Cars
Posted November 1, 2006
Coinciding closely with the DVD release of Pixar's Cars, the Xbox 360 version of this movie-adapted game has been released to take advantage of the marketing push and expand on the limited amount of games currently available for a younger audience of 360 players. The storyline loosely follows the plot of the animated feature and elaborates character interaction slightly for an increased number of missions. The menu presentation is a bit on the drab side, but navigation is simplistic enough for any kid to jump in almost immediately. The main story can be begun in full mode for players of all ages or an easier, abbreviated portion that only includes the highlight races. It's important to note that achievements can only be earned in the full mode. 
Gameplay:
Using an open area effect made popular by the GTA series, Cars allows the player to roam restrictively over the desert landscape to find races, special missions, mini-games, collect points, hunt for postcards, or just launch yourself off massive jumps for kicks. Activities are outlined by different colored dots on the map. After locating a pulsating dot, the player just has to hit the Blue X button to begin a race. As a race is completed, a number of trophies are awarded to the player dependent on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd placement in the race. These trophies dictate how soon the player can head into the next speedway race. These races are challenging, but necessary for the main story mode.
Mini-games include entertaining gags such as tractor tipping (the equivalent of cow-tipping in the car world) and chasing speeders down with the egomaniacal cop car. The games are broken up into 5 to 8 rounds, each with an elevating reward and difficulty. Attempting to avoid the mean Farm tractor on the last couple of levels of Tractor tipping can be a bit stressful without proper strategy.
Controlling Lightning's Car takes a bit of time to adjust to, but it obviously caters to the game's younger target market. Using a heavily arcade influence, turning the car around a tight curve requires large sweeping motions. The car's backend tends to float around during any race which may overcompensation by a variety of players. Powersliding is controlled by the right trigger, turbo boost kicks in with the left bumper, hitting the handbrake button twice causes a quick turnaround, and the camera can be rotated with the right thumbstick.
If a player loses control of the car and runs off the track, the game is overly kind to folks with lower skill levels. Many times, the re-spawned car ends up further down the track than where the mistake was made. That usually increases the lead over your competition rather than harming your position. Also, the game A.I. is built around always letting the player have a chance to win. Oddly enough, cars will slow to a crawl every time they cross the lap / finish line. While a younger player may need such help, older players can easily win the race 30 seconds in front of the closest car. While the Nascar-esqe races are much tougher in comparison, they still offer excellent time bonuses after a pit stop is made; strangely a larger lead than previously entering the pit stop with. Overall, the artificial intelligence may be a bit too easy, even for younger players.
The achievements are split into 15 tasks of varying difficulty for a grand total of 1000 gamerscore points. All of the points are awarded for single player tasks as nothing was included to take advantage of the multiplayer vs. function. Most of the points are awarded for making first place in most of the main speedway races, but there are a few tasks that required a bit more effort. For instance, there is an achievement for collecting 20 postcards (GTA packages) spread all over the landscape and an achievement for fully completing a few of the mini-games. These achievements don't require much skill to complete, but time does become a factor without strategy or a postcard guide. Children should find the achievements moderately challenging, but gamerscore-craving adults will breeze through them.
Graphics:
Visually, Cars looks sharper than any other console version, but that's not saying much. The game very much resembles a port rather than a title built for the 360. Most noticeably, the dirt particle effects, when tearing around the desert, are a muddy mass of fuzz. When boosting, the game offers a welcome sense of speed with a slight blur effect, but fails to continually capture high speed motion throughout the race. Map limitations are poorly noted in the game world which leads to much confusion on what areas are drivable.
On a positive note, the colorful nature of the game really makes the character artwork pop out. The flamboyant city lights up in glorious neon at night and creates a Vegas-esqe appeal to the surrounding desert. The other two map areas aren't as detailed, but sections of those areas are visually memorable. Many times, navigation of the area is better performed by remembering landmarks rather than map denotations. The developer did an excellent job varying the level design throughout the entire game. Finally, the frame rate stays rock solid; as it should.
Audio:
Similar to the recently released Open Season, the voiceovers within Cars are top notch. The voice clips recorded in the Pixar sessions are used and all the main character actors are found for each particular car. Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Paul Newman, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Keaton, Tony Shalhoub, and John Ratzenberger (my personal favorite) all bring the animated cars to life. Unfortunately, the editing of the clips is not as tight as it could be. The conversations tend to lose a bit of life and slightly removes some of the credence those excellent actors bring to the table. Still, it's vastly better than any replacement actor or actress game developers are usually forced to use.
The soundtrack is absolutely wonderful. Popular classic rock and rock-a-billy music make up the majority of the tunes. Artists such as Leonard Skynard and Brian Setzer really compliment the racing elements of the game and perfectly match the tempo. Also, the developer allows the music to be changed through the pause menu if your ears dislike anything that's playing. Unfortunately, songs usually don't last the length of the race and oddly won't start another tune automatically for the duration of the race. The sound effects are passable for a racing game, but there isn't much to get excited about.
Conclusion:
The game lasts about 6 to 7 hours for an adult and perhaps 10 to 12 for a younger audience. That includes unlocking every achievement and completing all the mini-games. While the game is an enjoyable romp through Pixar's cinematic creation, it doesn't hold a large amount of replay value. The multiplayer mode is entertaining the first few times through, but fails to hold attention any longer. I can only recommend renting this title until the game falls to the $20 range.
Gameplay:
Using an open area effect made popular by the GTA series, Cars allows the player to roam restrictively over the desert landscape to find races, special missions, mini-games, collect points, hunt for postcards, or just launch yourself off massive jumps for kicks. Activities are outlined by different colored dots on the map. After locating a pulsating dot, the player just has to hit the Blue X button to begin a race. As a race is completed, a number of trophies are awarded to the player dependent on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd placement in the race. These trophies dictate how soon the player can head into the next speedway race. These races are challenging, but necessary for the main story mode.
Mini-games include entertaining gags such as tractor tipping (the equivalent of cow-tipping in the car world) and chasing speeders down with the egomaniacal cop car. The games are broken up into 5 to 8 rounds, each with an elevating reward and difficulty. Attempting to avoid the mean Farm tractor on the last couple of levels of Tractor tipping can be a bit stressful without proper strategy.
Controlling Lightning's Car takes a bit of time to adjust to, but it obviously caters to the game's younger target market. Using a heavily arcade influence, turning the car around a tight curve requires large sweeping motions. The car's backend tends to float around during any race which may overcompensation by a variety of players. Powersliding is controlled by the right trigger, turbo boost kicks in with the left bumper, hitting the handbrake button twice causes a quick turnaround, and the camera can be rotated with the right thumbstick.
If a player loses control of the car and runs off the track, the game is overly kind to folks with lower skill levels. Many times, the re-spawned car ends up further down the track than where the mistake was made. That usually increases the lead over your competition rather than harming your position. Also, the game A.I. is built around always letting the player have a chance to win. Oddly enough, cars will slow to a crawl every time they cross the lap / finish line. While a younger player may need such help, older players can easily win the race 30 seconds in front of the closest car. While the Nascar-esqe races are much tougher in comparison, they still offer excellent time bonuses after a pit stop is made; strangely a larger lead than previously entering the pit stop with. Overall, the artificial intelligence may be a bit too easy, even for younger players.
The achievements are split into 15 tasks of varying difficulty for a grand total of 1000 gamerscore points. All of the points are awarded for single player tasks as nothing was included to take advantage of the multiplayer vs. function. Most of the points are awarded for making first place in most of the main speedway races, but there are a few tasks that required a bit more effort. For instance, there is an achievement for collecting 20 postcards (GTA packages) spread all over the landscape and an achievement for fully completing a few of the mini-games. These achievements don't require much skill to complete, but time does become a factor without strategy or a postcard guide. Children should find the achievements moderately challenging, but gamerscore-craving adults will breeze through them.
Graphics:
Visually, Cars looks sharper than any other console version, but that's not saying much. The game very much resembles a port rather than a title built for the 360. Most noticeably, the dirt particle effects, when tearing around the desert, are a muddy mass of fuzz. When boosting, the game offers a welcome sense of speed with a slight blur effect, but fails to continually capture high speed motion throughout the race. Map limitations are poorly noted in the game world which leads to much confusion on what areas are drivable.
On a positive note, the colorful nature of the game really makes the character artwork pop out. The flamboyant city lights up in glorious neon at night and creates a Vegas-esqe appeal to the surrounding desert. The other two map areas aren't as detailed, but sections of those areas are visually memorable. Many times, navigation of the area is better performed by remembering landmarks rather than map denotations. The developer did an excellent job varying the level design throughout the entire game. Finally, the frame rate stays rock solid; as it should.
Audio:
Similar to the recently released Open Season, the voiceovers within Cars are top notch. The voice clips recorded in the Pixar sessions are used and all the main character actors are found for each particular car. Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Paul Newman, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Keaton, Tony Shalhoub, and John Ratzenberger (my personal favorite) all bring the animated cars to life. Unfortunately, the editing of the clips is not as tight as it could be. The conversations tend to lose a bit of life and slightly removes some of the credence those excellent actors bring to the table. Still, it's vastly better than any replacement actor or actress game developers are usually forced to use.
The soundtrack is absolutely wonderful. Popular classic rock and rock-a-billy music make up the majority of the tunes. Artists such as Leonard Skynard and Brian Setzer really compliment the racing elements of the game and perfectly match the tempo. Also, the developer allows the music to be changed through the pause menu if your ears dislike anything that's playing. Unfortunately, songs usually don't last the length of the race and oddly won't start another tune automatically for the duration of the race. The sound effects are passable for a racing game, but there isn't much to get excited about.
Conclusion:
The game lasts about 6 to 7 hours for an adult and perhaps 10 to 12 for a younger audience. That includes unlocking every achievement and completing all the mini-games. While the game is an enjoyable romp through Pixar's cinematic creation, it doesn't hold a large amount of replay value. The multiplayer mode is entertaining the first few times through, but fails to hold attention any longer. I can only recommend renting this title until the game falls to the $20 range.