Liam Thompson

As a cheap Outrun ripoff it's a fun game if hanging out with a bunch of mates as it's one of the few games that's actually 4 person multiplayer, bonus that trophies pop for all if someone you're playing with gets one. But the game mechanics and physics can be really frustrating. Rubber banding is a big issue, not as bad as upon release (seemingly) but still pretty atrocious. The collision mechanics are fun when playing couch co-op, but if you want to progress with the game it feels like the game cheats by putting other cars right where you need to be which loses you momentum if you hit them (which, weirdly, isn't as strong if someone hits you from behind), or them nudging you into signs/rocks/poles. It's definitely weighted against the player, and intentionally so, which would be fine if it felt like you were actually achieving something, but you don't. Rewards are another car, which will be a knock off copy of some kind of well known model. Although the hat-tip to Paul Walker is a nice touch. But with the arcade physics and the questionable sportsmanship of the AI it's probably only worth picking up if it's under a fiver and you have mates around often that you'll play it with. Essentially it's a PS2 era game that runs on modern hardware.

I've loved Sonic since I was a kid, and very much enjoyed the 2 recent STH films, however I felt let down by this series. In short, it could probably be edited down to 1 1/2hrs and easily pass as a made for TV/straight to VHS film. The most egregious thing about this is it seems more like 'The Ballad of Wade Whipple, featuring Knuckles' when you're given the impression that Knuckles should be the star. What with the title an' all... Yes there's Knuckles' back story, and mostly he is the focus of the bad guy's but the Whipple story line is prominent, loud and annoying. I'll appreciate this is more for kids, and it's score, production and editing are very well done. Idris' voice works well as the 'main' protaganist but the other characters seem weak and hollow, except for the all too brief appearace of Tika Sumpter which was a real treat. Oh, and the jibe about Pistol Pete being from Slough was hilarious and obviously inserted by a Brit. If you watch this with kids you'll probably enjoy it, but it carries nothing for an older audience.

This is okay if you're of an age and have an affection for the 90's/00's car scene. Tinie Tempah sounds very wooden for the vast majority of the time although manages to convey the impression that he's a bit interested in cars, Naomi Schiff is, well, Naomi Schiff (and the only reason I watched in the first place). Editorially it's pretty rough, they use a lot of music of the era, but there's either waffling over the top of it or it's just a hint. I also feel more effort could've gone into the history of the cars featured, and it bugged me that they would highlight one car for the challenges and then use a completely different one often times, also they should have used stock versions in the vast majority of cases. The challenges are pretty naff, the only one that was any good is the episode 4 Hot Hatch one. The ebay ad spots weren't as bad as you'd see on YouTube, but still felt awkward and clunky. Overall I don't think the idea is terrible, however, the execution is pretty poor and a few tweaks (with a sledgehammer) could make it very good. Finally, I *was* hoping to see Naomi screw some of the cars around a bit (she is an actual race driver, after all) but no, not so much.