ATV Offroad

At the launch of the most recent iPod music players, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made much of the company's plans for gaming on the iPhone and iPod Touch. With that in mind, we took a look at one of the latest generation of games for the iPod: 2XL's ATV Offroad.

In many respects, this game demonstrates everything that's good about the iPhone as a gaming device. It's easy to buy: rather then going to a shop you simply connect to Apple's App Store on the device, click a button and the game downloads in seconds. It’s cheap, too – although £5 is more than many iPhone applications, it’s far cheaper than a title for, say, the Nintendo DS.

The gaming experience is also a cut above what you might expect from a mobile phone game. ATV Offroad revolves around racing four-wheel carts, with the riders, carts and tracks all impressively modelled in 3D. A number of tracks and play modes are included, giving you a number of ways to play, and rival drivers are automatically controlled by the iPhone to give you some competition.

On the other hand, though, this game also demonstrates just why dedicated games consoles have the edge when it comes to playing on the move. The iPhone's one-button design works well for playing music or making calls, but here it hampers the game: you accelerate and brake by pushing parts of the screen, and steer by tipping the iPhone from side to side. This makes some sense, but we found it almost impossible to steer around the tightest bends, even after tweaking the sensitivity settings.

This 'tip to steer' system has other disadvantages, too. You can't see the screen properly when steering, for example, and it makes the game nigh-on impossible to play on a bus or train without looking like a fool and advertising your possession of an expensive telephone or music player to the world. It's also worth noting that the game's sound isn't up to the high quality of its graphics.

All in all, then, ATV Offroad is a mixed experience. If you're an iPhone-owning fan of racing games who wants to play from the comfort of a sofa, it's a decent buy. Those looking for something to play on the go, however, should steer clear.