Cars (Wii)

GameSpot editors' review

• Reviewed by:
  Alex Navarro
• Reviewed on: 12/05/2006
• Updated on: 06/25/2007
• Released on: 11/16/2006
• Originally published on GameSpot: Cars (Wii) Review

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.

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.

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.

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Cars (Wii): $13.50 - $18.99

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