When games are released based on film licences it is generally presumed that developers are just trying to cash in on the success of the movie and this usually shows in that no effort has gone into the game whatsoever, so when THQ's cars arrived for us to review you could say that we were slightly sceptical, but after playing this game we were pleasantly surprised.

As previously mentioned Cars is based on the movie of the same name, the main part of the game is the story mode in which you can interact with other characters by accepting challenges to progress in the story, this will eventually lead to competing in the prestigious Piston cup races. 

The game uses some nice cut scenes to tell the story in between your challenges, these are nicely acted out and the graphics on display here show that the Wii does have some power under its hood. 

The main point to the game however is to drive and with that in mind, Cars delivers fairly well, to control your vehicle you just need to use the remote like a steering wheel, I imagine therefore that this gives the game a big advantage on the Wii as it would be nowhere near as enjoyable without such interactivity, other controls in the game enable you to break and jump. Powerslides are also quite useful to help you get around the corners a bit easier because the cars tend to drift occasionally due to the controls being unresponsive.

As you progress in the game you will unlock boost abilities and new environments to race in, as well as lots of the mini games. The mini games in the story mode are really good, for example there is a obstacle course that requires you to jump and boost your way through a military training route, and rally courses that require you to make the most of your boost and drift skills.

Each story mode event rewards players with bonus points, which can be used to unlock the 10 racers in the game and also customise them. So although it is not the strongest racer out there, it does have a lot of extra content which should keep you busy for a while.

The graphics in Cars are pretty good, the cutscenes and racing scenes look nice and do the job required of them, the only drawback is that when you are racing in the game and you crash into a stationary object, like a fence, then no damage is made to it and you will just be brought to a stop, this interrupts the flow of the game slightly but is just a minor nuance.

Cars seems to have been developed for children with the film in mind, so I had my little helper who is 6 years old test the game and he loves it and cannot stop playing it, so in this respect it is a great success, it is very easy for children and adults to pick up and play and while it is not spectacular it is an enjoyable game.

Words by Wotta