PSP
Published by Sony Computer
Entertainment Europe
Developed by Virtual Toys
I haven’t enjoyed many games that use movies
as their source material over the years. Surprisingly however, one of
the games I quite enjoyed was the original Cars video game. Sure, it’s
never going to be regarded as one of the best racing games on this
generation of consoles but the races were enjoyable and it felt
correctly pitched at its target audience. When Disney Pixar Cars 2 (I’ll
just call it Cars 2 from on) arrived for review then, I had hopes it
would be just as enjoyable.
If you’re expecting Cars 2 to be a
straightforward racer, you’re going to be in for a surprise. In many
respects it feels like a slot-car racer as your focus is on changing
lanes in addition to accelerating and decelerating. There’s also some
vehicular combat thrown in for good measure too and there are plenty of
obstacles that adorn the tracks. So far it seems like Cars 2 might offer
some promise but it’s essentially a frustrating experience that I don’t
think is ideally suited to its target audience.
The game offers a Free Play, a C.H.R.O.M.E.
mission mode and a local multiplayer mode (which we didn't experience
having only a single copy of the game). In Free Play you can take part
in five different race types called: Race, Attack, Battle Race,
Eliminator and Against the Clock races. The mission mode allows you to
play through progressively difficult missions which range from a
tutorial to increasingly difficult races. The game offers three
difficultly settings and you can earn a variety of badges and
achievements and unlock an assortment of cars from the Cars 2 movie, in
addition to new tracks and modes.
In Cars 2 you’ll be involved in races with up
to three AI drivers. On the tracks you’ll encounter various obstacles
such as pipes, construction vehicles and barriers that will stop you in
your tracks should you hit them (causing you to lose a fair amount of
time). As you drive around the tracks you’ll be able to collect energy
which enables you to use your turbo. If you manage to fill your four
energy slots you’ll be able to use the ‘In the Zone’ ability which is
essentially an extended turbo boost in addition to providing you with a
temporary shield. Depending on the race type, you’ll also have to
contend with AI drivers firing at you, although you’ll be able to fire
the weapons you’ve collected in return. You also have access to a shield
function to help protect you against the weapon fire.
The presentation of the game, on the whole,
is decent but there are some problems. For a PSP game, Cars 2 looks
pretty good. The frame rate holds up nicely too, although the load times
are rather long. Probably the biggest problem is the camera angle which
doesn’t afford you a clear view of the track at all times. The camera
angle is fixed and there are occasions when you have little notice of
obstacles until they are practically right in front of you. This becomes
less of a problem as you familiarise yourself with a track but is this
something that’s really expected of the younger children this game is
aimed at?
Probably more disappointing, but probably not
as serious, is the absence of subtitles in the game. Tutorial
information is given in text, likewise for the mission objectives but
none of the characters’ dialogue is subtitled. This means you’ll miss
out on all of the dialogue in cut scenes (which is actually minimal),
during the races, in the Garage (where you’ll look at the various cars
in the game) and on the menus when you’re selecting which car to drive.
Missing out on all of this dialogue is unfortunate but none of these
omissions will prevent you from playing the game.
Disney Pixar Cars 2, whilst by no means a bad game, is ultimately a disappointment. The fixed camera angles, which don’t offer a decent viewing angle, essentially add a level of frustration into the experience which just shouldn’t have been there. The absence of subtitles is also a problem. Even if these two issues didn’t exist however, Cars 2 wouldn’t have felt like a satisfactory sequel to the original Cars game. As it stands this is probably only for those who are absolutely crazy about the Cars universe and who don’t mind being hampered by the game’s problems. Given this game is aimed at children however, I can’t see too many of them being satisfied with how the game has turned out.
