Project NeXt - Mobile Gaming

Game Title: The Fast and The Furious: Fugitive 3D
Company: I-play / Firemint
Game Platform: J2ME
Tested Version: 0.6.7
Phone Reviewed: N70



The story follows after the first movie, when Brian O'Conner is on the run from the cops. After helping Dom evade the police in L.A., the chase continues all the way to Miami, but the ride isn't that long. Brian stops in several cities along the way, such as Santa Fe or Baton Rouge, where he earns enough cash to buy new cars. These new sets of wheels help him evade the police long enough to slip over state lines.



The game greets you with a 3D options menu, with each zooming in to different sections of the room. We wiz directly to the story mode. The map is composed of the four cities that Brian has to go through. Each city has a set of objectives either, "Street Races" or "Chapter Missions". They all involve driving around the same city but with different layouts, and there are even some hidden routes. Since each objective has it's own path, finding out which path to take in the Java version is difficult, since the path isn't shown in the "mini-map", whose only function is to show you where your opponents are and to monitor your heat level. The monotonous music is constant through out the game, so you'll probably want to play it mute like most java games.



Even though the entire game is in 3D, it runs very smoothly on my phone. There have been previous 3D Java games that are so sluggish, that they are unbearable to play. But this doesn't happen in Fugitive, this is due to the great work from Firemint. Another fun visual are the "Slowdowns" while performing a jump; they will have you boosting up any bump in sight throughout the game!

The controls are easy to manage: acceleration is automatic, and you only have to deal with drifting and turning at the right time. Even if you're the best drifter in town, all your driving skills are equal to none when you've topped the heat level, and that's when the police start tailing you. No matter how fast you out run them, they magically appear behind you every time! But it doesn't end there, cause when the police are following, consider yourself done. They will ram and bust your ride, and you'll only survive one lap, max!



Fugitive's design and quality is superior to its prequel, "Tokyo Drift". The story plot, bigger courses, different layouts, smoother gameplay, cars customizations, constant car races, distant driving to multiple locations, fast stopping cars missions, and even driving a police car, make this the best in the series yet. Although some of the finishing touches like mini-map course layout and some car performance options would have been welcomed greatly. I also discovered a bug in which I was unable to steer while driving down slopes, making the course harder than it should be. Still Fugitive goes off as a candidate for that million downloads goal that "The Fast and the Furious" series have always reached, are you gonna be left out?



Scores
Story - 85
Design - 83
Gameplay - 90

Total - 86



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