Monster 500

You've probably already heard about the Monster 500 toy line that debuted exclusively at Toys R Us a couple weeks ago, but if not, you're in for a treat. Not only is it a toy line, but it's also a free to play game on iOS and Google. Here's some of the cars I've picked up.

They're sold in 3 packs and as single carded racers. The multi-packs work out to be a little cheaper but some of the cars are only available as singles. Their also seem to be chase versions. On an endcap fully stocked with cars, I only saw one so naturally I had to snag it.



I tweeted the folks at @Monster500Buzz to see if they could give me more info about it.
So I'm not sure if this was intentional or...

Pardon the misuse of their/there, I blame AutoCorrect!

Currently there are two waves of 5 cars each, a couple of Hot Wheels style playsets and four larger scale electronic cars. Their website shows there are two more waves coming in 2014. Each toy comes with a trading card that has a code on the back that will unlock a car in the app. You can see what the cards look like under the Meet the Monsters section of the site.

Here's Werewolf Blitzer...



Drac Attack...



and Captain Heinous from Uranus!



I really like the character design in these. They're a lot of fun! They manage to combine the style of Rat Fink and the cartoon craziness of Wacky Racers. They each have their own specific vehicle that fits their background.



So, how's the game?
It's not bad. I haven't played it for maybe more than an hour total but it seems decent. I think the main thing that sets it apart from other cart racers is the cartoony monster theme. There's Monsterized standard power ups to hamper your opponents and boost pads to speed you down the track. One of the things that can be fun, or annoying if you're the victim, are the environmental hazards that you can activate.



The bones you win from racing can be used to unlock new racers and upgrade your current ones in 5 categories. As with every free to play game, you have the option of spending real money to buy a premium currency: skulls. All the cars can be unlocked with bones (with enough grinding) or skulls but the available paint schemes can only be gotten with skulls.

The codes on the trading cards seem to unlock a random racer and not necessarily the one pictured on the card. Or it may be that because I had already unlocked one of them, it gave me one I didn't have yet.

And if you're on Game Center, go ahead and add me as Dex1138 and maybe we can get a multiplayer race going sometime! There's a couple more pics over on Flickr, too.

Head over to Countdown to Halloween and Blog-O-Ween for more Halloween fun!