Review: Glimmerati
Score:
77%
Version Reviewed: MMC Game C
Buy Link | Download / Information Link
Announced at E3 (okay E3 2004), Glimmerati is another of Nokia’s 'own' titles. If they’re hoping for a genre-defining driving game (in the same way that Pathway To Glory is the mobile war game of choice now) then unfortunately they’ve not quite hit the mark.
Glimmerati is, at its core a racing game, so no matter what they wrap around that, if the central game is no good, then the title isn’t going to be worth the MMC is mastered on. So let’s look there first. Bugbear (the developers of Glimmerati) haven’t gone for an in-car point of view, you watch your car from above and behind, so you can see the car, part of the way down the road, and the scenery around you. It means the screenshots show off the surrounding environment in the best possible light, but it can affect the game play. One reason Bugbear opted for the high camera was so you could see far enough ahead of you, so you could see where the road is going. I suspect that living with a game for a year or so of development time means that they may know the courses like the back of their hand, because in my driving on new tracks there just wasn’t enough time to get ready for anything more than the gentle corners. Which resulting fun slammed me into the barriers and not having a smooth ride at all.
Of course the easiest way here would have been for the end-user to be allowed to raise and lower the camera angle, from a directly overhead review (perhaps with some zooming out feature) to directly behind the car in a rather traditional view. Nope, you’ve got the one view available. It’s a bit of a compromise, and with a bit of memory you can try to remember how the courses go. I’d still prefer a lower camera angle, though...
The 'radar' feature also compromises the whole ‘what’s coming up’ problem in Glimmerati. It shows you exactly where the other seven cars in your race are in relation to yourself. Strangely in a game that is pushing heightened realism, this little bit of magic doesn’t show you other cars on the road (you race in 'real' locations) and neither does it show you the surrounding streets, which might have just about made up for the camera view.
All this may make it sound like I hate Glimmerati. That’s not true, there are a lot of nice touches (such as your car pouring out more and more smoke as you hit more and more walls), the graphics on display turn and spin and move incredibly well. While the cars are all very small (comparatively) it all stays clear and understandable. Part of this is due to Bugbear modelling real cities, so it’s possible to recognise landmarks and areas as your drive along. It’s quite spooky to drive along the side of the Seine and past the Champs Elysess along the exact same road as you do in Asphalt: Urban GT!
My one big problem with Glimmerati is simple. It’s simple. Picking up and playing through the game for the first time I managed to compete through 13 races (one per day in the game story line), and come in first place for all of these races! That’s not what I expect in my games – I expect a challenge right from the get-go, or at least the second race. The learning curve seems set here to pull you through the story of Glimmerati more than anything else.
Ah yes, the story. Nokia seem to be more proud of the fact that Glimmerati has a storyline, where you can choose what to do, and collect items, rather than the actual gameplay. The story itself is so B-Movie unbelievable that I was half expecting Burt Reynolds to appear as one of the characters! It’s fair to say that the plot (young man inherits money, joins the Glimmerati Racing Club, who race on the streets, and races everyone to gain fame, power, and eventually run the club) probably took all of five minutes to come up with.
Unlike X-Men Legends, where full motion video is attempted (quite successfully it has to be said) the story in Glimmerati is told through stylised 2-d static graphic scenes with both voiceover actors and subtitles pushing the plot together. I have to say that the head of the Club sounds remarkably like Sean Connery attempting a Finnish accent. Luckily it’s possible to skip through these voice scenes, but you’ll need to work through them – it’s not possible to completely switch them off
As with all N-Gage games now, there are 'Arena' functions to promote multiplayer (as well as the rather nifty local Bluetooth multiplayer racing option). These let you upload your best lap times and race times, and also to show off your trophies. As well as the races with the other club members, there are scenarios that involve you either racing head to head with another club member, or trying to get to a location in a certain amount of time. You do have some choice in these scenarios by who you choose to talk to in the cut-scenes – although the races you do are pretty much fixed.
This storyline does help hold everything together, and it is better than just a number of racing tracks joined together that the game would have otherwise. And it does push the game squarely into the 'boys and toys' genre, what with dating other drivers, and (I kid you not) the chance to win the panties of a female driver. It very slightly detracts from the game and probably won’t stand up to repeated viewing on replays, but the first time round, it’s a great diversion.
Glimerrati is one of the better arcade style racing games on the N-Gage, and for it what it does, it does it really well. But it’s not the earth-shattering perfect driving game that Nokia were pushing all through last year and into 2005.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at