Cars Mater-National Championship

Cars Mater-National Championship
Developer(s)	Rainbow Studios (Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PC) Tantalus Interactive (DS, Game Boy Advance)
Publisher(s)	THQ
Series	Cars
Platforms	Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Cars Mater-National Championship is a title for video game consoles and handhelds released on October 30, 2007 by THQ. It is the sequel to the Cars (video game) based on the Cars film from Pixar. There is also a sequel called Cars Race-O-Rama. It was the last Disney/Pixar game to be released on Game Boy Advance.

Gameplay

The game is set in the Cars world, Radiator Springs, with later unlockable tracks at Tailfin Pass and Ornament Valley.

Characters

Lightning McQueen

Mater

Doc Hudson

Ramone

Flo

Sarge

Fillmore

Luigi

Sally

Sheriff

Car-nival Cars

Chick Hicks

Strip "The King" Weathers

Darrell Cartrip

Boost

DJ

Wingo

Snot Rod

Plot

The game focuses on the first ever Mater-National race held in Radiator Springs by Lightning McQueen and features an improved, albeit smaller world as well as new characters. New characters featured are Emma, a small white and pink rally car from England, Gudmund, a boosted Volvo 240 rally car from Sweden who has loads of headlights and loves driving through caves at night, Otto, a German touring car who doesn't understand the concept of speed limits, Koji, a red, grey and white Japanese drift car who loves drifting, last is Giovanni, a tough-looking but very nice red Ferrari Enzo from Italy. Ornament Valley, Radiator Springs, and Tailfin Pass have all been updated. In Radiator Springs, new rock formations have been cut, and Fillmore has opened a nature park. In Ornament Valley, there is a construction zone, an airport, and several new rock formations to explore. In Tailfin Pass, roads have been completely revamped, and there is a new mine and an abandoned western town to drive through. But some roads are blocked off and can only be played in races and as result of this, the three areas are smaller than in Cars. When the player gets all the bolt banners, the map size does not change at all resulting in very disappointing reviews.

Reception

Cars Mater-National has received average reviews from critics upon the release. PSXExtreme gave this game a 7.0, praising the better audio, but criticized the graphics. IGN rated the Nintendo DS version of the game 6.8/10.0, calling it "cute" and "kid-friendly" but never made into 5th gear. Metacritic aggregate scores for the Nintendo DS version 69/100, the Xbox 360 version 58/100, the PlayStation 3 version 63/100, and the PlayStation 2 version 67/100.

References

Cars Mater-National (PS3 version) IGN
Games Release Schedule, 04/09/07

External links

• Cars Mater-National Championship at IMDb