When it was revealed that Monster Games had a new Wii project, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for what it would be. Sure, I had my share of speculation, but this was something that nobody in their right mind would guess. How many people figured the logical progression in the Excite series would be bikes, trucks and finally robot animal cars? I have the feeling it wasn’t many.

To make matters even stranger, the game boasted to revolutionize the racing genre by having you participate in countless minigames during the race. When I first read about that, I was very turned off. Luckily, I decided to give Monster Games the benefit of the doubt, already being a fan of ExciteTruck, and I’m glad I did.

ExciteBots builds on a lot of familiar concepts found in ExciteTruck. Rather than placing all the emphasis on getting 1st place, you receive a letter grade after crossing the finish line that is based on how many stars you earned. Getting first place does, however, give you a large amount of stars, making positioning well still important.

All of the methods for acquiring stars that were present in ExciteTruck are still present. Conditions such as long periods of time in the air, narrowly missing trees, and drifting, however, will no longer be enough to get you that “S” rank. Now you must ram a soccer ball into a goal while going around a corner, spin your robot animal car around a pole to catch pieces of a sandwich, or glide your car through the air to collect butterflies. What makes these minigames work without being bothersome is that none of them stop the action of the race. Most of them are activated be running over exclamation points. Sometimes, these items will also transform the terrain like they did in ExciteTruck.

The kind of input required for you to maximize your stars can vary greatly. For example, if ten bowling pins appear on the track, you’re objective is to simply plow into them, taking as many of them down as you can. If you happen to pick up a tambourine during the race, you will be expected to push the “A” button in a rhythmic fashion along with the sounds in the game. When you come across one of the motion controlled minigames, prepare to look like a complete idiot.

Thankfully, there is always an indication, usually found on the right side of the screen, letting you know exactly what you are suppose to do for the active minigame. This is especially important on the motion controlled minigames. Each one seems to work just fine, assuming you’re following the actions of the example on the right. You will, however, lose all your dignity when you make the exaggerated motions required for looping around a horizontal bar.

The core controls work quite well, fine tuning the ones present in ExciteTruck. Steering feels a bit tighter and air spins are much more responsive. In ExciteTruck, I was never able to achieve more than a 1080 spin, whereas in ExciteBots I was able to pull of a 2520 on an especially high jump. Other basics, like turbo jumping, feel identical.

I do have a few complaints about this game. Custom soundtracks are no longer present like they were in ExciteTruck. Local multiplayer only supports two players instead of four. Also, I’m not crazy about the unlocking system. Every time new things are unlocked, you have to buy them with the stars you earn. This applies to everything except for new tracks. The price points are set much higher than I would like, especially considering you not only have to pay stars for the cars, but for additional paint jobs as well. Sometimes there are alternate ways. For example, each car has a special paint job that can either be unlocked by paying an ungodly sum or by getting “X” amount of “S” ranks with that car. These paint jobs are priceless. They are much more than just pallet swaps. The praying mantis special paint job is “Space Mantis”, causing him to be wearing a fishbowl helmet and cheesy space suit. The humming bird’s is a pilot, complete with military cap, fancy decorated shoulders, and aviators.

The game can be surprisingly fun to jump into online. There are 6 players supported online and I had no trouble getting into a full race rather quickly. Before the race starts, you can bet the stars that you have saved up. Depending on how well you do, you can double or even quadruple the stars you bet. Or, of course, you can lose it all. This can be a quicker way to afford all the ridiculously priced unlocks, assuming you’re good enough to place well against your opponents.

This is a game that had me laughing the whole time I was playing it. I can best describe it as “stupid fun”. It’s not a particularly serious game, but it’s also not so casual as to become overly boring. I think it is best played in shorter bursts rather than long sessions. If you’re looking for a fairly casual and humorous game that doesn’t take itself very seriously, ExciteBots fits the bill and at ten dollars less than the normal Wii game price (if you purchase the standalone version instead of the wheel bundle). For more of our thoughts on the game, listen to the eleventh episode of our podcast, Barrel Roll!

Tags: Excite Bots Trick Racing, ExciteTruck, minigames, Monster Games, Nintendo, racing, Wii

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.