Pathway to Glory

Written by Matt Swider  on March 28, 2005

Reviews: Like a game of Worms...with honor.

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Pathway to Glory puts N-Gage owners behind enemy lines on the Western Front of World War II where real events are acted out in this strategy title. The game calls for switching between offensive tactics to take down the AI Axis Powers and defensive measures to take cover from them. In simple terms, it's like a really fun chess game set in wartime Europe. However, you're not limited to battling it out against a single computer opponent because up to six human players can participate in a variety of ways, even if you only have one game deck. The extensive multiplayer experience and the fact that the game was designed exclusively with N-Gage in mind are the primary reasons why you shouldn't pass up a chance to own Pathway to Glory.

The solo campaign consists of 14 missions that include objectives such as destroying enemy structures and eliminating their forces. For example, the first level begins with targeting an enemy-held water tower on the small island of Pantelleria. A squad of five Allied soldiers starts at the bottom of a map and must travel to the top to take out the tower. Each soldier has a limited number of action points, the amount depending on what he's carrying and the route being taken. So if he has say 23 points, he can only walk 23 paces until the team's next turn. Of course, since enemy soldiers are lurking throughout each map, you'll need to do more than just walk. So you may want to use 21 of the points to place a soldier within sight of an enemy and then the two remaining points to fire the weapon once for the kill.

As soon as the objectives are complete, the mission is accomplished. Alternatively, it's also possible to achieve victory by killing every enemy on the map. Variety also comes in the form of weaponry and vehicles. The game offers a wide range of WII guns, including a bazooka. However, this plays into the distance a soldier can travel, as the powerful gun weighs him down and causes him to use more walking steps. There are also ups and downs when it comes to hoping aboard a tank or jeep. Tanks are well armored but extremely slow, while jeeps provide more speed but offer less resistance to enemy fire. This is how the entire game is set up. There are so many nuances that can affect your strategy, that the gameplay becomes engrossing even in the single player mode.

The solo campaign is more than competent, but Pathway to Glory really shines when sharing the experience with a group of friends. The experience reminds me a lot of the 2D versions of the Worms franchise, only the characters here are less cute. And, like Worms, not everyone has to have their own controller. Up to six players can join in on the action with one N-Gage since it's a turn-based game. This mode, called Hot Seat, overcomes the often-problematic issue of owning multiple game decks and copies. If you come across another Pathway to Glory owner, however, there's still a Bluetooth multiplayer mode supporting the same number of players. Finally, if you're not the sharing type and don't even want to stand within 10 meters of another player, it's possible to log onto N-Gage Arena and play the game online. In my opinion, Bluetooth seems like the best option due to accessibility and reliability, but the option for multiple people to play via one N-Gage is still praiseworthy.

Pathway to Glory uses historical events to its advantage and introduces each mission with dramatic war images and music in the background. Even though these cutscenes are mostly still images being zoomed in upon, the newsreel presentation, complete with a reporter's voiceover, gives players an accurate and informed update on the war effort. When diving into the actual game, the camera sits overhead like in a normal RTS title. You may believe this would cause the game to look flat, but the levels contain a lot of structures such as sandbags, trees, buildings, trenches, fences and so on. Thus, you're able to take cover behind them, and so can the AI, which actually has intelligence in this game. In the end, Pathway to Glory isn't the best looking N-Gage game because of the overhead vantage point, but this wouldn't work better any other way.