Customer Reviews

Cars Race O Rama

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This review's late to the party, but I'll chip in my family's thoughts in case there are any other Wii-owning Cars fans out there still on the fence about this one.

To put it short: Cars fan? Buy this. Not a Cars fan? Nothing here for you.

Let's face it, young or old, you don't buy a CARS game expecting Gran Turismo. You buy a CARS game because you like the characters, and you enjoy the unique experience of racing around in a living, breathing (they don't have lungs, but they definitely inhale and exhale) automobile while other vehicles taunt you and Doc Hudson offers encouragement over the radio. In what other race game can you play as an aging Sheriff car who--as the race begins--sighs, "Am I getting too old for this sort of race? I sure hope not." Then, after pulling off a tight maneuver, chuckles "I didn't know I could still do that!" and, upon winning, declares "Sit-choo-ation is under control." (Or, in a loss, grumps, "This is a complete and total disgrace!") These cars have personalities. Their mood changes depending on their place in the race, they whoop with joy when catching big air, and they yelp when they hit obstacles. THAT is why ya buy a CARS game, and this game delivers that element in great generous heaps of humor and fun.

If you're a huge fan of the movie, you'll enjoy this game a lot. You'll just learn to avoid the problem areas and spend more time with the sections that work great.

PROS:

* Better controls this time around--Wii Wheel works great with this one.
* Sheriff's a playable racer again!
* Sharp graphics
* Radiator Springs Speedway is a fantastic track & environment.
* Tons of gameplay.
* Huge environments to explore.
* The banter between cars is as entertaining as ever.
* Power Boost and Backwards Driving available from start.
* Some fun new characters (Bubba's awesome).
* Slick menus.

CONS:

* Framerate gets AWFUL when many cars are ahead of you in busy environments. This is, by far, the game's worst flaw. Stay in first place, and it's not an issue!
* Terrible pop-in scenery in Tailfin Pass area. Ugly, ugly trees will appear just yards ahead of you. And you'll wish they'd just stayed unseen.
* Story's not very compelling. The generic little cars that make up the competing schools are not very interesting as playable characters.
* Sound glitches crop up during Pre and Post-race info windows--these moments have a rough, unpolished feel to them.
* Still no replay camera feature.

That framerate issue will be the deal-breaker for a lot of players. It's very inconsistent, and seems to depend on how hard the environment is pushing the Wii's limits. The opening races on Radiator Springs Speedway play fairly smoothly, while later areas like Tailfin Pass and Santa Carburera suffer greatly. If you stay out if front, no problem. If more than three or four cars get ahead of you, prepare for framerate chaos. I guess you could view that as your punishment for racing poorly! Despite those problems--and the terrible pop-in trees in Tailfin Pass--the game, in general, looks great. The cars are detailed and sport nifty reflective effects, and everything has a sharp, detailed, colorful look. I wish the developers had been given more time to tweak the game engine to run more smoothly on Wii--maybe dropping some detail to save the frame rate during crowded situations, and redesigning Tailfin Pass, which is clearly asking more of the Wii than the poor little white box can pull off.

BUT...and here's the good news...IF you can overlook those cringe-inducing moments, there's still a ton of fun to be had in this installment of the Cars franchise, because most of the game plays well, looks great, and delivers all the charm and personality you're looking for in a Cars game.

Besides, the framerate isn't always an issue. Most circuit races play fine, Free Driving is a pleasure, and the Rustbucket and Monster Truck races are entertaining and smooth, as are the fun little Guido Kart mini races and Sheriff's chase. Another trick is to switch to first-person camera, which not only increases the framerate, but provides a genuinely thrilling sense of speed.

Add in the Point-to-Point races, Relays, Tractor Stampede and the shallow-but-fun Car-Toon Challenges and you've basically got a Cars theme park on a disc. It's got some glitches, but most of it will make Cars fans smile.

It'll also help tide us over until Radiator Springs Racers (and the rest of Cars Land) opens at Disneyland Resort in 2012! :)

I have 2 boys, ages 4 and 6, who love the Cars movie and racing games, so this is perfect. They've played this game on the Wii over and over again. Even my 4 year old, who has been hesitant about playing the Wii, started playing this game and loves it.

This game is a blast. It's fun to play a game that you can just play for the fun of it. You have choices, and there are plenty of them. I actually found some cheats online to unlock races, custom parts, cars, etc. I've had the most fun with this just speeding down the countless tracks and roads (winding country roads, highways, dirt roads, etc., on all types of terrain) with no worry about being timed or having to solve some problem. You can also play the many mini games, as well as the circuit challenge tracks. There is so much landscape to explore and it's fun just to go cruising down the countless roads, or go off road if you like. The graphics aren't bad, and I'm sure there are some games that look better, but I definitely like this game for playability and just plain fun!

This was a game my son wanted so badly for Christmas. He loves it, I don't. The graphic are horrible. The Menu options are confusing. The game is choppy. The controls don't respond well. It seems to me that the game should have gone through a few more trials and errors before release. Stick to MarioKart.

I'm a little confused, I think some of the reviews on here are hillarious! If the graphics seem bad then I am positive it's bc your tv is shady... Also, one gentleman wrote how he didn't think the game paid "homage" (his word)to the movie... are you serious? It's a game for Wii designed for kids who like the movie, not adults who game in their spare time. Ah, now off my little rant... My 3 year old loves this game...we have the wheels for the controllers to go in to for ease of play... He's only had the game a couple of months (since before he turned 3) and in that time we've helped him win over the levels so that more cars open up and more games open up... It's fun for the whole family... Also, some of the cars from the new movie are in it too, which gets my little dude excited!

We bought this at Wally World and I can say it's much cheaper on Amazon. However the wally world one did come with the red steering wheel. The first few minutes of play my 7 year old declared this the worst game ever. After about 20 minutes he definitely got the hang of this and has played it non stop every since. The graphics are fine on our tv, so I'm not sure what the other reviewer is referring to. We have a flat panel 42? or 44" lc and Samsung and the graphics are fine. No blurriness or skipping at all. There is arcade mode and story mode. He prefers story mode of course, but is enjoying them both. We have an older PC version of Cars, and this is somewhat along the line of that game, but he said he likes this one more because of the red steering wheel. Of course we got the cheat codes from another website and he's had a ball with all the options. I think anyone younger than 6 or 7 is probably going to have a bit of difficulty, but even 4 or 5 might enjoy the little movies or just driving the track. I think 10 - 12 might be a bit bored with this. I have to add I think the speech is allot clearer than many games we have. We have some Wii games that I can't understand what the characters are saying at all. The sound on this is clear and easy to understand. This game has already got more play time then games we've had for 6 months or more.

We bought this as a Christmas gift for our 4 year old son. We were looking for a game that is easy to play and a subject matter appropriate for the age range. This game was perfect. It quickly became his favorite.

The controls and game were pretty easy to master for a young person. He enjoys seeing all the characters from Cars and playing as different characters while running the races or completing some of the mini-games. Our 2 year old son who is also a big Cars fan enjoys watching his brother play and seeing the characters, especially the tipping tractors.

I would defintiely recommend this game for any young Cars fan.

THis game takes a little too long to set up.
It is definately for older kids - 9-12
my son is 5 and really gets frustrated trying to play.

My 3 year old son loves the movie and he also loves this game. My older nephews, ages 4-12, enjoy playing also. The graphics on a 50' tv and playstation 3 are excellent. There are so many different courses to play, some are races an others he can just drive where ever he wants for as long as he wants. The graphics of radiator springs look identical to the movie. and almost ever scene in the movie is on this game plus many other very cool places. I highly recommend this for small children.

My son was 4 when we got the 1st Cars Wii game and he loved it... It didn't take long for him to get use to the controls and drive the variety of cars, etc. Now he's 5 and I wanted to surprised him w/ Cars Race O Rama, which is similar to the 1st game, but a nice change of pace. It's a great game to join in and play w/him. Very enjoyable!!