N-Gage Review – Resident Evil : Degeneration

N-gage

by Clinton Jeff | on January 2nd, 2009 | 47 comments

Resident Evil : Degeneration is a Survival-horror type game developed by Capcom, from the very popular Resident Evil series on consoles.

The N-Gage version of the game is basically based on the animated film of the same name. It is basically an action/shooter with a bit of a “horror” twist to it.

Gameplay :

RE:D on N-Gage stays very true to the traditional Resident Evil style of gameplay. You play Leon S. Kennedy, who’s sent to Harvardville Airport where a zombie attack has just broken out.

If you’ve played the Resident Evil series before, you will know what to expect. You get your usual Zombies trying to infect or eat humans, things to pick up that might give you health or be used for a certain task, etc. However RE:D is lacking somewhat in puzzles, than most RE games I’ve played.

As you play through the game, you get help via radio from your friend Hannigan. She’ll usually guide you on directions around the airport, and advice in some situations. Later in the game, you meet Claire Redfield who also helps somewhat. Along with your map, they’re helpful because the levels are pretty big and you might end up getting lost a couple times. The map shows the location of your objective and also which doors you can and cannot open.

You begin the game with a basic handgun. You will also sometimes receive items from the enemies you kill. This could be anything from money (or jewellry) to ammunition.

You use this money during the game, to buy ammo or other, more powerful guns from various “merchants” around the levels. You can also upgrade your weapons and buy health herbs or first aid spray from these aforementioned merchants, who as basically just rogue agents who’ve decided to steal items from the airport and put them up for sale.

Game Modes :

Resident Evil: Degeneration on N-Gage only has a single player storyline game mode.

Orientation :

The game can be played in both portrait and landscape modes, according to which, the controls can be flipped to be on the other side of the phone.

The game feels a lot better and more like a “console game” in landscape mode though.

Controls :

The controls in Resident Evil:Degeneration on N-Gage are pretty basic. You move around using the Dpad, and you use the game buttons to take aim and shoot, and as an action button to pick up items or open doors,etc. You go into “aiming mode” by pressing game button B and your gun’s laser-sight pointer will show where your gun will fire.Press B again to shoot or the Right Selection key to exit aiming mode. The aiming mode is a little too slow and might annoy some people though.

The control system is very well put together. You’ll get so used to it that you never have to look at what you’re doing later on.

Graphics :

The graphics are really very good for a mobile game. RE:D is only a 2MB download so I really dont know how the developers were able to cram to much stuff into the game. The surroundings are full 3D, and framerate is very an issue. The game does suffer from fog of war sometimes though.

Sound :

Multiplayer and N-gage Arena :

Once again, another game with a missed opportunity. The N-Gage Arena feature in this game is unfortunately, only score uploading to leaderboards.

Conclusion :

Resident Evil: Degeneration on N-Gage has a good storyline and great visuals. The gameplay is fun, and really, how can you go wrong with shooting zombies !

Weighing in at just 2MB, you might think the game’s pretty short but the developers have really squeezed in great graphics, sounds and really fun gameplay. You’d be amazed at how big the game is, even though its such a small file size.

That being said however, once you’ve finished the game, there’s not much else to do other than play it again. Which means no replay value at all, really.

I’m going to give it a 4.5 score out of 5 overall. Only losing that .5 because of the lack of proper multiplayer and poor replay value.

Very well done Capcom !

-Teh Cj

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Author Description

Clinton Jeff

Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile and mobile-related accessories. Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus or on Facebook or Twitter: Follow @clintonjeff