Gameplay Today - Because You're Always Gaming

Despite being a complete homebody and knowing next to nothing about cars and auto-parts, I have always had a nice relation with the racing genre of video-games. Whether it's a simulation racer or a classic arcade-styled driving game; I enjoy racing all around. After playing the quality gyroscope game Hydro Thunder Go, I decided to look into the other racer on the platform- Fast and Furious: Adrenaline. It's roughly based off of the movie license, though the big name attachment might be the best thing going for it.

I understand mobile gaming is a relatively new medium for serious gaming, but the controls in this game are outright atrocious. Regardless of whatever sensitivity you set the game to, the gyroscope controls idiotically and doesn't seem to comprehend the way you are holding the phone. Other control schemes do exist, though sadly I found the default tilt method to be the best. There is no gas or throttle, your car simply drives and you make the appropriate turns to the best of your ability. You can brake, however I only discovered this by accident and rarely found a need to slow down. Turbo does also exist, however given the blatant rubber-band AI it doesn't do much good.

Graphically Adrenaline is also a flop. Somewhere around Nintendo 64 era graphics, this is an ugly unpolished mess with only a handful of different levels. Full of rarely animated and uninteresting backgrounds, the only area at least mildly visually pleasing is a night-time stage. Vehicles all tend to look similar, with an alternate paint job of most cars unlockable as you progress in the game. Each car supposedly has differing stats, though I was unable to find any difference between the very first and last cars you can acquire. It's like the developers thought they could impress the player with various paint jobs and car models, despite the graphical headache presented.

For five dollars I also anticipated at least a slightly lengthy single player mode; unfortunately Adrenaline only offers a few hours of gameplay. With no multiplayer outside of leaderboards, I quickly became bored of the four different gametypes. Typical races, time trials, drag races and an “outrun the cop” gametype are included. Drag races were the easiest, with the cop gametype being extremely frustrating to say the least. Being chased is fun in many games, but the police in Adrenaline seem to always be directly on your bumper.

Hands down the worst part of Adrenaline is the “story.” The lack of content is upsetting, but forcing myself to read badly written dialogue from badly handled cutouts of various Fast and Furious characters was gag worthy. Adrenaline's premise has you retaking the city's four distinct districts through street races, with you ultimately “meeting” the infamous Dom. Being a combination of a racer and a mobile game, I never expected a brilliant story. But text seemingly written by a sixth grader whose never seen the movies is almost insulting. Thank god this was only a mobile game and not a script to yet another unnecessary film.

You can always try Fast and Furious: Adrenaline for a free trial on your Windows Phone 7, but don't waste your time. This is a complete rip off trying to sell via a popular movie name. Hardly a racing game at all, Adrenaline will have you frustrated and wishing you had just played Hydro Thunder instead.