The video game for Disney Pixar's Cars is much better than the film, and a good game for kids, despite its flaws.
For a movie-based game, Cars: The Game for PS2 is surprisingly good. Sure, it might be a kids' game, but that's perfectly fine, given the license. And I have to admit, I enjoyed it a lot more than the movie. I know that it sounds stupid to compare a game with the movie that it's based on, but it's rare to see a game actually turn out better than a movie. If you were expecting this to be another awful movie tie-in game, you will be pleasantly surprised.
The only aspect of the game that is even weaker than the film is the storyline. Cars has barely any story, whatsoever. The story mode does involve cutscenes & interactions between cars (yes, they can talk), but there's barely any substance. They usually say stuff like, "Hi, wanna race against us?", or "Hey, can you do some errand for me?" The only thing that's worth mentioning about the story is that it takes place a year after the events of the film.
The story mode has a sandbox-style design, where you can explore Radiator Springs & Ornament Valley (no, of course they do not exist in real-life), and participate in missions, as well as search for postcards spread everywhere. Unfortunately, while the concept of exploring a large span of land may sound somewhat interesting, it falls short, due to the lack of missions available at one time. There are only a few missions available at one time, which is a major problem, given how large the land is. Ornamental Valley is a pretty large chunk of land, with very little sprinkled on top of it. It feels like there should've been a mission-select screen, instead of a sandbox layout, because having to drive halfway across the valley every time you want to start a mission, is an extremely boring & tedious process. The missions are good, but not worth writing home about. They range from races, to training exercises (which are a little more fun than you might imagine), to a variety of other things that you'll probably only do once or twice, each. Overall, the story mode is passable; the missions are enjoyable, but the whole thing is severely weakened by the huge chore of having to drive long distances just to participate in them.
Thankfully, the multiplayer fares a lot better. You can play with a friend in splitscreen (sorry, no online), and select any track from the single-player game. You can also choose your character & paint job. Unfortunately, it only supports 2 players, and almost all of the tracks have to be unlocked by playing the single-player game.
The best part about the game is that the gameplay works very well for the audience that it's intended for. It's simple enough for kids to pick up & play. Think a slightly more complex version of Mario Kart Wii, only without items. You can drift by holding a shoulder button, and there's a boost button you can use, but the boost has very limited juice. You can also jump by moving the left analog stick down, then up. Other than that, it's pretty much everything you would expect from a racing game, only without an emphasis on realism, and dumbed-down to make it better suitable for kids. Most people will find Cars' gameplay to be unappealing, but it's very good for the audience that it's intended for.
The graphics look very good for a PS2 game. The textures are nice, the colors look great, and the framerate is consistent. The game also has a surprisingly good soundtrack, and you can even choose which song to play in the pause menu.
While Cars probably won't entertain anyone above the age of 13, it does what it's meant to do very well. It's held back by major design flaws, but if you're a parent looking for a good racing game for your child, then this is a pretty decent choice.
I gave the game a 7/10. I think that the developers did a decent job of making a fun, accessible game for children. Issues with the story mode & multiplayer are most likely to get in the way of the fun, but it still puts the vast majority of movie-based games to complete & utter shame (although that's really not saying that much).
P.S. NO, I DID NOT BUY THIS GAME ANYTIME RECENTLY. I BOUGHT IT WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT. I DON'T THINK I'VE EVER ONCE PLAYED IT FOR THE PAST 3 YEARS. NO, I DO NOT STILL OWN IT. I SOLD IT TO GAMESTOP A WHILE BACK.