From the studio behind “What the Golf?”, Triband, comes another ridiculously fun adventure: “What the Car?”. The Danish developer didn’t restrain itself from all the daddy jokes and bizarre gameplay mechanics, so if you’ve played What the Golf? and liked it, you’re going to love What the Car?
In fact, after playing both games, I can safely say that the folks at Triband raised the bar a bit with What the Car? Although there’s a lot of fun to be had in Triband’s new game, some levels are downright frustrating.
For those coming to the What the … ? series as brand-new players, expect some very unorthodox gameplay and some super-silly writing. The racing genre is a bit of a stretch here, as most of the time you’ll use a car with legs and when you’re not doing that, you’ll be required to jump from start to finish or drive your car upside down.
The craziness of Triband’s What the …? games starts in their names and goes way beyond the downright silly mechanics. In this case, What the Car? is supposed to be an arcade racing game through and through, but based on the developer’s pedigree, we’re getting something entirely different.
While the structure and progression of What the Car? is similar to that of a racing game, there are little other things they have in common. Judging by the majority of levels, What the Car? feels like a game that’s been developed by someone heavy on weed. Jokes aside, Triband’s main focus in What the Car? was to provide players with as much fun as possible.
Photo: autoevolution
Every level isn’t just a surprise, but also an incredible accomplishment when it comes to ingenuity. The person(s) who came up with these levels is probably not just very smart, but also very funny in real-life. Although every level in the game is supposed to be fun, some difficulty spikes make some levels a bit frustrating.
What the Car? offers a different formula opposite to what other racing games provide. Instead of making the car the tool that helps players achieve goals, What the Car? adds an extra layer of challenge by including a clumsy, almost useless car.
Making a car unusable is not that hard, but the ideas that Triband comes up with are hilarious. Have you ever tried to drive a car with two long legs? What about a car with ten legs? Although each episode of What the Car? has its own theme (i.e. sports), they are extremely unconventional. Having to score a goal while the soccer gate is running away can become an exercise in both skill and patience.
There are no car upgrades, no additional cars, and no racing, at least not in the traditional sense. To make up for the lack of additional cars, it’s worth noting that the only car in the game is going to constantly change, gaining and losing one or more pairs of legs. Sometimes you’ll have to drive a car that has a rocket launcher on its back and no wheels, or you’ll have to jump over big gaps using an umbrella.
Photo: autoevolution
Depending on how you fare in a level, you’ll be rewarded with one of three different crowns: bronze, silver, or gold. You need to be quick and nimble in order to score the gold crown, even when driving a car that’s taken the shape of a soccer ball.
To open up new episodes, you must go through all the levels in the previous one. Unlike other games, you’re not required to score high or obtain a certain number of gold crowns.
As far as the tracks go, they have been designed to become increasingly more difficult as players advance toward the end of an episode. What most of them have in common is the fact that they’re pretty short, so starting over if you missed a turn or a jump will take very little of your time.
The visuals and soundtrack are in line with the silly overall tone of the game. The aesthetics are perfectly on point and add to the immersion, not unlike the previous games in the series.
Photo: autoevolution
Conclusion
I think it’s safe to say that What the Car? is another silly game that you must absolutely play even if you don’t normally like racing games. Although its name might suggest that you’ll have to do a lot of racing, there’s actually very little racing in What the Car? Instead, you’ll get loads of fun avoiding surprising obstacles and driving a vehicle that constantly morphs into unusual forms and shapes.
Granted, this is not your typical racing game, fans of the genre will find plenty of similarities that will require a little bit of skill and patience. With hundreds of unique levels to overcome and dozens of quirky puzzles to solve, What the Car? offers pure fun in small doses.
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