Game Reviews

Fast Five The Movie: Official Game

Star onStar onStar onStar offStar off
Get
Fast Five The Movie: Official Game

There's talk of Formula 1 chiefs introducing 'fake rain' in the years to come.

Rather than simply waiting for the heavens to open each week – as they would if Silverstone were the sole venue – those behind the circus will simply spray water onto the track via sprinklers in a bid to cause some excitement and, with luck, fatal accidents.

These elaborate new initiatives only see the light of day because bosses are concerned the sport is turning stale. They're eager to avoid every season playing out exactly like its predecessor.

Essentially, they don't want to serve up a Fast Five.

Furious sounds about right

That's what stands out most about Fast Five The Movie: Official Game (or simply Fast Five, for the sake of my sanity). Chances are, if you've played any arcade racers on mobile whatsoever you've already encountered every trick Fast Five has up its sleeves.

In all, Fast Five comes with nine race modes. Some act as time trials or charge you with smashing up your rivals, while the bulk are essentially standard races against either one or several opponents.

Loosely tied to a plot that focuses on the film of the same name, each challenge requires you to meet set goals (such as placing in the top three in standard races) to unlock the next track.

All such, encounters are played out in a mixture of settings. Street races are the most appealing, though you'll also find yourself taking to tracks in the desert. Whatever the location, your input remains unchanged throughout.

Steering is fairly rigid - '4' sends you off to the left, '6' to the right. You can also inject a bit of pace by boosting with '2', though standard acceleration is handled for you.

Smashing into opponents is encouraged, though Burnout fans will be disappointed. The outcome of such collisions largely comes down to luck, and there's always the risk of being caught by the police should you crash out in range of one of their patrols.

Five's not alive

It's completely understandable that Gameloft would look to employ what is an established, proven model, of course. What's less acceptable is that the game that slots into it feels half finished.

When tested on N95, Fast Five's visuals resemble an early coding experiment. Surfaces sit plain, untouched, looking as if they've been left blank for someone to fill in at a later stage.

Even without any form of graphical fidelity whatsoever, Fast Five still runs as held back by the hardware, the game often stuttering to unplayable levels.

While those on a more capable handset like the K800 should look to the screenshots for a graphical guide, for many the game won't come close to the images shown.

Even if your handset can run the game to a decent degree, very little imagination has been lavished upon the game's setup, and it would appear even less time has been spent giving it any kind of flavour of its own.

This is the kind of racer we've all played countless times before. It may have the looks (on the right phones) but there's very little here to suggest that Fast Five is, in any way, the magic number.

Fast Five The Movie: Official Game

The kind of arcade racer that's existed since the dawn of time, Fast Five mixes it up when it comes to the variety of races on offer, but its challenges fail to deliver any sense of charge whatsoever
Score
Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.