Title: Nitrobike
Format: Wii
Price: RRP £34.99
Wi-Fi: YES
Players: 4
Release Date: 8/2/08
PEGI rating: 3+
Controls: Held sideways using 2 hands
Well, I got this game delivered from Amazon (£16.99 – GREAT value for money!) on Tuesday (2 days ago) and I’ve had a quick zip around the menus and started on Career Mode, so I can do my first WiiTalk review, so here goes…
GRAPHICS
My initial reaction to this game’s graphics was that it was just like a plain lazy PS2 game. I was actually being unfair. After unlocking a few more tracks, I quickly realised that a lot of work had gone into the 20 different racetracks on this disc, and some were definitely more impressive than others. Themes include snowy mountains, deserts, beaches, junkyards (inc airplane graveyards), farmyards and city streets. The riders are quite laughable – they have a very strong anime look about them – colourful spiky hair, huge shoulders and tiny waists (apart from the fat guy, which seems so un-PC by today’s standard!)
There are some lovely graphical touches – such as when you smash through something (especially the glass rings in the 747 Graveyard). Also plenty of explosions when you crash, although these are totally unrealistic. This is an Arcade Racer, and you have to keep reminding yourself of that!
Having taken a look at quite a lot of Wii games now, I feel that I am being fair in giving this game
7.5/10 for graphics.
AUDIO
This is disappointing. There is no option to switch music tracks or load your own MP3’s like in Excite Truck. This game cries out for this function, and I feel it is a shame to just keep thrusting the same heavy rock guitar track on us time after time. At least you can go into options and turn the background music down!
3/10
GAMEPLAY
This is the good bit. You start with a choice of 4 riders (2 guys, 2 girls) with another 6 to unlock. Then there is a choice of 3 turbo-charged bikes, with a further 9 to unlock (the 9th looks suspiciously like it will be a permanently turbocharged version of the 8th, just like in Excite Truck!), and 20 different race tracks to unlock as you progress through the career stages. Each stage consists of a variety of races – some straight races against 9 other people, some time trials and some elimination races (Bike in last place gets blown up on each lap!)
You hold the remote sideways, as in Excite Truck, and use 2 to accelerate, 1 to brake, and the D-Pad to boost. Steering also works in exactly the same way as Excite truck – tilt left or right to turn, tip back to stay in the air longer, and tip forward to come down quicker (and sometimes you will need to – such as when there is a dirty great bridge in your way and you need to get under it!) There are also a load of tricks to learn once you have mastered all that. This control system worked well for Excite Truck, and it works well here.
I haven’t yet tried out the Wi-Fi racing, so I can’t comment on that as yet, although I think all arcade racers should have online play, so I am looking forward to giving it a go. You have the option of a blind race or racing against friends – which as ever, involves exchanging a 12 digit code with others.
In addition to unlocking people, bikes and tracks, there is also the Extras section, which is Concept Art. These people are obviously quite proud of their anime riders! You initially have the Intro Video and Concept Art 1 (The character Jamie) unlocked, with a further 5 sections of Concept Art to unlock.
The emphasis is very much on fun with this game. Reality goes out of the window as you enjoy jumping across chasms, crashing into obstacles and learning mad stunts.
With so much to unlock and so many tracks to choose from, plus online racing, I think this game should score a strong
8/10 for Gameplay.
INNOVATION
Well, it’s Excite Truck with bikes. We’ve all said it. There really isn’t that much difference, other than the fact that you need to win in this game, and don’t get bonus points for stunts, like you do in ET. Biggest difference is the online racing.
4/10
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This game is definitely growing on me, and for under £20 (I would most definitely not buy it at the RRP!), I don’t think you can go wrong! OK, it's never going to win any awards, and highly unlikely to be anyone's FAVOURITE game, but it belongs on your shelf and deserves to be played. It’s definitely not one for the sim driving enthusiasts, but if you like your arcade racers, like me, then you’ll get your teeth stuck into this very quickly! I would definitely recommend it.
SUMMARY
GRAPHICS: 7.5
AUDIO: 3
GAMEPLAY: 8
INNOVATION: 4
OVERALL RATING: 7/10