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Rocket Racing

You can't fault Halfbrick's rate of output of late - with four Minis titles released so far, the Australian developer is easily one of the more accomplished and prolific studios currently putting games out there. Equally, each has its own identity and style, from the basic but compulsive Echoes and the addictive Blast Off to last month's wickedly funny, utterly gorgeous but sadly overpriced Age of Zombies.

And so to Rocket Racing, Halfbrick's fourth game and yet again another departure from the norm: essentially a top-down racer that looks like Wipeout would on an Amiga and controls like a rally game set on ice, with one killer mechanic: the drift heavy physics makes way for grinding - driving close to the edge of the track causes a boost in your ship's propulsion, upping your speed in exchange for danger.

Tracks are numerous, races are often tight and tense (despite the fact that there's no contact with the other AI racers) and there's enough challenge between the twists and turns to keep players on their toes, especially as you move up the ranks. There's no power-ups, mind, and with just one button (plus either d-pad or analog steering) the game's surprising depth takes a while to fully appreciate.

So far, so good, but here's the rub: Rocket Racing is hamstrung by its platform: the game practically screams multiplayer but Minis have no such connectivity, resulting in Halfbrick's attempt to extend the life of the campaign mode with a hot-seat style affair which, whilst nice and fun in a Tony Hawk 'Horse' kind of way - especially when competiting for best time - is no substitute for real man-on-man racing, which is missing.

Visually the game is lovely; distinctly 16-bit era backgrounds with parallax scrolling to add some physicality, nice particle effects and trails when grinding and 3D polygonal ships atop everything. It's all very smooth (although the menus are a little less so) and perfectly suited to the game's style - there's even billboard style adverts for other Halfbrick minis dotted about each track, which adds a little something to the atmosphere.

Crucially, though, Rocket Racing is a solid PSP Minis title. Ironically, given the game's £3.99 price tag, promotion to a 'proper' PSP game would have opened the door to a more comprehensive multiplayer component but as it stands whilst Halfbrick's latest doesn't quite reach the level set by Blast Off it is great fun and gets devilishly tricky towards the end. Let's hope an update adds the much needed time trial mode, though.