Nom
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| Nom

There's a fine line between something being ingenius or indifferent. What might, on paper, seem like a good, clever idea, can come off as being, well, a bit pointless. The Segway, for instance. Ugg boots. Lost on the telly.

It's a similar set of circumstances with Nom. A strange little game in which you play a man who's running – just running – and must overcome various obstacles in his path, it's gained something of a cult status in the mobile games world.

Nom has been labelled as unique, innovative, different. And, to a certain extent, it is. Even the name of the game and lead character, Nom, which some say stands for No Ordinary Mobile game, makes an effort to maintain the aura of invention. But Nom isn't really new – it's just new to these shores – and that has consequences for its appeal.

Nom is a very simple affair to start with. Nom simply runs along, much like Forrest Gump, and keeps on running, despite everything that's in his way. As he makes his way along the bottom of your mobile phone's screen you have to press '5' or your handset's action button to make him jump.

This comes in handy when approaching rocks, for instance, or hoops or gaps in the floor. So far, so what?

Well, when the little silhouetted Nom gets to the end of the screen, he's willing to run up the side if you can jump the corner. Once he's running vertically, he carries on as if nothing out of the ordinary, leaping over anything in the way, and even carries on upside down at the top of your screen before returning down the other side.

It's a neat trick, for sure, and encourages you to do one of two things – either carry on playing upside down (something you're almost forced to do on a clamshell phone) or rotate your handset.

The further you get through the game, the longer and more difficult the levels become, and the more varied the obstacles that you encounter. So instead of jumping over rocks, you'll end up posing for photographers, dancing and kissing your girlfriend, slapping headless chickens and – at one point – recreating the "Luke, I am your father" moment from The Empire Strikes Back.

Whatever the action, though, it's performed with the same, sole key. It is the very definition of one-thumb gaming, which perhaps shouldn't be surprising as Nom was made by the same people who were responsible for Skipping Stone.

So, it's a very clever little game. But is it, really?

It's a tricky question because the entire time we were playing Nom, we were wondering whether it truly is a genius slice of pocket gaming cake or just, well, a digestive biscuit.

Visually, there's little to the game; the background colour changes on a regular basis but is nothing more than a plain colour. And while the minimalist stylization is commendably different, the silhouetted characters couldn't be less impressive to look at if they tried. The animation isn't terribly fluid and the music, which has been touted as important to Nom as the soundtrack is in Lumines, is underwhelming to say the least.

The objective of timing your presses of the action button with the beat is all good and well but not essential; you lose nothing by playing with the sound turned off.

It's also a short game, with just ten levels to work through. Even the most mutton-handed gamer will reach level seven, which is where the difficulty steps up noticeably, within 20 minutes.

Fair enough, Nom's designed for short snippets of play in between tube stops on the commute. But we can't but help arrive at the conclusion that it's a bit too convoluted in it's concept and, conversely, under-developed to play.

Nom is a nice idea, certainly, and using the screen in the way that Nom does is indeed innovative. But where Skipping Stone was immediately accessible, somewhat relaxing, and involved a pastime that everybody can relate too, Nom's a leap too far. It promises a lot but doesn't deliver and you won't very satisfied with any progress you make because there's no pay-off.

The fact that the game is three years old doesn't help its cause. Back when it was released in Asia in 2003, it was pretty revolutionary stuff and there wasn't anything comparable on the market.

But today, even as it's released as a 'new' title in Europe, games have moved on. Mobile phones are now capable of delivering a much more rewarding experience than Nom provides.

As a result – and let's be honest, through no fault of its own – Nom has been left behind and can't catch up, no matter how fast he runs. Here's hoping it doesn't take Nom 2 as long to get through immigration.

Nom

High-concept, low-thrills gaming that's showing its age
Score