We’ve all seen the speed freak cutting across four lanes of traffic then back again to pick up a half-second of time in his mad dash to who-knows-where.  On the highway he’s a menace to society, in R.U.S.H by Qplaze and Nomoc World Publishing it’s just good driving to get to the next checkpoint.

The object is simple in this one-trick-pony.  Just pick up speed by hitting up on the d-pad to shift, then weave in an out of traffic and play some chicken with on-coming traffic to get to the next checkpoint within 30 seconds.  If you happen to cause some major carnage along the way, all the better, as you get to witness some nice crash effects and score some extra points.  Just don’t let the crashing slow you down as it takes some time to build up your speed and of course try to avoid the head-on collisions and the large center islands whose only purpose is to turn 5000 lbs of metal into fireballs.

The graphics are the main attraction in R.U.S.H., although seeing them in still pictures is actually better than during the game as you can see the details you miss on the fly. Perhaps a slow-motion crash mode or replay would have been nice to let us appreciate the work that went into the graphic effects.  The signal light camera angle gives you a nice birds-eye view of the road ahead and the destruction you cause. You would think that with all the sparks, fireballs and flying metal that a little sound would accompany such action but alas no, only silence.

The speed and handling of the game are good as are the physics of the different cars, trucks and vans that you knock out of the way or into oncoming traffic. At times, the collision detection can be a bit wacky as you’ll find yourself going right through islands and vehicles.

You have a choice of 4 different cars, one for each difficulty level and one for registering in an online community.  There are 12 levels for each difficulty and you are required to pass 11 checkpoints on each level so the game has good length.  There are about 5 different stretches of highway all presented in different tones or in a nice nightime mode to give variety.

A different type of racing game more along the lines of Burnout, R.U.S.H. is sure to give fans of highway road kill some cheap thrills and perhaps keep them off the highway, but a certain lack of depth and monotony only allows me to award this game 3 ½ stars.

Reviewed by goyami - Nokia N95 8gb