High-Octane Voice-overs
Both games feature brand new cut scenes as well as voice-overs from all of the movie’s stars, including Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Keaton, Larry the Cable Guy, and others. “I think everyone loved coming back to reprise these characters,” Itkowitz notes.
He adds: “Michael Keaton brings a really manic energy to Chick Hicks, with some hilarious ad-libs of sputtering rage. Larry the Cable Guy also gave us no shortage of terrific material — even the unedited takes of him as Mater are just infectious. And Bonnie Hunt is as warm and witty as you’d expect her to be.”
The game designer recalls that Paul Newman brought an encyclopedic knowledge of racing to his voice-over work. “We spent a lot of time during that session scrutinizing and tweaking his lines,” Itkowitz says. “His character, Doc Hudson, is pretty low-key in most of the game’s cut scenes, but we needed bigger energy for the in-game lines, so it was fun to see him bring that spark to the performance.”
Radiator Springs Adventure: Jump and dodge your way through Sarge’s obstacle course.
“It doesn’t matter if [Pixar is] doing toys, bugs, fish, monsters, cars — you get so sucked into the characters and the story that you almost forget what they are.”
- Jordan Itkowitz, lead game designer
Cruising the Movie
While Radiator Springs Adventure focuses solely on the location where Lightning McQueen winds up after a mishap early in the movie, Disney/Pixar Cars starts there and then takes you farther down Route 66, to Ornament Valley and Tailfin Pass. All three areas appear in the film, but Itkowitz says that the game lets you “experience all of the landmarks and sites you remember from the movie in a whole new way.”
He adds: “When you can travel at 150 MPH, you need a big world to do that in. Our streaming technology and some clever new draw-in techniques allow you to drive to the landmarks you see on the horizon with no fog, no drop in frame rate, and no waiting for load times.”
Radiator Springs Adventure: Learn each race’s secret and then burn rubber to the finish line.
New environments in the game include a miles-long, three-lane freeway and three of the five stadiums used for Piston Cup races (the movie’s races were the basis for the other two). Fourteen new characters were also created by Pixar just for the game.
Lasseter Shares the Wheel
Rainbow Studios worked in parallel with Pixar from the early stages of the film’s development. Cars director John Lasseter met with the video game team several times, and Itkowitz recalls that all of those sessions went over their allotted schedule. “John was extremely enthusiastic about the possibilities the game offered,” he says. “After getting his blessing, the doors were open.”
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Cars: The Game: You can go faster through turns if you lean against another car (Lightning is the one in green).
Lasseter even suggested two Disney/Pixar Cars activities, Rustbucket Race-o-Rama and Monster Truck Mayhem, during those meetings. Itkowitz notes that both “serve as a great way to expand the Cars universe.” The former introduces six of Mater’s cousins in a contest that’s part race, part demolition derby. The latter pits Lightning against Count Spatula, a character who was featured in an early version of the movie, and his Monster Truck buddies.
Itkowitz also points to the Tractor Tipping mini-game, which is based on “a very memorable sequence from the movie,” as another example of his team’s creative design at work. You play as either Mater or Lightning, sneaking through Frank the Combine’s field to tip all of the sleeping tractors in it. Not only is Frank looking for you, but he has searchlights scanning the area too.
“Rather than just use the core driving and racing mechanics, we created an action/puzzle/stealth experience,” Itkowitz explains. “The levels get progressively more complex as you move forward, requiring you to bridge gaps, work through tricky, time-based patterns of lights, and keep track of Frank’s movements. Frank will hunt you down, which is a fun aspect of the AI.”
Radiator Springs Adventure: Help Luigi collect tires and uncover another race secret.
Detailing the Characters and Animation
The artists and animators on Itkowitz’s team worked closely with their Pixar counterparts during the entire development process. He notes that the animation group worked hard “to ensure that our in-game characters had the right sense of weight and movement, the right mouth shapes, expressions, and gestures, and performances that were true to the personalities.”
Itkowitz reveals that the games’ cut scenes also went through a rigorous process of review and feedback with the Pixar group. “The lead animator and I worked closely with the film’s director of photography to block out and edit each scene and sequence,” he explains. “We learned what lenses to use and where to put the camera during a conversation. We also learned how to ease back on cuts and just park the camera for some scenes, which is what John prefers.”
Of course, in the end, what Lasseter wants most is a great story well told, and on that count, both the movie and the games deliver.
If you liked these games, check out:
- Disney/Pixar Cars: Mater-National
- Finding Nemo
- Shrek 2
- Spider-Man 2
- The Incredibles
- The Incredibles: When Danger Calls
- The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer
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