Hands on with The Hero on iPhone

Every superhero has a weakness. Superman crumbles in the presence of Kryptonite, Batman won't kill, and Spider-Man's hots for Mary Jane make for an easy villain exploit.

When it comes to The Hero, it's hard to find that weak point. This supercharged side-scrolling action game has plenty of strengths to speak of as I discovered in my hands on with it. From slick graphics to speedy combat, it could very well deserve a hero's welcome when it debuts in the coming weeks.

The game straps the cape of an unnamed hero around your shoulders, putting you to work routing out fiends insistent on destroying 15 of the world's cities. Using a virtual analogue stick (an accelerometer option is also provided), you fly through the urban skies knocking out bad guys of various forms, putting out fires, and saving babies.

There's more to being a superhero than just stopping criminals, though. Maintaining a positive public persona is vital to keeping the people on your side and doing so is a matter of preserving fame.

A gauge lining the top of the screen signifies your current fame, which fluctuates according to your acts. Save a falling infant and the people love you, let a bomb detonate on the side of a skyscraper and you're loathed.

Things start off easy enough in Simpleville, your first assignment, where catching bank robbers is a cinch. As they try scurrying away with their stolen cash you have to ram into them to take them down. Tapping the 'boost' button in the lower-right corner raises your speed for an extra thump.

In more harrowing scenarios, additional powers are needed. The militant enemies at Camp Hobart can be frozen in place and eliminated with a nudge. By high-fiving bystanders - done with a swift fly-by any waving spectator - you accumulate enough energy to trigger use of special powers - in this instance, freeze. Other powers include the incendiary boom and electric zapp!

Put it all together and The Hero promises some super-fast action. You're bumping enemies, slapping fans' hands, and unleashing elemental powers all while doing your best to avoid property damage.

On the introductory difficulty mode, things are frantic, yet reasonably challenging: things are kicked up a notch on hard.

Brawn usually comes with beauty when you're dealing with superheroes, and that's no different here. The Hero has a pleasant visual style that sits between comic book and cutout.

What really impresses is the speedy performance - zipping across the expansive stages saw absolutely no slowdown. In fact, there's an option to boost performance on iPhone 3GS and third-generation iPod touch handsets.

If there's any potential weakness it would be length, though after the Campaign is complete there's a four-stage Survival mode and 20 awards to earn on Chillingo's Crystal social gaming network.