Review: Calling All Cars! (PlayStation 3, EDI. Incognito, Sony)

Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the best. Calling All Cars!' concept is infinitely beautiful in it's simplicity. From David Jaffe, the guy who brought us epic, mythological carnage in God Of War, Calling All Cars! is essentially a fusion of Micro Machines and old playground mainstay, 'tag.' Calling All Cars!' aim is to capture an escaped criminal and return him to jail. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, the easiest of which is running the apprehended crook straight through the prison's front door. Doing this only earns you a solitary point with two awarded for delivery to a slightly less convenient entrance. You can grab yourself three points by ramming the crim into the back of a paddy wagon or by dropping him at the least accessible prison entrance. Picking up four points means having to jab L2 for a nitro boost in order to pursue the helicopter, which you have to stick with for a couple of seconds before the writhing detainee is banged up properly. Nabbing five points is rare as you have to keep your eyes and ears open for the elusive red paddy wagon, but it's worth it as it can turn a game around in one fell swoop. And remember, you can't hold onto the slippery reprobate for long as after a while he'll escape. A host of wacky weapons help you keep hold of the crim and take him back when your opponents manage to ram you to steal him away (like 'tag,' see?). Inevitably, with the four of you scrambling to capture the same convict, things get pretty noisy and chaotic, pretty quickly. Like all great multi-player games, Calling All Cars! truly comes to life with a few mates (even moreso with booze).

As you've probably already gathered, The Shed is loving Calling All Cars! It's an unadulterated slice of old school multi-player mayhem, presented in gorgeous cartoony-exaggerated, cel-shaded, HD-O-Vision. Calling All Cars! is made all the more enjoyable due to it's wonderfully realised, quirky, cartoon charm; loopy music and brilliantly manic Oirish commentator ("Prison's frozen laddy! Go for the paddy wagon!"). In single player, it's diverting, but not nearly as much fun as playing with three drunk mates. But, then the same can be said of most games made with multi-player in mind. Once you've unlocked all of the single player vehicles, you probably won't bother revisiting it. Also, only having four stages-although all four vary significantly- limits replayability somewhat (more to download please). In multi-player however, Calling All Cars!' longevity is nigh-on infinite, like Shed multi-player faves Mashed and Micro Machines V3, Calling All Cars!' pick-up and play appeal will have you hooked for ages as long as you have mates. That's got to be worth a piffling £4.99, surely? Don't think so? Then maybe it's you we should be chucking into the paddy wagon. Laddy.
Score: 8/10