Cars is the latest movie from the computer animation wizards at Pixar. As with all things Pixar, where there is a movie there will be a game. Such is the fate of Cars: the video game. Now, video games based on movies have never been known to great success. While Cars looks like it is falling into this sad tradition, there is one savings grace: this game is meant for kids, not racing experts. So while there are a number of confusing design decisions and an overall lack of control polish, the game will still appeal to the younger generation which it is aiming for.
Since Cars is a racing game, the most important aspect of the title is how fast the game feels and how much fun the racing actually is. Cars almost delivers on both of these goals, but in the end the racing feels rather unpolished and boring; Cars in no way feels fast. The sense of speed is absent thanks to the lack of graphical effects which fakes speed, and the laid back racing attitude. Sure, you want to win the race--but Cars never makes it feel like you have to. In addition to this, there are a number of head scratching control and gameplay decisions.
The first on this list is the button layout for Cars. Instead of mapping the gas to the right trigger and the brake to the left, the team behind Cars decided to have gas be under the control of the A button while braking was left to the X button. Why anyone would choose to go against the standard button layout for a racing title, I really don't know. Sure, it does make Cars, "stand out," but not in a good way. Veterans of the racing genre are going to have a tough time adjusting to this new layout. The rest of the buttons allow access to moves that are more of a hindrance than a help. For example, pressing the B button activates a "trick" which is more gimmicky than helpful. When racing as Lightning McQueen, anytime the B button was pressed I found myself up on two wheels, swerving left and right across the road and smacking into walls. Don't press the B button. The Y button handles the e-brake. The e-brake really has no purpose, especially when using it causes the car to careen out of control and brings it almost to a dead stop. It also doesn't help that the regular brake works just fine. Not only that, but players have the ability to power slide as well. Don't press the Y button, either.
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