To The Truck!

It's ok! I'm here! Honest! I wish I had some awesome story to tell you, like that I was called out of town on an emergency meeting with the president, and then some hijacker tried to take over the plane, but I managed to break his skull with my always-handy Wii remote, and then the pilot passed out so I guided the plane to a not-extremely smooth but decent landing in a field in Iowa. Then I ran to Washington.

But I don't have that awesome story. But I do have an awesome game to tell you about. It's exciting. And there are trucks. I think that might have something to do with the game's name. Which is Excite Truck. For Wii. It was a launch title, and it's kinda hard to find it seems. But I found it on sale at good ol' KMart a long time ago, and then finally got around to playing at Christmastime.

Excite Truck follows in the style of the ol' Excite bike games of the NES and N64. But this time, there are trucks and jeeps and SUVs and all manner of exciting vehicles to drive. And naturally, they go way faster and higher than in real life. That's what makes it fun, of course. Also like the old excite games, you have a turbo boost that you can use at any time, but you also have to watch your thermostat, because if you overheat, you lose your boost for a short while.

The game takes you to various locations in China, Scotland, Fiji, Canada, and Mexico. You can expect ridiculous jumps, insane tracks, and huge ramps. Also expect to crash about a billion times. But it's ok, cause you can get right back up and keep going. Plus, you get a star for good crashes.

Speaking of stars, the point of the game is to get loads of stars, not necessarily finish first. For example, each track has a set number of stars you must earn before the race is over for you to unlock the next track. You can earn stars for staying in the air a long time, drifting around large corners, and of course, wrecking other cars. Plus, you get bonus stars for finishing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.

Since the game is on Wii, you control it by holding the Wii remote sideways and tilting it to turn. It makes it very easy to control, in addition to the fact that steering is quite easy. The game is really easy to just pick up and play, which makes it nice. Also, the game looks great. You can see a long ways ahead, so you can judge where to land, for example if another truck is right below you. Awesome.

In short, the game is pure adrenaline-pumped fun. I played it for hours and couldn't put it down. Plus, for the most part, it's not too hard to unlock all the tracks and trucks. It's perfect excitement! Also, nothing is more fun than t-boning another truck at 190 MPH. Sweet.

Pros:

• Stays true to the Excite paradigm
• Easy to pick up and play, but plenty of strategy to learn
• Lots of tracks and trucks to unlock
• Not too hard!

Cons:

• The last track is significantly harder to beat than all the others
• On rare occasions, the steering doesn't respond perfectly

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased: