izigame.me

As someone who 100%ed What the Golf and was immediately interested in What the Car's concept, I must say, after 100%ing World 1 and trying out a level in World 2, I'm not even a little impressed.
What the Golf introduced itself through its sheer absurdity and wit. Instead of the golf ball, you're the golf club. Instead of 3D, we're doing 2D golf now. Instead of golfing our furniture into the truck to move, we now move the entire house. The first world immediately was a hole-in-one.
Not only with the comedy, but also with the gameplay. While the objects you're playing golf with have different physics, they often have the same gameplay style, of dragging your mouse to determine how hard you want to hit them. It's quite simple, but immensely fun, especially when you consider how the game is structured.
You get introduced to a concept, and the level has multiple courses building on that concept to make it more silly and therefore fun. After finishing a level, you realize you only finished 1/3 of it. There is an additional challenge part with limited strokes, and to top it all off, there is one final part that is simply either harder, sillier, or both. What I'm trying to tell you is that What the Golf truly builds on its concept and captured me back in 2020.
Now yes, this isn't a What the Golf review, you came for the What the Car review, but I feel like what I described is absent in this game.
While I only 100%ed the first world, it seemed like I had already seen most of the game. It felt like this is just a watered-down version with half the appeal.
The wit and absurdity don't exist. The entire joke is just, "Oh, what if a car had legs? What if cars had jetpacks" and other things like that. Yes, I didn't expect a game wholly about driving, but What the Golf introduces hilarious concepts and subverts expectations almost in an instant. What the Car feels stale by either not elevating the current joke it's trying to entertain you with or by moving on to the next one without thoroughly exploring the previous joke to get more out of it. Even the game just doesn't feel good to control. The car feels janky and unreliable, which is bad if you want me to 100% it.
You also don't have a series of courses to build up the gimmick. You do the level, and it's done. Yes, the next level might pick up on the gimmick, but then you gotta go over there, pick the course, and see for yourself, which feels much less streamlined. Even in its first hour, it comes off as fairly tedious, like it's lacking variety. The concepts are so lame that you can't really elevate them. The most you get is a golden crown for "driving" a good time, but what made What the Golf special was that the level felt like a reward, not the crown that gives you bragging rights no one cares about.
Another issue I have is that some of these levels do have collectibles, but a good few of them require you to play the level twice if you want to 100% it since the item is literally placed as far away as possible from the main route, making it impossible to earn a gold crown and collect your stuff in one go. In all honesty, it feels like padding for players who want to 100% the game. If you want to get everything in a level, then it should be at the very least possible to do that in one playthrough. It isn't that the level is hard; there is no skill issue; it deliberately wants you to play it twice, not respecting your time as the player.
Overall, it really feels underwhelming in most aspects. It actively makes me not care for What the Car does or what absurdity awaits me. It just feels dull. 5/10