Disney / Pixar do it again. Rolling out a visually stunning CGI based movie. Sadly I have only seen clips and “the making of” so far, but the humour, personalities and sheer visual splendour shine through again. I’m honestly looking forward to seeing this movie with the kids as its one of those “something for the adults too” type movies. (I can pretend to grudgingly take the kids to the pictures whilst getting excited myself.)

The game is a multi-platform tie-in that has obviously been developed in close co-operation with the movie. The cars are lower res reproductions of the film characters and the stable of voice actors has also produced dialogue for the film.

I have heard that the game does not follow the plot of the movie closely but haven’t seen it to comment. You play the lead role of Lightening McQueen, voiced by Owen “funny nose” Wilson. The game is based in a desert valley township called Radiator Springs. It seems reminiscent of a very small GTA map in Road Runner territory. Your long term ambition is to win the Piston Cup a race that you will gradually work your way towards.

Bog standard racing controls of left thumbstick to steer and ‘X’ to accelerate make you immediately feel at home. Powerslides are accomplished by holding R1. Boosts reflect a Burnout style R2 as they only last as long as the boost meter (the best part of boosting is the intro movie with a tongue in cheek drugs reference for the parents). Tilting onto two wheels is achieved with L1 and the left thumbstick. The last non-standard racing manoeuvre is jumping with a quick down/up action on the thumbstick.

Tiny Tel 1 – Aged 5 ¾ ? important that
Tiny Tel 2 – Aged 8
Tiny Tel 3 – Aged 10

Races for TT3 were an absolute breeze. Races for TT2 were far more challenging. Races for TT1, well the concept of racing was a bit lost on TT1. Meandering off into the desert would be a more accurate description. I am amazed at the patience of the game to continue playing.

After them playing Arcade mode I probed them for some comments:-

TT1: “It’s SO Good”

TT2: “Quite good, but they cheated. Excellent when I am winning a race”

TT3: “Quite good, the imaginary setting makes it more fun to play. The tractor tipping game is too dark. It asks you to save too many times.” – I had to stop him at this point as he does go on a bit…

I honestly think TT3 hit the nail on the head. After achieving anything in the game the save dialog pops up and it takes 3 separate ‘X’s to get past it whether you save or not. If you DO decide to save it takes way too long and the game illusion is shattered (you can turn the auto-save off though).

Now for the science bit.
Graphically – the game is a decent representation of the movie. Whips along at a decent rate. No obvious graphical glitches and a surprising number of cars on the track during the races and other cars cruise around the town when you’re exploring so you’re not all on your own.

Sound – the use of the original voice actors is a real boon to this title. So many tie-ins in the past have been spoilt by using sound-a-likes or not-even-vaguely-sound-a-likes that spoil the effect. Music-wise there are a number of unimposing tunes that rattle around in the background. One particular tune about being the best looking car around did being to grate a bit though.

So in summary:
TT1 , 2 & 3 persistently badger me for access to the PS2 when they have a game they love. They were initially excited at the prospect of playing Cars but it just didn’t have that “come back again” factor. There were no gentle taps on my nose at 6am asking to go on the PS2 as there was when they got Nintendogs…