Give the wheels a good kick, they're from 1985.
Nintendo and Monster Games snuck Excitebike: World Rally under the radar, only announcing the title a few weeks ago. It's a retro remake in a lot of ways - the same classic gameplay of the original Excitebike with an updated look and options that allows players to play how they want to play. It's a remake done right, one that pays tribute while providing enough tweaks to make it a new and updated experience.
Monster Games had some foresight when they made Excitebike: World Rally; they included new-fangled motion controls that are all the rage, but, more importantly, they threw in the classic NES-styled controls that you know and love from the original. Whether you're into popping wheelies by moving the Wiimote or sticking with the trusty old D-pad, Excitebike: World Rally is flexible and lets you play how you want to play.
The game's graphics are simple, but work and the music is upbeat, peppy and a lot of fun; the look and feel of the game is enough to tickle your nostalgia bone. Monster Games put their own spin on the game by providing several camera angles and options to give players either the familiar side scrolling racing of the 1985 classic NES game or a new isometric perspective that gives you a greater view of obstacles coming down the track.
Dedicate yourself to getting S-ranks in all courses (including that evil Platinum cup Fiji course) and you'll unlock Pro Control mode, which gives you even more camera angles to choose from (including a rear view of your rider) and more motion controls.
While we experimented with the motion controls, popping wheelies by moving the Wiimote and guiding your racer in and out of big jumps during critical momnents of a race just didn't provide the fast reaction time we needed. They were interesting and fun, but the need for a faster reaction time on higher level courses just didn't make motion controls an option in the long run.
Additionally, the unlockable Pro Control mode is interesting, but nothing more than a novelty. After slugging through the game, the introduction of new controls long after you've become accustomed to one style of control makes it something you'll try out, but won't stick with.
With 16 courses, complaints are bound to be lodged against Excitebike: World Rally, but they will ring hollow. You're getting a heck of a lot for $10: single player, online mode to race against friends and random opponents and a track designer mode which will let you make courses and then send them to friends.
At eight saved spots for player-created courses, it feels a little light, particularly for the type of person that really likes to make their own tracks. The ability to tap into the SD card or internal memory to keep creating tracks would have made the track creator mode that much better.
Excitebike: World Rally is great fun. It's part remake, part recreation and puts enough tweaks on the formula to make it worthwhile. I would have liked to see Monster Games include more influence from their Wii Excite games into Excitebike: World Rally, but the small additions of terrain deformation are a fun nod to their criminally underappreciated Wii games.
Excitebike: World Rally is available now on WiiWare.
Note: Online mode wasn't available when we played the game and thus isn't part of this review.
