Pathway to Glory:

Pathway to Glory is both a "real-time" and "turn-based" strategy game, based in the time of World War II, in which you have to control your troops across the battlefield. My first thoughts on this game were "it's probably going to be a boring war game, with primitive weapons and gameplay", but I couldn't be more wrong. Granted you don't get to run around with lasers, but the game holds far more entertainment then the old war movies I remember my friends parents watching.

You get to put together a troop, consisting of different soldiers, each equipped with unique weapons, before needing to clear out a battlefield littered with enemy forces. With 22 different weapons (and 14 different vehicles) there are certainly plenty of ways to complete each mission (personally I like the sniper rifle - nothing like taking out the enemy before they see you coming).

This game has an incredibly "fast" and "smooth" feel to it, which I certainly wasn't expecting - animations are smooth, as is the scrolling around the map (even while a unit is moving, etc), and the menu interface doesn't have any un-desired delays that seem to be so common.

Your units have a number of "moves" they can make each turn, which are used up as they move around the battlefield, and also for firing weapons. The more "available moves" a unit has, the more shots it can take at a target (ammo permitting). One of the really interesting features of this game, is the "Permanent Damage System" - allowing objects that you blow up stay destroyed! When you return to a battlefield upon which you have previously fought, you'll see the traces of your last fight. Moving or selecting a different unit is as simple as pressing a button, and attacking allows you to set the number of "moves" you want to spend firing (the further away you are, the less your accuracy).

There are multiple methods of play - either single player, co-operative with two to six players (sharing one device, or via bluetooth), and multiplayer via N-Gage Arena (allowing for two to six players) where you have the option of playing for "rank".

Over all this game is excellent - I barely lasted 10 minutes the first game I played, granted I didn't bother to find out how I was supposed to play, I just ran around shooting at people, not realsing my units had different weapons, or medi-kits!


Be sure to check out the official site at http://www.pathwaytoglory.com!

Screenshots:

main menu	options	start game
start solo game	game options	insignia selection
insignia #2	insignia #3	map of the level
team selection	equipment selection	"Loading" screen
start of level	selecting units	moving units
targeting enemy	attacking	game options
mission data	team overview	unit's gear
features	multiplayer options	multiplayer features