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Unlike many movies of its ilk - meaning the Pixar universe's Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles - Cars is a film that lends itself pretty darned well to a gaming title. The latest blockbuster from the animation powerhouse is about, well, auto racing, so you've got to believe that developers had to think a lot less about what to have players do in the game about and more about how good to make it. While in the case of the PSP edition of Cars that doesn't exactly translate into a fabulous gaming experience, it does at least allow for a good-looking, happy, and surprisingly challenging effort.
The boys (and girls) are back in town
For starters, there're a few different game modes under the proverbial hood - story, grand prix, time trials and multiplayer. The story mode will let you pick and choose from each of the main characters, starting off with just a few (protagonist Lightning McQueen, his gal Sally, and Larry the Cable Guy's Mater) but eventually unlocking the whole gang by winning each event. There are a total of 15 animated vehicles to unlock in all, each voiced by the same folks who lent their vocal stylings in the big-screen edition. Unfortunately, the amusing one-liners that get spouted off get repetitive pretty quickly. George Carlin is a hell of a funny guy, but there are only so many times that you can hear him say "Come on man, the road is for everyone!" before you start to wish for his whole "football versus baseball" routine.
The term "story" should be used loosely, too - the tale (such as it is) involves a bare bones structure based around some no-good out-of-town baddies who are encroaching on McQueen and company's territory. After that, there's pretty much nothing other than racing. A lot of racing. After that, a bit more racing. Interspersed in these dashes for glory are occasional cutscenes when the bosses are introduced and challenged. Other than that, though, there's nothing but tearing up the track from beginning to end. It's a bit disappointing that such a good tale on the silver screen couldn't be a little more adapted for its PSP gaming cousin.
Thankfully, the core racing mechanics are implemented much better than expected for a typical licensed game. This is a good thing, since the PSP has about 43 gazillion racing titles and (did I mention this before?) it's the only thing you'll ever get to do in the game. You've got your gas, brake, hop (hop?!?!?), and powerslide buttons (alas, no honk). Steering is executed via the nub or d-pad, take your pick. The old racing game standby, turbo boost, is here too, increasing when you powerslide, jump, or draft off of your competitors, then decreasing as you use it to zoom past your rivals.
Come on and take a free ride
There are usually short cuts and always a combination of obstacles and boosters littered throughout the tracks. Some of these shortcuts are obvious, while others will take a little work to find and/or utilize. Don't worry about smashing up your oh-so-cute little rides, though. As expected, Lightning, Sally, and the rest of the gang can crash headlong into rock bluffs, canyons, and/or each other without suffering so much as a scratch. What, you were expecting someone to put their eye out?
If you're having some trouble with a boss race (and chances are, you will) or you're looking to unlock some goodies (more on those later), the Grand Prix and Time Trials are solid alternatives that will add some extra time to the game clock. In addition to these, Cars offers ad-hoc wireless multiplayer, which might be great if you've got buddies with a copy of the game and a PSP (we didn't). Sadly, there's no infrastructure or game sharing offered at all.
Visually speaking, Cars is (surprisingly?) splendid. The cartoonish environments remind me of the old Looney Tunes backgrounds. I've got to believe that is unintended, as this is most definitely not a Warner Brothers game, but it's a compliment nonetheless. The vehicles are also very lovingly rendered, featuring likenesses with their big-screen versions that are right on the money. On the audio front, there's a selection of tunes from real world artists that sounds great as background music during your exploits. The Stray Cats, Los Lobos, Edgar Winter, and others all have classic tunes embedded in the game, and sound terrific. No doubt that this is an unexpected plus, and it may even teach the kids a thing or two about some good rock and roll music.
And just like the movies…
As far as extras go, Cars shines with four beautiful (if short) cutscenes from the movie and a preview of the next Pixar movie Ratatouille, which all look simply fantastic on the PSP's LCD screen. If there was ever a game that made me long for a UMD version of the full-length Cars film, this is the one. Too bad that UMDs will likely cease to exist for films by the time Cars will be available. The abrupt endings of the scenes only make me want to get to the theater to check out the real thing. They're that good. There's also a collection of postcards and paintjobs for the collectors and completists out there. These are unlocked through multiplayer and grand prix victories, but are about 10,000 percent less interesting than the video clips.
The bottom line is this - if you've got a young'un around with a PSP that loved the movie, Cars will satisfy. The game looks great, plays fine, and offers up a challenge that will have even older racers hitting the "Restart" option more than a couple of times. The long term value may be a bit dubious, and there are certainly other pure racing titles out there that offer more diversity and length. However, on its own, Cars is a good option for keeping that little rasslefrassle out of trouble for a few hours, and you may even get a few laughs of your own.
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