Considering that THQ's Cars: Mater-National Championship, the latest installment of Disney/Pixar's Cars franchise, is geared toward the younger crowd, the graphics are quite fitting, even when displayed on the Xbox 360. However, if you are looking for the latest and greatest in this department, you will be disappointed. It's not to say that Mater-National doesn't look good, because it does. Just like its movie counterpart, the environment mapping is great and really helps add to the shiny coating on this Cars videogame.

The audio is both outstanding and somewhat of a disappointment, all rolled into one. When it comes to in-game music, there are few titles that offer better tunes. With that said, the music is also overplayed because there aren't that many tracks. I'm convinced that the next time I hear "Life is a highway..." on the radio, I will immediately switch stations. At the same time, the voiceovers are very, very well done. It would have been great to have a better script, but considering the target audience, it does fine on its own.

At its core, Cars: Mater-National Championship revolves around one mode of play, Story Mode. Here you will lead Lightning McQueen through three areas, picking up lightning bolts (worth points that can be traded in for bonus features), paint jobs, tires, and other parts for your car, while progressing the story by competing in different events. The events in question are mostly driving-based, and consist of different types of races, from Stadium to Off Road. However, there are also a few small mini-games that stray from the norm, including Race 'n' Chase, where you basically play a game of "tag" with your opponent, and Rhythmic Rumble, a poor attempt at a music-based game and a dancing car, among others. Unfortunately, the former is quite easy to complete thanks to the ease of use of turbo, and the latter doesn't really follow the beat of the music very well.

Thankfully, the core racing modes are fun to play. They vary ever-so-slightly, including a Relay Race where you tag your partners after every lap, but all of these modes are basically lap-based and offer enough variety in tracks that keeps things interesting. There are also a few Monster Truck runs, featuring Mike and Sulley of Monsters, Inc. fame, which is a great touch. Each track will keep you on your toes, but they are also straightforward and generally have markings quite clearly on the courses. There are exceptions, of course, as a few tracks had very "hidden" corner arrows that blended into the background too easily, keeping you second-guessing which way to travel the first time around a new track. There are also a few shortcuts that can help you or hurt you, but even these are not one hundred percent necessary to take for you to win each race.

One thing to note is that on its surface, Mater-National is a bit on the easy side by default, which makes you think that you're ripping through the game quickly. However, there are enough tracks and levels of mini-games to keep you playing for quite some time. In fact, after beating the game and watching the credits roll off the screen, I was able to keep going because of a previously-missed area, and realized that you can beat the game rather quickly just following the story path, but you can easily spend twice as long to actually play through every single event.

In addition to the Story Mode, you'll have access to an Arcade Mode and Versus Mode, in which you can either race standard tracks or play through the various mini-games. As you earn points in Story Mode, you will be able to buy different items for use in the other modes, including paint jobs and other vehicles. One nice thing about Mater-National Championship is that you can customize your experience at any time, no matter which mode, by adjusting the difficulty on the fly.

Cars: Mater-National CHampionship has multiple difficulty settings at your disposal, ranging from the super-easy to a bit of a challenge. Since you can always adjust difficulties, even in Story Mode, you'll always find the perfect level for each and every player. But even at its lowest setting, some younger gamers may have a bit of a challenge ahead of them, especially in some of the mini-games. In fact, I was stuck on a couple of them that were quite unforgiving, but with a little patience and persistence, there is always a way to get through the tough times. Usually you just need to figure out (and remember) the pattern, whether it be a certain track or even running from the combine as you go Tractor-Tipping. The great thing about the Story Mode is that you don't necessarily have to pass every single obstacle to beat the game; only some of the tracks are required to advance the story.

Cars: Mater-National Championship has got a very basic controller layout, requiring only a few button presses in most cases. In addition to the gas and brakes, however, you are able to use some advanced techniques like the power slide, turbo, and jumping, but they too are super-easy to perform. The only real issue that I had was within a few modes of play where you navigate by way of an arrow on-screen, but had to wait until getting through a checkpoint for that arrow to update. This sometimes made it impossible to plan ahead without playing through it previously.

Other than a few minor gripes, Mater-National was an entertaining title which may have lacked a great story/script from an adult perspective, but will definitely be fun for the kids. Any child that likes racing games and/or loves the movie Cars will fully enjoy Mater-National Championship.