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The first playable racing game for
the Wii being shown at E3 2006 was ExciteTruck, a real
roller-coaster affair controlling a large 4x4 around two selectable
courses. The two available were a Desert dirt track with enormous
hills and ravines whilst the other was across
beaches; both looked very nice for this early stage if not a little
spartan. Graphically good, but not astounding for a Next-Generation
console, which is quite besides the point as the Wii has never been
meant to push the power-hungry graphical boundaries like its
opponents: it’s about giving you more freedom.
Racing was fun against five other
computer opponents, fairly fast-paced with special icons on the
course to manipulate the track ahead, giving extra Ramps that would
pop-up to enable launching the car miles into the air and over
opponents using the added Boost to scale ridiculous heights.
Obviously, what was really important was
how it drives with the Wii’s Remote and the Tilt Technology; and
with this demo it worked great. Holding Remote sideways with the
D-Pad in the left hand and the Boost on the 2 Button, turning was a
simple matter of tilting the controller as if the axis was right in
the middle, lifting your right or left hand up or down to turn the
truck whether on the ground or in the air. There was also a Pitch
Control for when the truck’s in the air to ensure a steadier landing
via twisting the controller forwards-and-back. The worry was always
going to be how precise it feels when driving a truck into tight
90-degree turns or long drifting corners, and there were no major
problems with the opacity of the Remote’s calibration - always
feeling truly in control, it just takes a few to adjust to the
sensitivity.
ExciteTruck looks like it’s
shaping-up to be a good, fun Racer, nothing that will define the
genre; but a Racer that uses the Wii’s abilities well and a possible
high-calibre Launch Title. |
