Race Robbie round his own motorbike track
Celebrities are finding more and more creative ways of cashing in on the iPhone phenomenon. First came Noel Edmonds’ bizarre Cosmic Ordering app, then Fifty Cent let you remix his Baby By Me single in his DJ app. Now, here’s Robbie Williams on a motorbike.
As you might have guessed, Robbie Williams Racing is designed to promote his latest album. The video for the single ‘Bodies’ features the ex-Take That star racing around on a bike, hence the theme for this game.
There are two game modes in Robbie Williams Racing, one in which you and Rob go head to head, and another called ‘Treasure Hunt’, where you speed around in a buggy trying to collect as many RW logos as you can. There are only two tracks to choose from – one in the desert and one that’s modeled on Robbie’s own circuit in his country pile. Do well in the races and you’ll unlock bonus material such as photos, videos and music.
In terms of its gameplay, Robbie Williams Racing isn’t going to compete with the likes of Need For Speed Undercover or Firemint Real Racing GTI. The sensation of speed you get isn’t very realistic, the jumping cut scenes that play during the action become annoying, and racing against just one other CPU opponent all the time does get a bit dull even if it is Robbie Williams. The action in Robbie Williams Racing is made a little more interesting by the inclusion of various obstacles and speed boosts that litter the two courses.
Controlling the bikes is a little tricky at first but you do get used to it and it begins to feel quite natural. What’s more, you can switch between motion-based controls and touch controls whenever you like. The 3D graphics in Robbie Williams Racing aren’t stunning, but their not terrible either and the backgrounds are fairly lifelike.
I guess your enjoyment of Robbie Williams Racing will ultimately come down to how much you like the man. If, like me, you’re not a fan then you’ll no doubt be irritated by the fact that there are only two songs included in the game Bodies’ and ‘Difficult for Weirdos’ (which, in my opinion aren’t his greatest material). Likewise Robbie’s in-game chat can get pretty tiring if you don’t find him hilarious. All of Robbie’s inane quips seem to have come from a book of English stereotypes, so he’ll stuff like: ‘look out it’s the coppers’, ‘blimey, hold up’, and ‘do you fancy a pint after the race?’
Also, I didn’t think the unlockable bonus material was up to much. I was hoping for more juicy content than just a series of remixes of the same song and some short videos of Robbie in the studio looking a bit miserable.
Robbie Williams Racing is essentially just an elaborate way of promoting the singer’s album. As a racing game it’s average at best, but die-hard Robbie fans are free to disagree with me.
