Game Review: Cars 2

Billy O'Keefe - Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

Reviewed for: Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii; Also available for: Nintendo DS, PC, Mac, Linux

From: Avalanche Software/Disney Interactive ESRB Rating: Everyone 10-plus (cartoon violence)

Price: $50

Critics have caustically dismissed the "Cars 2" movie as a soulless vehicle for endless merchandise tie-ins. And perhaps critics have a point, because while the "Cars 2" video game gets few points for imagination, it's the first Pixar-branded game that's better than the movie on which it's based.

Like previous "Cars"-branded games, "Cars 2" is, at its purest, a racing game. Playable versions of a ton of vehicles - from the obvious picks like Lightning McQueen, Mater and Finn McMissile to more obscure choices like Daisu Tsashimi and Tomber - are on hand, and the game's most basic event is a three-lap, eight-vehicle race to the finish line.

But while the movie's identity crisis results in a messy story about racing, villains, world travel and surprising amounts of gunplay, the game just parlays that mess into something that's a little bit "Burnout" and a little bit "Mario Kart." You can use the right stick to sideswipe opponents immediately in your vicinity, and most tracks are teeming with weapons that may not look like turtle shells and banana peels but often function in a way that will ring immediately familiar to "Kart" fans.

As with most arcade racing games, you can accumulate a turbo boost by driving stylishly or dangerously. The difference in this case is that, because these cars are alive, they can jump on cue and perform various aerial tricks without a need for ramps. A few ground tricks (including the amusing ability to drive backward) also help fill the boost meter, but jumping is the most useful: Along with setting up aerial tricks, you can hop certain gaps and rails to reach shortcuts off (and sometimes above) a track's main road.

Though the actual act of driving in "Cars 2" is a little unremarkable - the slow default speed of the vehicles will remind precisely no one of "Burnout" - it's sufficiently responsive. When you throw in the combat and tricks, it adds up to a level of chaos that's frantic but wholly manageable - accessible to players of all ages, but never so easy as to bore the experienced.

It's only too bad the game doesn't use all these bits and pieces to flesh out a few more events than it has. "Cars 2" has a decent-sized single-player campaign, but the decent size means you'll see the same handful of events over and over. Sometimes, in the case of races or events where you have to take out as many grunt "lemon" cars as you can before time runs out, the events are exciting enough to endure repeat performances. But other events that impair the formula - lonely endurance events in which you're riding on a nearly empty track, for instance, or events that take place in open-ended but small arenas instead of on tracks - overstay their welcome rather quickly. The game misses opportunities to surprise players with new mission types and chooses instead to throw out more challenging favors of the same modes as the campaign continues.

Things diversify a little more on the multiplayer (four players) side: Some campaign events add a co-op angle, a few new modes (a destruction derby-style competition and a base defense mode) join the fray, and a free play mode allows you to design your own mission parameters (for solo play as well).

The only downside? "Cars 2" supports local multiplayer only. As too often happens with games aimed at kids, online play drew the short stick and sits this one out.

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