Fast & Furious Adrenaline Review (iPhone)

I don’t normally like racing titles on the iPhone because the controls are often cumbersome and suck the fun out of the game. However, Fast and Furious: Adrenaline knew I was going to say that and so they offer you all the possible control schemes one could want in a touchscreen/accelerometer controlled racer. What that really means is that they’ve taken away my major issues with this type of game, so now I can focus on the rest of it. The controls offered are Tilt, Wheel and Touch. They’re all fairly obvious and you’re certain to find one you like. Excellent game design on their part.

But can a racing title truly be engrossing on a platform such as the iPhone? That’s the challenge as we head to the start line and prepare to race. The game gives an ample amount of choice including quick play, story mode and even Multiplayer. Yes, it’s actually multiplayer on multiple devices through s Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection which is pretty slick.

In Story Mode you join one of four crews and have to win races to prove yourself and expand your crew’s territory. There are multiple types of races available and 35 cars. Now the cars have four stats - Speed, Acceleration, Nitro and Drifting - and each has a ranking from one to ten. So some of the cars will have the same stats but different looks. It’s all about style here.

The types of races available are road race (circuit), time trail, drag race, cop chase, and Boss Battle. and perhaps 15 locations to race through.

The graphics are also quite good. Sure there are some jagged lines in them and they can be jerky but really the racing is good enough to cover these minor flaws and you hardly have time to notice them. The sound is also well done. The race and engine sounds are somewhat rudimentary but you can cover that with the OK soundtrack and forget about it mostly.

It’s certainly not a perfect racing title for the iPhone. There are annoying little things like auto-reverse when you get stuck on something and the fact that it’s an always-on accelerator and you have little control over your speed. But in the grand scheme of things the game is entertaining and certainly higher up the list of racing titles on the iPhone.