For all of the innovative ideas that can be realized on the Wii, the prospect of racing games and using the remote as a steering wheel is probably one of the most exciting. It’s not that their haven’t been exciting racing games before, but its one of those genres where you can be sure (or at least hope) that the controls have been designed to take full advantage of the controller. Excite Truck is an adrenaline pumped racer that doesn’t pay much attention to realize and allows you to let loose. While there are many people out there that probably prefer simulation type racing games, it might actually have been a good idea for Nintendo to take a more arcade themed route. Excite Truck doesn’t require you to master the ins and outs of driving to have fun with the game and since it’s the first significant racing title on the new console, it provides an opportunity for players to get used to the concept of driving with a motion sensor remote without having to worry about precise turning and drifting all the time. While a fun game to play (especially with friends), the experience provided by Excite Truck ends up being a bit thin. The game is set up in a rigid manner and outside of the very basic modes; there isn’t much to do after you have seen each of the tracks and vehicles. So the difference between a purchase and a rental will be all up to how much variety you need in your gaming diet.

As should be obvious by now, Excite Truck features motion sensor steering which is achieved by holding the remote in a horizontal manner. As you drive (by pressing A) simply turning the remote left or right will begin to turn your truck. Many people probably have had their own visions of how they think it would or should handle, but for most, it will take a little getting used to. The controls can seem a bit floaty at times, but once you get the hang of it, you can hold your own quite well against the CPU competitors. Driving is spiced up a bit by giving you the ability to boost by pressing the UP button on the D-Pad. As you might expect, it’s vital to time your boosting properly and if done right you can get a much needed upper hand against your opponents. The last main control feature in the game is the ability to tilt the truck up or down which can be useful for gaining air over jumps. This is done of course by tilting the remote quickly either back or forward. As you can see, there isn’t a whole lot of complexity in the game’s controls, but don’t let it fool you. There is a bit of a learning curve with the controls, mostly due to the new way in which you are playing, but it shouldn’t take too long to get on the right track.

As far as the game’s modes go, there is an award based competition mode called “Excite Race” which has you tearing up track by track trying to come in with the highest grade in order to complete each set of tracks. The grading system allows you to gain points for not only placing high at the end of the race, but by driving aggressively, performing tricks and taking advantage of the speed boosts or track “morphing” icons. When you drive over the morphing icons, the track in front of you will shift and morph, either making it more difficult for the opponents ahead of you to drive or opening different paths for you to take advantage of. The speed boosts that can be found along the tracks give you a significant jolt, sending your truck into overdrive and giving you a large opportunity to gain ground in a race. The one downside of course is that because your truck is now going insanely fast, it will become more difficult to avoid obstacles in your way. The other main mode provided is the challenge mode which basically has you plowing through the tracks while trying to achieve goals like soaring through rings over jumps, being a little rough with your fellow drivers and some various other goals. The mode didn’t receive the best possible treatment, but its definitely a worthy compliment to the basic competitive races and gives the game a bit of extra meat. Lastly, you can take on a friend in the two player split-screen mode. Its always fun to play with a friend and this game doesn’t change that, though it would have been nice if they had added a few multiplayer specific modes that made the experience feel a little different than what was provided in single player. For someone who has mastered all of the tracks and objectives in the main game, you might look a little bored to your friend who is seeing it all with a fresher perspective. The game does lack significant replayability, but if you really enjoy the insane antics of the racing which many people should, the game has the ability to keep you occupied for awhile. Also, for whatever reason online components are missing from the entirety of the launch titles, it really doesn’t matter because Excite Truck is a game that could have benefited greatly from online options. It’s a bit of a lost opportunity.

It’s going to be a tough next few years when judging Wii games in terms of graphics. Both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 are blazing ahead with new techniques and better, flashier environments and for the sake of the games, the visuals will be compared to that of the quality other Wii games have produced, and not how one game looks so much better or worse on consoles that are vastly different under the hood. With that said, Excite Truck doesn’t look bad, but it still could look better. While there are ice tracks, dirt tracks and tropical tracks in place to prevent too much repetition, after awhile they look similar nonetheless. The trucks designs aren’t all that impressive and come off as a bit bland. It looks as if more customization features could have helped with that to a degree. But on the positive side, the expansive draw distance is welcomed and the various dirt and water effects help keep it afloat. The framerate seems generally consistent and appears to be keeping near or around 30 frames per second. Surprisingly (for a Wii game) though, the game does feature screen tearing which can make things look a little gangly at times. Overall though, Excite Truck is a solid, if not “exciting” looking game. On the audio side of things, Nintendo included a feature allowing you to play your own custom soundtracks in the game off of your SD memory cards. For some people it will be a necessity because the included rock tracks aren’t all that great and a little annoying at times. For most though, it shouldn’t be too much of an irritation and maybe you will actually like it.

As the one of the Wii’s first racing titles, Excite Truck succeeds in providing the fairly simple and easy to get into experience that Nintendo has been aiming for in its mission to lure casual and non-gamers. What it lacks in depth and expansive features, it makes up for in its blistering racing speeds and dynamic track designs. Excite Truck reinforces the fact that not every racing game needs to be Gran Turismo to be worth a look. Its still not a particularly standout offering and will probably be lost in the minds of gamers after a few short months, but while it was here it provided a good example of what the Wii can provide for racing fans.