DISCLAIMERS:
- the reviewer has not finished the game with 100% completion
- the game was played on the Nintendo GameCube using the version of the game intended for United States audiences
Basically at the same time as Cars the movie’s release its licensed video game counterpart also released. This game is often considered one of the best licensed movie games and it seems to be one of the most accurate to the source material as well. This review will judge Cars on its own merits.
The gameplay in Cars is only as good as you could reasonably expect from a licensed game. The racing is nowhere near as well made as the racing in dedicated racing series but it is far from terrible too. The race tracks aren’t particularly interestingly designed, with the only real highlights being driving past important locations from the movie, which is not particularly interesting for the gameplay. There are some minigames included that are only about average in terms of quality, so theres no real reason to be playing them instead of the main game. The only parts of this game that stand out as being particularly entertaining is finding the collectables around the open world and unlocking all of the different paint jobs and car types for racing. Overall nothing in particular about this game’s gameplay makes it standout. If anything the gameplay is something that the player puts up with if they really enjoy some other aspect of the game.
The sound in Cars is surprisingly good. The licensed music is well chosen, besides one extremely glaring omission, and all fits the game well. Sound effects are about average. Voice acting is far above average as a lot of characters are voiced by the same actor as in the Cars movie. Overall this is easily one of the best aspects of the game
Technically Cars is about as good as you could possibly expect. The game is far from amazing visually but the scale of the world and the recreations of scenes from the movie are all impressive. The game also generally runs rather smooth which helps too. Overall this game impresses more in its details than in the picture the console sends to your screen.
The story in Cars barely exists but what is there is about the same quality as the actual movie. It is hardly intrusive at all into the gameplay so this part of the game doesn’t really matter. Overall most people won’t care about this part of the game unless they are already big Cars fans.
In terms of value Cars is surprisingly above average. The long campaign, large open world, and long list of unlockables give the game a lot of replay value. It is overall worth full price if the base gameplay seems appealing to you.
Overall the reviewer would give this game a 7 out of 10.
If you decide to purchase this game through one of the links below this blog will receive a commission.
