When we had a chance to review the Cars 2 game it was a no-brainer, which I also saw as an opportunity to get some insight from the adult and child perspective. Developed by Avalanche Software and published by Disney Interactive, Cars 2 lets you race as characters from the movie in a third-person point of view.

It’s hard to feel negative about a game that puts a big smile on faces of children that have Cars toys, PJ’s, clothes and now a videogame. So when playing the game I took onboard the fun fans get from everything that is Cars, and also looked at the graphics and playability. After enjoying Toy Story 3 the game for many hours, our expectations are higher than normal for a movie tie-in. You’ll start Cars 2 with the New Agent Training mode, which means getting comfortable with the basics of racing and learning the tricks you can perform to help you gain pole position.

I would recommend you see the Cars 2 movie before playing the game, and this is thanks to the close tie-in to the movie. Those that develop a game based on a movie do not have much development time, so you’ll not see originality and should expect most of the game to resemble the movie closely. This can be a bad thing for some gamers, but for us it’s perfect, bringing back memories of the movie for that feel good factor. If you loved Mario Kart then Cars 2 will be a winner for you within the first 30 minutes, but there is so much more to this game than just racing.

Most kids these days want to play a game with a gun, which is not too far away from my childhood when games were blocks on the C64, and picking up a toy gun was extreme fun. Today you can race a car with graphics that were not imaginable when I was a child, and better still you get weapons to use while racing. Cars 2 features satellite lasers, missiles, and other guns attached to the cars. This is fun for both the child and adult.

The first real race we undertook was “When Life Gives You Lemons”, which is set on an oilrig. Those that have watched the movie know this as the home of “Lemons”, cars that were made with problems since the moment they were built. Our first impressions of the graphics were one of satisfaction; the characters look good, although not up to the standard of animated cinema. You’ll have the choice of 25 characters to use in races, but you’ll need to unlock most of them. One nice touch at the start of races is the way a camera swings around your car, giving you a taste of your character with a touch of motion blur.

Just racing alone is fun but as things get tougher you’ll need to learn some tricks to gain turbo boost and other extras. Learning where the shortcuts are was key to us winning many races.

The true fan will be entertained for days, but as an adult I was surprised for a number of reasons. Firstly was the games difficulty, after the first few stages were out of the way, races got harder very quickly that even I had trouble completing. As a keen GT5 and Forza Motorsport gamer I did not expect some of the extras in Cars 2 that keep you hooked, which kept us playing for longer. This included gaining extras for drifting like energy turbos, collecting badges and crests. The achievements are vast and include things like using 15 turbos in a single event, driving through 10 fruit stands in the Italy area, spending 5 minutes drafting cars, and some harder tasks like hitting the chase car 25 times with any weapon in Survival mode.

These extras add another level of depth to Cars 2, which kept not only my little boy happy and entertained for longer but also other adults, including myself. Those so-called hardcore gamers should not rule out Cars 2, it is at least worth a rent for a week. The PS3 version we tested also includes “World of Cars Online”, which lets you connect online to earn more rewards and spy points. You will need to visit worldofcars.com and set up an account, before being linked with your games system.

Our only disappointment with Cars 2 was the lack of online multiplayer, in this day and age all games should connect online but other than playing a local four player game, its pretty disappointing. We expected but did not receive the ability to compete with other players all around the world, and sadly this will mean that trade-ins could happen sooner rather than later.

While most children should understand that this is “Just a game”, we did explain that shooting missiles at automobiles was not real life, unless you’re a secret agent like in C.H.R.O.M.E – this led us to explaining MI5, MI6 and being asked question after question. Cars 2 is not only about racing, you will get to perform other fun mini games like collecting shields while trying to avoid a laser cannon, which is another cool part of the movie.

In Summary: We have been playing Cars 2 for around a week now, and can definitely recommend to both adults and children, especially those parents that had to sit through the movie multiple times. Unlocking the different characters, badges, crests, and performing the challengers along the way is both fun and difficult. The game has a solid solo experience but left us wanting multiplayer. No doubt some gamers will prejudge this game as another movie tie-in blunder, but they would be wrong.

You can see more photos below and also two videos. The first is an official Cars 2 game trailer from Disney Pixar, and the second video shows the first 15 minutes of gameplay.

More Screens

For example, Jeff Schille over on the gamerant.com website has given the game an overall score of 4 out of 5 stars, describing it as the most playable and polished Disney Pixar game to date. If you think that Cars 2: The Video Game – which features an extensive, achievement-like system – is just for the younger folk you’d be completely wrong, as it appears to have something for everyone.

The Cars 2 game features all the typical kart racing mechanics such as drifting, jumping, boosting, stunts and weapons, as well as all of the locations from the new movie including Italy, England and Japan. One good thing about Cars 2: The Video Game in Jeff’s opinion is the fact that the entire game – including the C.H.R.O.E. Missions campaign mode – is playable in 4-player split-screen.

However, the downside is that it doesn’t support online multiplayer. Meanwhile, Nicole Tanner from IGN gave the game an impressive score of 8/10. Nicole says that the Cars 2 game is a kart racer that has taken more than a little inspiration from the hugely popular Mario Kart, and is just as fun. Nicole says that although Cars 2 is a solid solo experience, it is far more fun playing with others.

RPGameX from blogcritics.org also gave the Cars 2 game an overall score of 4/5, stating that everything about the game is high quality. However, this reviewer also expressed disappointment in the lack of online multiplayer. Justin Calvert from cnet.com on the other hand gave it a 3.5 out of 5 rating. Justin said that although there are better racing games available, none of them are quite like Cars 2.

Justin also points out that although the game does unfortunately lack online multiplayer, it still has a lot to offer. Erin Gibson from the gameplaytoday.com website reviewed the Nintendo DS version and gave it an overall score of 7.5/10. Erin says that while the gameplay, graphics and sound are good, the controls and difficulty on the DS version do appear to be overly simplified.

You can read what else these reviewers had to say about Cars 2: The Video Game by visiting the links provided. What are your first impressions of the Cars 2 game?

As George Wong over on the ubergizmo.com website recently noted, the revamped LUMIC DMC-FP7D camera comes with the usual specs such as a 3.5-inch touch-screen display, 16.1 megapixel CCD sensor, 4x optical zoom, an image stabilization feature and 84MB of internal memory.

What makes this point-and-shoot camera – which also features an SD card slot just in case you want to expand its memory – different however, is the fact that it includes Mickey Mouse graphics on the sliding lens door. The camera’s user interface has also been enhanced with Disney characters.

The DMC-FP7D also provided users with the ability to add Disney character-themed icons, fancy borders and phrases to their photos to spice them up a little. The LUMIC DMC-FP7D will be available as from June 10th in Japan, with a price tag of around ¥30,000 (366).

There has been no word on whether this model will be available outside of Japan. Would you like the Disney-themed DMC-FP7D camera?

According to Florin over on the unwiredview.com website, the smartphone appears to a Disney-branded version of the Sharp Galapagos 003SH phone. The features will include a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen 3D display, a 1GHz processor and a 9.6-megapixel camera with HD video recording.

The handset will also come with exclusive Disney content and services, which is said to include a Disney email address. As George Wong from ubergizmo.com reports, there is currently no word on the pricing, but Japanese customers can expect to see the handset sometime next month.

Besides coming with a special Disney MMS address, the smartphone will also come with its very own Disney-themed home screens, widgets, emoticons and apps. It even comes with specially designed covers, which surprisingly aren’t very childish-looking.

What do you think of a Disney-themed Android smartphone?

The first Tron Evolution review is from Steve Boxer from the Guardian. He begins by saying that this game aims to help us learn the backstory form the original movie and the latest ‘Tron Legacy’. Boxer believes that fans of the movie will love the game, and Disney Interactive has also managed to offer something that will make the game appeal to those who have not even seen the first Tron movie. Overall he gives it 4 out of 5 stars; read his full review here.

Second up with have 1Up; Dustin Quillen believes that if ever their was a movie that was screaming to make it to the games console, then this is it. Quillen seems to have a hard time with the story, and points out that we could get easily confused. However, he does add that the game helps to capture the magic of Tron. Read his compete review here.

Finally we have Metro, who asks if this is the video game tie-in that the Tron movie deserves? Having not seen the new movie, so they are unable to see how relevant the game is to the movie, but previous reviews mentioned above have already answered that for us. However, I think that Metro has managed to sum the game up in one quote, gameplay “is a sci-fi version of Prince Of Persia.” To understand what he means by this read David Jenkins full review.

This is not the only game that Disney has recently released, another is Disney Epic Mickey, which as you can tell from our recent post has also been getting some mixed reactions.

What do you think of the new Tron Evolution game, does it do the movie justice?

I thought I would take a look at one of the reviews, coming from Matt Wales over at uk.wii.ign.com. The review looks quite promising right from the start, describing the game as the most thoroughly charming and strikingly original adventure to hit the Nintendo Wii.

“Disney Epic Mickey” may be a traditional platform game at heart, but the developer – Junction Point Studios – has definitely made it their own. The game’s Wasteland is divided into three different map-types, which all offer their own unique play style.

Action Maps – which form the bulk of the “Epic Mickey” game – offer gamers more focused platform challenges, while Hub Maps provide players with unrushed exploration and Travel Maps deliver side-scrolling platform sequences based upon Disney cartoons.

There are two main downsides pointed out in this review, and that is the camera and the controls. However, it does give the game an impressive overall rating of 8 out of 10. Have you played the “Disney Epic Mickey” game yet? If you have, what are your first impressions?

CS Monitor has reported out a few more details about Epic Mickey, a game that sees you guide the Disney character around a world darker than Mickey is normally used to. The only weapons you will have are paint thinner and a paintbrush, which you use to destroy those that get in your path and to create new objects.

Disney wants to re-launch the icon, as we know the cute and cuddly cartoon, and turn him into a warrior fighting in a “cemetery of faded cartoon icons”. We love the idea of Epic Mickey, and it seems gamers of all background share that love.

You can see the Epic Mickey trailer on ew.com, which gives us the impression that this game is a cross between Disney and Super Mario Galaxy. The controls with the Wii should be fun, and lets hope they have Donald in the game. What characters would you like to see in this dark world? Will you be buying Epic Mickey?