Excite Truck(Wii)

Since the dawning of the "modern" era of video games, when console games made the transition from the simpler, mostly arcade-style offerings of the Atari 2600 and its ilk to the more sophisticated (and clearly graphically superior) games of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo has created/published games that were enjoyable and appropriate for all ages - even passing through the more mature "Grand Theft Auto" era, they retained this focus. "Excite Truck", with it's competent use of the Wiimote controller, many tracks, insane sense of speed, and unlockables continues this legacy of pure gameplay bliss.


Like most racing titles, there is not much plot to speak of - you have been invited to race one of several trucks (you can choose from a stable of 4 at the beginning) on a generous selection of tracks from locales such as Australia and China. There are 2 modes of play - standard racing (1 or 2 players), and the practice challenges which range from the ring jump challenge (where you must clear as many rings as you can by attaining maximum air off the jumps), to the crash challenge where your truck is equipped with radar and you drive around an open course attempting to destory as many AI trucks as you can within the time limit. When you choose the standard race mode, you begin at the Bronze level tracks - once you obtain a grade of "B" or better in all the tracks the silver tracks are unlocked, and so on. when you start a race, you will see a 0/(number of points) indicator at the top of the screen - this is the number of points you would need to obtain to attain an "A" rank for that track - go beyond that number and you will earn the coveted "S" rank. There are several different ways to earn points, drifting around corners, crashing into other trucks, landing your jumps evenly (which also gives you a nice speed boost for a limited time), flying through rings, or making "tree runs" (the longer you drive along the edge of the track close to the trees, or drive through the trees, the more points you get). In the standard race mode, you will be facing 6 opponents, and while obtaining first place is desirable, your ultimate goal is to accumulate enough points through your racing performance and stunts to obtain a good grade for the track, unlocking the next course, and in some cases, unlocking a new truck.

The performance characteristics of the various trucks differ, from the zippy but traction-shy "Firely" to the slower and steadier jeeps, every truck offers up a different race style, and you will probably want to change your truck from race to race to best take advantage of the course. Every truck handles nicely (though some smoother than others, due to the aforementioned performance characteristics), as the Wii-Remote is utilized to pleasent effect in this title. There is a bit of a learning curve to the racing, as you drive by tilting the Wii-Remote left and right to steer, accelerating with the "1" and "2" buttons, using your boost with the directional pad, and tilting your truck up and down in the air by tilting the Wii-Remote up and down, but it won't be long before the action is completely natural, and completely entertaining. The sensitivity implemented here is spot-on, giving you the hairpin control you will need on some of the more difficult tracks.

The tracks themselves are well designed if a bit spartan (no objects laying around to crash into other than the natural scenery), encompassing several locales such as the Great Wall of China (one of my favorite tracks, by the way - you can actually soar OVER the wall at one point), a bumpy countryside race alongside a Scottish castle that will impress, and a race along a tropical coast. All the tracks are packed with enough jumps and tight turns to entertain any Excitebike/racing fan, and even recruit the non-fans. My favorite feature of the tracks has to be the icons you can run into that will actually raise or lower sections of land ahead - rasing a huge natural ramp for a wicked jump, or bringing the land crashing down, crashing your opponent(s) ahead, and earning you some skill points - easily one of the most entertaining aspects of this title. These tracks will definitly test your abilities, and your senses as the massive jumps send you flying into the stratosphere, obtaining impossible air-time. The computer AI is decent, but not overly aggressive, the challenge here lies in the courses themselves, rather than the competition.

In addition to your standard race mode, there are the Ring, Gate and Crash challenge modes. In the Ring mode, you attempt to get as many points as you can for a given track by driving your truck through rings place in the air above jumps. In Gate mode, you race a rapidly ticking clock by driving through series of gates, gaining time for each gate hit, while losing time for missing gates. Crash mode is my personal favorite, where you are placed in a wide open area with a rader display, and you have to crash all the other cars in the area in the time allotted - good clean truck smashin' fun.


While "Excite Truck" can't compare graphically to other next-gen racing titles, it still manages to impress with nice truck models, beautiful environments to race in, and an impressive sense of speed. I would say graphically, it appears to be somewhat better than your average X-Box racing game, though it unfortunately suffers from a lack of "stuff" on the tracks that would have made the racing a little more visceral. While Nintendo has often touted the Wii's gameplay over graphics (and after all, isn't that the stuff good games are made of?), it's nice to see that the Wii, while no powerhouse can still handle graphics that are still somewhat superior to last generations powerhouse, the X-Box. Audio-wise, the engine sounds are crisp, while the music is a series of generic rock tunes that will either pump you up or send you scrambling to mute the music - fortunately, the game includes a very cool feature (and the first Wii game to my knowledge to include this) - the ability to import your own music from an SD card - while I haven't tested this out myself, it's definitly a nice addition.

Whether you are a hardcore racing fan, a non-fan, or a casual gamer, if you own a Wii, "Excite Truck" is definitly a title you want to pick up, and a definite standout among the current selection of titles for the system. Fun and precise control, great tracks and vehicles, and nice graphics combine to create a very entertaining arcade racer that is sure to pull you in for "just one more race".