Prepare to qualify… on your iPhone
Yeah, so after getting done with Pac-Man I dove right into Pole Position: Remix. Understand this, the arcade experience with Pole Position was tough to rival. Even when people were starting to bring this game home on the Atari systems back in the 80s, it still wasn’t the same as sitting down in a booth and gripping the clutch and a steering wheel. There really wasn’t much that could replicate that type of experience.
Fast forward nearly 30 years and we see this ulcer-creating game appearing on the iPhone courtesy of Namco. When I first looked at the screenshots to the game I was overly concerned on how it would maintain the experience of the original. Surely they didn’t make it look and feel like something that would be on say the Atari Lynx (there was a very similar racing game that appeared on that short-lived handheld), would they? No, they didn’t. Pole Position: Remix maintained everything great about the original game. It actually brought the same ridiculous linear path and updated the visuals around it. I could not have been happier with the results. For most people buying iPhones, they are the generation that grew up with this game. Namco maintains that through visuals, even through the updated (remixed?) soundtrack and same goofy voice-over start. They brought all of the original elements to a new level, but maintained everything we’ve ever loved about it. This was a huge plus.
Now, the controls had me highly skeptical. I felt like they were forced in Pac-Man. You can’t force new technology into an old-game. That’s like putting a Dodge Viper engine into a Toyota Camry. As neat as that sounds, you probably won’t like the end results. To Namco’s credit, I think they got Pole Position dead-on! You hold the iPhone like a steering wheel and move it to move the car. It’s a little tricky at first, but about five or six races into it the controls become second nature. There is just a perfect amount of movement required to dodge traffic, maintain speed (which is shiftable onscreen) and keep you from throwing your iPhone through a window. This is the same amount of skill needed to conquer the original game. I love that they translated it so well.
Nothing is perfect, regretfully and I found my balance getting the best of me as I accidentally over-calculated some turns several times. That can get frustrating, but it’s correctable. I think that there is enough ‘classic’ here to warrant a purchase and forgive these flaws.