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:
- 11th-Hour Superpower: For the final race against Chick, Lightning reveals his final modification: Wide-Body, which gives him a wide body suited for Radiator Springs Stadium. This modification is also, bar none, the fastest version of Lightning in the game, and has a significantly longer boost duration that allows him to shoot ahead of the competition easily.
- 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.
- Jerkass: Chick Hicks and his underlings pretty much spend the entire game antagonizing Lighting, with the only ones seen reforming being the main three racers who eventually interfere with Lightning during the final race against Chick (Candice, Stinger, El Machismo).
- 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.
- Orcus on His Throne: Despite being Lightning's main opponent, Chick never directly races against him until the final race of the game. Instead, he's content to watch his students - Candice, El Machismo, Stinger, and the VINs - compete against Lightning instead and gather information on how to beat him that way.
- 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!
- Promoted to Playable: After being an NPC in the first two games, Guido is now fully playable through the new Guido Kart mode.
- 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!).
- We Gotta Stop Meeting Like This: Parodied when said nearly word-for-word by El Machismo in the final race when he drives in front of Lightning during the final lap.
- We Will Meet Again:
- After being defeated by Mater, Tater, and Tater Jr., Bubba is forced to retreat without the towing rights to Radiator Springs. However, he vows that Mater hasn't seen the last of him.
- Chick vows revenge against Lightning after the latter beats him by the end of the game.
- 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.
