Here we are again with the latest Nokia N-Gage Preview. ‘One’ is a 3D fighting title on the platform, in a similar style to Tekken and the like, but how on earth is the N-Gage going to go up against the big boys of this genre given the technical specifications needed to pull off such a feat, well as it happens ‘ONE’ proves it is possible.

Keeping in mind that this is a preview card and not the full retail version this is going to be short and sweet whilst still giving you the general idea of what this title is about and has to offer. The title is brought to you by Nokia and Digital Legends and both have done a great job at placing the 3D gaming genre onto the N-gage platform, it’s graphically sound and features full 3D characters and backgrounds.

The story is fairly simple and what you’d expect from this genre, you want to prove yourself and kick the ass of various other fighters in different cities around the world, this will essentially push up your renown and make your sensai proud of you, it’s all about self betterment in the fighting world and it actually does feel fairly satisfying to take down some big head a peg or two by kicking his butt.

Playability is good for the button basher but I’m not sure how the combos will transfer for the console player given I was having difficulty getting them to work, on the upside however this made little difference as I managed to progress with basic attacks and blocking manoeuvres. All in all I was fairly impressed with what I experienced with ‘ONE’ and found it fairly addictive as fighting titles go. The street fighting look and feel of the game added to the overall gritty feel of it and the smart ass characters with ego’s as big as the moon also added to that ‘I have to kick his ass’ feeling that only good fighters will inspire in a player.

Graphically this is pretty sweet. I would be interested in seeing the final build to see if the developers actually manage to iron it out even further because that being the case this would be superb. The character models are fantastic and the locations feature some sweet little touches such as lighting effects that will leave you scratching your head as you wonder just how they squeezed all this onto the N-Gage, the locations also add to this title in that they have more depth than the usual static drawn backgrounds that you may expect given the spec of this tiny machine, cityscapes are all in full 3D and pretty good it looks too.

Customization? On a handheld fighter? You bet your ass. People scoff at the N-Gage platform, usually when they’ve never used one, I stand steadfast in my belief that this is a brilliant gaming machine and ‘ONE’ may be the title to show this is the case. I started playing ‘ONE’ by customising my own character and yes I was able to play as a female character given it gives you the choice right off the bat AND you get to customise your overall look… superb.

Add to all this N-gage arena multi player capabilities and two player head to head over Bluetooth and this may well be something truly awe inspiring on release. We look forward to bring you a full indepth review closer to its release, which for those of you interested is rumoured to be around Late October.

Bring it on.