- Site: Disney/Pixar Cars: Mater-National
- Publisher: THQ
- Developer: Rainbow Studios
- Genre: Sports
By Brad Cook
When we last left Radiator Springs in the movie Cars, the sleepy town had lost its vitality, a victim of the bypassing of nearby Route 66. However, Lightning McQueens adventures there taught him to appreciate what Radiator Springs has to offer, and he vowed to return and set up his racing headquarters. The story continues in Cars: Mater-National, as Lightning makes good on his promise and dilapidated tow truck Mater organizes an international racing festival to celebrate the big event.
As in Cars: The Video Game, you travel around Radiator Springs, Ornament Valley, and Tailfin Pass to compete in races and mini-games. The scenery has changed, however, thanks to the areas revitalization, allowing you to race on new tracks, with five different racing styles and the all-new Monster Truck mode available. Play as Lightning McQueen, Mater, Doc Hudson, and many other familiar characters from the hit film.
Youll also meet five new international racers, including the Italian Giovanni, who youll need to defeat if you want to win the Mater-National. Other characters from abroad include British rally car champ Emma, Swedish 80s rally car Gudmund, Japanese drift car Koji, and the high-strung German tuner car Otto, who has no use for speed limits. The game even features cameos by Mike and Sulley, the stars of Monster Trucks, Inc., a Cars-themed variant on Monsters, Inc. that was seen playing at the drive-in during the end of the movie.
Focus. Speed.
Your success in races and mini-games earns you Bolt Banners; the better you do, the more you earn. Collect enough of them to enter races against the international champions at Lightnings new stadium. Win those races to move closer to the final showdown against Giovanni.
While competing in races and mini-games, as well as while cruising around the game environment, youll also get the chance to scoop up bonus points. Collect the bolts, as well as new paint jobs and wheel sets, youll find scattered around Radiator Springs, Ornament Valley, and Tailspin Pass. During races, pulling off big jumps, gliding through turns with well-executed powerslides, and setting new records also bestow extra points. Use your accumulated bonus to unlock new cars and paint jobs, as well as game production artwork.
Between story mode sessions, arcade mode lets you revisit any of the races and mini-games youve completed, with any of the unlocked cars for you to choose from. If you want to go head-to-head against a friend in certain events, you can do so in Vs. mode.
Need some inspiration before you hit the track? Remember these words spoken by Lightning McQueen at the beginning of the movie: Okay, here we go. Focus. Speed. I am speed. One winner, forty-two losers. I eat losers for breakfast.
Game Hardware
Check out our systems for your best gaming experience.
If you liked this game, check out:
- Disney/Pixar Cars: The Video Game
- The Incredibles
- The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer
- Ratatouille: The Video Game
System Requirements:
- Mac OS X version 10.4.10
- Intel Core Duo processor (Core 2 Duo processor recommended)
- 1GB of RAM
- 128MB video RAM (256MB recommended); Nvidia 7300 or ATI x1600 or higher (Intel GMA 950 chipset not supported)
- DVD drive
Tips and Tricks:
- Many of the race tracks feature shortcuts. Learn their locations and use them, because other drivers will too.
- Use your boost stages judiciously, since you can only have a maximum of three during a race. Theyre perfect for a last-second dash to the finish line.
- Remember to powerslide through turns. Taking curves any other way will cause you to lose precious seconds. You can also use the powerslide controls to maneuver your car while airborne.
- Press the down arrow to crouch and immediately press the up arrow to make your car jump. Its the only way to grab some of the bolts found in story mode. In the drive-in, time your jumps to bounce ever higher on the mattresses.
- Drive backwards whenever possible to earn triple bonus points.
- The world map, accessible any time by pressing the Home key, allows you to quickly jump to an available event in any of the unlocked game environments.
- You can revisit any completed race or mini-game to see if you can do better.
Cheat If You Must
Stumped? Then you may need some help, thanks to the cheat codes commonly found in most video games. They allow you to, well, cheat and change the rules. To unlock these cheat codes in Cars: Mater-National, select Options from the main menu. Then choose Cheat Codes and enter the codes below. Youll know you did it right if you hear the sound of a car alarm being disabled. An incorrect entry summons a police siren.
The Codes
PAINTIT Change the colors of all cars, except Lightning McQueen
NCEDUDZ Change Lightning McQueens colors
0TO200X Extreme acceleration
ZZOOOOM Infinite turbo
BUYTALL Unlock all bonus art
MATTEL07 Unlock all characters
ALLYORS Unlock all game content, except story mode races
VRYFAST Unlock expert difficulty level
PLAYALL Unlock all arcade mode races and mini-games, as well as all story mode worlds
INSTYLE Unlock all story mode wheel sets available at Luigis store