Jump to content

Excite Truck

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bobcheezy (talk | contribs) at 05:17, 26 December 2006 (that line didn't fit in, and didn't make any sense). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Excite Truck
File:Excite truck boxart.jpg
Developer(s)Monster Games
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Platform(s)Wii
ReleaseUnited States November 19, 2006
Japan January 2007
Europe February 16,2007
Australia February 22, 2007
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single player, Multiplayer

Excite Truck is a video game published by Nintendo and developed by Monster Games for the Wii video game system. It features deformable environments and tilt based controls. The game is one of the launch titles for the Wii. [1] It is the third game in the Excitebike series (succeeding Excitebike and Excitebike 64) and it is the first that features trucks.

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, similar to the way one would hold an NES controller. Steering is done by actually tilting the Wii Remote from side to side like a steering wheel. Acceleration and braking is done by pushing the 1 and 2 buttons, and to land major jumps, the player has to tilt the Wii Remote so that all four wheels will land parallel. The directional pad is used for turbo boosts.

When first starting the game, after you enter your name and start the file to be stored in the system's memory, you must go through a series of tests or practice runs (similiar to Gran Turismo) before you are allowed to play the full game. After finishing the training levels, you are free to play the single player game or you can go ahead and play the multiplayer game. You first start with three trucks, the Boulder, the Firefly, and the Wolf. You will continually unlock more trucks to use in the single player mode or in the multiplayer mode.

Features

Excite Truck is the first Wii game to let you upload your own music to the game and to be played in the background of the game while you are playing.[2] The game is not compatible with Ubisoft's "Wii Wheel" accessory, due to the fact that the Wii controller's 'face' is pointed upward instead of towards the player as it is in Ubisoft's GT Pro Series and Monster 4x4 World Circuit. The game also supports split screen two player multiplayer. In addition, players can insert an SD card with MP3s to create their own custom soundtracks. [1] As it is the first game to do so, this sets the stage for succeeding games to emulate this feature and incorporate custom soundtracks into later games on the Wii console.

References to past Excite titles

The game is a 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 you jump unrealistically high altitudes with your truck. In fact, the main item of the game lets you deform the land to make the levels even more "extreme" than they were originally designed.

A gameplay element also carried from both the NES and N64 titles is overheating. When you use too much boost, your engine will overheat, temporarily reducing the top speed of your truck. To eliminate the overheating state fastest, you must stop the truck and wait for the engine to cool down, adding a sense of strategy into the game. Driving your truck into 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.

Controls

Excite Truck utilizes the Wii Remote held sideways, with the 1 and 2 buttons held to the right and the directional pad to the left. This largely mimics the original NES controller. However, unlike the original NES controller, the directional pad is NOT used for navigation.

  • Control/Directional Pad: Used to fire the turbo boost to greatly increase your truck's speed. All directions activate the same command.
  • A: Used to reset position
  • +: Used to pause the game.
  • 1: Used to brake and move in reverse.
  • 2: Used to accelerate

In addition, the positional sensors in the Wii Remote are used for navigation. One holds the Wii Remote with its "face" facing upwards. By tilting the Wii Remote clockwise and counterclockwise (from the perspective of holding the Wii Remote out in front of you), one's truck can steer to the right and left, respectively. When airborne, tilting the Wii Remote forward and backward will angle the pitch of one's truck in midair.

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.

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.

Stunts

Excite Truck features several types of stunts which score 1 to 5 stars for their duration, audacity, or other criteria:

  • Air: The scored stars increase by the duration of time your truck spends in the air in the single jump. A star is added for roughly each 3 seconds the truck remains in the air.
  • Drift: As in Drift Racing, when steering hard around a turn and sliding one's vehicle in a much looser turn then the vehicle would have if the tires had full traction. Stars scored for drift increase with longer drifts.
  • Tree Run: Stars are gained for driving through closely-situated trees.
  • Air Spin: Stars are gained for spinning your truck in mid-air.
  • Truck Throw: Stars are gained for "throwing" opponent trucks. This is accomplished by driving over terrain-altering powerups when your opponents are a short distance ahead of you, and the changing landscape sends their trucks hurtling into the air.
  • Jump Combo: Landing a jump and initiating additional jumps in very short succession increases stars in a jump combo. The time on the ground between jumps can not exceed roughly two seconds.
  • Truck Smash: Stars are scored for collisions with other trucks, with their intensity and effects on the other truck determining how many stars are awarded.
  • Nice Crash: Stars are sometimes awarded for particularly fast or ridiculous crashes.
  • Rings: Some race tracks have rings floating in the air, similar to Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64. They are typically in groups of 5 and a star is awarded for each ring that is navigated through in a single jump.

The maximum number of stars awarded for a single stunt (or chain stunt, such as the Jump Combo) is 5 stars. After 5 stars a new stunt will begin (for example, after an exceptionally long drift, a 5-star drift bonus will be awarded and a second drift bonus will begin immediately).

Additionally, there are two actions in the game that do not score stars but provide a racing advantage:

  • Nice Landing: By tilting the Wii Remote, the player can make their truck land on all 4 wheels after a long jump. If all 4 wheels touch down at roughly the same time, a turbo boost will increase the truck's speed for several seconds.
  • Turbo Jump: By pressing a turbo button just after a truck becomes airborne, a turbo jump triggers which causes a turbo boost in mid air to increase jump speed and range.

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.

Play modes

Excite Truck features several gameplay modes, most of them for a single player.

  • Excite Race: The basic "campaign" 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" 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: Race all tracks in reverse, unlocked after completing every race in the Super Excite Race with a score of "S".
  • Challenge: Maneuver your vehicle through a seris of Gate, Ring, and Crush Challenges.
  • Versus: The multiplayer aspect of the game, which allows two players to race one another (without any computer trucks)
  • 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.

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 first released with the launch of the Wii on November, 19, 2006. 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, with being the 9th best selling game for Wii during November. [2]

Reception and awards

Review scores:

  • IGN.com: 8.0/10
  • Gamespot: 6.8/10
  • X-Play: 4 out of 5

References

  1. ^ "Nintendo's Incomparable Wii Console Launches Nov. 19; MSRP $249.99". Nintendo. 2006-09-15. Retrieved 2006-09-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  2. ^ "Excite Truck Custom Soundtrack Confirmed". IGN. 2006-11-10. Retrieved 2006-11-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "2006 Winners". Game Critics Awards. 2006-06-06. Retrieved 2006-06-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Excite_Truck&oldid=96507304"