★★★★☆

MotoHeroz previously had a life on WiiWare, but now it’s adjusted its landing angle to establish a perfect take off on app store ramp. Can RedLynx recreate their XBLA success on your commute to work, or will they end up frantically shaking the screen to get their cartoon racer back on four wheels?

Well, it’s the former – clearly. This is a lovely little game of zooming left to right, right to left and cartwheeling through the sky like an automobile possessed. Your right thumb caters for acceleration and braking, while your left hovers over the tilt of your vehicle – whether you’re controlling vehicles like the opening dune buggy, tank-thing or futuristic speedster. Tracks meanwhile are almost Sonic like multi-level affairs – often backtracking on themselves, often falling apart beneath your wheels and invariably demanding extreme levels of attention.

If there’s one criticism to direct at MotoHeroz it’s that it’s extremely challenging – sure you’ll eventually be able to complete these courses, but even to earn one star by beating the blue RedLynx ghost you’ll have to drive fault-free and with thumbs possessed. The fact that higher-end stars will generally be better attained when you’ve levelled up your vehicles in speed, acceleration and item-usage also seems to undermine the skills required – while of course allowing for people to pay £2.49’s worth of real cash to be provided with one full stat vehicle (out of six).

This, however, does not remove the fun factor. As with its big brother Trials HD, the simple feeling of angling yourself for a perfect landing feels amazing when you pull it off – but is never further away than a near-instant restart if you foul it up. Armed with the bouncy springs, rocket packs and boosts you’ll pick up on your travels some of the levels show impressive depths of imagination – while it always looks cool when your big wheeled vehicle leaps in front of the sun.

Despite its hard edges, then, former WiiWare title MotoHeroz is something of a gem on your iDevice. There’s little that feels better than finally edging out the red ghost of the player that neighbours you on the track leaderboard, while the multiple routes and star-chasing on each level assures a degree of replay. A great game then, but more hardcore than its cheery visuals might otherwise suggest.

MotoHeroz is currently available for the price of 69p from the App Store.