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.
