DiscoShark Reviews~
ExciteBike : World Rally

It's important to note from the beginning of this review that I have never played the original ExciteBike and can therefore not compare it to its NES roots. Done. I HAVE however played Monster Game's other two outings for the Wii - Excite Truck and Excitebots – in that regard, Monster Game's take at the re-imagining of this classic title is simplistic, but fun.

Veterans of “Excite” should know the deal here, one has to strategically balance the use of their speed boosts or their engines will overheat and overheating equals a serious fall in speed. Unlike “Excite Truck / Bots however your real opponent doesn't come in the form of the other CPUs but rather the clock. If anything the CPUs in this game only serve as obstacles to slow you down or (if you have a knack for it) portable boost refreshers to keep your nitro burning. The game is simple but addicting, and it never seems to lose that sense of speed that made the other Excite titles so much fun.

In many ways this game approaches the Wii's motion controls like Punch-Out did. It offers the option to use them but wisely adds a “classic” configuration that in many ways is, in many ways, the better control config. The motion controls in this game comes in two flavors, “Default” where you have the motion only controlling wheelies and the angle in which you fly in the air and “Pro” (which you have to unlock for some reason) where you have all of Defaults motions + a motion to control your lane on the track. Just make it easier for yourself and choose “Classic” and forget the other two existed. Like Punch-Out's motion controls you'll find that they're simply not responsive enough for this type of game.

The graphics in this title have naturally been improved over its NES counterpart, offering some clean 3D models for the rider and bike. It's a shame then that the general scenery for this stage, while certainly distinct in each location, offer noticeably lower quality textures. When your Wiiware game is competing with the likes of Lost Winds there really is no excuse for not paying more attention to the graphics.

Soundtrack is … decent. Certainly it makes for some nice background noise but there's nothing really here that you'll be tapping your feet to. Some random sound effects should ring some bells for those who played ExciteBots but other than that the soundtrack as a whole serves its purpose of filling up the silence nicely. It's pleasant but forgettable

The online in this title is … functional, but really doesn't go much farther than that. I had no problems finding and connecting with up to 3 other people to participate in the “With Anyone” races and the races proceeded with no noticeable lag. You earn “anyone points” based on your placing that are then used to unlock special designs for your bikes. Interactions between each player … varies a bit from race to race. Most of the time each racer appears in the form of a transparent bike (pushing the “Race against the clock” focus) while CPUs appear again to either impede or improve your performance. However at times your opponents will randomly … un-ghost themselves and suddenly become solid opponents that you can bump and crash into at will. There's seemingly no rhyme or reason to this, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. “With Friends” offers … the same experience. Literally the only notable differences being that you gain “Friend Points” based on your placing in each race. These friend points naturally are then used to unlock the vehicles that require the friend points. You're also then given the ability send and receive custom tracks with friends...but you can't race them online so it's a forgettable feature to be sure.

One of the main draws that put me in the Mario Kart scene was the addition of online leaderboards … you won't find them here. And of course it's important to note that Monster Game's forgot about Wii Speak again, yet another disappointing omission. The online, in all honesty, is the exact same experience that you'd find in ExciteBots. Limited but functional, it's what Wii owners up to this point have come to expect.

Oh, and there's no local multiplayer. None. I must sound like a broken record with “disappointing omission”.

Replayability in this game is hit and miss, if you have wifi you'll find that the game has a “one more race” sort of appeal that can turn into hours of really enjoyable races, all of which culminating to progressively cooler unlockable designs. If you don't have wifi...well...you better be a classic ExciteBike fanboy. The game's singleplayer is split up between 4 separate cups with 4 races to complete in each cup. Each race is, naturally, set in different locations varying from Canada to China to New York ... but it's a bit short. I was able to complete the single player portion of the game (with all S ratings I might add) in a matter of 2-3 hours. There's one special suit that can be obtained offline, everything else is simple re-colorings of your one bike model. It's a bit of a tough sale from a single player perspective.

Overall I'd only recommend this title to those who have access to wifi or those who are serious fans of the Excite franchise. Like I said there isn't much to come back to in this game if you're betting only on the single-player experience. There's no doubt that the single player makes for a fun 2 hours or so but with the omission of local multiplayer the experience is certainly...limited. In many ways this game does what it set out to in remaking the original ExciteBike but chooses not to push the envelope. A fact that's seen from everything from the soundtrack to the online. As it is the game is fun but lacks a serious amount of depth.

Overall Score - 7/10