Powerboat Challenge 3D (iPhone)

It was always one of the most bizarre prizes ever seen on a gameshow and, ironically enough, one that was almost never won. Just why would anyone want to win a speed boat? Even if flying around the seas, bobbing off the water at a pace was one of their top fantasies, where were they ever going to moor the thing?

No doubt the shows' producers assumed that very few people would ever win the top prize, making the speed boat more of a joke than a genuine reward. These days, the iPhone would actually be a more worthy top prize – why pay for rental at a marina when you can take to your boat and career across the water at frightening speeds without ever leaving your house?

Powerboat Challenge 3D (which we've previously enjoyed in its mobile outing), like much of Fishlabs's output, is all about speed management. Whether that's with a deft touch, keeping a clean line from start to finish, or the might of serious muscle, pushing your way to the front of the pack is all about maximising velocity.

Taking to the water in a variety of challenges ranging from time trials to numerous kinds of races, rather than just presenting you with a series of rivers and letting you race of them willy-nilly, is the first of many boons to this polished game. Powerboat Challenge schools the art of keeping a tight racing line, giving you a series of buoys that you have to pass on a particular side. The closer you manage to skirt past these buoys, the more boost you gain.

How you do it is a question of personal choice. If you opt for accelerometer controls, the game becomes a rather precise affair. The faintest of tips of your phone steer your boat one way or the other. The touch controls, which have you tapping the sides of the screen to turn accordingly, might initially feel more comfortable as a result, but in the end for me it's not really a patch on the sense of control you get from tipping the phone delicately between one buoy after another.

Miss your target entirely by flying past on the wrong side three times in one contest and you're disqualified. Your speed is also greatly hindered if you take the wrong line past a buoy, knocking off any progress made in your boost bar in the process.

Needless to say, while you very quickly adapt to the game's post-to-post style of racing, avoiding misses when you're in a full blooded race is no easy task. Your computer-controlled competitors are reckless. The other boats often push you into the riverbank or tap you at the back so your boat ends up veering off to the side. This isn't as annoying as it sounds, however, and is all part of the hussle-bussle – besides it's to be expected, considering that all of the boats here are essentially trying to take the same narrow racing line.

It's also possible to use this to your advantage, as your competitors play by the same rules as you, finding themselves disqualified if they miss too many buoys. You can even barge fellow racers off course so that they end up in hot water. This is part of the game's complex appeal: while the races themselves are no-holds-barred contests, where it's possible to be a little dirty and devious to come out on top, the time trials rely on you skirting through the courses with as little fuss as possible.

There's also great potential for repeated play here, with the option of using race winnings to upgrade your boat. Plus, there are four different characters and four different islands to take your boat. This is no easy ride, mind you. Powerboat Challenge is a title you'll work around the clock to get better at, and that's something we should all have time for.