03.04.07
Excite Truck
When I saw Grant over the holidays, he lent me Excite Truck. This weekend I finally had a chance to sit down and play it. I fired it up while I was waiting for dinner to cook and ended up spending about 3 1/2 hours beating all of the challenges of the main game. My thumbs and fingers were sore from holding down the buttons; when turned on its side, the controller is not that ergonomic, especially on the left side.
+ There’s a good sense of speed. As you race through different areas, the scenery flies by. There’s a nice motion blur when you pick up a turbo boost. Ramming into other cars is satisfying. Getting enough air to jump over stuff is awesome.
+ It’s fun to move your arms wildly. Even though it wasn’t necessary, I found myself making exaggerated motions, especially when trying to turbo-jump off of hills. Tilting the controller back keeps in you the air for longer, so I found myself jerking the controller back upon leaping. I found this to be the most fun way to play.
The graphics aren’t great, and the music is annoying.. I didn’t go through the trouble of putting music on my SD card, so I was stuck listening to the blaring background music.
- Mid-air controls are inconsistent. If you manage to land your truck with all four of its wheels on the ground, you get a speed boost. In theory the orientation of the truck is determined by the orientation of the controller, but at times the truck didn’t seem to respond to my mid-air commands. This could have been better integrated into the “trick system,” which weighs in at a whopping 1 trick – you can spin your truck around while it’s in the air, but it’s done by a specific gesture, not by actually rotating the controller. Would have liked to see more freedom and better sensitivity here.
- No multiplayer. 2P Multiplayer is amusing, but not really compelling.
The game is an interesting and fun diversion. Definitely kept me amused for an evening, still deciding whether I want to go back to try to finish the rest of the game.
