Fancy racing a craft at insanely fast speeds, around gorgeous courses, while taking out the opposition with some seriously heavy weaponry? Curly Monsters hope you do, because Quantum Redshift lets you do just that, to an unprecedented degree of quality.

It's as unbelievably fast, smooth and solid as you could imagine, and about as intense as a racer can be. It's almost as if the team behind it played lots of WipEout, the slick and stylish PSone hit of 1995. But then they probably did, because they developed that too. All the experience of making amazingly quick and glorious looking games has been put to good use here - Quantum Redshift boasts many, many moments of visual excellence that fly by at almost unimaginable speeds. Quantum Redshift only looks this good and plays so fast because it's on Xbox.

The first tournaments you face, Novice and Amateur, are not all that fast though - they're pretty much the leisurely cruises the names suggest. But things get much quicker and trickier when you hit Expert difficulty level. After that come Master and lastly Redshift, two ludicrously fast and tough modes.

For fans of future racing, the higher difficulty levels are the stuff of dreams. But the brutal challenge they provide could put other, less committed gamers off Quantum Redshift. They create a learning curve that isn't so much a curve as a gentle incline that suddenly leads into a towering granite cliff covered with spiky gorse bushes and brambles. With seagulls nesting at the top, evacuating their little birdy bowels on a regular basis.

Getting through the first few tournaments is lots of fun, but after them, you hit a wall that bars progress for some considerable time. And while we have no problem with a difficult game, this does veer towards the painful, frustrating and wrong kind of difficult.

The fast pace of the game at higher difficulties is enormously impressive, but you'll also find that your ship is regularly pounded by missiles, effectively stopping you from racing properly. Dodging them is haphazard.

You spend more time worrying about getting shield pick-ups than you do making it to first place. But it's a losing battle - if you have two shield power-ups, chances are the third or fourth missile will get you, leading to a frustrating engine stall while everyone sails past you, undoing all your hard racing of the previous lap.

Compounding this problem is the fact that your projectiles don't seem to inconvenience your opponents to anywhere near the same degree that theirs do you. It's a shame, because it means that the odds feel unfairly stacked against you. And it's annoying too, because unless you finish in first place, you'll be doomed to play and replay the same race for ages.

The only other gripe we have concerns the handling of the craft. It's a bit too light, making the vehicles feel like balsa wood toys rather than the ultra-powerful, jet-powered beasts they are.

Something the WipEout series got right was the weighty feel of the ships, which made flying around the maze-like courses at high speed extremely satisfying. In Quantum Redshift, the ships don't hold their line so well, making the ultra-high speeds seem less real than would otherwise have been the case.

Niggles like that are a pity; without them, this could have been truly special. As it is, Quantum Redshift is still a very good, incredibly fast future racer, certainly better than WipEout Fusion on PS2.

But those with a low frustration threshold should know this is an extremely tough game, designed for those who live life in the fastest lane.

1. Zips along at an incredible rate
2. The scenery is frequently brilliant

1. Unfairly difficult weapons detract from racing
2. The Jet Craft feel a bit too light

Power
High-res scenery and superb effects fly by super smoothly. The loading times are fittingly quick.

Style
Scenery quality is varied - one bland cave for every gorgeous vista. But very cool.

Immersion
Getting good times on lush-looking tracks is fun at first, but the frustrating difficulty is a pain.

Lifespan
Lots of courses to master and a fun multiplayer mode means there's lots to do if you get into it.

Summary
A furiously fast racer that may frustrate due to its steep difficulty curve. But hardcore racing fans will love it.