Cars
Locomotive Games' take on the licensed big brother is solid, but nothing amazing.
Published: June 14, 2006
Ohooo, Cars you are a tricky one. You almost had me fooled into thinking you were a racing game, but the truth of the matter is you're something a little more closely resembling that hold-over from the late 90s: the kart racer. No, there are no power-ups to snatch, nor are there wacky characters driving vehicles (the wacky characters are the vehicles), but there are speed boost pads, power slides and a little hop move that betrays the otherwise flawless veneer of a pint-sized version of Rainbow Studios' licensed property.
The PSP version of Cars isn't a Rainbow game (though they did check in on it from time to time), but then it's not really trying to duplicate the experience that's found on the consoles. It was a smart move by Locomotive Games (we remember them better as Pacific Coast Power & Light, but that did always sound like a public utility company), because the two games can coexist rather nicely without having to make too many comparisons (too often developers try to use what little power the PSP has to pare down the PS2 offering, and it ain't pretty). Instead, you're left with a short but fairly challenging racer that doesn't try too hard to do too much.
And it's good. It's a licensed game that's good.
I'm starting to think this whole licensed games sucking thing is starting to peter out (though there are still plenty of reminders that we're not out of the woods yet). Cars succeeds because it's a simple effort that's pulled off well. 25 tracks are laid at your feet (though you'll have to unlock them), linked together by the barest of storylines (five evil cars decide they want to race in our heroes' backyard and it's a race-off), but the core mechanics are there.
Let's see if you've heard of something like this before: pick a car with varying stats like acceleration, handling and top speed, then take them around tracks with multiple shortcuts, dotted with boost pads, and power slide-hungry hairpins, all while kicking on turbo juice refilled by making huge jumps (or, more slowly, over time) or by drafting opponents. Yes, it's a familiar formula, but the controls are tight enough for the most part that it works. The idea of shortcuts is novel, but they become the necessary route to win in the final few races, and some of them can be so twisty that you'll find yourself ping-ponging off the walls half the time.
This unfortunately means the races are more about trial-and-error and turn memorization towards the end rather than a frantic, adaptive shortcut-laden experience. It doesn't break the game or anything, but having to re-try over and over again does suck the spontaneity out of things. Then again, it does hammer home that on odd occasions, the track layouts can change subtly, with shortcuts opening up after a lap or two, which is a nice touch.
Once you've finished the main story mode, though, you're likely to be so burned out on racing that the idea of re-racing things to collect bits of postcards (which unlock -- wait for it -- simple postcards in the extras menu along with the mirrored version of that track) is probably not all that appealing. In fact, none of the after-story stuff -- including multiplayer -- is really all that fun.
Visually the game feels very at home on the PSP. A good framerate, great sense of speed, and some nice overall visual designs add to the feeling that this is a very competent racer. I question the decision to make levels as dark as the mines were (I had to run into the office bathroom to see anything -- even with the PSP plugged in and the brightness cranked all the way up), and there are times when the shortcuts blend in a little too well with the surrounding environment.
The audio's a little less enjoyable. The same single-digit song list from the console version is present here, meaning you'll get an instrumental version of The Explosion's "Here I Am" (which was used in Burnout 3 a few years ago), an edited version of Brian Setzer's "Rock This Town" (the "I had a whiskey on the rocks" line is stripped out, yet the "look at me one, look at me twice, look at me again there's gonna be a fight" line is still in there), some classic rock in the form of The Edgar Winter Group, Los Lobos and Skynard, but it's all recycled so often that you'll tire of it quickly. Likewise with the sound bites, which were apparently just pulled from the console version.
Cars is good, but it's not great, and that's the problem. The one genre that the PSP has been very, very blessed with thus far is the arcade racer. Between Burnout Legends, Ridge Racer and the amazing WipEout Pure, there's just no room for good here.
The PSP version of Cars isn't a Rainbow game (though they did check in on it from time to time), but then it's not really trying to duplicate the experience that's found on the consoles. It was a smart move by Locomotive Games (we remember them better as Pacific Coast Power & Light, but that did always sound like a public utility company), because the two games can coexist rather nicely without having to make too many comparisons (too often developers try to use what little power the PSP has to pare down the PS2 offering, and it ain't pretty). Instead, you're left with a short but fairly challenging racer that doesn't try too hard to do too much.
And it's good. It's a licensed game that's good.
I'm starting to think this whole licensed games sucking thing is starting to peter out (though there are still plenty of reminders that we're not out of the woods yet). Cars succeeds because it's a simple effort that's pulled off well. 25 tracks are laid at your feet (though you'll have to unlock them), linked together by the barest of storylines (five evil cars decide they want to race in our heroes' backyard and it's a race-off), but the core mechanics are there.
Let's see if you've heard of something like this before: pick a car with varying stats like acceleration, handling and top speed, then take them around tracks with multiple shortcuts, dotted with boost pads, and power slide-hungry hairpins, all while kicking on turbo juice refilled by making huge jumps (or, more slowly, over time) or by drafting opponents. Yes, it's a familiar formula, but the controls are tight enough for the most part that it works. The idea of shortcuts is novel, but they become the necessary route to win in the final few races, and some of them can be so twisty that you'll find yourself ping-ponging off the walls half the time.
This unfortunately means the races are more about trial-and-error and turn memorization towards the end rather than a frantic, adaptive shortcut-laden experience. It doesn't break the game or anything, but having to re-try over and over again does suck the spontaneity out of things. Then again, it does hammer home that on odd occasions, the track layouts can change subtly, with shortcuts opening up after a lap or two, which is a nice touch.
Once you've finished the main story mode, though, you're likely to be so burned out on racing that the idea of re-racing things to collect bits of postcards (which unlock -- wait for it -- simple postcards in the extras menu along with the mirrored version of that track) is probably not all that appealing. In fact, none of the after-story stuff -- including multiplayer -- is really all that fun.
Visually the game feels very at home on the PSP. A good framerate, great sense of speed, and some nice overall visual designs add to the feeling that this is a very competent racer. I question the decision to make levels as dark as the mines were (I had to run into the office bathroom to see anything -- even with the PSP plugged in and the brightness cranked all the way up), and there are times when the shortcuts blend in a little too well with the surrounding environment.
The audio's a little less enjoyable. The same single-digit song list from the console version is present here, meaning you'll get an instrumental version of The Explosion's "Here I Am" (which was used in Burnout 3 a few years ago), an edited version of Brian Setzer's "Rock This Town" (the "I had a whiskey on the rocks" line is stripped out, yet the "look at me one, look at me twice, look at me again there's gonna be a fight" line is still in there), some classic rock in the form of The Edgar Winter Group, Los Lobos and Skynard, but it's all recycled so often that you'll tire of it quickly. Likewise with the sound bites, which were apparently just pulled from the console version.
Cars is good, but it's not great, and that's the problem. The one genre that the PSP has been very, very blessed with thus far is the arcade racer. Between Burnout Legends, Ridge Racer and the amazing WipEout Pure, there's just no room for good here.
