Fast & Furious Adrenaline for iPhone: Hands on Preview

Fast & Furious Adrenaline Preview

Fast Furious Adrenaline iPhone_4

Racing games on the iPhone/iPod Touch are big business, they are extremely popular and they demand the top prices too so they are obviously doing some right. The newest racing game to hit the streets around April 16th is Fast & Furious Adrenaline from the franchise of the same name, and it is to street racing what Real Racing is to track racing.

Something that comes across from the start is the high production values of the game. The graphics of the menus and cut-scenes are well produced and look good however that is not fully translated to the in-game graphics as you race around the streets of Los Angeles.

The street race format see’s you joining one of four crews in an attempt to take over and own the city streets. This is mainly covered in the Story Mode where you will progress through five different race types as you attempt to beat your rivals. The five races types are road race, time trial, cop chase, drag race and boss battle which all offer different types of racing styles.

The path through the Story Mode certainly is pretty linear to begin with although as you progress you will get multiple race types to chose from although ultimately you will have to complete them all in some order to become king of the streets!

The 30+ cars handle well as you race around the city although some of the collisions are a little soft but nothing that you wouldn’t expect from an arcade racer rather than and sim and at times collisions with the track are either to harsh or have no impact at all. Also while using this preview build the game crashed pretty frequently, hopefully this is something that can be fixed before the final release.

It’s great that you are offered 3 steering options to choice from which offer different alternatives to steering your vehicle while the break and nitro’s are all controlled through virtual buttons. The accelerometer controls allow’s you to steer your car by tilting your device left and right and are very responsive. Then there is the steering wheel option which places a virtual steering wheel in the bottom left hand corner of the screen that you use your left thumb to control, and finally the touch controls that allow you to steer your car via touching the left and right hand side of your screen.

For me the best controls are the touch controls, they are sensitive and accurate and most importantly they produce the best results when it comes to accurate, long drifting which is something that is rare in any racing game on the iPhone/iPod Touch!

Multi-player is offered not only locally but also online. In it’s current pre-release version I was unable to download the ghosts and the only Facebook integration was the ability to post bragging rights when I won races and unlocked cars. I look forward to playing the game online and it will be interesting to see how the online aspect of the game via Facebook is integrated in the final release which also includes the ability to upload videos of your best races.

At present, and remember this is a pre-release version of the game so this may change, the in-game graphics feel a little stilted and the overall game currently feels cold and lacking atmosphere which in a street racing game more than any other is vitally important. That being said when you are travelling at high-speed what the city scape looks likes becomes less important.

While Fast & Furious Adrenaline beta build might have a few rough edges it still looks like it should be a great addition to the iPhone/iPod Touch list of racing games especially if those rough edges can be smoothed out. If you are looking for a fun and fast arcade racer then Adrenaline looks like it’s going to fit the bill for you when it’s finally released.

Preview Build Screenshots

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