Game Reviews

Pole Position Remix

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Pole Position Remix
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| Pole Position Remix

Given that the iPod embodies modern living, it's odd to reflect that the latest racing game to grace iTunes first appeared a quarter of a century ago, when music was played on discs made of vinyl and games were played on monolithic stone structures decorated with oil-paint and hay.

It makes sense in a symbolic kind of way, however, because just as Pole Position was a rather flimsy arcade game that prefigured greater things, Pole Position Remix is a rather flimsy iPod game that gives every reason to believe greater things will come.

Not only that but it's an excellent retro conversion, faithful in look and feel to the original and adorned with modern trappings like smooth 3D graphics, crisp sound, and the world's best car stereo. The roadside billboards even display your album covers as you race.

First off, however, we're obliged by the conventions of iPod game criticism to mention controls, and for once it's good news. Pole Position Remix is a driving game in which you actually use a wheel to steer, and, while there are problems, it's mostly as responsive and intuitive as you'd hope. Mostly.

To accelerate, all you need to do is have your thumb in contact with the touch-wheel, steering clockwise and anti-clockwise in relation to whichever position your thumb happens to be. This gives you a reasonable range of movement, but when you reach corners too sharp to hold you can lock the steering to enter a kind of controlled skid.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to brake. Instead, if you want to slow down you need to remove your thumb from the touch-wheel and drift to a halt, meaning that you can't steer and slow at the same time. Far from being an imposition, though, this makes for interesting races, requiring finesse.

And you'll need finesse, because the car you're driving is as robust as a paper lantern. One brush with a roadside object or opposition car will see you bursting into flames and scattering across the tarmac in pieces, so you have to overtake with extreme caution. On corners, you'll quickly learn to avoid it altogether.

Not surprisingly, Pole Position Remix is tough, and with several tracks, visual themes, and a bonus Sudden Death mode to unlock it'll be a while before you've polished the whole thing off. The choice of single race and Grand Prix is fairly obligatory, but the option to switch from automatic to manual – changing gears with the centre button – is admirable, and assuming you can stomach the actual racing there's plenty in Pole Position Remix to keep you going.

Namco's choice to rehash its classic racer for iPod was a worthwhile one. There will be those who baulk at the naïve simplicity of the tracks, which only go left and right, not up or down, and as an ancient game it undeniably lacks the refinement of modern racers, both arcade and serious, occupying an uncomfortable space somewhere between the two types. However, it's a well-equipped conversion, and promises great things for the troublesome touch-wheel, even if it doesn't fully realise them itself.

Pole Position Remix

Pole Position Remix is a worthy retro conversion that faithfully reproduces the look and sound of the original while adding a few modern twists
Score
Rob Hearn
Rob Hearn
Having obtained a distinguished education, Rob became Steel Media's managing editor, now he's no longer here though.