R.U.S.H.
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| R.U.S.H.

If there's one thing all this snow in the UK has proved over the last few weeks, it's just how many bad drivers there are out there.

Of course, it's not purely the white stuff that turns the vast majority of the population into hazardous half-wits behind the wheel. There aren't many days that go by when I don't see someone overtaking on a dangerous bend, performing a reckless U-turn on a dual carriageway or clogging up the local A road by travelling down it at a paltry 30 miles per hour.

Holding up traffic doesn't get you far in R.U.S.H. (which rather tenuously stands for Road Ultimate Speed Hunting), however, where speeding to your heart's content and dodging vehicles aplenty is the order of the day. This is driving for those who like to take risks, weaving from lane to lane and building up speed in the midst of civilian traffic flying down a motorway, trying to make it to the next checkpoint before the clock runs down.

R.U.S.H. borrows heavily from arcade racers of old, but rather than throwing you into the middle of a jam packed race, your only competitor is yourself. In fact, with no other racers to take on, your actions centre on darting from lane to lane (using the '4' and '6' keys to move left or right) and moving up through the gears (via the '5' key) to build up speed.

This is all aided by the fact that R.U.S.H. is viewed from a sky-high vantage point, with the road stretching out in front of you, giving you a clear view of the obstacles ahead and encouraging an assault on your speedometer.

This view also gives R.U.S.H. a sleek and smooth quality, rather than burdening it with stuttering 3D visuals that so often hold back other racers. Not so here: R.U.S.H. has a far simpler, more streamlined quality to it. Each level takes place on a different straight track, with the only quandary being when to move left and right. Sticking on the right side of the motorway, with the traffic heading the same direction as you, might seem like the wisest course of action, but that path soon becomes clogged up with volume of its own.

Which, in turn, makes crossing paths with oncoming traffic the only real option. Like a game of chicken, overtaking is a question of holding your nerve, sticking out for as long as you can before ducking back into the comparative safety of the main stream. Avoiding cars headed in your direction is key, as clashes result in your car turning into a ball of flames.

Not that there's a life system as such, but restarts – and the time taken building your speed back up again – tend to eat away vital seconds.

Making it to the finish line before the clock runs down simply opens up the next track – equally flat and straight, but complete with a few added complications. On the third track, for instance, there's a handy tarmaced divide between the two carriageways, perfect to fly down without the threat of traffic, though it comes equipped with the odd barrier, ready to throw a spanner in the works.

Again, it's all still a question of risk taking, building up your speed when you dare and slipping and sliding between cars and other obstacles to get to the finish line in time.

That's R.U.S.H.'s appeal throughout. It's a free-flowing, smooth-running, smart-looking, risk-inducing racer that has just one trick that it plays for all it's worth. Those of a critical persuasion would be well within their rights to label it as slightly one-dimensional, and maybe even a little superficial, but R.U.S.H. is built for those who fancy a quick yet beautiful brush with jeopardy.

It is, quite simply, a bit of a rush.

R.U.S.H.

R.U.S.H. might not be especially deep, but it's certainly thrilling. Taking the top-down racer and applying an old-skool Burnout-esque logic to it, the end result is a full on fireworks display that'll leave others in its wake
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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.