Cars - Mater-National (Wii)
Ages: Everyone

The movie is only a year and a half old so you can still remember how much fun Cars was. If you have played it on another platform, this release will give you a deja-vu feeling and rightfully so. Very little has been done new in this release. Mater, the tow truck is still a charming funky character and is the one hosting the "First Annual Mater-National Race Festival". You play as Lightning McQueen, and since the race is now international, you now have cars from Italy, Germany, Japan and other nations competing with you. Familiar locations, Radiator Springs, Tailfin Pass, and Ornament Valley, will be revisited and so will some of the races. Remember the gasoline can race where you had to pick up gas canisters to finish? It's there. The most hilarious one is racing on giant tires - the ones we sneer at in real life. It is necessary to qualify in races and in mini-games to advance the story and race in the Mater-National - there are many laps to go before your reach it.

The Wii wasn't out when the original Cars was released - and I played the game with great expectations. Unhappily, it is the Nunchuck's control stick that does the steering and here I was hoping the I would be able to use the Wiimote as a steering wheel. Raising the Wiimote would make the car jump nicely - but I wanted more.

Fun Factor: Check out the real toy cars.

Reviewed by: Editor - 12/07