Another day, another N-Gage racing title. Why buy System Rush over the other racers? For those of us who like Wipeout then Nokia has come up with something just as fast paced and futuristic for us. System Rush is a racer set in the future, based around infiltrating large corporations and hacking their systems; similar to the idea behind Coded Arms for PSP, except it's a racer rather than a first person shooter. Developed by Ideaworks 3D, who have been well known amongst the N-Gage community for their excellent usage of the system and smooth 3D engines, (like with Colin McRae Rally for N-Gage). With some subtle - and not so subtle - influences from titles like Wipeout, F-Zero and Powerdrome and an appetite for hacking, can System Rush muscle it's way to the top of the N-Gage racing podium?

The game contains a couple of different modes for you to sink your teeth into; Story mode, Free Hack mode, GP mode, Multiplayer and N-Gage Arena, with plenty of racing to be had. The story mode allows you to choose a hacker, Vert, male or Ikko, female. The story is told in a comic strip style but it's trendy and works well. The other character briefs you before entering into a computer system to hack the database. Your hack is successful when you pass the finish line in first place and in one piece. There is nothing for second or third - this is hacking, people! The racing is fast and you must be on your toes all the time.

There are five different areas to hack, four different GlobeNets to be precise: Russia - KGBXTREME Systems, South America - Highlife Pharmaceuticals, East Coast USA - Heavenly Dollar Trading Corp, Europe - SoSecure International and Japan - The Fat Daddy Investment Bank. Your characters are hacking these networks to clear their names, as a rival 'black hat' hacking group pilfered an application you coded and are using it for evil deeds. Your vehicle is a Co-Vec, an abbreviation for 'code vehicle'. There are a few different models to chose from depending on which network you are hacking and these can be upgraded after you successfully hack or win a race.

This game is seriously fast. Judging from the whole presentation, box art, game title and various press releases, the developers were going for a real speed demon. I'm glad to see that they succeeded with little or no frame rate hiccups. Part of the challenge of racing in this title is keeping your ship balanced; if you try and over steer a corner then you may fly up a vertical wall or even come to a stop - at this point it's safe to say that you won't win the race. The opponents in later races can be pretty unforgiving and the slightest mistake forced me to restart the race over and over again, which became infuriating. Enemy craft are generally quite weak health-wise; they can be shattered with a few consistent nudges from your more powerful Co-Vec. There is also the ability to drain energy from opponents when you get close enough - a transparent beam emits from your craft during the race, which is actually quite nice to look at. Along the tracks you can find various pickups, amongst trails of glowing energy pellets. The pickups come in a large range of useful items, like slow down effects, which slow everyone around you for a second or two, along with shield, energy up and boost (a personal favourite).

To make things harder, as if it wasn't already hard enough controlling a hovercraft at high speeds, there are numerous obstacles thrown into the mix. You will encounter power fields that cause severe slowdown and are difficult to avoid, then there are falling rocks, which can be easily escaped by gliding and walls that tend to appear out of nowhere, which can be devilishly irritating and hard to avoid at the last minute with some of the more cumbersome Co-Vecs. It's not all racing though, as you need to utilise the various rails and ramps around the tracks too. There are what I like to call 'power rails' to be found on numerous stages, where when your craft makes contact with one of them, it's carried by magnetic force along a set line, often leading to a power up. The ramps launch your craft off the ground, also usually into a power up of some sort. While these features don't necessarily help you win the race all the time, they add some exhilaration, especially when hit at high speeds.

System Rush boasts two player matches over N-Gage's wireless Bluetooth functionality, which allows you and a friend with a copy of the same game to battle wirelessly within 10 metres of each other. N-Gage Arena allows you to connect to Nokia's mobile gaming community over the phone networks to download and compete against other player's shadows (replays) or vote on their best video clips; it's always a plus for an N-Gage title to have these online functions. One improvement with System Rush over other N-Gage arena enabled games is the ability to actually race group shadows simultaneously, i.e., more than one replay. Free hack mode is to put simply, instant play mode. Just jump straight into a race if you don't have time to play the story mode. GP mode can only be unlocked when the first three stages of security are hacked in story mode, where you play races through bronze, silver and gold difficulties.

The whole graphical theme of System Rush is technological, wire-frame and very reminiscent of the movie Tron. Although the stages are varied as far as vector style graphics go, it does get old after a while. But for what it is, the developers have squeezed as much originality out of the stages as possible. The American levels have large neon signs depicting the dollar and the Statue of Liberty, which help differentiate areas from each other somewhat. I was impressed by the vehicle modelling too, which is extremely well detailed; all of the craft look very solid and colourful. The light and shade on the craft is quite lifelike too. One of the largest graphical elements is the colour, even from the main menu it's extremely striking. The tracks, especially when blazing through them at full speed, can even be described as psychedelic. Pulsating lights from power ups, walls of coloured code at either side and tunnels decked out in nothing but blue neon strips has an amazing effect on the eye. It's in a way similar to the graphical look of Snakes, which is a good thing!

The game sounds good, as far as futuristic racers go. All the audio is fitting to the theme, from the announcer's robotic voice countdown at the beginning of every race to the techno style backing tracks. If it's not your cup of tea you may find yourself switching the music off altogether though, and the loud whirring of the craft tends to get on your nerves. Still, the sound is pretty much as expected from this kind of game.

System Rush is a fine racer - maybe not what Nokia had planned, but working with hardware that is now two years old, they've managed to push its limits even further; it's safe to say that this game is the fastest on the platform - it's N-Gage: Turbo Charged. That said, the racing does become slightly tedious and it can begin to feel like a never-ending cycle or similar races. The online option breathes some extra life into the game, but GPRS limitations only allow for shadow racing, which is never as fun as real time. A purchase is not money wasted and you'll get plenty of game time hacking through over 50 races, as long as the slight repetitiveness and frustrating difficulty doesn't put you off. Alternatively, try the demo version from N-Gage.com before you whiz down to the shops.

Reviewed by Dan Whelan for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).