The ExciteBots GIGA-Topic of Transformers, Online Gambling and Pies in the Face!

__________

Game Overview

*Check out www.Excitebots.com from your Wii console and Nintendo DSi internet browsers for a custom experience!*

High-speed action. Robotic insect and animal racers. Wii Wheel controls. Bowling, poker, clowns – and sandwiches! Add them all together and you get the wild, nonstop fun of Excitebots: Trick Racing.

• This game takes the big-air thrills and simple pick-up-and-play controls of Excite Truck™ and ramps up the fun with a constant barrage of funky challenges and mini-games performed at blinding speed. Players shoot goals, throw pies and even play poker in the middle of rowdy races around off-road tracks.

• Having your vehicles drive, walk or fly around the track quickly is one thing, but it's more important to go around in styIe. Players earn stars for huge jumps, cool tricks and daring feats at high speed.

• If friends can't join online, players can exchange ghost data via WiiConnect24™ and challenge their friends to outdo their most daring tricks. (Note that broadband access is required for online play.)

__________

How to progress through the game: Players race around tracks at high speeds while performing stunts and participating in mini-games, all in an effort to earn stars. Players win bonus stars for crossing the finish line sooner, but stunts and styIe are as important as speed. Stars can be traded for a variety of goodies, like new vehicles, icons and statues.

__________

Controls: The 2 Button on the Wii Remote™ controller is the gas. The + Control Pad gives drivers a speed boost. Players turn the Wii Wheel accessory left or right to steer, tilt the Wii Wheel in mid-air to glide or to adjust pitch for perfect landings, swing the Wii Wheel in circular motions around boost bars to build up speed and press the A Button to activate items or to cash in hands in Poker Mode. Note: The Wii Wheel accessory is recommended but not required to race. Wii Remote controllers can be used on their own as well.

__________

Special powers/weapons/moves/features: Just as in Excite Truck, drivers can hit blocks that morph the terrain before their eyes and create ramps from which players can launch mega-jumps. Players can aim for and swing around boost bars or open presents that unleash a variety of wild items, such as bottle rocket boosts or clacker mouths that chomp on other racers to slow them down. Players also can activate in-race mini-games including:

• Soccer: Drive into the soccer ball and attempt to hit it into the goal.

• Bowling: Drive through the pins and attempt to get a strike.

• Darts: Line up your bot and let the dart fly. Try to hit bull's-eye in the distance.

• Clowns: Hit the clown in the face with a pie by throwing it at just the right angle and speed.

• Sandwiches: Drive through the ingredients in the proper order to make a delicious sandwich.

__________

**Friend Codes**

Phantom_Leo: 1548 1567 1147

**Pics and movies**

Nintendo Promo Video

IGN Grasshopper Bowling

Blast Off in Egypt!

Fly for your Life!

When Items Attack!

Tambourine Man!

Little LadyBug

Leap-Frogging

**Hands-on and Reviews**

____________________

IGN.Com Hands-On "Yes. It is in Fact as Cool as it Looks!" Preview:

"To say that this game is unconventional is an understatement. In our first two hours behind the wheel with Excitebots we've had office members stop and stare, and we've had comments about it being a 3D reincarnation of Uniracers, Wario Ware mixed with racing, an F-Zero styIe game, and others. The real obvious truth, however, is that the game simply does whatever it wants, as long as it ensures more fun in the process. You'll still get the star-based racing from the first Excite Truck, you'll get crazy air, terrain morphing buttons, a boost meter that needs to be kept in constant check, air spins, jump boosts, and plenty of locales to blaze through at ridiculous speeds. Add on top of that, however, is the some of the most insane stunt and micro-game elements I've ever seen in a racer."

"As for three unlockable bots we can talk about, you've got the mouse, mantis, and hummingbird each available for a certain price at the beginning of the game. Being a fan of the lighter racers, I unlocked the hummingbird for a cool 2,500 stars, and it was worth every penny. He rivals the bat as far as flight and gliding goes, making for serious air bonuses and tricking."

"Briefly in the first trailer you could see bots running on the ground, rather than driving. This is also a new power-up, collected by grabbing a wrench on the race track. For anyone that snags this amazing item, it could mean a serious edge on the competition, as your bot seamlessly transforms into a biped and starts running. Tilt control is still in effect, but slamming down left and right while trying to turn at the same time (basically a more exaggerated tilt) will cause the bot to sprint, busting into flames and tearing through the competition as it trots over trees and speeds ahead. The game takes it one step further though, adding another layer of awesome on top of the already in-place awesome for now double-awesome goodness."

"Nintendo has asked that we keep a lid on a few things within the game (mostly unlockables you'll be spending your stars on), but online is confirmed, and it's six players. We also had a chance to try out the odd – but again, awesome – Poker Race mode, which combines cIassc five card draw with in-level cards and a "hand" for each player. In these three specific tracks, players have a hand of five cards, and the ability to highlight those cards one at a time with left and right d-pad taps. When colliding with other cards in the world, your on-screen hand is updated, swapping out the new card for the highlighted one. Basic poker rules apply, with the A button used to "cash in" a hand and score points, getting a new stack of random cards immediately after. It's still a conventional race in the sense that you want to be in first to have your pick of the available cards on the track, but more importantly the different hands yield huge amounts of stars, and the racer with the most stars at the end of the track takes the gold. It's a lot to take in, since you'll be racing and trying to think strategically as well, but the game keeps your hand (as well as on-screen prompts for upcoming lines of cards) on-screen to streamline the experience. It's a fun mode, and hopefully – we'd assume – it's online as well."

"Overall the game is similar in visual and audio design as Excite Truck was, with an amazing sense of speed and some decent visuals given the speed and depth of field shown off when leaping into the air. The game also supports two specific control styIes for tilt Wii-mote driving, as well as twist-based Wii wheel controls."

____________________

**Do I really think this game warrants a giga-topic? Probably not --BUT-- It's going to be tons of fun, it takes itself about as seriously as I am taking this topic --AND-- the online modes could give even Mario Kart Wii a run for its money! Will it sell as much? Hell no! I don't expect it to! I can relate A LOT more to racing and playing poker than I can to popping balloons with turtle-shells, though! Just go with it and have F-U-N people!**

I like pie in my face. This is all.GodModeEnabled

...and I like bumping balls into their goals and flitting around collecting butterflies...!

This game TRULY has something for EVERYONE ! ! ! :shock:

I skipped out on Excite Truck but I'm actually thinking of giving this game a shot. It honestly looks like it is going to be fun. We'll see how it goes though.

Huh? You collect butterflies? :|

Huh? You collect butterflies? :|

ASK_Story

Huh? I don't understand your question...?

What else would you expect to be doing in the middle of a transforming-robot racing game...? :question:

[QUOTE="ASK_Story"]

Huh? You collect butterflies? :|

Phantom_Leo

Huh? I don't understand your question...?

What else would you expect to be doing in the middle of a transforming-robot racing game...? :question:

[QUOTE="Phantom_Leo"]

[QUOTE="ASK_Story"]

Huh? You collect butterflies? :|

GodModeEnabled

Huh? I don't understand your question...?

What else would you expect to be doing in the middle of a transforming-robot racing game...? :question:

OMG! I just realized!!! When he said "collect butterflies" he meant collect...BUTTERFLIES...

OMG!!! THAT IS JUST S-I-C-K ! ! !

I just don't think I can stand to continue to discuss this game with someone sooo deranged! :evil:

Very nice thread :) The game looks great, can't wait.

Hmmm... the game is due in stores tomorrow and IGN doesn't have an exclusive review up yet...

Hmmm... that makes me worry just a tiny bit!

[QUOTE="GodModeEnabled"][QUOTE="Phantom_Leo"]

Huh? I don't understand your question...?

What else would you expect to be doing in the middle of a transforming-robot racing game...? :question:

Phantom_Leo

OMG! I just realized!!! When he said "collect butterflies" he meant collect...BUTTERFLIES...

OMG!!! THAT IS JUST S-I-C-K ! ! !

I just don't think I can stand to continue to discuss this game with someone sooo deranged! :evil:

What? LOL! I was just alluding to your post above when you said, " ...and I like bumping balls into their goals and flitting around collecting butterflies...! This game TRULY has something for EVERYONE ! ! !" And then I saw that butterfly on one of the screenshots so I thought you collect butterflies for extras in the game.

Maybe I really am deranged, LOL! :P

It looked very promising on the IGN preview, hoping this will turn out great.

This game looks absolutely insane. It will be one of the first games I get when I re-buy the Wii.

IGN.Com's 8.4 "Impressive" Review -- "Excitebots Trick Racing is a great racing experience that I sincerely hope gets more attention and recognition than Excite Trucks ever did. Monster Games' previous effort was fantastic, but this unofficial sequel is better in just about every regard. Not only does it play better -- the controls are tighter and the challenges awesome and surreal -- but it's got more options. Collectibles. A very robust and engaging online mode complete with a great betting system. You can even send instant replays and with tracked-on bets to friends. The trick system is enjoyable. And all the big air and breakneck speed of Excite Trucks is back, plus some. My biggest gripes relate to level variety. There are 20-something tracks but most of them fall under five regions or so and start to blend together. The lack of WiiSpeak support online is a disappointment. Same goes for SD Card-based music playback. And I definitely do believe that single-player-only gamers are given the short end of the stick where unlockables are concerned because they are going to have to spend much more time with the title than those who make and win bets online.

All things considered, Excitebots definitely delivers. The year is far from over, but I'd be surprised if this wasn't a nominee for best racer by the time the holidays roll around."

___________________________________

Another Take: "Excitebots is a game that personifies what Wii is really about to me. Here you've got a title that's blazing fast, friendly on the eyes (for both casual and hardcore players), and is just downright entertaining. It may be inspired by a Wii launch game, but everything here feels fresh, and if there was a chance to make something more fun along the way, Monster Games went for it. That's why Excitebots is a success in my eyes. No matter the score, this title is a "game" in the purest definition of the word. This one puts the Excite series over Mario Kart on Wii for me, and my only wish for the team is that they just keep bringing on more. Give us more stunts, more action, more options, and more modes. In fact, the gameplay itself reminds me of a lighthearted WipEout or F-Zero. If the sand and snow is getting dull, why not take this one into an even more abstract futuristic realm. After this gem of a racer, you've already got my money for the next one. When a game is this downright fun, it doesn't need to be anything else."

OMG! I haven't had this much fun with a racing game since San Francisco Rush 2049 for the DreamCast!

It's freakin' FAST--!

You race while earning stars while trying to place first--!

You catch sooo much air the ground becomes a speck under your bot--!

The different bars, minigames, weapons, jumps, powerups keep you sooo occupied, this game will NEVER get boring--!

Between steering, pumping the controller on the horizontal bars, pushing on the vertical bars, steering while floating, rocking to run on 2 legs, and rotating to get air spins... this game is a FULL BODY WORKOUT--!

The craziness of Wario Ware with the air of Rush the speed of F-Zero the competition of Mario Kart the turbo of Excitebike... This is a game that T-R-U-L-Y DOES HAVE. IT. ALL--!

**This is an official APB alert from Officer_Leo: Be on the lookout for any person claiming to be a "gamer" that doesn't think this game is the greatest thing since analog control. They are to have their gaming license revoked IMMEDIATELY!**