October 12, 2004 - Based on the popular PC series, The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey is an original Elder Scrolls title with a new story created exclusively for the N-Gage. The mobile edition makes good on the three essentials of the series - non-linear gameplay, first-person perspective and as the producer puts it, the levels are "friggin' huge".

Developed by Vir2l, Bethesda's mobile division (with artists from the original games contributing to this title), the game also adds features such as four-system Bluetooth multiplayer (the first ES title not limited to single play), over 25 spells, 100 weapons and 8 classic playable characters. The game features 20 levels including dark caverns and above-ground landscapes, and should take at least 80 hours to beat completely.

Shadowkey retains much of the feel of its big brother editions, however graphically it's a mixed bag so far. Polycount is pretty low in some of the characters you'll encounter and although it's not visible in the screenshots we've received, draw distance is somewhat limited. In caverns this was covered up by darkness but above ground objects tended to pop in quite a bit.

Textures and level design is decent although not particularly ambitious, but the game moves rather smoothly and at a solid framerate so considering the scope of the title, some allowance must be made for the visual complexity.

At 80 hours there's certainly enough gameplay here to warrant a purchase, although the gameplay might seem a little repetitive to those not familiar with the series.