Weird little puzzle games are the bread and butter of the mobile market. While more and more ambitious titles like Wuthering Waves ask players to commit their whole damn lives to a free RPG that sprawls endlessly, the vast majority of casual players will pick up their phones, do a couple rounds of bird throwing or word association and then get on with their lives. It’s a fun thing, and I certainly support it in many fields (my own time with stitch is still a constant, relaxing refrain). But moving those weird little puzzle games onto console and PC platforms means that they’re now competing with the very concept of gaming, which can be a difficult space to contend. WHAT THE CAR? is certainly coming into the play space with both guns blazing, but it’s important to figure out if you brought a revolver to a knife fight or a tank battle.

Either I’ve won or I’ve lost, and I think my car is too busy having office chairs for tires to care.

The sequel to the nonsensical but amusing WHAT THE GOLF?, the development team, Triband, decided it was high time to bring their own take on limited racing courses to the computer world at large. In this title, you play a car that is constantly in a state of non-car transformations, such as having legs instead of tires or being carried by horses, or something silly. “Silly” is the key factor to the entire charm and engagement of WHAT THE CAR? You have to understand that the absurd nature of everything is done very sincerely, with a lot of emphasis on things being strange, out of place, and cartoonish to the nth degree. Every level you have to get your car across the finish line, which may involve traversing strange terrain, difficult traps, or just convoluted directions and controls.

I’ve had the opportunity to play WHAT THE GOLF? previously on both my Nintendo Switch and my phone, and I liked the idea in bite-sized pieces. Changing what the golf ball was, how to score a victory, and the inherent nature of golf having some target swings and handicaps made it a good balance of “wacky” while still being a sporting game. Those elements are somewhat present in WHAT THE CAR?, but it feels tamped down in order to accommodate for what the game’s objective is. After all, you’re a car: cars care not for arbitrary points. The only challenge is to remain engaged long enough to get to the checkered flag in a good amount of time, or, really, at all. Try to finish quickly to achieve the gold ranking, and woe unto the fool who suffers silver or, worse, bronze.

Now that’s the dopamine rush from affirmation we all want and need.

Granted, there are elements that keep the game replayable beyond the simple act of completion. There are the collectible cards, which are always tucked into some odd space on the track that is obtainable but meant to be challenging to different degrees. Oddly, the cards are almost always in the vein with a faster track time: they act almost as hints as to which way you should try to go to hit a more optimal end. The cards sort of frame the level itself, not really your car or anything that’s specifically extra (unlike the trivia points of Bakeru), so they exist to collect for the very sake of having them. Like many collectibles within games, it’s up to you how important it is (and how important the Steam Achievement that goes with it is as well).

Purposely, the game can be confusing at times. Along with the constantly changing approach to the target, there’s the fact that the controls can change as well. Sometimes your car autoruns, sometimes it auto jumps, sometimes it does neither and you’re just holding on for dear life. This inherently makes the game need replay attempts because, frankly, some courses will result in your failing rather quickly. It’s quite alright, as the reload is fast and there’s no downtime, but I was a bit taken aback the first time my car merrily ran and jumped off a cliff without my input to the situation.

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads. Because I’m a terrible driver.

There’s a lot to like about WHAT THE CAR?, particularly the support that’s gone into this game. Porting something from mobile to PC could have been an ugly disaster that feels like a cash grab, but Triband has been very considerate with the process. Everything looks sharp and optimal for the big screen, with the controls transitioning to keyboard or controller with no issues. The performance is right over the plate, with even my relatively underpowered PC running it buttery smooth. The way the camera moves around sometimes is almost too powerful, and I did end up needing to take a break from motion sickness, something that didn’t happen on the tiny screen of my phone, but I chalk that up to my own shortcomings and not the game itself.

There is also the inclusion of a level creator and editor, and this acts as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, WHAT THE CAR? is insistent on showcasing and mentioning the tracks crafted by other players, injecting them into the main story areas as side treks whenever possible. The fanbase has been very active, and you’ve got a good number of levels already that are charming in their own right, and feel like they fit right in with the tone of the professionally made levels. Okay, there was one I played that was just a speed booster followed by the goal, but some people like that easy win, so the track is for someone.

Better level design? Nope, just add barriers to prevent lemmings-like behavior!

On the other hand, though, the level creator itself felt incredibly awkward to use. The actions are married to the left and right side of the controller, and you put everything down through the sprite of the car itself, which can be very difficult to control when you’re attempting to fine-tune a stage for maximum funderfulness. This feels a bit like someone taking a bit too far, like an actor who remains in character even when the director calls cut. I would have preferred a level editor that wasn’t as awkward to control as the main game itself, simply so I could expedite the process and test out my course in a more ideal manner.

Having said that, there’s also the matter of WHAT THE CAR? as a concept on the PC. Strictly speaking, I sit down at my computer to have long-form gaming, not to just do a few minutes and then mosey on to something else. Investing more than twenty or thirty minutes at a time into a puzzle racing game where things can be either easy as pie or frustrating as calculus doesn’t jive with my approach to gaming. This leads me to believe that the PC version will do best with people who have already enjoyed it elsewhere and want it on a bigger stage, and, in that aspect, it succeeds wildly. The price tag is more than fair for the amount of content, and it’s a really well put together title.

This made me giggle way longer than it should have.

Fans of the franchise will get a good session from WHAT THE CAR?, and I can see that it’ll do well in the streaming category as well, especially with the fan-made levels already reaching ridiculous proportions. If you don’t gel within the first ten minutes, there’s a good chance this isn’t the game for you, and that’s alright. But if you have a little spark of joy after your first gold crown, follow that vibe and keep on driving. Your tires – or feet, or bears, or roller skates – are taking you on a journey of a lifetime.

WHAT THE CAR? is available now on iOS, Android, and PC.

Reviewed on PC.

A copy of WHAT THE CAR? was provided by the publisher.