Now just twist off the rail to land on the wheels, or the fish goes belly-up.

Imagine your fingertips are feet, and you'll understand the novel control scheme for Touchgrind's skateboarding. You don't have to push, but your fingers control the movement, jumps, and tricks. Lift the front finger to shift the weight to the back finger, then pop the back one to jump. And flick motions start the board twisting underneath. It,s goofy, often off-balance, and usually entertaining. But with the controls showing so much potential--even if challenging--the rest of the game crashes; you wont see the next rail or jump until tripping over it.

Touchgrind's always-smooth graphics excel. While the concrete levels are sparse, the 3D movement of the skateboard, shadows, and simple obstacles looks great. And with your own music playing in the background, the experience matches or beats a dedicated game system.

The basic tricks are feet-based, mostly flipping and twisting the board after a jump. But the complexity--and point multiplier--scales by stringing multiple tricks together; flip onto a rail, grind, and hop off for the biggest totals. We liked building up our repertoire as we adjusted to the controls.

We never completely got our footing--turning continued to be a challenge--but Touchgrind disappoints most in its perspective. The view is usually close to the board, which is ideal for control, but disorienting for planning your next move. You can pause and zoom out to see the entire skate park, or try to orient towards floating icons that lead to obstacles. But we always confused by distances, jumping early or late. More ground markings, distance overlays, or a changing perspective would have solved this issue.

The fluid motion and inventive controls make this a must-try for action gamers. But even with its polish, disorienting perspectives make Touchgrind feel more like a tech demo than final release.

Touchgrind 1.0
COMPANY: Illusion Labs
CONTACT: www.touchgrind.com
PRICE: $4.99
REQUIREMENTS: iPhone or iPod touch with 2.1 software update.
Light attitude and controls. Great 3D graphics. Sense of accomplishment after landing complicated tricks.
No sense of progression with different skate parks or new challenges. Constantly disorienting perspective makes planning impossible. Controls are difficult to fully master.