Rage HD

I missed two tube stops due to Epic's newest entry on Apple's handheld, and blocked the closing of the doors at another due to my jaw hitting the floor. On visual flair alone, Rage HD had me at my first gore-covered shotgun shell through a rampaging mutant's noggin. It's another surprising example to the power lurking under the iPhone 4's hood.

It's also another well-placed shotgun blast to critics' belief that Apple's range of multi-tasking phones can't do 'proper' games. Despite flaws with the design, Rage is every bit as immediately enticing as the opening riff of your first rock concert, and about as shockingly absorbing to the body.

Note though, the opening cinematic is elaborate smoke and mirrors. This isn't the vast, sand buggy-blasting next-gen FPS fest from the Doom creator. Consider Rage HD (there is a standard version for half the price of the HD one for 59 pence) similar to Dead Rising 2's Case Zero, a stripped down taste-test of the real thing. Same world, but your guided, on-rails tour is through only a small portion of it.

The setup is Mad Max meets Smash TV. A futuristic wasteland apocalypse where the main entertainment comes from a Gladiators-style survival TV show, of which you're the latest contestant. Armed with pistol, AK-47 and shotgun, you've got to survive three mutant-swarmed levels (or 'episodes' as try are here, in keeping with the television show theme) while racking up as much cash as possible, picking up loot, hitting bullseyes and notching up head-shots as you go.

You've no control over your movement - Rage builds its foundations in light-gun games in this regard - but you can sweep the camera around you, while a context-sensitive screen tap lets you charge or dodge attacks. All you got worry about is nailing mutants. Mostly.

Epic has obviously taken the cues from Gears of War. the franchise's active reloads carry over, tapping an on-screen bar when it sweeps over a designated point not only offers an instant reload, but earns you double-damage on shots. They're needed, as the multiple flavours of mutant come thick and fast as the levels progress, and it's necessary to work out and time attack strategies if you're going to survive the horde.

You can chose from two control schemes, with the first most familiar. The bottom left-hand corner remains clear for thumb- panning camera views. Fire, dodge and reload work their way up the right side of the screen. The other setup offers tilt control for camera movement, and you can clearly see how even under a different skin, the game's twitch-based mechanics are in evidence. You can see how on a mouse setup this'd make Rage easy - here it's hard to get used to and needs time to master. Maybe it'll prove the superior in the long run, but neither offers a instantly intuitive feel.

With the former you'll need to lift your thumb and flick the screen to pan round enough to pick up goods which flash by in the blinking of an eye- the screen's control radius is simply not wide enough, although the iPad version's added space may sort this problem.

We haven't picked up the art of dancing our fingers between active reload and dodging, which is necessary later on either. Unless you're Mr. Miyagi you need to sacrifice one for the other, and that'll effect your scores.

Ranking up the scoring system is what will keep you coming back for more, with the bull-eyes dotted across the levels and chain-kills offering an incentive to practise your aiming skills for some time to come.

That said, even with different difficulties on offer the game's three levels come up short, although it's hard to see how the developer could keep things interesting if that level number was doubled. we'd be interested to see if the developer releases another 'season' of shows in the near future.

though even with the carnage, OTT nature of Mutant Bash TV's host and killer soundtrack, we found the sights and sounds of Epic's own virtual tourist spot Citadel more impressive, for just under two quid the game's a great showcase for what the iPhone can do, and you'll lose a good few hours mastering it. Just don't start playing when you need to be somewhere on time, okay?