Back in 2006, Pixar released their feature film Cars into theatres as a follow up to their near masterpiece, The Incredibles (2004).  Cars didn’t prove to be as nearly successful, but with any Pixar film, the movie delivered revered quality that continues to be delivered by Pixar on a consistent basis.  Now, a year later and with one platinum hit already published by THQ based on the franchise (the self-titled Cars in 2006), Rainbow Studios delivers a sequel to the first installment on the Xbox 360.

To dig deep into Rainbow Studios’ games library, they have worked on several racing games in the past including the original Cars title.  Being acquired by THQ in 2001, they have worked on titles such as: MX vs. ATV Unleashed, MX Unleashed, Splashdown, ATV Offroad-Fury and many others.  With all that said, you can see it in the blueprints that Rainbow Studios has had enough work in the racing genre to deliver another valuable racer.  Well, if you came to that conclusion then you were tricked as Cars Mater-National was an all-around disappointment.

The storyline pits players in competing at the first ever race held at Radiator Springs titled the Mater-National.  Being the home of everybody’s favorite Lightning McQueen, players can expect many of the habitants to show their pretty faces in the game.  With the inclusion of the usual suspects, Rainbow Studios also included Mike and Sully, from Monsters Inc., to the delight of fans of the movie.  Besides those two notable additions, there are a few other new characters introduced into the series, but not many of them stuck out besides the drift car named Koji.  In total, there are six new competitors to take for a spin on the track.

Playing as Lightning McQueen, you’ll have to qualify for the Mater-National which is of course hosted my Mater himself.  To qualify, you must compete in smaller races and mini-games found in the game world.  Winning those races and mini-games will earn players flags; and with winning enough flags, players will be able to unlock a new location, mini-gamers, and several other miscellaneous things.

Outside of familiar faces, Cars Mater-National doesn’t have a lot going for it.  Being a racer, players should be able to pick up and play without too much difficulty.  The actual racing mechanics resemble a simulation title with a few arcade traits included in it.   Never having any troubles with driving around the race tracks, I found the game insanely easy.  This is definitely geared more for younger players that are still learning the tricks of racing titles.

For added replay, players can go on a hunt to find hidden tokens in the game world.  Many of the times, the game will have players using the jump ability to find the tokens, but they shouldn’t fret on being frustrated since collecting the tokens is simple.  Though, what may end up making it a much harder task is there are over 350 flags in total that players can go back after completing the Mater-National to collect if they didn’t the first time through. But tokens aside, you could possibly beat the game within one sit down period of six or so hours.

Pictures speak a thousand words and it’s apparent that there are a thousand words that describe dull and boring since Cars Mater-National is just plain drab.  Actually, the graphics are on par with what I experienced with the previous installment, so if you enjoyed the first, maybe you’ll enjoy it again – it’s just that I can’t stand for the lack of improvement.  The only area of the graphics portion that looked halfway decent was the environments as they did a good job of conveying the scenic Midwestern themes quite well.  As for the voice-acting, Owen Wilson doesn’t return to fill the role of Lightning which depresses me.  The rest of the audio also suffers with a horrible soundtrack.  If I have to hear Rascal Flatts sing “Life is a Highway” one more time, I swear I am going to hurt someone.
 

Gameplay: 5.4

If you enjoyed how the first game controlled, then you shouldn’t have any problems picking up Cars Mater-National and finding something to like out of it.

Graphics: 5.0

Uglier than my beater I call a car - the game doesn’t take advantage of the Xbox 360’s power.

Sound: 4.0

For the sake of everyone’s health, no more Rascal Flatts!  Capisce?

Difficulty: Easy

If you are buying this for your children, then you should have no worries about the difficulty – it’s simple as Simon.

Concept: 3.0

Rinse, recycle, and repeat – the basic premise of Cars Mater-National.

Multiplayer: 5.5

If you have friends that enjoyed the movie, then somehow convince them to play with you as this will be the only enjoyable moments you’ll have from the game.

Overall: 5.1

At times it’s charming, but for the most part, it was just aggravating to experience such monotony.  While I am definitely not apart of the demographic they are trying to target – namely children – I wish they did more to appeal to the adult gamer.