Hands-on with 3D iPhone bike game Xtreme Wheels

Xtreme Wheels, by developer Bravo Game Studios, is a throwback to the classic PlayStation/Dreamcast bike games with a crucial mobile-friendly difference: it breaks those massive playgrounds down into bite-sized pieces.

The goal is to get through an indoor obstacle course as quickly and as skilfully as possible. A trial-based game, Xtreme Wheels rates you on time, tricks, and crashes.

Each of the 25 levels is spread across five different garages: The Warehouse, the Factory, the Sawmill, the Foundry, and the Scrapyard. The areas are like virtual Hot Wheels sets, with high ramps, dangerous explosives, and precarious beams.

What makes Xtreme Wheels work is the simplified control setup. There are four on-screen buttons: lean back, lean forward, brake, and accelerate. That’s it.

Leaning back can save you from getting clocked by a low barrier, while leaning forward can, with enough momentum, create an awesome forward flip. The acceleration gets you moving really quickly.

The brake? Like a true extreme racer, we didn’t use it much, but we suspect some fancy secret tricks actually require you to stop.

The controls are pretty responsive, especially considering the detailed visuals. It uses a heavy 3D engine with your relatively large biker front and center.

The intricate, grimy backgrounds move fast, though the game purposely slows down when the hero crashes, revealing every bone-crushing hit. The rag-doll physics are merciless.

The actual gameplay starts simple, with signs in the background telling you what to press. By the second garage, however, you have the opportunity to really hot dog through a level. The massive ledge drops practically instruct you to do flips.

In one memorable moment, you are required to work your way down four half-built ramps from top to bottom. The only way to do it is to go forward on the first ramp, let gravity pull you down to the second ramp, go forward again towards the third ramp, and so on.

Apparently impossible at first, it actually creates the opportunity to do some very cool gravity-defying flips and tricks.

Strangely, the only time Xtreme Wheels feels taxed is in the interstitial screens, where things seem to go slower than expected. We suspect these rough areas will be cleaned up by the time the game ships next month.