Excite Truck
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| Excite Truck | |
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| Developer(s) | Monster Games |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) | NA November 19, 2006 JPN January 18, 2007 EUR February 16, 2007 AUS February 22, 2007 |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | Wii |
| Media | Wii optical disc |
| Input | Wii Remote |
Excite Truck is a video game published by Nintendo and developed by Monster Games for the Wii video game system. It features malleable environments and tilt based controls. The game was one of the launch titles for the Wii in North America.[1] It is a spiritual successor to the Excitebike series (Excitebike and Excitebike 64).
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[edit] Gameplay
Excite Truck does not use the Nunchuk attachment; it is controlled entirely with the Wii Remote. To control the game, players must hold the Wii Remote in their hands horizontally, the way the controller is held for some Virtual Console games. Steering is done by tilting the Wii Remote from side to side like a steering wheel. Braking is done by pushing the 1 button and accelerating is done by pushing the 2 button. To land major jumps, the player has to tilt the Wii Remote so that all four wheels will land parallel to the ground. The directional pad is used for turbo boosts.
When first starting the game, after the player enters their name and create the file to be stored in the system's memory, they must go through a series of tests or practice runs (similar to Gran Turismo) before they are allowed to play the full game. After finishing the training levels, both single and multi player modes are available. The player first starts with three trucks: the Boulder, the Firefly, and the Wolf. They must unlock additional trucks by reaching various benchmarks.
[edit] Features
Excite Truck is the first Wii game to let people select music in the form of MP3's from a SD card to the game to be played in the background while they are playing instead of the music provided by the game.[2] The game also supports split screen two player multiplayer.
[edit] References to past Excite titles
The game is a spiritual sequel to NES title Excitebike and the N64 title Excitebike 64. The developers passed down and updated many features that made the original bike games popular. For one example, the giant cliffs and jumps from the NES title return here, as the courses feature many hills and cliffs that make the player jump unrealistically high altitudes with their truck. In fact, the main item of the game lets players morph the land to make the levels even more "extreme" than they were originally designed. As in all Excite titles, it is important to adjust the angle of the vehicle so its wheels land parallel to the ground; in Excite Truck, a massive turbo boost is rewarded for a perfect landing.
A gameplay element also carried from both the NES and N64 titles is overheating. When the player uses too much boost, their engine will overheat, temporarily reducing the top speed of their truck. To eliminate the overheating state fastest, they must stop the truck and wait for the engine to cool down, adding a sense of strategy into the game. Driving the truck into shallow water will instantly cool the engine all the way down, so infinite boost can be used while in water. Water can be either part of the course or it can be reached using a land-deformation powerup.
The track editor present in earlier titles does not appear in Excite Truck.
[edit] Scoring
Crossing the finish line first is not the goal of Excite Truck, but rather another avenue for gaining "stars". Stars are scored for a variety of stunts, and for your placement at the end of the race. A letter grade is awarded for each race, corresponding to the number of stars obtained, with the "S rank" being the highest grade possible. Getting "S ranks" in all tracks on the regular "Excite" difficulty level unlocks a harder "Super Excite" difficulty level. Getting "S ranks" in all tracks on the "Super Excite" difficulty level unlocks an even more difficult "Mirror Mode" level.
In single player "Excite" mode, all tracks have a required number of stars for the track to be considered "passed". You are not required to finish in first place (you can finish in last place and still win) so long as you gain the requisite number of stars during the race. Races are timed to prevent players from reversing back across high-star areas and completing the same stunts over and over again.
[edit] Winning races
In single player mode, you receive bonus stars following the race depending on how you placed. These stars are applied to your score before determining if you are have completed the track's minimum score.
- 1st Place: 50 bonus stars
- 2nd Place: 25 bonus stars
- 3rd Place: 15 bonus stars
- 4th Place: 10 bonus stars
- 5th Place: 5 bonus stars
- 6th Place: No stars awarded
In multiplayer races, the player who crosses the finish line first receives a bonus of 15 stars. Additionally, once the first player has crossed the line, a 30 second countdown is triggered for the second player. For each second that the second player has not completed the race, an extra star is awarded the first finisher. If the timer expires, the second player is disqualified with no score.
[edit] Play modes
Excite Truck features several gameplay modes, most of them for a single player.
- Excite Race: The basic campaign mode in which the player competes in several cup races. After completing each race in a cup (a race is completed by racing it and scoring the required number of stars), a new cup will be opened, and new tracks can be raced. The new tracks are accessible immediately in Excite Race and Versus modes.
- Super Excite Race: The harder difficulty campaign mode unlocked after completing every race in the Excite Race mode with a score of "S". Consists of 5 cups, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond.
- Mirror Race Mode: An even more difficult mode in which all the tracks are in reverse and the rings are smaller, unlocked after completing every race in the Super Excite Race with a score of "S".
- Challenge: Maneuver your vehicle through a series of Gate, Ring, and Crush Challenges.
- Versus: The multiplayer aspect of the game, which allows two players to race one another.
- Tutorial: 4 tutorial sections (Basic I and II, and Stunts I and II) provide short, interactive tutorials on playing the game. They range from basic acceleration to advanced jumps and stunts.
[edit] Release
The game was first playable during E3 2006, and an updated build was also playable during the 2006 Nintendo Fusion Tour, with four different courses playable. Prior to its release at the Wii launch, the game was one of the first titles to be playable on the first Wii Kiosks, along with Wii Sports and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
The game was released in the US on November 19, 2006, simultaneous to the launch of the Wii console system. The game was not as successful in sales, due to having to share the sales with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and the rest of the launch titles, but it did a modest success, being the 9th best selling game for Wii during November. [1]
The game was released January 18, 2007 in Japan, February 16, 2007 in Europe and February 22, 2007 in Australia.
[edit] Reception and awards
- E3 2006 Game Critics Awards: Best Racing Game [3]
Review scores:
- IGN.com: 8.0/10
- Gamespot: 6.8/10
- X-Play: 4 out of 5
- Nintendo Power: 8.5/10
- Game Informer: 7.75
- Official Nintendo Magazine (uk): 84%
- NGamer (uk): 77%
[edit] Trivia
- Excitebike was released on the Virtual Console service in Europe on February 16th, to mark the European release of Excite Truck.
[edit] References
- ^ Nintendo's Incomparable Wii Console Launches Nov. 19; MSRP $249.99. Nintendo (2006-09-15). Retrieved on September 15, 2006.
- ^ Excite Truck Custom Soundtrack Confirmed. IGN (2006-11-10). Retrieved on November 10, 2006.
- ^ 2006 Winners. Game Critics Awards (2006-06-06). Retrieved on June 6, 2006.
