148apps rating note – Over too soon
Developer: Ratrod Studio Inc.
Price: $0.99
Version: 1.02
App Reviewed on: iPhone 3Gs
Graphics/Sound Rating: 




User Interface Rating: 




Gameplay Rating: 




Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 




Overall Rating: 




There was once a time when sliding a virtual race car around a track’s corners was seen as a sure fire way to increase your laps times; however, somewhere between The Fast and the Furious movies and a progression in physics development, it became the right thing to do – many video games will now reward you for “drifting” around a corner and that’s certainly the case with Drift Mania Championship.
Designed in partnership with the Drift Mania Canadian Championship, this particular game sees you participating in the only motorsport that isn’t won by crossing the finish line first. Instead, your job is to impress the judges with your rubber melting, tyre screeching drifting abilities – it’s nicely demonstrated during the games’ opening video sequence. A “real life” video montage taken from the championship gets you raring to rev your engine, with footage of speeding cars in dangerously close proximity to one another. Of course, there’s also a few scantily clad women hanging around the race track – which for some reason have become infinitely intertwined within the world of fast cars.
Once the video’s over, you’ll reach the main menu screen, with two options as far as playing the game is concerned, Drift or Practice – I’d definitely recommend you pick the latter on your first play as these cars can be a little tricky to handle. You’ll soon become accustomed to their tendencies for driving sideways, though, and will be moving onto the real deal in no time. In terms of actually controlling the car; tilting your device will steer, a button on your left thumb applies the handbrake and a variable bar on the right controls the throttle. This method of acceleration is much appreciated, with many iPhone racers adopting either an auto-accelerate or single button setup. It’s extremely helpful in this scenario to have full control over just how fast your car is travelling.
Once you’ve familiarised yourself with the controls, it’s time to take on the championship. To begin with, you’ll have only one car and one circuit at your disposal, but as you improve your scores and achieve podium finishes, more will be unlocked. To do just that, you’ll be required to complete a number of laps whilst earning as many points as you can. Points are, quite obviously, awarded for drifting around corners; being marked for speed, style and precision. You’ll also gain extra points for combos and drifting in bonus zones. The target scores seemed unachievable during my very first round, but it really wasn’t long at all before I surpassed them, leaving me with better cars and an even higher score. It was at this point that I began to wish there was more than three circuits to race on.
Ultimately, that was a feeling I got several times whilst playing Drift Mania – there simply wasn’t enough of it. As far as the look and feel of the gameplay itself goes, there’s not an awful lot to complain about. The inclusion of a couple of songs from upcoming bands was also a nice little touch. But, it would have been even nicer if there’d been a few more circuits, perhaps a different game mode or two and even maybe some more songs. It’s a nice little racer and a fresh alternative to simply crossing the line first – unfortunately, it just doesn’t last.
























Fast & Furious purports itself to be based on the storyline of the recent movie – I haven’t seen it, so I can’t prove it for myself, but the story mode has you globe-hopping, meeting interesting people – and then racing them, sometimes for their car’s pink slips (secret: if you’re about to lose a pink slip race, then quit or restart the race. No lost cars!) There are various types of races, from standard “if you ain’t first, you’re last” races to drag races where you have to time your gear shifting to win, and races with quick-time events that you have to complete as they pop up in order to advance. The traditional races were the most fun to me, but all of the modes are enjoyable, with maybe the exception of drift races, where it feels like you just have no control of your car throughout the whole race, and these were often the hardest races to beat in the game. Also annoying about the Drift races is the requirement for a certain number of points accrued during the race for drifting – I won a race, was ready to celebrate my achievement only to have my success crushed beneath me thanks to me not realizing I had to get 10000 points drifting. And swerving around like a maniac during a race is no way to win it, even if the other cars are as suspension-impaired as you are. It’s a minor flaw on a game that otherwise plays remarkably well. The Pursuit and Evade modes are fun stuff, too – Pursuit has you chasing down and taking out enemy vehicles before they reach the finish line, and Evade is vice versa. Fun stuff.
The game is an overall impressive package – the graphics are incredible for the system – it runs consistently smooth and the quality of the graphics are on par with the PSP Burnout games. The controls are standard tilt controls for steering, and they work well except for in the drift races where the control gets nigh-impossible, but this may be as much due to the nature of the mode than any problem with the controls. There’s just one thing that was bugging me, though – Fast and Furious is certainly impressive for the platform, and it’s not a bad game by any standard, no. The only problem with it is that I got this sensation at times that despite my positive impressions, that would it really be great if it wasn’t an iPhone game? Would I still be as impressed if it was a DS or PSP game with the same gameplay? I don’t think my expectations would be the same, and that’s what made this review surprisingly hard to write – I hit a brick wall when trying to write this due to this issue. It’s not that the game was bad and I didn’t want to play it, just the opposite, but it was hard to formulate my true feelings on this game. There’s an appreciation for the art, for the work that went into the game more than the actual game itself – that’s why I enjoyed it, for the overlying circumstances behind it moreso than the game itself. This game was good for the iPhone, and that it was a quality game for the iPhone was what impressed me, that was what hooked me more than just what the package brought by itself. It’s iPhone great, but is it anything more than that? It’s hard for me to answer that question. I enjoyed the game, but it presented an interesting dilemma – it’s great in context of the system it’s on, but I just don’t know if it’d be great on another system.







