Cars: The Video Game

Cars is a videogame that was related in June 6, 2006 to November 16, 2006.

Xbox
Relate Date: June 6, 2006

Plot
Alongside Cars, the newest addition to the ever-growing and consistently high-quality lexicon of Pixar animated films, comes the predictable video game tie-in. But there's something altogether unfamiliar about this version of Cars, something unexpected from the perspective of anyone who's ever played a lackluster Pixar-licensed movie game before. You see, Cars isn't just a middling cash-in on the license. It's a legitimately fun piece of work that combines driving game components with an open-ended gameworld and a host of goofy minigames that aren't broken, tacked-on, or otherwise unpleasant. It also manages to capture the heart and humor of the film pretty well, thanks in no small part to the great character animation and use of the entire celebrity voice cast from the movie. Certainly there are a few aspects of Cars that feel hurried for the sake of getting the game on store shelves in tune with the film release, but Cars transcends these few nagging issues with its charm and character, and it manages to be a good bit of fun to play, too.

Those cute, cuddly cars come to consoles in THQ's Cars.

Leave it to Pixar to take big hunks of combustion-powered metal and rubber and turn them into endearing characters. Just in case you haven't seen the movie, Cars is about a world of, well, cars. These are cars with faces, unique personalities, and no human drivers to get in the way. The story focuses around an up-and-comer in stock car racing named Lightning McQueen. Lightning is the next big thing in racing, but when he inadvertently wreaks havoc in the sleepy burg of Radiator Springs on his way to his next race, Lightning finds himself stuck with these country bumpkins, learning inevitable lessons of life and love. You don't necessarily need to know any of this going into the video game version of Cars, but it helps to have seen the movie first, since Cars the game actually takes place after the movie's plotline. The vast majority of the principal characters from the movie, as well as their associated voice actors, are on hand here for an entirely original tale that sees Lightning working his way through the new racing season against his rival, Chick Hicks (voiced to twitchy perfection by Michael Keaton). It's a cute story that's got a good bit of humor, and anybody who liked the movie ought to be able to get into it easily.

As far as how Cars plays, imagine Grand Theft Auto if you never got out of the car (or, at least something along those lines). Radiator Springs isn't a particularly huge area, but spread across it are multiple locales that you, as Lightning McQueen, can drive to in order to acquire missions. You typically only have a few missions available to you at a time, and some missions are only unlockable after you complete an entire story chapter's worth of missions, but generally you can just kind of drive about the area with freedom, collecting bonus points and other hidden items as you go.

For the most part, Cars' missions revolve around racing. These are cars, after all. The racing itself is largely pretty simplistic. There are some powersliding and boosting mechanics included, as well as a few goofy moves like making the car jump at will, and even driving backwards for point bonuses. The handling of the cars is pretty easy to get a handle on, though powersliding isn't always as effective as you might expect it to be. But you only use stuff like powersliding and boosting in the off-road races in Radiator Springs. When you're competing in the professional races, it's like a NASCAR cartoon. You drive to the left, occasionally bump up against other racers, and occasionally have to make a pit stop.

The pit stops are just one of several minigames contained within the game. Most minigames are missions unto themselves, where you'll be collecting tires as Guido, the local tire mechanic, for example, or "tractor tipping" around a local farm as Larry the Cable Guy-voiced Mater. Pit stops are the only in-race minigames to speak of, and they simply involve timed button-presses and analog stick movements at random intervals to make your pit crew work as fast as possible. For the most part, these games are actually pretty fun. The pit stop game is rather pointless, though, in that you arbitrarily have to do it once every race, and the only benefit for doing it quickly is that you don't lose any race position. But the mission-based games are pretty amusing and tie in to the flow of the game nicely.

One particularly ingenious thing that Cars does is that it actually splits itself into two games. One is designed for players of "all ages," and the other is a shorter, easier version for younger kids. Obviously plenty of games have multiple difficulty levels, but most games of this ilk just play it safe and dumb the experience down for the kids. That's not to say Cars isn't completely absolved of this crime, mind you. Even in the general audience version, the game is still fairly simple. Until the last stages of the game, it's pretty hard to lose races, especially since the opponent artificial intelligence rubber bands quite a bit in favor of the player. Get behind by a significant margin, and you'll actually see cars ahead of you slow down sometimes, giving you the boost you need. The later races are certainly more challenging, but a more even balance of difficulty would have helped the gameplay quite a bit. For what it's worth, the difference between the two versions is still pretty noticeable.

Cars also suffers a bit due to a few glitches and technical issues. It's all relatively minor stuff that just happens to become a bit infuriating in some areas. Most of the problems have to do with graphical bugs and physics issues. The game's environments are often set up with borders and sections you're not supposed to be able to traverse, but some of these borders are spotty with their barriers, and you can get stuck in certain pieces of the environment if you run into them the wrong way. The car physics also get wonky in some spots. Fall sideways off of a ledge, and you may find yourself driving on your left tires for a while until the game figures out a way to reset your car back to normal. You'll also see some occasional issues with cars clipping through one another.

These issues aside, however, Cars is a nice-looking game. The character models are great interpretations of the characters from the movie, and the quality of animation, especially in cutscenes, is excellent. The cars are extremely expressive with their facial animations, and the lip-syncing is more spot-on than most games starring humans. The one downside to this is that while you're driving, you are typically relegated to the usual 3rd-person camera, so in effect, all you get is the butt cam. But there are more than enough cutscenes to make it so all that great character animation isn't wasted. Radiator Springs itself is also rather pleasing to look at. Most of the area is made up of desert, but the few scattered bits of the township, as well as some of the mountain environments and areas, look great. You'll certainly see some dirty textures here and there, but usually you're moving so fast that it doesn't even matter. Between the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions of the game, you're not really missing out on anything no matter which way you go. The Xbox version looks the best, but not by a wide margin.

You'll get to see and explore all sorts of unique areas as you race through Radiator Springs.

Obviously, one of the biggest selling points of Cars is the inclusion of the movie's voice cast. Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shaloub, Michael Keaton, Larry the Cable Guy (in a decidedly "Git 'er done!"-free performance), George Carlin, Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty, Cheech Marin, and Paul Newman are all on hand. Yeah, Paul Newman in a video game. Kind of insane, no? All the actors are pretty much on point throughout the game. Wilson is just as endearing in the game as he was in the film, and pretty much every actor seems to be treating their game dialogue as importantly as the movie stuff. There's also a pretty good licensed soundtrack on hand with tracks from the Stray Cats, Lynryd Skynryd, the Edgar Winter Group, and the All American Rejects, among others. The only thing really worth complaining about in the audio department is the repetition of the aforementioned aspects. One-liners from the characters during races tend to repeat too often, as do most of the soundtrack songs. Again, it's all great stuff, so it makes the repetitious nature of it a little easier to swallow. It would just be nice if there were more variety.

Though Cars will almost certainly take you well under 10 hours to complete, there's two-player multiplayer to mess with, as well as some bonus materials to check out. Not to mention that the quality of Cars' content is enough to make up for its relatively short stature. It's hardly the next big thing in driving games, but it still manages to deliver the most authentic Pixar film experience to the video game medium of any previous attempt, and it's certainly one of the better kid-oriented games to come out this year.

Rating
E for Everyone

Wii


Relate Date: November 16, 2006

Plot
It has appeared on just about every other platform known to man, so it only makes sense that Cars, the video game based on the world of talking vehicles depicted in Pixar's animated film of the same name, would find its way to the Wii eventually. This is the same exact game released on multiple other consoles earlier in the year, but now the game includes some Wii-specific motion sensing controls. However, unlike the majority of other ports that have come Wii-side as of late, the motion controls in Cars don't feel broken or poorly shoveled in. These controls don't fundamentally make the game better, but steering the car feels natural and intuitive enough to be fun. Unfortunately, some of the game's previously enjoyable minigames are made less so by their respective control schemes. There are also some bugs and quirks unique to the Wii version that give the distinct impression this game absolutely, positively had to be out in time for the system's launch.

Those cute, cuddly, animated vehicles come to the Nintendo Wii in THQ's Cars.

Leave it to Pixar to take big hunks of combustion-powered metal and rubber and turn them into endearing characters. Just in case you haven't seen the movie, Cars is about a world of, well, cars. These are cars with faces, unique personalities, and no human drivers to get in the way. The story focuses around an up-and-comer in stock car racing named Lightning McQueen. Lightning is the next big thing in racing, but when he inadvertently wreaks havoc in the sleepy burg of Radiator Springs on his way to his next race, Lightning finds himself stuck with these country bumpkins, learning inevitable lessons of life and love. You don't necessarily need to know any of this going into the video game version of Cars, but it helps to have seen the movie first, since Cars the game takes place after the movie's plotline. The vast majority of the principal characters from the movie, as well as their associated voice actors, are on hand here for an entirely original tale that sees Lightning working his way through the new racing season against his rival, Chick Hicks (voiced to twitchy perfection by Michael Keaton). It's a cute story that's got a good bit of humor, and anybody who liked the movie ought to be able to get into it easily.

As far as how Cars plays, imagine Grand Theft Auto if you never got out of the car (or, at least something along those lines). Radiator Springs isn't a particularly huge area, but spread across it are multiple locales that you, as Lightning McQueen, can drive to in order to acquire missions. You typically only have a few missions available to you at a time, and some missions are only unlockable after you complete an entire story chapter's worth of missions, but generally you can just kind of drive about the area with freedom, collecting bonus points and other hidden items as you go.

For the most part, Cars' missions revolve around racing. These are cars, after all. The racing itself is largely pretty simplistic, though the addition of Wii motion sensing controls adds a bit of a wrinkle to the experience. You hold the Wii Remote sideways, so the D pad is under your left thumb, with the 1 and 2 buttons on your right. The 2 button acts as your accelerator; the 1 button is for a speed boost; A is your brake; and B is your emergency brake. It's a good thing you almost never need to use your emergency brake because it's a pain to hit that thing. By tilting the remote to the left or right, you steer the car; by pressing buttons on the D pad, you can powerslide around corners and even tilt your car violently in one direction or the other. The steering controls have a nice level of sensitivity to them, which means you won't find yourself oversteering ridiculously with small movements of the remote. Additionally, powersliding feels markedly more effective than it did in the other console versions of the game, and it's actually fun to powerslide here. You can also make the car jump by swinging the remote upward at the right time.

The motion sensing controls in the Wii version don't negatively impact the driving sequences one bit, though the minigame controls are definitely less enjoyable.

You use stuff like powersliding and boosting only in the off-road races in Radiator Springs. When you're competing in the professional races, it's like a NASCAR cartoon. You drive to the left, occasionally bump up against other racers, and make a pit stop once in a while. The pit stops are just one of several minigames contained within the game. Most minigames are missions unto themselves, where you'll be collecting tires as Guido, the local tire mechanic, or "tractor tipping" around a local farm as Larry the Cable Guy-voiced Mater. Pit stops are the only in-race minigames to speak of, and they simply involve timed button presses and Wii Remote movements at random intervals to make your pit crew work as fast as possible. On older consoles, these minigames were pretty fun, but the Wii controls implemented here aren't very good. For instance, in the tractor tipping game, you're supposed to try to steer Mater around by spinning the remote around in the direction you want to go. But there's no specific accelerator button, and it's just a much, much harder minigame to control than it was when you were controlling with analog sticks. Pit stop games now require copious amounts of remote movement that sometimes seems intuitive to the action being performed onscreen but at other times seems utterly superfluous. It just makes these games take longer and doesn't make them more fun.

One particularly ingenious thing that Cars does is that it actually splits itself into two games. One is designed for players of "all ages," and the other is a shorter, easier version for younger kids. Obviously plenty of games have multiple difficulty levels, but most games of this ilk just play it safe and dumb the experience down for the kids. That's not to say Cars isn't completely absolved of this crime, mind you. Even in the general audience version, the game is still fairly simple. Until the last stages of the game, it's pretty hard to lose races, especially since the opponent artificial intelligence rubber bands quite a bit in favor of the player. Get behind by a significant margin, and you'll actually see cars ahead of you slow down sometimes, giving you the boost you need. The later races are certainly more challenging, but a more even balance of difficulty would have helped the gameplay quite a bit. For what it's worth, the difference between the two versions is still pretty noticeable.

Cars also suffers from a few glitches and technical issues. Some of these are old, holdover problems, while some are new and specific to this version of the game. It's all relatively minor stuff that just happens to become a bit infuriating in some areas. Most of the problems have to do with graphical bugs and physics issues. The game's environments are often set up with borders and sections you're not supposed to be able to traverse, but some of these borders are spotty with their barriers, and you can get stuck in certain pieces of the environment if you run into them the wrong way. The car physics also get wonky in some spots. If you fall sideways off a ledge, you may find yourself driving on your left tires for a while until the game figures out a way to reset your car back to normal. You'll also see some occasional issues with cars clipping through one another. Specifically on the Wii, you'll also notice some problems with audio and cutscene transitions. The game will periodically hitch when it's trying to shift from one scene to another, as if the load time hasn't fully completed or something. Also, when driving around, you'll often hear voices of other characters calling out to you. The trouble is that these characters aren't anywhere onscreen...not even close. The lines also start repeating like crazy, which leads one to believe there's some sort of goofy audio bug at work here.

These issues aside, however, Cars is a nice-looking game. The character models are great interpretations of the characters from the movie, and the quality of animation, especially in cutscenes, is excellent. The cars are extremely expressive with their facial animations, and the lip-syncing is more spot-on than most games starring humans. The one downside to this is that while you're driving, you are typically relegated to the usual third-person camera, so in effect, all you get is the butt cam. But there are more than enough cutscenes to make it so all that great character animation isn't wasted. Radiator Springs itself is also rather pleasing to look at. Most of the area is made up of desert, but the few scattered bits of the township, as well as some of the mountain environments and areas, look great. You'll certainly see some dirty textures here and there, but usually you're moving so fast that it doesn't even matter. The Wii version does look a hair better than its GameCube counterpart. It's closer to the Xbox version in quality, though it's not quite as sharp.

Cheaper, similarly enjoyable versions of Cars exist on other platforms, but the Wii version is still pretty good, overall.

Obviously, one of the biggest selling points of Cars is the inclusion of the movie's voice cast. Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shaloub, Michael Keaton, Larry the Cable Guy (in a decidedly "Git 'er done!"-free performance), George Carlin, Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty, Cheech Marin, and Paul Newman are all on hand. Yeah, Paul Newman in a video game. Kind of insane, no? All the actors are pretty much on point throughout the game. Wilson is just as endearing in the game as he was in the film, and pretty much every actor seems to be treating their game dialogue as importantly as the movie stuff. There's also a pretty good licensed soundtrack on hand with tracks from the Stray Cats, Lynryd Skynryd, the Edgar Winter Group, and the All American Rejects, among others. The only thing really worth complaining about in the audio department is the repetition of the aforementioned aspects. One-liners from the characters during races tend to repeat too often, as do most of the soundtrack songs. Again, it's all great stuff, so it makes the repetitious nature of it a little easier to swallow. It would just be nice if there were more variety.

Though Cars will almost certainly take you well under 10 hours to complete, there's two-player multiplayer to mess with, as well as some bonus materials to check out. Of course, all that and just about everything else positive that can be said about Cars for the Wii can also be said about its cheaper counterparts on old-generation consoles. Sure, you don't get the tilt motion steering controls in those versions, but again, the added controls don't add to or detract from the game--they're just kind of there. What does detract from the Wii game a bit is that it happens to cost $20 more than its Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube cousins. If the Wii happens to be the only system in your household, Cars is a worthwhile interpretation of the film that's perhaps best suited for a younger kid but still holds some appeal for older fans of the film. But if you do own another platform that the game happens to be available for, the cheaper price tag and less intrusive minigame controls make it a better option than the Wii version.

Rating
E for Everyone

Xbox 360


Related: October 23, 2006

Plot
Released back in June to coincide with the release of the film, THQ and developer Rainbow Studios' rendition of Pixar Animation Studios' Cars was a welcome surprise. Combining a solid open-world driving model, great presentation, and the entire voice cast of the film, Cars was easily the best game ever made based on a Pixar license and could certainly be in the running for the best kids game of this year. Now, months later, Cars has come to the Xbox 360. For all intents and purposes, this is exactly the same game released on consoles and the PC several months ago, but with some marginal updates to the graphics, and of course, achievement points. Perhaps for some, that's enough reason for those who missed out on Cars on its initial run to give it a go now, but bear in mind that you'll be facing a steeper price of entry, as well.

Those cute, cuddly cars come to the Xbox 360 in THQ's Cars.

Leave it to Pixar to take big hunks of combustion-powered metal and rubber and turn them into endearing characters. Just in case you haven't seen the movie, Cars is about a world of, well, cars. These are cars with faces, unique personalities, and no human drivers to get in the way. The story focuses around an up-and-comer in stock car racing named Lightning McQueen. Lightning is the next big thing in racing, but when he inadvertently wreaks havoc in the sleepy burg of Radiator Springs on his way to his next race, Lightning finds himself stuck with these country bumpkins, learning inevitable lessons of life and love. You don't necessarily need to know any of this going into the video game version of Cars, but it helps to have seen the movie first, since Cars the game takes place after the movie's plotline. The vast majority of the principal characters from the movie, as well as their associated voice actors, are on hand here for an entirely original tale that sees Lightning working his way through the new racing season against his rival, Chick Hicks (voiced to twitchy perfection by Michael Keaton). It's a cute story that's got a good bit of humor, and anybody who liked the movie ought to be able to get into it easily.

As far as how Cars plays, imagine Grand Theft Auto if you never got out of the car (or, at least something along those lines). Radiator Springs isn't a particularly huge area, but spread across it are multiple locales that you, as Lightning McQueen, can drive to and acquire missions. You typically only have a few missions available to you at a time, and some missions are only unlockable after you complete an entire story chapter's worth of missions, but generally you can drive about the area with freedom, collecting bonus points and other hidden items as you go.

For the most part, Cars' missions revolve around racing. These are cars, after all. The racing itself is largely pretty simplistic. There are some powersliding and boosting mechanics included, as well as a few goofy moves like making the car jump at will and driving backward for point bonuses. The handling of the cars is pretty easy to get a handle on, though powersliding isn't always as effective as you might expect it to be. But you only use powersliding and boosting in the off-road races in Radiator Springs. When you're competing in the professional races, it's like a NASCAR cartoon. You drive to the left, occasionally bumping up against other racers and making pit stops.

You'll get to see and explore all sorts of unique areas as you race through Radiator Springs.

The pit stops are just one of several minigames contained within the game. Most minigames are missions unto themselves, where you'll be collecting tires as Guido, the local tire mechanic, for example, or "tractor tipping" around a local farm as Larry the Cable Guy-voiced Mater. Pit stops are the only in-race minigames to speak of, and they simply involve timed button-presses and analog stick movements at random intervals to make your pit crew work as fast as possible. For the most part, these games are surprisingly fun. The pit-stop game is rather pointless, though, in that you arbitrarily have to do it once every race, and the only benefit for doing it quickly is that you don't lose any race positions. But the mission-based games are amusing and tie in to the flow of the game nicely.

One particularly ingenious thing that Cars does is that it actually splits itself into two games. One is designed for players of "all ages," and the other is a shorter, easier version for younger kids. Obviously, plenty of games have multiple difficulty levels, but most games of this ilk just play it safe and dumb the experience down for the kids. That's not to say Cars isn't completely absolved of this crime, mind you. Even in the general-audience version, the game is fairly simple. Until the last stages of the game, it's pretty hard to lose races, especially since the opponent artificial intelligence rubber bands quite a bit in favor of the player. Get behind by a significant margin, and you'll actually see cars ahead of you slow down sometimes, giving you the boost you need. The later races are certainly more challenging, but a more even balance of difficulty would have helped the gameplay quite a bit. For what it's worth, the difference between the two versions is still noticeable. Additionally, if you want to get any of the game's 15 achievements, you'll need to play through the normal game, not the shorter one.

Cars also suffers a bit due to a few glitches and technical issues. It's all relatively minor, but they become a bit infuriating in some areas. Most of the problems have to do with graphical bugs and physics issues. The game's environments are often set up with borders and sections you're not supposed to be able to traverse, but some of these borders are spotty with their barriers, and you can get stuck in certain pieces of the environment if you run into them the wrong way. The car physics also get wonky in some spots. Fall sideways off of a ledge, and you may find yourself driving on your left tires for a while until the game figures out a way to reset your car back to normal. You'll also see some occasional issues with cars clipping through one another.

These issues aside, however, Cars is a nice-looking game. The character models are great interpretations of the characters from the movie, and the quality of animation, especially in cutscenes, is excellent. The cars are extremely expressive with their facial animations, and the lip-synching is more spot-on than most games starring humans. The one downside to this is that while you're driving, you are typically relegated to the usual third-person camera, so in effect, all you get is the butt cam. But there are more than enough cutscenes to make it so all that great character animation isn't wasted. Radiator Springs itself is also rather pleasing to look at. Most of the area is made up of desert, but the few scattered bits of the township, as well as some of the mountain environments and areas, look great. You'll certainly see some dirty textures here and there, but usually you're moving so fast that it doesn't even matter. However, some of these blemishes are more noticeable on the Xbox 360, where the resolution has been cranked up significantly. On the flip side, cars, environments, and small effects like lighting and dust clouds, look a bit better in this version than they did on older consoles. But it's not enough of a difference to really call this version an upgrade. In SD, the game might as well be a slightly brighter version of the Xbox game. In HD, it's improved, but only ever so slightly.

Apart from achievement points and slight visual improvements, there's very little about this version of the game that feels new.

Obviously, one of the biggest selling points of Cars is the inclusion of the movie's voice cast. Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shaloub, Michael Keaton, Larry the Cable Guy (in a decidedly "Git 'er done!"-free performance), George Carlin, Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty, Cheech Marin, and Paul Newman are all on hand. Yeah, Paul Newman in a video game. Kind of insane, no? All the actors are pretty much on point throughout the game. Wilson is just as endearing in the game as he was in the film, and pretty much every actor seems to be treating their game dialogue as importantly as the movie stuff. There's also a pretty good licensed soundtrack on hand with tracks from the Stray Cats, Lynryd Skynryd, the Edgar Winter Group, and the All American Rejects, among others. The only detail worth complaining about in the audio department is the repetition of the aforementioned aspects. One-liners from the characters during races tend to repeat too often, as do most of the soundtrack songs. Again, it's all great stuff, so it makes the repetitious nature of it a little easier to swallow. It would just be nice if there were more variety.

Though Cars will almost certainly take you well under 10 hours to complete, there's two-player multiplayer to mess with, as well as some bonus materials to check out, and those pesky achievements which, while attainable by playing through the normal course of the game, can't be collected in a quick-and-dirty fashion. Not to mention that the quality of Cars' content is enough to make up for its relatively short stature. However, it can't quite make up for the amount of time that's passed since the older console versions of Cars came out, and the higher price tag of $49.99 at retail. If you skipped out on the game back in June, have a young Pixar fan at home, and an Xbox 360, the game is still a good one. But you might be better off grabbing one of the other versions, since the changes made here are so negligible.

Rating
E for Everyone

Game Boy Advence/Nintendo DS
Relate Date: June 6, 2006

DS Plot
Cars for the Nintendo DS is a collection of race missions and character-inspired minigames based on events that took place in the animated feature film. The game as a whole makes good use of the system's graphical horsepower and is actually rather fun, for the short time that it lasts. Despite the variety provided by the different minigames, there aren't enough of them here to hold a person's attention for more than a couple hours.

Each character stars in his or her own minigame.

Anyone that has seen the film will appreciate how the game is presented. The game-selection menu is a 3D mockup of a drive-in theater, where all of the characters have gathered to watch the latest flick. Each game is based on a particular character. To pick an individual game, you simply tap on one of the characters with the stylus. Before and after each game, still shots from the film and textual dialogue are shown that tell you what the characters are up to and where you are in the story. All of the various games are rendered using 3D graphics, but the viewpoints vary. Race levels are viewed top-down across both screens. The other minigames employ side views and behind-the-back views. Typically, the lower screen shows each character in action, while the upper screen shows the fruits of their labor. Characters are large and look identical to their movie depictions. Meanwhile, the action is generally fast paced, and the game's 3D engine manages to pump out plenty of polygons and textures without so much as a hiccup. The audio portion of the presentation isn't nearly as fleshed out, but the whimsical music isn't offensive, and each game has a healthy variety of appropriate sound effects.

Like the movie it's based on, the game isn't highbrow. Players mainly use the touch screen to manipulate the characters doing bizarre activities, such as fishing for garbage with Mater's tow-hook or catching the trophies that fall out of the back of Mack's trailer. In the fishing game, for example, you slide and pick up the stylus to cast the hook and then draw circles to reel in the bits of trash that you find. In the trophy-catching game, you touch trophies to grab them and slide the stylus to sort them into colored boxes. Other minigames challenge you to leap off ramps, match the DJ's beat, or wake up sleeping tractors, all by tapping the stylus and blowing into the microphone. Most minigames take approximately two or three minutes to complete. In total, there are 12 different minigames to pick from, each with multiple rounds of play.

Only three minigames are available from the start. When you finish those three, a Piston Cup race opens up. Winning the race will unlock three additional minigames, which you then must complete to unlock the next race, and so it goes, until you've unlocked all four races and 12 minigames. The Piston Cup levels are traditional racing levels. Players have to guide Lightning McQueen around a track and reach the finish line ahead of Chick Hicks, while trying not to run into the slower vehicles that constantly seem to be in the way. Steering, accelerating, and braking are handled with the directional pad and buttons. There's also a jump button that you can use to leap over oncoming hazards. Midway through each race, you'll have to replace Lightning's tires by completing a pit-stop minigame, which involves quickly tapping individual lug nuts when they're highlighted.

In the racing levels, players have to help Lightning McQueen beat his rival, Chick Hicks.

Between all of the different minigames and the four race stages, there's a fair amount of variety here. None of the tasks are particularly challenging, but they're all enjoyable while they manage to hold the player's attention. It shouldn't take an average player more than two hours to unlock every minigame and see every story scene. After that, you can replay minigames to set high scores. The minigames aren't really intricate enough to hold up to long-term play sessions, though. There's also a multiplayer-race mode that lets two players compete against one another in Piston Cup events, but it requires multiple game cards to access. In all likelihood, you probably won't come back to the game once you've seen the story through to the end.

Compared to so many other movie-inspired games, Cars for the Nintendo DS is genuinely one of the more interesting ones. The care that went into each of the different minigames is impressive. Unfortunately, there just aren't enough of them here to hold a person's attention for very long.

GBA Plot
As you might expect, Cars for the Game Boy Advance is a racing game that's based loosely on the events that took place in the Disney-Pixar film of the same name. You assume the role of Lightning McQueen and watch the story unfold by winning a multitude of time trials, road races, and track races. For the most part, the racing action is solid and easy to get the hang of, and the game as a whole is pleasing to the eye. The limited number of events, though, combined with the lack of any multiplayer features, means that you probably won't get more than one or two days' worth of play out of this one before you're done with it.

These cars have eyes. Spooky.

Action out on the track is depicted from a top-down, isometric perspective. The tracks are sufficiently detailed and have a fair number of cones and trees that you can knock around. Dust is kicked up when you drive over dirt surfaces, and skid marks are left behind if you fishtail on pavement. If you look closely, you'll also notice that the cars' wheels rotate. Each of the vehicles resembles a character from the movie, complete with big goofy eyes and front grilles that look eerily like teeth. The only other obvious links to the film are the dialogue scenes that appear after each race, which feature the likenesses of characters and various humorous comments. The game doesn't incorporate any of the music from the movie, or any voice snippets, but the engine and skid sound effects that form the in-race soundtrack are satisfyingly loud and fit the action perfectly.

The GBA certainly has its fair share of isometric-view racing games. Karnaaj Rally made a big splash a few years ago, charming players with its weapons-oriented gameplay, while, more recently, Racing Gears Advance has been gaining fans thanks to intricate track designs and customizable vehicles. Cars takes a more simplified approach. There aren't any weapons to use or parts to install. It's just you, as Lightning McQueen, competing against three other CPU opponents. Despite the simple design, the game manages to keep things fresh by shaking up how the different events work. Road races and time trials take place on twisty courses that snake along country roads lined with a combination of asphalt, dirt, and gravel. You have to watch out for turbo pads and road blocks, as well as the slow-moving vehicles that frequently get in the way. Piston Cup races, by contrast, take place on paved oval tracks and don't involve any turbo pads or obstacles. They do, however, let you earn and abuse a nitro boost by tailgating your opponents.

For the most part, Cars is a solid racing game that's genuinely fun to play. Skidding through turns on the road courses is suitably exciting, and using the nitro to steal the lead in Piston Cup races is worth a mischievous grin every time. Road courses have a fair number of twists, turns, and hazards to memorize. Throughout it all, the overall difficulty feels just right. Chick Hicks is always on Lightning's tail, which is as it should be, and you'll be passed if you make too many mistakes, but the CPU doesn't resort to lame catch-up programming or cheats when you're in the lead. You may wrestle with the controls initially, since steering requires quick presses on the D pad, as opposed to holding a particular direction for any length of time. Also, the zoomed-in viewpoint can make it tough to react to surprises in time, even though pop-up signs tell you which way to turn ahead of time. These quibbles, while worth mentioning, are pretty much a nonissue once you get used to them.

Drafting behind opponents in cup races will earn you a nitro boost.

What is an issue, though, is that the game is over too soon. There are 16 different events to participate in. After you've taken first place in each of them, there isn't much incentive to go back except to unlock additional film images from the gallery. Karnaaj Rally and Racing Gears Advance, besides having a few more single-player events, both took advantage of the GBA's link feature by offering multiplayer modes. Cars would be a blast to play against human opponents. Unfortunately, the game doesn't offer a multiplayer mode. You can expect to put a day, maybe two, into it before your attention is exhausted.

Fans of the movie will probably be satisfied with Cars for the GBA. The game is a competent movie tie-in and a good racing game in its own right. The limited number of events, though, combined with the lack of a multiplayer mode, means that those looking to add another racing game to their GBA collection should probably look elsewhere.

Rating
E for Everyone - (GBA - 5 and up) (DS - 6 and up)

PSP


Relate Date: June 6, 2006

Plot
Tossing another racing title onto the racer-rich PlayStation Portable is sort of like dumping a bucket of water into the ocean, but to its credit, Cars isn't just like everything else available for the system. Based on the recently released Pixar film of the same name, Cars is a youth-oriented racer that's challenging enough to still be engaging to older players. And though it may lack some of the minigames and open-ended qualities of the console versions of Cars, the PSP version's tighter focus on the core racing component makes it a better fit as a handheld game.

Those cute, cuddly cars have arrived on the PSP in Cars from THQ.

There is a story element to Cars on the PSP, but it's not nearly as fleshed out as the one found in the console games. The basic premise is that a team of unruly street racers (complete with ridiculous spoilers, more neons than you can shake a stick at, and some heavy, heavy subwoofers) comes to the town of Radiator Springs to cause some ruckus. Local hero Lightning McQueen (the star of the film) and the local population challenge these street racers to a series of competitions to run them out of town. That's about it. Little pieces of story interject themselves from time to time via some nice-looking cutscenes, but generally, you're just going to find yourself doing a whole mess of racing.

There are 15 playable racers in Cars, ranging from Lightning McQueen to the country bumpkin tow truck Mater, Lightning's lady friend Sally, and the aforementioned troublemaking street racers. Each car has a few unique statistics in terms of top speed, acceleration, handling, and the like, and the differences between them are tangible, if not overly differentiating. Regardless of who you pick, the same core racing mechanics apply across the board. When racing, you can drift behind other cars to fill up a speed-boost meter, as well as jump over certain obstacles and powerslide around turns. Tracks often present ramps and shortcuts, which adds a touch more strategy to the races.

Fundamentally, the racing in Cars is quite fun. The opponent artificial intelligence is fair challenging, so you're definitely not going to get too many guaranteed wins beyond the first couple of tracks. Conversely, the handling of the cars is quite easy, so it's not tough to pull off big turns and powerslides. Powersliding in particular is ridiculously easy. It's not so easy that you won't ever wreck, but often simply initiating a slide any time before you take a turn is enough to basically guarantee an easy turn, even on the most harrowing hairpin.

While the racing is most certainly fun, it does get rather repetitive after a while. Cars is basically a kart racer where the characters themselves are the karts, and there's no weapons combat or other wrinkles to add some punch to the experience. The core racing is good enough to basically carry the entire story and grand-prix modes the whole way through, but you'll still likely find yourself unable to play the game for more than quick bursts of time. The ad hoc multiplayer is a little more enjoyable, given that racing against other people is generally more exciting than playing against the computer, but even that can wear thin after a while. If playing in short, controlled bursts works for you, then you'll undoubtedly enjoy Cars. If you're the type that prefers to power through your games, you may find Cars to be a tougher pill to swallow.

The PSP game's tight focus on being purely a racing title makes the driving a little more fun than its console counterparts.

Cars' production values on the PSP aren't quite as impressive as they were on console versions, but they're still quite good. The car models are nicely designed and the facial animation is great during cutscenes. The problem is that the environments aren't quite so interesting. Most of the tracks run together and feature little to really catch the eye. It's all technically nice-looking stuff, and the frame rate is fully consistent throughout the experience, but it's not exactly an aesthetically impressive game. Like the console games, Cars includes voice acting from the full cast of actors from the film, though the amount of actual dialogue contained in this version is considerably less. There's just not as much story here, so there's less opportunity to hear the actors outside of their one-liners while on the track. Those one-liners are pretty good, though, and not as oft-repeated as they were in the console versions. The same basic soundtrack and sound effects from the console games are in this version, and they sound just as great here.

Cars for the PSP is hardly a game any driving fan should just run out and buy. It's a solid little racer that will certainly hold some appeal to fans of the movie, and any younger players with a PSP ought to get a kick out of it. However, those with more discerning driving tastes might want to give Cars a test drive before taking the plunge.

Rating
E for Everyone

PlayStation 2
Relate Date: June 16, 2006

Plot
Alongside Cars, the newest addition to the ever-growing and consistently high-quality lexicon of Pixar animated films, comes the predictable video game tie-in. But there's something altogether unfamiliar about this version of Cars, something unexpected from the perspective of anyone who's ever played a lackluster Pixar-licensed movie game before. You see, Cars isn't just a middling cash-in on the license. It's a legitimately fun piece of work that combines driving game components with an open-ended gameworld and a host of goofy minigames that aren't broken, tacked-on, or otherwise unpleasant. It also manages to capture the heart and humor of the film pretty well, thanks in no small part to the great character animation and use of the entire celebrity voice cast from the movie. Certainly there are a few aspects of Cars that feel hurried for the sake of getting the game on store shelves in tune with the film release, but Cars transcends these few nagging issues with its charm and character, and it manages to be a good bit of fun to play, too.

Those cute, cuddly cars come to consoles in THQ's Cars.

Leave it to Pixar to take big hunks of combustion-powered metal and rubber and turn them into endearing characters. Just in case you haven't seen the movie, Cars is about a world of, well, cars. These are cars with faces, unique personalities, and no human drivers to get in the way. The story focuses around an up-and-comer in stock car racing named Lightning McQueen. Lightning is the next big thing in racing, but when he inadvertently wreaks havoc in the sleepy burg of Radiator Springs on his way to his next race, Lightning finds himself stuck with these country bumpkins, learning inevitable lessons of life and love. You don't necessarily need to know any of this going into the video game version of Cars, but it helps to have seen the movie first, since Cars the game actually takes place after the movie's plotline. The vast majority of the principal characters from the movie, as well as their associated voice actors, are on hand here for an entirely original tale that sees Lightning working his way through the new racing season against his rival, Chick Hicks (voiced to twitchy perfection by Michael Keaton). It's a cute story that's got a good bit of humor, and anybody who liked the movie ought to be able to get into it easily.

As far as how Cars plays, imagine Grand Theft Auto if you never got out of the car (or, at least something along those lines). Radiator Springs isn't a particularly huge area, but spread across it are multiple locales that you, as Lightning McQueen, can drive to in order to acquire missions. You typically only have a few missions available to you at a time, and some missions are only unlockable after you complete an entire story chapter's worth of missions, but generally you can just kind of drive about the area with freedom, collecting bonus points and other hidden items as you go.

For the most part, Cars' missions revolve around racing. These are cars, after all. The racing itself is largely pretty simplistic. There are some powersliding and boosting mechanics included, as well as a few goofy moves like making the car jump at will, and even driving backwards for point bonuses. The handling of the cars is pretty easy to get a handle on, though powersliding isn't always as effective as you might expect it to be. But you only use stuff like powersliding and boosting in the off-road races in Radiator Springs. When you're competing in the professional races, it's like a NASCAR cartoon. You drive to the left, occasionally bump up against other racers, and occasionally have to make a pit stop.

The pit stops are just one of several minigames contained within the game. Most minigames are missions unto themselves, where you'll be collecting tires as Guido, the local tire mechanic, for example, or "tractor tipping" around a local farm as Larry the Cable Guy-voiced Mater. Pit stops are the only in-race minigames to speak of, and they simply involve timed button-presses and analog stick movements at random intervals to make your pit crew work as fast as possible. For the most part, these games are actually pretty fun. The pit stop game is rather pointless, though, in that you arbitrarily have to do it once every race, and the only benefit for doing it quickly is that you don't lose any race position. But the mission-based games are pretty amusing and tie in to the flow of the game nicely.

One particularly ingenious thing that Cars does is that it actually splits itself into two games. One is designed for players of "all ages," and the other is a shorter, easier version for younger kids. Obviously plenty of games have multiple difficulty levels, but most games of this ilk just play it safe and dumb the experience down for the kids. That's not to say Cars isn't completely absolved of this crime, mind you. Even in the general audience version, the game is still fairly simple. Until the last stages of the game, it's pretty hard to lose races, especially since the opponent artificial intelligence rubber bands quite a bit in favor of the player. Get behind by a significant margin, and you'll actually see cars ahead of you slow down sometimes, giving you the boost you need. The later races are certainly more challenging, but a more even balance of difficulty would have helped the gameplay quite a bit. For what it's worth, the difference between the two versions is still pretty noticeable.

Cars also suffers a bit due to a few glitches and technical issues. It's all relatively minor stuff that just happens to become a bit infuriating in some areas. Most of the problems have to do with graphical bugs and physics issues. The game's environments are often set up with borders and sections you're not supposed to be able to traverse, but some of these borders are spotty with their barriers, and you can get stuck in certain pieces of the environment if you run into them the wrong way. The car physics also get wonky in some spots. Fall sideways off of a ledge, and you may find yourself driving on your left tires for a while until the game figures out a way to reset your car back to normal. You'll also see some occasional issues with cars clipping through one another.

These issues aside, however, Cars is a nice-looking game. The character models are great interpretations of the characters from the movie, and the quality of animation, especially in cutscenes, is excellent. The cars are extremely expressive with their facial animations, and the lip-syncing is more spot-on than most games starring humans. The one downside to this is that while you're driving, you are typically relegated to the usual 3rd-person camera, so in effect, all you get is the butt cam. But there are more than enough cutscenes to make it so all that great character animation isn't wasted. Radiator Springs itself is also rather pleasing to look at. Most of the area is made up of desert, but the few scattered bits of the township, as well as some of the mountain environments and areas, look great. You'll certainly see some dirty textures here and there, but usually you're moving so fast that it doesn't even matter. Between the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions of the game, you're not really missing out on anything no matter which way you go. The Xbox version looks the best, but not by a wide margin.

You'll get to see and explore all sorts of unique areas as you race through Radiator Springs.

Obviously, one of the biggest selling points of Cars is the inclusion of the movie's voice cast. Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shaloub, Michael Keaton, Larry the Cable Guy (in a decidedly "Git 'er done!"-free performance), George Carlin, Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty, Cheech Marin, and Paul Newman are all on hand. Yeah, Paul Newman in a video game. Kind of insane, no? All the actors are pretty much on point throughout the game. Wilson is just as endearing in the game as he was in the film, and pretty much every actor seems to be treating their game dialogue as importantly as the movie stuff. There's also a pretty good licensed soundtrack on hand with tracks from the Stray Cats, Lynryd Skynryd, the Edgar Winter Group, and the All American Rejects, among others. The only thing really worth complaining about in the audio department is the repetition of the aforementioned aspects. One-liners from the characters during races tend to repeat too often, as do most of the soundtrack songs. Again, it's all great stuff, so it makes the repetitious nature of it a little easier to swallow. It would just be nice if there were more variety.

Though Cars will almost certainly take you well under 10 hours to complete, there's two-player multiplayer to mess with, as well as some bonus materials to check out. Not to mention that the quality of Cars' content is enough to make up for its relatively short stature. It's hardly the next big thing in driving games, but it still manages to deliver the most authentic Pixar film experience to the video game medium of any previous attempt, and it's certainly one of the better kid-oriented games to come out this year.

Rating
E for Everyone

PC
Relate Date: June 6, 2006

Demo
Check Out http://www.gamespot.com/pc/driving/cars/download_6152661.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=files&tag=files;title for more!

Rating
E for Everyone

Gamecube
Relate Date: June 6, 2006

Plot
The Good

* Great-looking, highly expressive car/character models * A solid number of races and minigames * A well-told follow-up story to the film's universe * Huge celebrity voice cast that's definitely up to snuff compared to the film's voice work.

The Bad

* A few technical bugs and glitches that sometimes hinder gameplay * Even the supposedly harder difficulty level is pretty breezy * Powersliding is hit-or-miss in its effectiveness.

Alongside Cars, the newest addition to the ever-growing and consistently high-quality lexicon of Pixar animated films, comes the predictable video game tie-in. But there's something altogether unfamiliar about this version of Cars, something unexpected from the perspective of anyone who's ever played a lackluster Pixar-licensed movie game before. You see, Cars isn't just a middling cash-in on the license. It's a legitimately fun piece of work that combines driving game components with an open-ended gameworld and a host of goofy minigames that aren't broken, tacked-on, or otherwise unpleasant. It also manages to capture the heart and humor of the film pretty well, thanks in no small part to the great character animation and use of the entire celebrity voice cast from the movie. Certainly there are a few aspects of Cars that feel hurried for the sake of getting the game on store shelves in tune with the film release, but Cars transcends these few nagging issues with its charm and character, and it manages to be a good bit of fun to play, too.

Those cute, cuddly cars come to consoles in THQ's Cars.

Leave it to Pixar to take big hunks of combustion-powered metal and rubber and turn them into endearing characters. Just in case you haven't seen the movie, Cars is about a world of, well, cars. These are cars with faces, unique personalities, and no human drivers to get in the way. The story focuses around an up-and-comer in stock car racing named Lightning McQueen. Lightning is the next big thing in racing, but when he inadvertently wreaks havoc in the sleepy burg of Radiator Springs on his way to his next race, Lightning finds himself stuck with these country bumpkins, learning inevitable lessons of life and love. You don't necessarily need to know any of this going into the video game version of Cars, but it helps to have seen the movie first, since Cars the game actually takes place after the movie's plotline. The vast majority of the principal characters from the movie, as well as their associated voice actors, are on hand here for an entirely original tale that sees Lightning working his way through the new racing season against his rival, Chick Hicks (voiced to twitchy perfection by Michael Keaton). It's a cute story that's got a good bit of humor, and anybody who liked the movie ought to be able to get into it easily.

As far as how Cars plays, imagine Grand Theft Auto if you never got out of the car (or, at least something along those lines). Radiator Springs isn't a particularly huge area, but spread across it are multiple locales that you, as Lightning McQueen, can drive to in order to acquire missions. You typically only have a few missions available to you at a time, and some missions are only unlockable after you complete an entire story chapter's worth of missions, but generally you can just kind of drive about the area with freedom, collecting bonus points and other hidden items as you go.

For the most part, Cars' missions revolve around racing. These are cars, after all. The racing itself is largely pretty simplistic. There are some powersliding and boosting mechanics included, as well as a few goofy moves like making the car jump at will, and even driving backwards for point bonuses. The handling of the cars is pretty easy to get a handle on, though powersliding isn't always as effective as you might expect it to be. But you only use stuff like powersliding and boosting in the off-road races in Radiator Springs. When you're competing in the professional races, it's like a NASCAR cartoon. You drive to the left, occasionally bump up against other racers, and occasionally have to make a pit stop.

The pit stops are just one of several minigames contained within the game. Most minigames are missions unto themselves, where you'll be collecting tires as Guido, the local tire mechanic, for example, or "tractor tipping" around a local farm as Larry the Cable Guy-voiced Mater. Pit stops are the only in-race minigames to speak of, and they simply involve timed button-presses and analog stick movements at random intervals to make your pit crew work as fast as possible. For the most part, these games are actually pretty fun. The pit stop game is rather pointless, though, in that you arbitrarily have to do it once every race, and the only benefit for doing it quickly is that you don't lose any race position. But the mission-based games are pretty amusing and tie in to the flow of the game nicely.

One particularly ingenious thing that Cars does is that it actually splits itself into two games. One is designed for players of "all ages," and the other is a shorter, easier version for younger kids. Obviously plenty of games have multiple difficulty levels, but most games of this ilk just play it safe and dumb the experience down for the kids. That's not to say Cars isn't completely absolved of this crime, mind you. Even in the general audience version, the game is still fairly simple. Until the last stages of the game, it's pretty hard to lose races, especially since the opponent artificial intelligence rubber bands quite a bit in favor of the player. Get behind by a significant margin, and you'll actually see cars ahead of you slow down sometimes, giving you the boost you need. The later races are certainly more challenging, but a more even balance of difficulty would have helped the gameplay quite a bit. For what it's worth, the difference between the two versions is still pretty noticeable.

Cars also suffers a bit due to a few glitches and technical issues. It's all relatively minor stuff that just happens to become a bit infuriating in some areas. Most of the problems have to do with graphical bugs and physics issues. The game's environments are often set up with borders and sections you're not supposed to be able to traverse, but some of these borders are spotty with their barriers, and you can get stuck in certain pieces of the environment if you run into them the wrong way. The car physics also get wonky in some spots. Fall sideways off of a ledge, and you may find yourself driving on your left tires for a while until the game figures out a way to reset your car back to normal. You'll also see some occasional issues with cars clipping through one another.

These issues aside, however, Cars is a nice-looking game. The character models are great interpretations of the characters from the movie, and the quality of animation, especially in cutscenes, is excellent. The cars are extremely expressive with their facial animations, and the lip-syncing is more spot-on than most games starring humans. The one downside to this is that while you're driving, you are typically relegated to the usual 3rd-person camera, so in effect, all you get is the butt cam. But there are more than enough cutscenes to make it so all that great character animation isn't wasted. Radiator Springs itself is also rather pleasing to look at. Most of the area is made up of desert, but the few scattered bits of the township, as well as some of the mountain environments and areas, look great. You'll certainly see some dirty textures here and there, but usually you're moving so fast that it doesn't even matter. Between the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions of the game, you're not really missing out on anything no matter which way you go. The Xbox version looks the best, but not by a wide margin.

You'll get to see and explore all sorts of unique areas as you race through Radiator Springs.

Obviously, one of the biggest selling points of Cars is the inclusion of the movie's voice cast. Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shaloub, Michael Keaton, Larry the Cable Guy (in a decidedly "Git 'er done!"-free performance), George Carlin, Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty, Cheech Marin, and Paul Newman are all on hand. Yeah, Paul Newman in a video game. Kind of insane, no? All the actors are pretty much on point throughout the game. Wilson is just as endearing in the game as he was in the film, and pretty much every actor seems to be treating their game dialogue as importantly as the movie stuff. There's also a pretty good licensed soundtrack on hand with tracks from the Stray Cats, Lynryd Skynryd, the Edgar Winter Group, and the All American Rejects, among others. The only thing really worth complaining about in the audio department is the repetition of the aforementioned aspects. One-liners from the characters during races tend to repeat too often, as do most of the soundtrack songs. Again, it's all great stuff, so it makes the repetitious nature of it a little easier to swallow. It would just be nice if there were more variety.

Though Cars will almost certainly take you well under 10 hours to complete, there's two-player multiplayer to mess with, as well as some bonus materials to check out. Not to mention that the quality of Cars' content is enough to make up for its relatively short stature. It's hardly the next big thing in driving games, but it still manages to deliver the most authentic Pixar film experience to the video game medium of any previous attempt, and it's certainly one of the better kid-oriented games to come out this year

Rating
E for Everyone