Fast and Furious iPhone Game Review

Fast and Furious gives you four race modes - quick race, story mode, compete online and Wi-Fi multi-player.

Quick Race is your usual arcade type of racing where you get to choose the type of race you want to play. There are seven races all in all which include Road Race, Drift Race, Drag Race, GPS Race, Tunnel Run, Pursuit and Evade. All these races were designed to give you a challenge, but if you find them too easy you can always change the game setting to hard mode.

Compete Online requires you to register at a particular site before you can race against other online players.

Wi-Fi Multiplayer lets you play against others via a Wi-Fi connection, provided that the other player also has the game on his iPhone. I haven't tested this game mode yet since I couldn't find a friend who is willing to purchase the app.

The meat of the game is, of course, the story mode. There are nine game levels; each consisting of several races that you need to complete in order to advance to the next level.

Finishing each level does not mean just racing against your opponents to the finish line. There are some races that will require you to fulfill certain stunts and feats such as completing specific drift points, evading cops, getting out of a tunnel before time expires and more.

The game also has a pink-slipping side game wherein you are matched against an opponent in a particular race. You must win the race or else lose the car you are driving. If you succeed in beating your opponent, you get to bring home his car and use it in other races.

Another notable feature of this game that might encourage you to play it again after finishing all the races is the Awards or game achievements. You can access the Awards from the game's main menu. Awards require you to fulfill various tasks that you can do as you play all the races in the game

The game utilizes both the iPhone's accelerometer and touch screen features. To control your car, you simply tilt your iPhone from left to right. To use the Nitro boost, you simply tap on its icon. Braking and doing reverse are done using the touch screen feature.

In the graphics department, all I can say is that this game excels pretty well. The cars look good, the racing tracks are varied and non-repetitive and the animation is simply fantastic. The game developer even tried to put some damage aspect in the game through black smokes coming out from the hood of your car when it gets beaten by rivals. Fast and Furious certainly puts the iPhone's graphics engine to good use.

There is nothing wrong with the game soundtrack. You probably heard most of the music in the movie if you have watched it already. Sound effects in the game are commendable. Car engines sound realistic, as well.

I have never before played a car racing game for the iPhone that got me hooked for several hours straight. Usually, after a couple of hours playing a car racing game, I'll lose interest and stop playing. But, not with Fast and Furious. It has all the ingredients that a mobile gamer would look for in a car racing game. Since there is no Gran Turismo or Need for Speed yet for the iPhone, I would have to say that Fast and Furious is the best car racing game for the iPhone so far.

This game should sit on your iPhone's app screen as soon as you have the time to install it.