The developers have created a very fast paced game, the cars are speedy with an extremely tight turning circle and can take even the most severe corners without sacrificing too much speed. The levels are all relatively small, with the Burbs in particular little more than a couple of screens in size, which helps to keep the action tightly grouped. Essentially wherever the villain pops up out of his escape tunnel you’ll be able to reach him within a few seconds and thanks to the on screen radar it won’t be the hardest task to track them down. This all makes for a great initial impression, with the first few games an all out dash back and forth, battling for control of the perp the whole time. You’ll be zooming back to the prison, lined up perfectly only for one of the opponents to come swerving round a corner, smashing right into you and wresting control of your cargo right at the final moment. It’s initially very exhilarating stuff but it doesn’t take long before the game starts to lose its luster all too rapidly.
The key problem is that Calling All Cars simply doesn’t have that much going on under the bonnet, it’s the perfect poster child for cheap and cheerful game design. This is ultimately caused by a number of individually minor issues that combine to leave a game that’s all too simple for its own good. That initial hook that draws players in, the immediate nature of the handling and speed, is in reality part of the problem. Vehicle movement is simple and controlled via the left stick by pointing in the direction you want to travel, with no concept of acceleration, braking or turning. This essentially removes the need for any player interaction when it comes to negotiating corners. This is not in itself a problem, however, the majority of the structures on the levels, be they houses, railway water towers or trees, collapse with the slightest touch, usually with no impact on the player’s speed. So what you are left with after the first minute or so is a predominantly barren playfield, devoid of much in the way of obstacles, that requires little interaction on the part of the player beyond pointing the car in the direction of the criminal or the jail. There’s no need to plan your route, no need to take shortcuts to head the opposition off, it ends up barren and empty. In isolation neither of these design choices would necessarily have been negatives but throw them together and they become an issue.
A couple of the levels such as the Trainyards and Alpine do attempt to vary it up a little, with trains crossing the track every so often in the former and a more interesting, organic layout in the latter, but the other two levels on offer are essentially little more than empty boxes. The one token element of freedom the game gives the player comes in the form of scoring. Players are given the option of taking the criminal to one of 3 score zones situated at the prison, worth between 1 and 3 points per capture depending on the level of difficulty in reaching each one. The harder zones to reach can involve using a passing train as a launch ramp to land on top of the jail or timing your approach just right so that the entrance won’t be blocked off when you land at the goal. These attempts at diversity are all well and good but as all three score zones are right next to each other you can always leave the decision of which to go for until the last moment and simply make the selection based on how much heat you have on your tail.
Then there’s the weapon system. Players have access to 3 different powerups that are available from pickups mid-game. The hammer, a close range weapon, and rocket, with limited homing capability, are both standard enough, there’s no real problems there, but the magnet is a whole different ball game. Once activated the player has to hold the magnet in the direction of the car carrying the criminal for a couple of seconds and then they steal the convict right out from under the opponent's nose. The problem here is that it has a very long range and, as mentioned, there’s a dire shortage of cover to put between your pursuers and yourself which makes it rather hard to avoid.
Should you find yourself without a weapon there’s always the option of ramming the person currently in possession of the prisoner and the implementation of this can be nothing short of aggravating. The rules are quite simple, if you aren’t boosting you won’t have any effect regardless of the speed of the collision, if either party is boosting, however, the criminal will be thrown into the air, up for grabs to whoever can catch him. There is no attempt to model different types of contact between cars, if you touch at all, up he goes. When you get a scrum of 3 or more players, not an uncommon occurrence, it can be quite random as to who makes it out with the prize as it becomes very difficult to successfully disengage without being tapped by one of the cars.
There is a jump move which is quite effective at avoiding some forms of pileups but it can be exploited by spamming its use if you are already in motion. When used in this way it becomes very difficult for any opponents’ successful interceptions to actually register as collisions within the game. The culmination of the magnet power up, ridiculously simplified ramming mechanics and open level design makes for a game of constant back and forth with the criminal constantly changing hands, often right before scoring. This easily becomes tiresome and repetitive, at the end of the day it’s as much a game about luck as it is anything else. Then of course there’s the fact that there’s only 4 levels on offer, 4 very small levels. The Burbs is particularly small with its only marginal unique aspect being the lack of any prison, forcing players to utilize the mobile drop off points – the helicopter and police wagon.
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Of course in the game’s defence it is designed as a multiplayer title, one to be enjoyed with a room full of friends sitting round the same TV. But this is simply not an excuse for delivering such a shallow offering. While ensuring that such a title is easy to pick up and play is paramount to this genre, franchises like Bomberman and Worms have shown the world that this does not have to be at the expense of depth or long term appeal. Given the simplistic nature of the experience the fact that Calling All Cars’s online support has now been shutdown is no big loss, it simply isn’t the kind of game where playing random strangers holds much in the way of appeal. And even with friends present there’s only so much enjoyment that can be had from a game without any real depth or variety.
The one area where Calling All Cars has excelled is its fantastic visuals. The game has a dark and moody cell shading that still retains a certain vibrancy of colour. The cars and criminals have a lot of character and the locked up perp who goads the player while navigating the menus is a particularly nice touch. There’s little doubt that the art and sound departments have done fantastic jobs here and the genuine charm and attention to detail that’s gone into the game’s looks does go someway towards improving the quality of the experience, but it’s no substitute for solid gameplay.
Granted the game looks and sounds great, but it has no substance to it. It’s cheap and cheerful in every sense and doesn’t have that fine balance of approachability mixed with capacity for player development needed to become a truly great, or even good, party game. There’s a dearth of levels and simply not enough variety to make up for its shallowness. These kind of games should have you and your friends laughing and playing all afternoon, but it only takes a couple of rounds of Calling All Cars before people will start reaching for something else to fill the time. It’s a shame that after such a great first impression it’s just not capable of holding the player’s attention.
Players:
1-4
Genre:
Racer
Developer:
Incognito Inc.
Publisher:
SCEE
Platform:
PlayStation 3
Version:
European
Pros:
-Looks and sounds great.
-Fantastic first ten minutes.
Cons:
-No depth.
-Poor collision modelling.
-Almost non-existant level design.
-Lack of levels.
Score: 3/10