REVIEW - Cars: Race O Rama
- Written by Randy Wallace |
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Your favorite characters from the Cars series are back in Cars Race-O-Rama. Developed by Incinerator Studios and Published by THQ, Cars Race-O-Rama puts you back in the driver’s seat as Lightning McQueen. In Cars Race-O-Rama, you get to race against new characters through action-packed tracks to win the Race-O-Rama trophy. Personalize Lightning McQueen to your liking and prepare your academy of student racers for the Race-O-Rama exhibition against Chick Hicks, who has his own set of student racers that don’t always compete fairly.
In this latest installment of the Cars series, players have the opportunity to customize the cars by modifying the paint color, wheals and rims, different hood options, side skirts, rear bumpers, and spoilers. With more than 30 playable characters, of which 15 are newly playable, players can play with some of their favorites, as well as some not so favorite cars as they race their way through eight different environments including places like Radiator Springs Speedway, the beaches of Santa Carburera, the streets of Motoropolis City, and even the deserts in Autovia. |
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There are two different modes of play for players to choose from while playing this game. First off is the Story Mode. In Story Mode, players will compete in the exciting Race-O-Rama racing series. The Race-O-Rama racing series pits the best racers against each other in the widest variety of racing challenges ever. You start the series at the Radiator Springs Speedway. Within each locale, including the first location, there are Gold Events that must be beaten in order to open up new locations. If you’re having trouble locating these, just open up the mini-map look for the flashing gold star. Once you beat all the Gold Events, you are able to move on to the next venue. Throughout each of the locations, there are other events that players can participate in known as standard events. These events allow Lightning McQueen to visit the various shops and provide all kinds of fun outside of the Race-O-Rama racing series. If you get stuck in a location and aren’t sure what to do to move on, you can always go talk to Mack, and he will provide hints and let you know how many gold events you have left to beat before the next city is unlocked. Once you have met all requirements, talk to Mack, and he’ll take you to the next location. One really nice thing about the story mode is that you really don’t have to progress through the story at all. I watched my niece just drive all over the Radiator Springs Speedway. There were events available for her to do, and all that is required to enter them is a simple press of the brake as you cross the event marker. However, for the really young players, it can be just as much fun for them to just be able to drive around.
Arcade mode allows the player to play any of the events unlocked during story mode either by his or herself or against a friend. Events that can be chosen are things such as Mater the Greater, which is based on a Cars Toons episode, Mack Track Challenges, based off the Mattel toy, or even Photo Ops. The further that you progress through the story mode, the more events that will be unlocked for play in Arcade mode. There are also races available in the arcade mode so that you can race against a friend, albeit only locally on the same Xbox, and show who the champ of the raceway is.
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When it comes to gameplay, this game is very simple when it comes to learning the controls. As with previous versions, the A button, not the right trigger is the gas, and the X button is the brake. Also, while racing, you also have the ability to drift around turns, which in turns makes for some fun close racing whether it be against the computer or a friend. Drifting is done with a simple squeeze of the left trigger as you are going around a turn, and is very simple to master. Everything about this game was designed with all ages of players in mind with its ease of controls.
The visuals in this game bring the world of the Cars series to life. With very colorful backdrops as well as the characters looking as they are meant to look, it’s very easy to for the older players to enjoy this game as much as the younger players do. Now while the graphics look very good, I did spot a couple flaws during my playthrough. While racing at the Radiator Springs Speedway, some of the fans in the crowd looked very 2-dimensional. I’m not referring to just the fans in the stands that border the track. At one point during the track, you pass under some fans, and it was very easy to see that they didn’t quite fit in with everything else. This may have been simply overlooked, but was very obvious, and I didn’t have to look very hard to find it. Other than the few flaws with the fans, everything else about this game visually looks great and fits the Cars world true to form. |
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When it comes to the audio effects in the game, you’ll hear some comical, yet repetitive phrases coming from McQueen as you race along, but also from the other racers involved. While I couldn’t tell if they got the actual actors that originally did the voicework for the characters in the movie, the voices are close to what they should be. In other words, Mater sounds like Mater, and Lightning McQueen sounds as he should as well. Along with the sounds of the skidding tires, turbo boosts, and typical engine sounds, you hear pretty much what you would expect out of a racing game.
Overall, Race-O-Rama is a very enjoyable game that is fun for families to sit down and play together. Gamers both young and old alike can enjoy the fun as they immerse themselves into the world of Cars. With colorful graphics and sounds, this game will provide hours of entertainment for the whole family. So if you’re a fan of the Cars movie, or even the previous games, get out there and pick this one up. You won’t regret it. |
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SUGGESTIONS |
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While having a local multi-player mode is great, a patch to include the ability to play the mini-games on Xbox Live would make it that much better. Also, the addition of leaderboards so that you could check your times against your friends would be a welcome addition, so that one could boast to his or her friends about being the champ of the speedway. Other than that, this game is very nicely done.
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Release Date
10/13/2009
Publisher
THQ
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OVERALL |
83 |
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GAMEPLAY |
83 |
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SOUND |
81 |
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GRAPHICS |
84 |
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REPLAY VALUE |
80 |
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