I’ve been saying it for a while now, but gaming needs more “comedy” games to make a splash. Triband agrees, with their “What the ___” series of games focusing on giving you laughs and microdoses of novel gaming experiences. And while What the Car doesn’t quite hit the highs of Golf, there are still a lot of laughs to be had here.
WHAT THE CAR?
Developer: Triband
Price: $9.99
Platform: PC
MonsterVine was supplied with a PC code for review
The premise is simple: you’re a car with legs and you’ll explore a variety of themed levels each with their gimmick as you (drive?) to the finish line. Are you really even driving a car if it’s got legs? What the Car isn’t interested in answering that question, it simply wants to make sure you’re laughing your way through the game.
The game’s levels are spread across various zones that you can access through your main hub that’s set in a bear infested mine but don’t worry the bears are chill. Each zone has its theme and various gimmicks, like the Longer zone featuring your car stretched to cartoonish degrees or the Sports zone might have you play a game of foosball. You’re free to explore each zone for hidden levels that’ll unlock trophies to display back in your mine, or difficult “skull levels” that’ll test your mastery of that zone’s gimmick. And each zone isn’t restricted to just one gameplay gimmick; you’ll be introduced to the zone’s core gimmick but there are a variety of bite-sized gimmicks to discover as well like one where you basically have to play a simplified version of Overcooked.
The only issue that stems from all this is that What the Car doesn’t exactly pace its jokes very well. What the Golf was practically hitting you with a new joke/gimmick on every level, and some of them were pretty drastic gameplay changes. What the Car, however, will introduce a gimmick (like rockets attached to your vehicle) and repeat it three levels in a row, sometimes more. Then when you think you’re done with that, it’ll bring the gimmick back with the slightest of tweaks (now there’s just one rock and it’s big). Sometimes these gameplay gimmicks might illicit a chuckle, but in practice, they don’t make for fun levels, especially when the physics fight against you, so having to repeat some of the unfun ones multiple times can make for a grating experience at times. Thankfully levels are usually only 30 seconds, at most a minute, so you never have to deal with an annoying gimmick for too long.
When you’re done with the main course, replay addicts will find a lot to chew on, with each level featuring a hidden photograph for you to find, along with a par time to try to beat and daily challenges. There are leaderboards to compete on and a full blown level editor as well which was pretty simple to use. You control your car as you lay down tracks/objects and terraform the environment to your pleasure. I was able to whip up a level pretty quick and was immediately humbled by some of the player created stuff I checked out afterward.
The Final Word
What the Car is perfect in small doses, especially if you’re looking for something to pick your mood up with a few laughs.
– MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
