Speed Chaser 3D

If David Attenborough was filming a documentary on the Human Male, he may observe the fairly aggressive approach they take when it comes to driving. He may recoil in horror as the Male laughs uncontrollably at another Male's lesser vehicle. Whereas the female may tootle along in her small French car, being careful to avoid pedestrians and parking spaces, the Male will confront trouble in a unique, uninhibited way. Without any form of self-control, he locks metaphorical horns with the other as they battle to the death, or the exchange of insurance details.

Speed Chaser 3D bottles this rage and aggressively masculine approach to driving with great relish. There are three game modes, Speed, Champion and Chase, but only the last one sets this apart from the other racers on the mobile phone starting grid.

In the Chase mode your aim is to get to the end of the course before the time limit expires, but at the same time ram as many competing cars off the road or over your head as possible. The number of points awarded depends how cleanly you strike the other car and the degree of damage you can do; finish them off and you'll take away top points.

When you see a truck pinwheeling into the sky and flying over your shiny red angermobile, it's quite a sight to behold on a mobile phone. The 3D visuals are excellent with silky-smooth animation that captures all the fun of the action. With the addition of three camera views to play with, including a very impressive inside-the-car cockpit view, there really is a visual treat in store.

The menu screens are all quite bizarre and very basic, which is in complete contrast to the game itself, but at least they're the right way around when it comes to order of importance. The music is fine and the in game sounds are competent, but there's no impressive engine noise, so if you want the effect of a grumbling V8 in front of you, you'll have to make like a six-year-old and improvise.

The lack of engine noise is paltry, however, when compared to the one aspect of Speed Chaser 3D that lets the whole game down, and that's the number of levels. There are only four different locations to drive through, and although they're well designed and look really nice, they're offered for replay in a reversed form in order to bump the total number up to eight. We might be asking a bit much for a mobile title, but can anyone really get excited about having to do a back to front version of a level that you've already completed?

This brings Speed Chaser 3D down a peg or two, which is a great shame as the ingredients for an incredible mobile experience are all here. The car handles like a dream and the controls are very intuitive, so with some tweaking and maybe some more elbow grease, this could have been a standout pocket gaming title.

It's still a revelation in many ways, particularly in how well it's been put together and how much good, if not clean, fun it is to play. It's just that you'll speed through it sooner than you'd hope.