Driver: L.A. Undercover

Apparently, some people find that it can make learning to drive a car easier if you've played video games that put you behind the wheel. Your hand/eye coordination is improved, you learn rudimentary road skills and gain a basic – or advanced, depending on your inclination – education in how a car actually works.

More than a few of the Pocket Gamer team have put this theory to the test and, to be honest, we'd have to disagree with it. Because even after playing Driver: L.A. Undercover, our aim when firing a machine pistol from a moving car is still woeful, and we can't ram another car off the road without doing terminal damage to our own set of wheels.

Granted, we do take a slightly 'proactive' approach to the mantra of defensive driving, but still – we're rather disappointed. Which means we'll continue living out our car-based fantasies on mobile phone, courtesy of Gameloft's take of guns, girls and gears in the City of Angels.

Playing as undercover cop Tanner, it's up to you to infiltrate the L.A. criminal underworld using your driving and shooting skills to move up the bad-guy food chain. Starting out as a driver for the gang, you're soon promoted to ferrying your boss's favourite hooker around, blowing up rival gangs' strongholds, and pulling bank jobs.

Most of the action takes place on four wheels, with you tasked with completing a series of developing objectives. These range from making it to a certain location in the city within the allotted time, escaping from a police tail, carrying out a drive-by or taking down a target who's also in a car.

It's not terribly varied, perhaps, but it is entertaining and there's enough meat to the story to make the levels feel different, even if they might not appear to be. Occasionally venturing outside of your car serves to further spice up the action; on-foot you'll invariably get involved in a gunfight, something you'll begin to relish thanks to the way the action goes down.

Moving with your handset's directional pad and firing by pressing '5' or the action key, you can scamper around (in an admittedly stilted fashion, but hey) and proceed to duck down behind cover. At this point, a crosshair appears on screen, movable with the directional pad, enabling you to pick off the enemy.

Running from cover to cover, advancing on the bad guys in increments, is tremendous fun and really gives the extra-vehicular activity purpose – this isn't just a gimmick that's been tacked on without any forethought.

Yet while the story and gameplay might be well-crafted, enjoyable and substantially entertaining, they're not really the headline-grabbing aspect of Driver: L.A. Undercover. That accolade goes to the visuals, which might come as a surprise.

Take a look at the screenshots towards the top of this review and you'll see what we mean; if you were to be unkind you might think this is some sort of poorly made 3D game. But you'd be wrong: Driver: L.A. Undercover is actually a 2D title that uses clever trickery to provide a pseudo-3D effect. That means that you don't need a handset with the power of a desktop computer to be able to enjoy it.

And it is truly remarkable. The motion on-screen is smooth, the vehicles detailed (even if the scenery isn't) and the special effect employed when you turn a right-angled corner is impressive, so much so that you begin to believe that this is really a 3D world that you're exploring.

This world is expansive and open to sightseeing expeditions, with each part of the city looking suitably individual. You can find your way around courtesy of an on-screen map, and if you exit the story mode you can take part in one of the many standalone events and the zen-like Free Roam mode, where you can simply tool around the virtual neighbourhoods.

The amount of play that Driver: L.A. Undercover offers to you as a prospective freelance wheelman (or woman, if that's you) is sizeable and enough to keep you occupied for hours on end. Which should come in handy when you're next sat in a garage waiting room in the real world, passing time while the mechanics refit your car's suspension.