Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6853 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Nintendo
• Released on: 2007-02-16
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Nintendo Wii
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .75" h x 5.50" w x 7.75" l, .30 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review:
In a nutshell:
Nintendo are readying a brand new race game for the Wii and it's not F-Zero, Mario Kart or anything you've ever seen before. Instead you'll believe a 4x4 can fly!

The lowdown:
Every console needs a goodly number of quality racing games if it wants to really succeed and that's not always been Nintendo's forte. Excite Truck though is an attempt to create a game that marries the all out fun of Mario Kart with something, not realistic but at least less obviously cartoonish. Yet again the Wii Remote is used in a completely different way, this time holding it horizontally and rotating it left and right as if it was a steering wheel. The only other controls are accelerate and brake on the '1' and '2' buttons, although you will land better if you tilt the controller up while you approach the ground. Despite this purposeful simplicity it's one of the better looking Wii games, with a huge draw distance and some impressive speed blur effects. It looks the part then, but more importantly it seems to play it too.

Most exciting moment:
A good lick of speed is always important in a racing game but this has got to be one of the fastest racers ever - and that's before you turn on the turbo boost. To make things even worse (better) picking up power-ups allows you to deform the terrain, creating enormous jumps out of thin air that send you flying for what seems like miles.

Since you ask:
The name Excite Truck is a reference to the NES game Excitebike and its N64 update Excitebike 64. Beyond the name and the fact that it is a racing game though the two titles do not appear to have anything else in common.

The bottom line:
Nintendo's first modern racer for years looks like a truck load of fun.-HARRISON DENT

Edge
Excite Truck is, at its core, a satisfying and individual racer.

Manufacturer's Description:
As Nintendo’s first racing title for the innovative Wii console, Excite Truck sets the standard for motion-sensitive racing, a challenge that this game happily accepts. To control their trucks players hold the Wii Remote on its side and tilt it left and right like a steering wheel, allowing accurate and intuitive control. The skills required to be a champion don’t just stop at being able to throw the truck round corners and perform elaborate power slides. As players perform huge jumps they must tilt the Wii Remote forwards or backwards to align their vehicle’s wheels with the ground – a perfect landing will result in a vital speed boost.

In the game’s main Race Mode finishing first is not the only way to win! Clearing one stage will unlock the next, but as well as scoring points to finish a level by finishing first, players can top up their scores with points for drifting, jumping, smashing into other cars and off-roading through trees. There are numerous tracks to be unlocked ranging from snowy mountains to sandy beaches and plush jungles. Players can earn over 20 types of truck, by unlocking new ones as they progress through the game. Players can also customise their trucks by painting them with their favourite colours and it is possible to unlock special paint jobs for the various trucks by accomplishing certain achievements with one truck. When the paint jobs for all the trucks have been unlocked a special monster truck will be unlocked and available for you to enjoy.

Becoming a true master of Excite Truck isn’t an easy task as no two races are exactly the same. While racing, gamers will come across items, which change the course in real-time, causing mountains to grow and land to fall-away into the sea. The key to becoming a truly great racer is learning to respond to these dynamic changes without losing speed.

Fear not though! Perfecting your driving techniques in Excite Truck is not as mammoth a task as it seems, thanks to the game’s Challenge Mode, where players can take part in different challenges such as jumping through a sequence of rings, slaloming through gates and even crashing into other trucks to practice and polish the different techniques required.

Excite Truck is the first Wii game to make use of the console’s SD card slot, allowing users to customise the in-game sound. Players can select their favourite MP3s from a selection on their SD Card and replace the game’s music with those tracks. Whatever your taste in music Excite Truck will be right up your street.

Want to show off your new-found skills? Well never fear, Excite Truck features a multiplayer versus mode where two players can challenge each other in a one on one race around any of the unlocked tracks, using vehicles which the player has earned during the single player game.

Customer Reviews

A racer thats worth your money
I wasn't going to buy Excite Truck, as I thought £[...] was a bit much to ask for a game that hadn't received any great review scores and that was the way it was going to stay, at least until it was reduced in price.

That all lasted until I happened to be doing my weekly shop in Asda, and saw it on sale for £27.77 - I snapped it up in an instant and haven't looked back since. The game is brilliant, fast, fun and everything a new console needs to draw in customers.

Its downside is it lacks any kind of online'ness - although, so does every other current Wii game - we're lead to believe that this will change very soon, with the release of Metroid Prime 3.

Make sure you have a SD card with your favourite Mp3's loaded on it, as the game has a setting to play them - The guitar music within Excite Truck starts to grate your ears and thats even before you've completed the tutorials - I recommend your favourite Prodigy track, to best enjoy the game.

Love IT!!
I don't know why but Excite Truck caught my eye right from the launch of the Wii and I wasn't disappointed when it was finally released in the UK. I love the speed of the game, its so fast and I love racing to get loads of stars! The graphics are great and some people have said it doesn't have longevity but I haven't unlocked everything yet and I have had the game since release day! The multiplayer is ok but I find in more satisfying to play on my own, I think its beacause of the pace of the racing it doesn't benefit from a split screen. The only thing I feel it misses is an option where you can go into an arena and smash up other trucks, like Destruction Derby!! You can use an SD card to play your own music in the game but my fluffy pop music doesn't really go with the game! Buy it you won't regret it!!

A great racer even if you don't like racing games
Let's get this out of the way; I don't like racing games. I hate that in the arcade you have a stupid timer and checkpoint mode that eats up your coins like PacMan on a binge, I hate all these "Need for Speed"-type games where you customise everything from the leather trim to the gear knob on some suped up road car and zoom around a photo realistic Paris, and I'm not a big fan of Nascar.

Excite Truck, however, I love. First of all, this is a really fast, really visceral game that allows you to do some great tricks really easily. Much like the rebooted Prince of Persia games, you'll find yourself going "wow, did I really just do that?" as you do a huge jump off the top of a mountain, spin your truck round 720 degrees, and then land with all 4 tyres on the floor at once for another turbo boost. It encourages you to smash into your opponents, to dodge through shortcuts, and to go very very fast through some totally made-up scenarios (hopping over icebergs anybody?).

But here's the thing: Nintendo have realised that when people play racing games they don't just sit there like statues. When they want to steer right, their whole body leans right. When they really need to jump just a little bit further, they tilt the control back and grit their teeth. And this is where the Wii shines. They've perfected the mapping of the Wii controller to how your body wants to play this game. Totally disregarding all laws of physics, if you lean back on Excite Truck, your truck leans back. You steer by tilting the controller like a steering wheel and the harder you tilt, the harder the steering lock. Other than that there are only two buttons, an accelerator and a turbo.

You won't be needing the brake.

Gaming. Perfection.