Well here's a nice surprise that came out of nowhere and came fast. On the Nintendo Channel, towards the end of October, they had announced this WiiWare title and then just a mere two weeks after the announcement, it was released for download for 1000 points. So from Excitebike on the NES to ExciteTruck and Excitebots on the Wii, we've come full circle back to the classic.
Excitebike: World Rally plays exactly as the same as its NES predecessor. Graphics have been updated to a more modern look but somehow it still retains that nostalgic feeling of the NES version. There are two control schemes that can be used here. Both control schemes use the exact same control setup that, again, the NES version had. Holding the wiimote sideways, 2 is to accelerate, 1 is a faster turbo-like speed but if held for too long, the engine will overheat. Up and down on the D-pad moves your motorcycle up and down to each of the four positions of the track. The only difference in the two control schemes is how to control the pitch of the front wheel when making jumps. The first scheme one uses left and right on the D-pad to raise or lower the front wheel when jumping. The second scheme uses the motion controls of the wiimote itself to position the front wheel. The A button gives you three different perspectives of the race, as you get the usual 2-D view that the NES Excitebike had and then there's two different isometric angle views. So whatever your control scheme you pick, it very easy to get into and is just as tight as the NES version.
Gameplay is the exact same as the NES Excitebike had with a couple of tiny additions. Taking a page from ExciteTruck, during the race if you hit a box on the track, it'll raise a hill or ramp of sort ahead for you to jump. Also, if you're coming from behind of an opponent, you can now perform a wheelie to ride over them and pass them. So awesome.
Taking a couple more pages from the ExciteTruck game is the format of the race system and a grading system. There's different cups for a set number of races and in order to proceed to the next track, a grade of B or better is needed, based on how fast you've finished the race. And getting S grades will unlock more colors for your bike.
And just like the NES version, they included the track editor, to which kept me playing the NES version for so very long. I remember on the original, my friends and I would create insane tracks and then try to finish them as fast as we could, regardless of how crazy the track layout was. Now being able to share them or download other's creations, just lengthens the longevity of Excitebike: World Rally even more. And yes there's online multiplayer. Speaking of multiplayer, that has to be my one most biggest complaint, no local multiplayer. I don't know how hard that would be to implement, but having four people play this game at the same time in the same room would've been fantastic, especially now that you're able to wheelie over another biker.
Overall, it captures the nostolgia of the first game and makes it modern with some tweeks from the recent "Excite-" titles. If you're a fan of any of the "Excite-" games, you'll be very pleased with Excitebike: World Rally. Even if you haven't played any of the "Excite-" games, but like arcade type racing like say Mario Kart, it a great and simple game to pick up and play. Excite!!!
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1 comments:
I am so, so excited about this. MUST. PLAY.
(I loved Excite Bike as a kid. I would play it for hours. Oh, work, you're going to suffer...)
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