Fun, Funny, and Goofy | Full Review - WHAT THE CAR?

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WHAT THE CAR? Is an absurd “racing” game featuring an ever evolving race car that is just about everything you could think of except being an actual car. 

🟩Pros

+Fun engaging racing game with hundreds of unique levels

+Different car mechanics for every episode and chapters

+Full of car-centric quips, jokes, and a humorous soundtrack to boot

+Level editor

🟥Cons

-No ‘wheel-to-wheel’ real racing

In WHAT THE CAR?, you control a car with two human feet, and participate in various races that evolve the car even further and in various ridiculous ways. Grow additional legs, grow springs around it to bounce around, strapped with jetpacks, ultra spaghetti legs, spider-legs, slinky cars, just about everything you could think of except being an actual car.  It is a recently released Apple Arcade exclusive, and can only be played on iOS by Apple Arcade subscribers.

WHAT THE CAR? Features hundreds of unique levels  where you race around the tracks by jumping, flying with jetpacks, bouncing around with springs and boosts, climbing buildings, and many more absurdities that the developers have come up with. These absurd levels are fun, engaging, and satisfying to play in to. Some levels are more challenging and sometimes even frustrating than others, but it helps that the game isn’t really taking itself too seriously.

The controls are simple, players control the car with the on-screen steering wheel and a button on the right side to activate an ever changing ability. This ability depends on the current “mode” of the car, which is determined by the current episode, or chapter that you select. It can be as simple as accelerating or moving the legs forward, or as complex as activating its jetpacks with limited fuel.

It’s not only fun, but also funny, featuring a quirky game full of car-centric quips, jokes, and a humorous soundtrack and effects that only makes the game more fun and charming. The game does not take itself seriously and doubles down on the absurdness, just embracing pure insanity.

The levels are mostly in a time-attack race setup where you are actually just timed and don't race against other AI or human players so there's not much direct competition involved in the game. Still, I wish that there is an option for wheel-to-wheel real racing multiplayer especially with how absurdly fun the gameplay concept is.

Each race is scored by time and gives players bronze, silver, or gold trophies depending on how quickly players finish. There are optional collectible cards on each level to give some players an additional challenge aside from racing against time.

It’s not a full-on racing game, as WHAT THE CAR? features platforming elements on both the races as well as featuring an overworld segment that effectively functions as the game menu, where you can roam around the different islands and select races to participate in. The same simplistic control scheme is present in this overworld setup, but at a much slower pace and a zoomed out view.

And if the hundreds of unique levels isn’t enough, the game features a level editor in which player made levels are incorporated into the game and playable in the overworld in an asynchronous multiplayer setup. You can create and edit your own levels and publish them as well, giving players a true sandbox experience.

Conclusion:

Overall, WHAT THE CAR? is a fun and engaging racing game that doesn't take itself too seriously, with absurd ideas, simple controls, and challenging levels that will surely provide players with an enjoyable and entertaining experience.