Cars Review

About the game:
This is a game based on the Disney/Pixar Movie “Cars”. A game in which you can play as various characters from the movie such as Lightning McQueen, Porsche, and Mater to name a few. It is a racing game at heart, with plenty of other activites to complete as well. The game comes with a smaller/easier mode for the children - but don’t get too excited achievements don’t unlock in this mode so you can’t use your kids to rack up those points ;)
The game has quite a few different modes, it has the obvious racing mode, but also some general games to spice it up a bit, like the postcard hunt or the tractor tipping activities.

Single Player (Story Mode): 7/10
I am not extremely far into the game to say the least - but all ready its getting a bit repititious. The races are pretty similar, and there are quite a few that you must complete. The actual big races can only be played by reaching enough trophy points - which are gained by winning smaller racers, or playing the various other activities. I found it pretty interesting that in the big races - just like the movies you can take a pit stop (and almost guarantee to blow your tires if you dont do it). If it werent for the repetitious feel of the game I probably would rate this higher. Even the activities can feel this way, for example in the Tractor Tipping activity you sneak up and scare the tractors (again like in the movie) but after you complete the stage - the next stage is the same process - but with a different layout.

Multiplayer: N/A
I have not loaded multiplayer, but it seems to be your standard multiplayer functionality - I am not going to rate this area simply because I have not actually used it at all myself.

Graphics/game play: 8/10
The graphics are made to look like the animation in the movie, and there is plenty of detail in the terrain and the cars themselves. The gameplay is pretty standard, you can drift and use power boosts during races making it a bit more then simply running around the dessert in circles.

Achievements: 8/10
Looking at the achievements (since I have only unlocked one at the moment). They look to be spread out nicely to keep yo playing for a while. There are achievements that are related to the various mini games that you can play, and achievements that are unlocked by winning the major or milestone races. Considering the game in a whole I think the achievements are designed well. Most importantly they are all based on actually accomplishing something - they might not be the most difficult achievements to obtain - but at least you actually have to finish a specific race, or complete a mini game - simply staring at the screen for a number of hours, or pressing a button on your controller isnt enough.

In Short..
I got this game on a rental mostly just to see what it was like, but also so my son could see the game (to watch not play - 2 year olds still have a little bit of trouble with console games), but I find myself playing it even when he is sleeping or not around because the various activites and races are interesting - and the achievements, although are probably not difficult based on the fact that its a younger kids game - they aren’t as simple as ‘push the left thumbstick’ like in madden 06 for example. I probably wouldn’t have bought it, unless my son was older and wanted it for himself, but it was definately worth a rental in my eyes.

I give it a 7.5 out of 10