Back in my Atari days I was a huge Pole Position fan. I throughly enjoyed the first-person feel of the game and the nice little touches Namco added, like the ads for other Atari games on the billboards and the scenery in the different track locations. I had become fairly adept at getting the pole position on many of the tracks, even using the manual shift. And I’ll never claim to be the Mario Andretti of the Pole Position Circuit, I’ve won my fair share of races.

Ahh, the good old days.

Namco has released a version of Pole Position for nearly gaming platform, even the Vectrix Game System (you hardcore old school gamers know what I’m talking about). Now Namco has a new version of the classic racing game for your iPod; Pole Position Remix (PPR). At first glance, PPR looks like the old 16-bit game that was one of Namco’s best sellers, but with the word ’Remix’ in the title you know some things have changed.

Some of the changes are good, others, not so much.

On the positive side, the look of the PPR is first rate. The cars, the tracks, and the locations are all rendered well and Namco took excellent advantage of the iPod’s fairly sophisticated graphics engine. PPR won’t compete against Need For Speed, but nostalgia buffs will enjoy the simple scenery reminiscent of the original game. This is played on an iPod after all, not a Playstation 3.

The road hazards are there, as well as the billboards which are somewhat of a disappointment; they are so small that it is hard to see what’s on them as you zip by. That’s a shame because Namco managed to put your album covers on some of the billboards. They appear randomly around the tracks and change with each race. Other billboards advertise some of Namco’s other ancient arcade hits, Galaga, Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, but, again, they are hard to see unless you slow waaaay down.

The scenery around each track is nicely done too. Castles, amusement parks, Egyptian Pyramids and more all look good. Game sounds are also done well. When you pass a car on the right you hear the engine of the other car on your left and the sound diminishes as you leave him in the dust.

Get ready to put peddle to the metal, or, in this case, thumb to the scroll wheel

The point of a racing game, however, is not about the scenery, it’s to test your racing skills. To do that you have to have good control over your virtual vehicle; if the controls suck then so does your driving, and the game becomes an occasional distraction instead of a habit forming time waster.

The iPod’s scroll wheel lends itself well to PPR, steering is intuitive and acceleration and braking is fairly easy to get the hang of. The problem is that the scroll wheel seems too sensitive. I often over-steered around corners and ran into other cars more often than not, which is frustrating. If Namco could have allowed me to adjust the sensitivity scroll wheel then I would have no excuse for coming in last or not finishing a race.

I can also tell you from extensive experience that hitting another car or solid roadside object turns you car into a ball of flame, just like in the original game. After a second or two the explosion disappears and your car magically reappears where the flaming heap was and you can step on the gas and get back to racing. If only real life was like that.

Other options let you turn off the game’s music, change the volume of the sound effects, change screen brightness, switch between automatic or manual shifting, and miles per hour versus kilometers per hour. I would have liked an option change the point of view from behind and above the car to in-the-driver’s-seat.

Scenery is great, but billboards are a blur at 218mph

As you play and become a better racer you open locked features like upgrades to your car, access to new tracks and more. So far I haven’t managed to unlock anything yet, but I’m beginning to wonder if I want to bother. Though I am getting better, steering is still a pain and this is suppose to be a fun distraction, not an exercise in frustration.

Still, it is a distraction and I do come back to it from time to time; maybe for the memories, maybe to see if my third place was just a fluke. Regardless, I like Pole Position Remix enough to recommend it, even with its shortcomings. If nothing else it shows off some of what your little iPod nano can do, and that’s always a good thing.

I recommend* Pole Position Remix.

* Note: My rating system goes like this:

• Get it Now! - Highest rating and an absolute must-have
• Highly recommend - Minor flaws, but a great product
• Recommend - Flawed, but still a solid product
• So-so - Problem product that may find a niche market
• Avoid - Why did they bother making it? A money waster.

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.