During the 1980s, a new type of game began to show up both in arcades and home LaserDisc players: Interactive movies. Now, you can play one of the genre's best on your iPhone with the excellent port of the 1986 game, Road Blaster.

What made interactive movies different from standard run-of-the-mill video games is that they made use of nonlinear or random access video players, like LaserDiscs. Instead of rendering the action in real time, when prompted by user inputs, these games would show full motion videos. This allowed for incredible graphics when compared to other games of the day, while still allowing the game to be "played," as opposed to a movie during which viewers press buttons.

Like many of the era's best interactive movies, including Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, Road Blaster was originally developed by Data East. While the game was immensely popular in Japanese arcades, the racing game did not receive full exposure on these shores until later versions, which were ported to home consoles like the Sega CD, Sega Saturn and PlayStation. These ports featured dumbed down graphics, however, that did a major disservice to what is actually a stunningly beautiful game.

When starting up Road Blaster, gamers are greeted by pulsing 1980s music and an action-packed introduction video. In addition to being exciting and well-choreographed, the anime artwork looks absolutely fantastic, which should come as no surprise, as it was originally created by Toei Animation, the legendary company behind shows like DragonBall Z, Sailor Moon, Voltron and more, and that once employed critically acclaimed animator and director Hayao Miyazaki.

It might seem strange to harp on Road Blaster's opening video so much, but it makes sense when you realize that the same high-quality, retro-looking anime is also used during actual gameplay. The video, which has been cleaned up and optimized for viewing on the iPhone's retina display, is, frankly, gorgeous, and sure to awaken pangs of nostalgia for anyone who grew up watching Toei Animation.

But Road Blaster doesn't just look great - it's actually still a blast to play. While users have nowhere near full control over the game's car, they are expected to turn, brake and use nitro boosters when prompted by the game. Doing so correctly will result in the continuation of your run, while botching it will cue an ending cut-scene. These can be as entertaining to watch as the game footage, as every crash, explosion, and journey through a windshield is rendered in the same beautiful, crisp anime style.

One of Road Blaster's only problems is that with no instructions screen or in-game tutorial, learning to play the game takes a fair amount of trial and error. Gamers have the option to turn tilt controls on or off, but even knowing that you steer by moving the iPhone does nothing to help gamers decipher the various symbols that show up on the dashboard. If you insist on learning how to play the game without taking to the internet for help, expect to go through a few times before you fully understand what you're being asked to do.

While Road Blaster does give gamers the ability to turn tilt-steering off, it is a complete mistake to do so. The touchscreen steering is completely unresponsive at worst, and imprecise at best, making it difficult to react to on-screen cues in enough time to prevent complete vehicular disaster. Complicating things further is the fact that, like many 1980s arcade games, Road Blaster is absolutely merciless.

Road Blaster's NORMAL difficulty setting is punishing and completely unforgiving, with gamers expected to react to on-screen signals near instantly. Even on the BEGINNER setting, experienced gamers with exceptional reflexes can expect to play through levels numerous times before conquering them. But memory and reflexes are a big part of Road Blaster, and luckily the game always gives you exciting animation to look at - even when you lose.

For a port of a 25 year old game, Road Blaster holds up remarkably well, due in no small part to the high quality of the game's animation, and its seamless integration with gameplay. The iPhone's accelerometer allows gamers to easily control their car, while the retina display makes the game's anime videos look incredible. Even if you've never played an interactive movie before, Road Blaster deserves your attention, especially at its limited time price of only $0.99.

Final Score: A