Fast & Furious Adrenaline is a newly released iPhone racer based upon the popular film franchise. The aim of the game is to take your rookie underground street racer onto the streets of LA to gain fame and turf for your selected “crew”. There are four “crews” to select from and each one has its own back story, you select a gang to race for and go head to head with rival crews to take over the LA underground. There are three methods of control; Tilt, Touch and Wheel. I find that the touch is more practical as it doesn’t involve any erratic hand movements and allows greater control over the car. The tilt method is decent although i find it is too unpredictable for constant use  and the wheel method is just plain annoying; its way too easy to lose control of the car and crash in the middle of the race leading to a restart.

There is a loose story which is mainly told by lines of text shown before and after each race giving a vague insight into the reasons behind the different races you are given to complete, it lacks drama, grit and excitement which you would expect from a racer based on this franchise.

We can forgive a racing title for having a weak story if it makes up for that fact with some strong gameplay but unfortunately F&F doesn’t quite deliver. There are some weird design choices such as the “pinball” effect, the cars seem to bounce off walls, cars and other items at any speed, there is no penalty and it gives the game a really cheap gameplay and sometimes the races feel just too easy. The AI do have some sense and will try to block you off at corners and ram you into walls, but a quick burst of NOs will fix most sins.

There are a wide choice of races available which include time trials, head to heads, cop chases and drag races. This, along with the large number of cars leads to a fantastic replay value and plenty of variety. The aesthetics of the game are top notch, with menus and visuals easily surpassing most DS racers. The in game sounds are decent albeit repetitive but this is remedied by the ability to play your own music playlists from the iPod which is a great addition to any game in my humble opinion. There are also options to upload stats, unlocks and videos to your facebook profile with the ability to “brag” your high scores. This gives a feeling of community to the game and I can see an  element of competition developing between friends with the game. The online feature is a welcome addition, it is ridiculously addictive and I spent more time racing strangers and uploading the highlights to Facebook than i did playing the story mode.  These features show just how much can be achieved on the iPhone as a gaming platform and this will only grow with the release of “Game Centre” later this year.

F&F is a mixed bag of a game, some features are fantastic and work really well whereas others don’t and detract from the overall experience. Its a good game in short bursts and you will find yourself putting it on in a spare 5 minutes – whether its worth the high price tag is another matter; I would recommend waiting for a price drop.