2XL ATV Offroad

ATV is the sort of rough racing sport that takes place on wet Sunday mornings, muddied up to the eyeballs, hurtling around farmer’s fields, so how does it translate to precise and stylish iPhone?

2XL Games have replicated the look and feel of ATV racing onto the tiny but powerful iPhone. ATV Offroad is split into two modes, Career and Arcade. The Arcade mode allows for quick pick-up-and-play games over 16 really well made tracks which vary in size and are littered with loads of banked turns and jumps against 8 other competitors. There are also a couple of Freestyle maps that allow you to practice death-defying stunts and moves over a few acres of mud banks and ramps.

The Career mode combines all of the race tracks together and has you race over each one to become top of the league. There are a few leagues to play through, each having different combinations of the tracks offering loads of playtime for each league plus loads of in-game achievement’s to unlock; this will be hard to finish in a few train journeys. Graphically the game is stunning for the little iPhone.

The ATV bikes and riders are colourful and really pop off the screen with some smooth animations. Each of the tracks environments look as lush as the last with stadiums and fans screaming on one and forests on the next, each with an impressive draw distance. There are also two camera angles to get to grips with, the first person view offering the most realistic feel of speed and danger. The ATV’s manage to sound really meaty over the small speakers and the cheesy rock tracks really keep you in the mood to race and grab some mad air.

My only real issue with ATV is not really the games fault but the platform. Since the iPhone has no external control pad (something that needs to be addressed) all controls are based around the touch and tilt functions. To accelerate and decelerate there are two buttons on the right of the screen. These are quite close together so the larger thumbed gamers may struggle a little. Steering is all by tilt; initially you will overcompensate far too much and crash an awful lot. I feel this is down to the whole screen being moved as you tilt, causing you to misjudge corners. As with all new controls systems though, practice makes perfect and after a couple of hour’s play I began to get a grip with the controls and it's there that the game opened up to me and I started to win races and progress through the ranks.

This is my first real experience of gaming on the iPhone and I am amazed at just how good it is. A couple of control issues aside, this is a full-on title that is worth every penny, if it came out on PSP it would cost a hell of a lot more. 2XL ATV Offroad is a real eye opener to companies and gamers alike. Whilst the DS has no real worries the PSP should be concerned if this is the quality of game we can expect from 2XL on the iPhone. Gamers should give this title a try as you will be pleasantly surprised at the overall quality and the £4.99 price point is an absolute bargain for what you get.