Did you think movie tie-in games were dead? I did too. Growing up in the early 2000’s, these games comprised a significant portion of my PlayStation 2 library. Such titles were renowned for their low quality and were often labelled as a cynical cash grab by movie studios. I recently received a review code for Cars 3: Driven to Win on Switch, and I was excited to see what a movie tie-in looks like in 2017.
Story and Introduction
Developed by Avalanche Software, the studio behind the moderately successful Disney Infinity, the game takes place after the events of Cars 3. The story follows Lightning McQueen’s quest to claim victory over Jackson Storm, his on-screen rival in the film. The game relies heavily on the player’s knowledge of the characters, rather than introducing and developing them in their own right.
Mechanics, Progression and Feel
Story aside, by going up against Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in the racing genre, this game should live and die by how it feels. Fortunately, it’s quite fun to play. The mechanics echo some of the old Burnout games, whereby the player earns boost by performing stunts. It can be incredibly satisfying to land a quadruple backflip and fill up the boost meter.
You won’t be stuck for variety either, as there are five racing modes for each track. There’s also an open-world mode for an area called the Thomasville Playground, which I had a blast exploring. Whilst the six game modes each have their merits, I found myself hopping between three: The Playground, Standard Race and Battle Race (a weaponised race similar to Mario Kart).
The player levels up by performing specific tasks within races and completing cups. These tasks include performing certain stunts, taking down a certain number of enemies, and more. Whilst this sounds like a simple and effective means of progression, it only served to turn the game into a grind for me. After each race, the Skill Check board will display, showing the player what tasks have been completed and what tasks remain. Seeing a paltry few checkmarks appear amid the sea of unchecked boxes, even after a great race, was always disheartening.
Graphics, Sound and Optimization
This is one of the game’s weakest points. I initially had issues starting the game due to an unresolved bug. Only by searching online forums was I able to resolve the problem. When I dived in, I was disappointed to see that the game runs at 30FPS in both docked and handheld mode. The frame rate will regularly dip if there is a lot happening on the screen. Even in docked mode, it seems to run only at 720p, giving the game a PS3 era look. By contrast, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a similar racing title, runs at a rock solid 60FPS at 1080p in docked mode. I was left wondering why Cars 3 could not extract a similar level of performance.
Final Verdict
Cars 3: Driven to Win certainly has a lot going for it. It is a mechanically sound, enjoyable title that I would recommend to the less seasoned gamer (younger children, for example). It is a respectable addition to the current library of the Switch. However at €49.99, the game simply does not match up with the level of polish and quality that I would expect for that price. Considering that I could go on to the eShop today and buy Mario Kart 8 for just ten euro more, I could not recommend Cars 3 as a wise investment for any Switch owner.
RATING: ●●○○○
