N-Gage's Dirk Spanner gains a new edge

We're guessing it's the sort of tidying up that happens when the marketing people get involved: Nokia's interesting-looking adventure N-Gage game Dirk Spanner and the Fallen Idol has become Dirk Dagger and the Fallen Idol.

The mixture of a cartoon-style private dick with film noir atmosphere and a definite humorous twist on proceeding makes Dirk Dagger one of the least stereotypical games of Nokia's N-Gage release schedule.

For example, the opening scene in Dirk's down-at-the-heels agency sees our hero immobilised with his feet set in concrete. Still, he's got a really scratchy back and the only way to progress in the game is to move your cursor around the office, selecting the different highlighted objects and seeing what you can do with them. The 'correct' option is picking the crowbar to give Dirk's back a good old scratch. Then he wobbles off, concrete still unbroken, to begin his adventure.

So, if nothing else, it promises to be off-beat. Hopefully we'll get more hands-on time with the game over the coming weeks and will therefore have a better idea of how this sort of tomfoolery plays out over a longer session.