Tap on ATV Offroad and you'll think you've downloaded a super slick console quality title. Indeed, the visual style of the game is one of sublime realism - every course mapped out in lush 3D that really pops on the device. Furthermore, although loading times can be long, races always run smooth, with performance levels being high throughout. But are amazing graphics enough to carry this game?

ATV Offroad has a whole suite of tracks, riders (only different in clothing), and modes. The meat of the game comes in the Career mode, where you can earn achievements and trophies for placing in a race. A completion percentage is displayed throughout the career menu so you can see how far you've got to go - and of course the game remembers your best lap times and more besides. You won't just race either - some events have you flying over jumps to perform aerial tricks for points.

It's hard to get used to the game's control system - your viewing angle can be often compromised as result of tilting the device too far. Because your vertical tilt affects the pitch of the onscreen vehicle seeing the screen becomes tricky, especially on narrow corners. Fortunately through an option on the pause menu you can calibrate the controls to your liking, or change the scheme altogether. We preferred the advanced touch mode, which gives you a left thumb joystick that controls steering and pitch. Whilst it has the bonus of playing at a more desirable angle, the scheme doesn't feel adequate on tighter turns. Presumably it's a byproduct of a control system that's more realistic, but realism isn't always a brilliant thing in games. In the end the controls aren't a deal breaker, but improving upon them would be highly welcomed.

Elsewhere, the AI can leave a little to be desired. Even on the easy setting it won't make mistakes and it's riders usually cluster together like a pack of wolves. Oddly enough, it won't show off with fancy things like tricks, and nor should you unless you've mastered the game's courses. An untimely trick can waste precious seconds with no recompense - pull a trick off and the game won't reward you for it unless you're in a non race stage.

You can forget the AI when you have a friend with an iPhone around - the game has a fantastic multiplayer option over local WiFi which works rather well. Even hosting the game on the slowest iPod touch to play against a 2nd generation one worked flawlessly, and certainly if you've got a quick five minutes to fill it's one of the best multiplayer options that we've seen thus far.

Bar the game's amazing visual style, the presentation is a little rough around the edges. Swiping through options feels unnatural - whereas many similar views on the device (Cover Flow is a good example) seem effortless. We're not overly fond of the grating engine sound that is your only backing track in the race - you'll dread falling off your vehicle once you hear one of the sound clips played - they sound like amateur recordings, unfortunately. It's not game breaking, but when the developers have gone for a realistic angle for the game, they tend to stick out like a sore thumb. It's a shame music is only played throughout the menus too - the only conceivable reason we can think of would be a performance hit, and that's understandable given the graphical quality of the game.

We're also disappointed that freeze game state isn't available for this title, especially as you can get 10 lap races - blitzing through 8 of these and then having to take a call loses you your progress, and it's a thing we think should be addressed.

At £4.99, ATV Offroad is firmly in App Store premium territory. Let's not forget that this is a premium title however; it has brilliant WiFi multiplayer, a great range of different tracks and customisable rides, plus a career mode that has three different difficulty settings. Sure, on your first go you'll probably fight the controls - indeed after we turned on the touch controls we were starting to miss the accelerometer option. Addressing this small issue doesn't sound like a big problem - we think it would make all the difference, and if 2XL updated the audio and allowed music in game it surely would be the icing on the cake. Nevertheless, we still recommend it as a staggering example of how far the iPhone has come.

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