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How Metascores Are Calculated
40
Alone in the Dark
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games. |
In the grand racing tradition of Excitebike, get ready for a big-air experience like no other as players rocket their trucks across dynamically changing terrain. Remember tilting your arms while playing Excitebike to try to make your character land a huge jump? Well, that experience is finally a reality with Excite Truck, a wild, off-road race only possible on Nintendos Wii console. Players hold the Wii Remote like an NES controller to control the truck. The 2 button is the accelerator, the 1 button is the brake, the + Control Pad is the turbo … but that's just the beginning. Tilt the Wii Remote right and left like a steering wheel to steer. Once the truck goes airborne, tilt the Wii Remote every which way to line up perfect landings for turbo boosts. Pick up items on the courses to make the terrain deform in real time, turning innocent bumps into massive launch pads that affect not only the player's route, but that of his or her rivals. Players jump and bump their way to the highest score and highest finish. [Nintendo]
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more... 90
Yahoo! Games
A fast, fluid, and gorgeous game, with a remarkable control scheme, a gratifying sense of progression, and its own unique sensibility. With a launch title like this, the Wii comes out of the gate swinging, demanding to be taken seriously.
 90
Nintendojo
A lightening fast and frantic thrill ride from beginning to end, and well worth a purchase.
85
Nintendo Power
My balance issues aside, Excite Truck delivers a fresh racing experience that emphasizes strategy over speed. [Jan. 2007, p.110]
84
eToychest
Excite Truck is a very fun, fast, and – dare I say it – exciting return to grass roots arcade style racing. There no tuning to worry about, no license tests, and no underground street cred here. All of those things can be found elsewhere. Excite Truck is just about racing, and it excels in this regard.
84
Official Nintendo Magazine UK
Okay, so Excite Truck skips a few beats in the way of options and multiplayer modes. But at its core it's a fantastic racer with stunning speed and awesome gameplay. [Feb 2007, p.58]
84
GamingExcellence
A few more tracks would have been nice though.
83
Pelit (Finland)
An amusing arcade racer with heavy emphasis on speed and outrageous jumps. The morphing tracks are nice. It is a bit too short, though. A career mode would have been better. [Mar 2007]
82
GamingTrend
It plays smooth and fast, and like a bright flame it burns out earlier than it should.
81
Console Gameworld
Despite it being shallow and lacking in many categories, it has the most important factor when it comes to video games. Fun.
80
Deeko
The intuitive, though expected, use of the Wii remote presents unique gameplay options that enhance the control and feel of your vehicle and go a long way towards making the gameplay more interesting.
80
IGN
As a game that bursts right out of the gate as a launch title for the system, Excite Truck is a fulfilling, fun, energetic arcade-style racer that features a good balance of technology and technique.
80
GameZone
A unique, exciting, and replay value-packed learning experience. ("Learning" in the sense that the game teaches you how to drive with a Wii remote.)
80
NintendoWorldReport
This is Nintendo's best console racer since "F-Zero GX," although it will appeal to a somewhat different crowd than that hardcore series.
80
G4 TV
Excite Truck is fun to play. It’s as simple as that.
80
Worth Playing
Excite Truck may underwhelm with its audio/visual presentation, but it has gameplay in droves. The high-speed acrobatics that would have had you pumping quarters into an arcade machine five years ago have been fine-tuned to create a console game that will keep you coming back for more.
80
Gamestyle
Possibly one of the most underappreciated titles for the Wii, Excite Truck reminds us of why we started playing games in the first place - pure, unadulterated fun. If we get treated to an Excite Truck 2 we will be very, very happy.
80
Boomtown
If you’re looking for a serious racer this isn’t for you, but if you just want some quick arcade style action this could be right up your street.
80
EuroGamer
The game's a source of surprisingly inexhaustible enthusiasm.
80
Gamers Europe
Our advice is this - snap up this underrated little racer, because you won't regret it. It might not offer a billion options and a trillion tracks, but for the time it lasts you'll be playing with a ruddy great big grin on your face.
77
NGamer UK
A skimpy package that you'll probably finish in record time. Definitely exciting, but also a great advertisement for videogame rentals. [Feb 2007, p.54]
75
Da Gameboyz
Excite Truck does a great job of showing what Nintendo set out to do when developing the Wii and its innovative controller.
75
GameShark
The audio leaves a little to be desired. It’s your standard generic racing soundtrack.
75
PGNx Media
Your enjoyment of Excite Truck will depend on how often you want to bust out the game for multiplayer purposes.
75
DailyGame
Excite Truck isn't the kind of game that's going to win "Racer of the Year 2006," but it sure is a lot of fun.
75
Play Magazine
The most underrated of all the launch titles, Excite Truck takes some getting used to(all of the tilt style racers do)but once you're in the zone, this is an adrenaline-charged racer with a lot to offer. [Jan. 2007, p.76]
75
Extreme Gamer
The racing is fast, fun and innovative with the Nintendo motion sensitive controller. The ride might not last long, but while you're behind the wheel you'll have a smile on your face.
75
GamePro
What works about Excite Truck? Simply put, its use of the Wii Remote provides a more tactile feel to an otherwise straightforward destruction derby racer. Without the Wii's controller, Excite Truck would barely be worth a glance.
75
WHAM! Gaming
Excite Truck is as boisterous and cantankerous as your mother-in-law was when you forgot to call on her birthday. It's engines roar. It's music snarls. There's nothing sedate or stately about it. And, that's why it's simple but thrilling mindless fun.
75
Kombo
Although not super deep, Excite Truck is a fun little Wii game. I’m most disappointed by the lack of four-player split-screen.
74
Games Master UK
Brilliantly entertaining (and occasionally frustrating) while it lasts, but it's short. [Jan 2007, p.66]
70
PALGN
Just good, harmless fun.
70
VideoGamer
A more involving main mode of play and online support would have made the world of difference, but it's still an entertaining game.
70
Thunderbolt
A damn exciting ride if you just want to let loose and allow your instincts to guide you to all manner of ridiculously out-of-this-world rough-and-tumbles.
70
GamerNode
Excite Truck lives up to its name--the only problem may come in how long you find it exciting.
70
Games Radar
With no online play and only two-players a time, there's little chance people will still be revving up Excite Truck in a few month's time.
70
1UP
Shallow fun after all, and it's fun nonetheless. On that mental list we all have about the Wii's capabilities, it's safe to cross off "racing."
70
Game Informer
As undeniably fun as this game is, its downfall is its lack of depth. You can burn through the initial difficulty setting in the career mode in a couple hours.
70
Cheat Code Central
Don’t expect a lot of “play” out of it the first time through as you probably won’t want to work so hard to reach the coveted “S” ranking.
70
NTSC-uk
Most importantly, ExciteTruck is massive fun to play, which is still the most vital of aspects in any game.
70
Electronic Gaming Monthly
It's not terribly deep, but like tearing around on your uncle's ATV, it's fun while it lasts. [Jan. 2007, p.63]
70
ZTGameDomain
Excite Truck offers plenty to see and do and is just flat out fun at times. The lack of a solid multi-player component is the game’s worst enemy, but if Nintendo manages to fix that this could easily become a staple franchise for the company.
68
GameSpot
Ultimately, Excite Truck feels more like a tech demo than a full-fledged game.
67
Gaming Age
At first I wasn’t enjoying it too much due to the very sensitive controls, but give it a half an hour and I think most gamers will acclimate to the remote very easily.
67
Gamer 2.0
It's worth spending some money to play, but with its incredibly limited content and potential for a much better sequel, there's no real reason to pay the full price for this game.
66
GameBrink
Blurry textures, low polygon counts, and not much scenery to fill the background about sum it up. Fortunately you’ll be racing so fast you mostly won’t see this stuff.
65
GameTrailers
Excite Truck has about as much in common with Excite Bike as Mario Kart does. Looking at the game on its own merits, it’s a shallow experience with a simple, yet finicky control scheme.
65
Armchair Empire
Progress through Excite Truck doesn't just mean winning races. Performing rad power slides, collisions, tree runs, or massive air will earn you stars...(I can't believe I wrote "rad.")
61
Digital Entertainment News
The only multiplayer is a two-player split screen. Four players is too much apparently and going online is out of the question. Not a great system seller in this regard.
60
GameDaily
Casual gamers will have a ball with it, though people "in the know" should look elsewhere to get their racing fix. While Excite Truck provides genuine thrills, its lack of modes and most importantly, online play, keeps it from being a must buy.
60
GameSpy
The lack of decent multiplayer and total lack of online play hurt the longevity, but if you absolutely need a racer to play at launch, you can't really do any better than this one.
60
Gaming Target
While the mechanics of the game are fun, and it all sounds exciting on paper, the overall experience is marred by clunky and unnecessary controls, and the fact that once you’ve played an hour of Excite Truck, you’ve seen just about all there is to see.
60
DarkStation
Nintendo transitions the classic SNES hit Excitebike to the Wii, but lets us down with overly simplistic, shallow gameplay and barely decent graphics.
60
Total Video Games
Although there's a handful of aspects that lift Excite Truck above being just another run-of-the-mill arcade racer, the overall feeling is that this is a game we've seen too many times before whilst the novelty of the Wii Remote soon wears off and there's little to sustain your interest beyond a few hours.
60
Sydney Morning Herald
Online competition is sorely missed.
60
Edge Magazine
Hugely entertaining while it lasts. [Jan 2007, p.73]
60
games(TM)
It might show off how well racers on the Wii will work when developers finally do it properly (yes, Ubisoft, we’re looking at you) but even so, there’s just not enough here to warrant the premium price. [Feb 2007, p.104]
50
Game Revolution
It’s a fun game with great control, a portent of good things to come, but sports a bargain title’s worth of content while asking for a full price.
Jon A. gave it a10: Benihana B. gave it a7: Li R. gave it an8: bhd sde gave it a10: Alex S. gave it an8: Simon G. gave it an8: DK gave it a1: |
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