Ka-Chow!
Cars: Race-O-Rama is one of several racing games based on the Cars series, released on everything from Playstation 2 to Xbox 360. The game serves as a sequel to Cars: The Video Game and Cars: Mater-National Championship, sharing the same basic gameplay while introducing a number of unique characters and features.After the events of the original movie, Lightning McQueen now teaches a new generation of racers at the Doc Hudson Racing Academy. During a practice race, Lightning and his students are confronted by old rival Chick Hicks, who now runs his own racing academy. Chick and his students challenge Lightning to a series of races across the country, culminating in a grand finale back in Radiator Springs.
Cars: Race-O-Rama contains examples of:
- Abandoned Mine: The one in Tailfin Pass makes a comeback with an additional tunnel added in.
- Ability Depletion Penalty: Fully emptying the boost meter causes it to recharge slower than it would normally.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- Radiator Springs and the surrounding areas of Ornament Valley and Tailfin Pass return from previous games as one large, connected map with a few new areas to explore, such as additional tunnels in the Tailfin Pass mines and Sarge's Boot Camp.
- The Radiator Springs Stadium from the previous game returns as a fully explorable area, when it could previously only be visited during certain races.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Characters like Mater, Sheriff and Guido are playable in their own special races and minigames.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: In addition to the series-usual alternate paint jobs for each character, you can now unlock new parts such as hoods and spoilers to customize Lightning's design even further.
- Boss Banter: Opponent racers love to brag as they pass you, and Lighting is quick to do the same.
- Bottomless Fuel Tanks: A common element of Cars games.
- Canon Foreigner: New to this game are Chick's new sidekicks Candice, Stinger, and El Machismo, and a group of identical robotic cars called The VINs. Several original characters from the other games also make cameos.
- Collection Sidequest: Finding all the paint jobs and kit parts hidden each of the explorable open worlds.
- Continuity Nod: Lightning McQueen's Racing Headquarters and the Radiator Springs Stadium from Mater-National Championship are still around. The latter has even been revamped for this game.
- Crate Expectations: Crates and barrels can be found littered all over the place, though they serve no real purpose aside from just being fun to knock around.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: VINs, who started out as Chick's students, lose any sign of personality they had after their transformation.
- Demoted to Extra: Though they weren't particularly major to begin with, Mia and Tia go from NPC racers to only appearing in the background of the Photo Op minigames.
- Eternal Engine: The huge Motor Co. factory in the center of the Autovia desert. It's even shaped like an engine!
- First-Person Snapshooter: Paparazzi missions have you pull off impressive jumps as Lightning (or other characters in arcade mode), then switch to the perspective of a photographer to get a picture of them in midair.
- Follow the Money: Collectible lightning bolt pickups show up all over the place while in free roam, sometimes leading the player down new routes.
- Mecha-Mooks: The VINs, students of Chick's racing academy transformed into identical white robot cars.
- Metropolis Level: Motoropolis City, home of the tuned-up muscle car Stinger.
- New Work, Recycled Graphics: While the graphics have certainly evolved from the first two games, there's still many assets recycled from those games.
- Nostalgia Level: The original maps from the first Cars game return here, with just about all of the familiar landmarks intact.
- Now, Where Was I Going Again?: Averted. Unlike in the previous two games, the pause menu now conveniently tells you where to go between races.
- Palmtree Panic: Santa Carburera, a lovely beachside town complete with a boardwalk and ferris wheel.
- Pre-Character Customization Gameplay: Lightning McQueen's alternate parts have to be unlocked, so the player has to do a race or two with his default design to start off.
- Product Placement: The Mack Track Challenge minigame is based on a real-life toy of the same name. It's even advertised on the back of the game's box!
- Racing Minigame: Even though the entire game is about racing, it still manages to work in one of these by way of Guido's Mario Kart-style "mini-car" races, compared to the (relatively) realistic mechanics of the rest of the game.
- Sore Loser: Candice does not take losing to Lightning that well. Neither does Stinger nor El Machismo, for that matter (even Chick says he's not as big a sore loser as him!).
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Chick's students being turned into robots is never brought up again once it's introduced.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Like in the other games, deliberately crashing into NPC cars causes them to say something along these lines.
- Where It All Began: The first race and the final showdown with Chick take place in the same stadium.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The locations of Autovia and Motoropolis are not specified. Santa Carburera in particular, seems to be this universe's version of Santa Monica.
