and drown. By the time you've figured that out you're dead by demonic fire anyway.

The obligatory weapons with which you can retaliate include perennial favourites like the pistol, shotgun, double pistol, rocket launcher and so on. There is an element of originality introduced in the special goggles you pick up, apparently designed by your lost sister. These allow you to see wraithlike creatures that are very hard to spot unaided; in reality, this original idea is negated by the fact they make little difference. You would have to be as blind as a bat not to be able to discern the shimmering wraiths in the air on screen.

That's not to say there aren't any plus points to the game; the movement is fairly fluid as you explore and the creatures do pop up where you least expect them, giving a bit of a twitch factor in the gameplay and making for some nicely tense moments. One drawback is the frame rate, which seems to drop a bit when they fire back at you, or if there are too many adversaries on screen at the same time. You do come out of a gunfight happy to be alive, although definitely in need of another flak jacket!

Graphically there are highs and lows, the best bits are decidedly the landscapes. The terraced houses and Venice-like canals give a Mediteranean feel to the whole thing, lending the game an atmosphere made more creepy by the lack of locals wandering what should be busy streets. Outside in the sunshine everything is clearly lit, while inside the light filters in from windows, doors and powered sources within creating a nice pastiche of hues. Regardless of the mix of lighting effects it remains very sharp, the areas you can and can't go clearly delineated. There is a bit of noticeable pixels made most obvious when you're right up against a wall but this is nothing compared to the mess of the monsters. These are chunky, badly animated satyrs and spider-things, easily spotted by the sudden downturn in eye candy. From a distance they're dark blotches against the landscape and up close they're… well… dark blotches against the landscape. Or grey or brown, but blotches nonetheless. Somehow it's not quite as gratifying watching a blotch die.

Some of the sound effects are laughably Doom-like; I could swear they've lifted some of the sounds, like doors opening, switches being flipped and gun noises, directly from Doom. However, they serve their purpose and don't get in the way of the action. The music is a highly unoriginal techno punk rock fusion, which again doesn't really detract from the gameplay but doesn't push any boundaries either.

There's a multiplayer section included, so you can happily Bluetooth it away with your mates, but other than that Ashen is a bit lacklustre and probably won't hold your attention for long. Compared to other mobile console offerings it's fairly weak, but in the respect that it's one of the few first person shooters on the N-Gage, it holds its own against the competition. However, with mediocre and highly derivate sound, graphics and gameplay, I can only hope someone takes up the challenge of creating something a little more deserving of the N-Gage's capabilities.

Reviewed by Dave Wynn for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).