Cars review

Burn rubber through Radiator Springs in this passable follow-up to the movie

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As a racing game, Cars isn't bad, but its real strength is in its presentation. It's not quite as sharp as the film, but the cars are expressive and well-animated to the point where their chrome lips actually sync up well with the dialogue. (They also like to mug at the camera a lot during the cinemas.) Also, in what might be a first for a licensed game, all of the film's A-list actors - from Owen Wilson to John Ratzenberger - recorded original dialogue for the game. It's pretty cool, although we could have done without hearing Wilson say "Ka-chow!" every five minutes.

The movie's soundtrack is fully represented as well, and you're given full control over which tracks play during which events. Which is great, because you can only listen to "Free Ride" so many times before it gets lodged in your skull forever.

More info

GenreRacing
DescriptionA harmless, enjoyable racer that lets players explore the town of Radiator Springs, play minigames and race against characters from the movie.
Platform"PC","DS","Wii","Xbox 360","GameCube","Xbox","PS2","PSP"
US censor rating"Everyone","Everyone","Everyone","Everyone","Everyone","Everyone","Everyone","Everyone"
UK censor rating"","","","","","","",""
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.