2-4-1 The Fast and the Furious Pack

Some film licences are a gift for game developers, and few more so than the supremely daft Fast and the Furious series. Instead of confining you to the businesslike surroundings of an ordinary race track, these games-of-the-films tend to plonk you down in the middle of a city and insist that you drive like a lunatic, which is pretty much exactly the kind of thing we'd all like to do were it not for 'society' and its stifling 'laws'.

The licence has made it to pretty much every platform, but the mobile is one of its most outstanding showings. The two games in iPlay's latest 2-4-1 scored an 8 and a 9 respectively when we reviewed them first time around, and they remain two of the slickest and most playable racers you can play on your phone.

To begin at the beginning, Tokyo Drift 3D marked an attempt by I-play to recover the reputation it squandered on the lacklustre 2D version of the game when it was reviewed back in 2006. While the most obvious improvements were visual, however, Tokyo Drift 3D pulled away from its hapless forebear in gameplay terms as well.

As you may be able to work out, the object of Tokyo Drift is to drive around Tokyo and drift through corners, taking on local petrol heads in order to prove that you're the most competent sideways driver in town.

There are four different locations to race, and three races at each of them. These entail alternately driving against the clock and a grid of opponents, and once you've unlocked a track you can go back to it in the solo run mode and choose your race type.

Your opponents are sophisticated enough to each have a separate personality, adding depth to the races as you consider the best way to tackle each of them. The collision detection is on the firm side of fair, and along with the intelligent opposition this can mean the game will present a brisk challenge to most gamers, but, as original reviewer Mike Abolins said, it rarely feels unjust.

We went ga-ga over the graphics first time around, and while they're still good, they've been overtaken by those in subsequent racing games, such as I-play's own World Rally Championship and Gameloft's Pro Rally Racing.

Still, it's a pretty and playable game, and an admirable co-driver to its newer, bigger, and better sequel: Fugitive.

Originally reviewed under a year ago in June 2007, Fugitive takes everything that made Tokyo Drift a success and builds on it. Divorced from direct source material, it tells the story of Brian O'Conner, a disgruntled cop who's on the run from his former colleagues.

The action takes place across LA, Santa Fe, Baton Rouge, and Miami, and involves participating in street races in order to make enough money to buy cars capable of outrunning the filth.

The missions at each locations are surprisingly diverse, enabling you not only to race but to ram baddies until their cars break down, and to flee from police. During conventional races, meanwhile, the police are apt to get involved if they deem you to be driving too recklessly. That their method of restraining you – to ram you off the road – is itself reckless doesn't seem to trouble them.

Fugitive isn't the best-looking 3D racer in screenshots, but it looks great up and running, with smooth animation and minimal pop-up (the phenomenon of objects and buildings suddenly appearing in front of you because the game can't render them sooner).

As with Tokyo Drift, though, it's the gameplay that really sets Fugitive apart from most mobile racers. The handling is extremely responsive, giving you a lot of control once you're mastered it, and each course is riddled with shortcuts and diversions, so that looking for the best time takes practice. Judging when to deploy your boosts adds another layer of depth.

Together, the two racers in this 2-4-1 are superb value. In an ideal world, we'd have asked for more diversity, rather than two games that essentially represent points on a scale of improvement, but you can't have everything, and two splendid racers for the price of one is more than enough.

2-4-1 The Fast and the Furious Pack

2-4-1 The Fast and the Furious Pack is yet another outstanding bargain from I-play. Both games are excellent, and Fugitive is still a contender for the best mobile racer garland. Download with confidence
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Rob Hearn
Rob Hearn
Having obtained a distinguished education, Rob became Steel Media's managing editor, now he's no longer here though.