Kool & the Gang would say this game is "fresh . . . exciting, it's so exciting to me".
After getting past the game's main title screen you will then have to load a game save profile (or create a new one if it's your first time playing). Once you're taken care of this task you then come to the game's main menu, where you are faced with four options. The first option is called "World Tour" and is the main mode of the game. When you select it you will see a list of four different racing series you can compete in, titled Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. You must start at the Bronze series and work your way through each race there before moving on to Silver, and then Silver to Gold, Gold to Platinum. Each series consists of four races you must complete, and each series gets incrementally harder the further you get. The only exception to the four races per series rule is on Bronze, where there is also a Training option you can opt for that will teach you skills in the areas of Basics, Wheelies, Landing Jumps, Barriers and Opponents. The individual races break down as follows: Bronze (Training, Kyoto, Canada, Mexico, London), Silver (Fiji, Mexico, Madrid, Canada), Gold (Paris, Fiji, Mexico, China) and Platinum (Canada, China, Fiji, New York).
In order to complete a race in this game you simply have to finish it within the minimum time limit. Depending on your finishing time there are three grades you can earn. B is the lowest grade, A is the middle, and S is the highest possible grade. To fully complete Excitebike: World Rally you must earn an S grade on every race as that is how you unlock the game extras. When you complete a full series with all S grades you will unlock a couple of new paint colours for your dirt bike, complete all series with S grades and you will then have all paint colours at your disposal. When you enter World Tour mode you first select the series you want to race in, then the particular race you want to compete in, and finally the paint colour you want to use for your bike . . . then you're off to the races.
Getting back to the main menu of this game the second option there is called "Nintendo WFC", the online multiplayer component of the game. When you select it you will be presented with two sub-options, "Race Anyone" or "Race Friends". Unfortunately any time I've tried to go online and play this game with others there has never been anybody available, so I'm not sure quite what it's like, but I bet it would be good fun.
The third option on the main menu is "Track Editor", where you can build up to 8 different Excitebike race tracks and save them for future use. Throughout the game you'll see different looks and themes to the race tracks, depending on what destination you're racing in, but for the Track Editor function you can only build tracks with the indoor theme that appears on the New York race. When you enter this mode the starting line of a blank track will appear, you then move along it's length one section at a time, adding whatever features you wish. In total there are 7 different straightaways, 9 different jumps, 4 different specials, 4 different obstacles, and 2 different morph options you can add. Once you are finished your track you can then save it for future use. At any point during the creation of said track you can choose to test it, making sure that the features you have selected for your track work together nicely.
The fourth and final option from the main menu is "Options", where you can adjust a number of the game's settings. Here you can adjust the music volume, fx volume, toggle the lane indicator between off/terrain/flat, toggle the control scheme between normal/classic/pro (the pro scheme is only unlocked once you achieve S grades on all World Tour races), or view the game credits.
When you actually get out on the track in Excitebike: World Rally there are a horde of things to look out for. The biggest nuisance in the game is the other racers, they are numerous and they will consistently try to cut you off. You will also have to navigate the various land masses that serve as jumps in this game. Getting good air off of them helps you avoid trouble areas and betters your finishing times. There are a number of barriers that will appear on each track, intended to impede your progress. These barriers include cement barriers, oil slicks, and just otherwise rough patches of terrain. The features that are meant to help you out in this game include the cement jumps, as when you roll over them they provide you with a big boost and usually end up shooting you over a major trouble area. The other feature is the red/orange chevrons that appear on the ground every so often. In this game your dirt bike can overheat if you use the turbo function too much, driving over these chevrons instantly cools your engine down to the lowest level, allowing you to get back at it, full speed ahead.
The game screen for this title is pretty simple and uncluttered. In the top left corner you'll see an indication of the minimum time you need to clock in at, in order to earn the next highest grade you have yet to achieve on whatever race you may happen to be competing in. In the top right corner is shown the current elapsed time while you are competing in any given race. And in the bottom right corner of the screen is your temperature gauge. While it is in the blue you are OK, yellow provides a bit of a warning, and when you are finally in the red you are very close to overheating. Overheating pulls you over to the side of the track and takes you out of the action for a few seconds.
There are a couple of game menus to be aware of outside of the main menu. First is the menu you'll get when you finish a race, where you are given three options. They include Next Race (go back to the World Tour menu and pick your next desired race), Retry (take another shot at the race you just messed up) and View Replay (watch a replay of the race you just finished). The other menu you need to be aware of is the pause menu, where you have four options. They include Resume (get back to the game action), Restart (if you mess up you can restart the race fresh from the beginning), Options (exactly the same as above, from the main menu) and Quit (abort your current race without saving your progress).
Much like the game screen on Excitebike: World Rally, the game controls are also very simple. Here I will list the controls for the normal control scheme, which is the one I prefer. First of all you turn the Wii remote on it's side so that it resembles an NES controller, with your left thumb over the control pad and your right thumb over the 1 and 2 buttons. To make your dirt bike change lanes, simply press up or down on the control pad. The 2 button is used to accelerate your bike, while the 1 button is used to engage your turbo function. The A button is used to switch between three different camera angles, I believe. Game action runs left to right but you can alter the angle slightly with this camera function. To perform a wheelie or to adjust your bike's position while it is in the air, simply tilt the ends of the Wii remote up and down so that the bike mirrors your movements. Lastly, if you overheat and have to pull over, or if you are knocked over by another racer, shake the Wii remote to help you coast a bit further and then recover quicker than you normally would.
Game presentation for Excitebike: World Rally was very well done. Compared to other games out there today I'm sure this one is probably considered pretty rudimentary, but given that it's just a simple update on a classic NES title I think they did a good job. The graphics aren't top drawer or anything, they basically just took the original Excitebike graphics and beefed them up, modernizing them a fair amount. But for this game it works. The look of the game is at the same time pretty basic, but also very nice looking. The environments are varied and colourful, and there is a good amount of polish on everything. What I like most about the presentation is that although this is a modern update on a classic game and it appears so much newer, they did a great job with the look, sound and feel of the game in maintaining that old school NES vibe.
As for pros and cons, there's a bit of both in this game. The biggest pro is just how fun this game is, despite it's simplicity. As I talked about in the paragraph above Excitebike: World Rally has a very old school NES vibe to it and maintains the spirit of the original Excitebike. For a simple downloadable game it looks and feels great and is a joy to play. I also like how they added some unlockable material in to it, with the various paint colours you can unlock. This provides some motivation for players to really get in to the game and complete it in full. Lastly, I like how hard it was in the end. Although I skated through the first couple of series really easily, the last two got significantly harder, I had to keep at it for some time before I was able to achieve S grades on all races. Now, as for cons I think there are two major ones that need mentioning right off the bat. First is just how short the game is. Although it does get pretty hard at the end that still doesn't mask the fact that to beat the game there are simply a mere 16 races you have to complete in order to do so. Another series or two, or maybe an alternative single player game mode, would have gone a long way. The other major con is the lack of a two player mode. I was excited to have a buddy of mine come over and try this game out with me until I found out it was single player only. Now for us to play it together he would have to download it as well, and we'd have to play over the internet. The ball was dropped in this regard, big time. Lastly, although I enjoy the fact that they put unlockable content in the game, I don't like how a certain portion of it can only be achieved via the Nintendo WFC mode. If there's nobody out there to race online with you, how are you ever supposed to unlock these additional extras?
In terms of tips and tricks I might be able to offer future players, I do have a few. First of all, in the early races concentrate on getting used to the way your bike handles. Make sure to practice turbo use and landing jumps as those are a couple of very key elements in maintaining top speed during a race and pulling out a great finishing time. Also get used to using the lane indicator arrow, which appears far ahead of your dirt bike on the right side of the screen. When you have a number of obstacles to avoid at high speeds, this arrow is helpful as it indicates what lane you're in and serves as a bit of an advanced warning system. It can be tricky getting used to it, but it's worth a try. Lastly, and this applies especially for the races in the latter half of the game, get used to the tracks and memorize them as much as possible. Achieving S grades in the last couple series is very tough, knowing what lies ahead of you in any given race only makes it go that much smoother.
In summary, overall Excitebike: World Rally is a faithful, well planned reboot of the Excitebike franchise and is a ton of fun! That's not to say that it doesn't have it's share of issues as there are a couple of glaring omissions in this title, but for a cheap downloadable game the folks at Monster Games did a pretty credible job with this one. It's not a complete home run, but I'd say it's at least a ground rule double . . .