Soapbox: Why You Should Consider Catching Big Air With Wii’s Excite Truck
Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on a wide range of topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. In this edition, Dave Letcavage discusses his somewhat recent introduction to the divisive Wii launch gameExcite Truck, and makes a case for why it’s worth adding to your collection if you missed it when it initially left the starting line.
Back in the N64 days, I lived for racing games that allowed my vehicle to catch big air and soar through the sky with reckless abandon. The original San Francisco Rush was the catalyst for this mild obsession, while other games such as Freekstyle, Rush 2049 (stunt mode!!), and Hydro Thunder furthered my love for gravity-defying, head-spinning heights. In real life, my equilibrium gets all wacky when I look out the window of a skyscraper or glance over the railing on the second floor of a shopping mall, so it’s no wonder that confronting this quasi-phobia within a virtual world provides me with such a thrill.
Excite Truck, developed by Monster Games and published by Nintendo as a launch game for Wii, follows in the tracks of extreme ’90s arcade racers by delivering an experience centered around blazing fast speeds, simple stunts, and, most importantly, massive air. It’s a game about racing, but it’s also about earning as many points as possible to finish the race with a score high enough to advance. This means you’re gonna have to take big risks if you want to show up the competition – and these ‘big risks’ usually involve launching your vehicle skyward from every dirt, snow or grass-covered incline in sight.
Knowing that, it should go without saying that this game should be right up my alley.
But I didn’t have a Wii at launch; I waited until the summer before the release of Donkey Kong Country Returnsin the summer 2010,to invest in the console. By the time I had an opportunity to purchase Excite Truck, I’d heard so many people say it wasn’t worth my money because it was shallow, and because its sequel, Excitebots: Trick Racing, was a major improvement. So, at some point down the road I bought Excitebots and passed on Excite Truck – that is, until a couple years ago when my curiosity and its affordability convinced me that Excite Truck should at the very least be a part of my Wii collection.
Fast forward to last year, to 2017 to be specific. I was in the mood for something mindless and commitment-free, so I slipped Excite Truck from its cozy spot on the shelf, dusted it off, and gave it an opportunity to rev my engine. It did just that.
Tilting a sideways Wiimote to steer your truck is an intuitive and simple method of control, one that clicked with me right from the start – same as Excitebots. Is it gimmicky? Obviously. Would an analog stick offer greater precision? Absolutely. But the truth is that the motion controls work well enough here that this is the rare occasion where I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m a lost cause when it comes to steering with the motion controls in Mario Kart Wii, but I have no problems with Excite Truck. It’s an amusing and surprisingly reliable means of interaction, and it only contributes to the game’s arcade-like appeal.
That’s because Excite Truck’s core gameplay is so darn satisfying. The moment-to-moment racing is intense and constantly engaging, and discovering which routes ultimately lead to the best trick opportunities has keeps me compulsively selecting ‘Retry’ at the end of a race even if I’ve earned enough points to move on. There’s something about collecting an S rating – other than unlocking additional difficulty modes – that I find so inexplicably irresistible. It certainly doesn’t hurt that you’re frequently unlocking vehicles, paint jobs and in-game trophies for your stunts and wins. I hate to overuse a word as plain and broad as ‘fun’ but in this case, it’s such an apt descriptor that it feels wrong not to use it. So here it goes: Excite Truck is, simply put, a truckload of fun.
I’ll admit, if I had purchased a copy for its original retail price of $49.99, I might have wound up slightly disappointed. Mainly because it’s somewhat unambitious in terms of modes and options. There’s no less content than an N64 racer such as San Francisco Rush or Beetle Adventure Racing; instead, the main issue is that these modes aren’t all that deep or unique. Excite Race, which is a standard world tour-type mode, has you partaking in the same stunt-laden race type through six re-purposed environments (seven if you count a secret level tucked away deep in the game), while Challenge offers a few ‘smash all opponents’ and ‘drive through the rings’ variants to spice things up. And that’s about the extent of the variety.
Luckily, I didn’t pay $50 for Excite Truck. I was able to obtain a like-new copy for less than $10. The way I see it, that price renders any value-related concerns irrelevant. I’ve already extracted way more than enough entertainment from this package during the many nights I’ve spent knocking out a few races or dabbling in split-screen mode, and I imagine anyone else with an affinity for balls-to-the-wall racing will feel the same. There’s something about its easy-to-play yet tough-to-master nature that reminds me of an NES game (and, no, it has nothing to do with its Excitebike lineage) that keeps me coming back for more every few weeks when I need to blow off some steam and de-stress. Heck, at this point I think I’ve spent more time with it than Excitebots.
If you still have a Wii or Wii U sitting around, and you want an accessible, high-energy game to spend at least a couple weekends with, I highly recommend Excite Truck. It’s oft overshadowed by its more inventive successor, and that’s understandable, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t also deserve a reserved parking space in your collection, especially now that it’s so cheap.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-09-2018, 08:45 AM - Forum: Lounge
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How devs design the Lego games to appeal to all ages
Creating a game that’s entertaining for all ages is extremely challenging, but there’s one studio that seems to hit the mark every time.
TT Games seems an expert at making experiences for both younger and older players. It accomplishes this by sticking to the studio’s core principles of fun and authenticity, but also through ensuring there’s enough variety in the humor and the stage design.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, the latest in the Lego franchise, is a great example. The game asks players to control a collection of popular Marvel heroes on a mission to defeat an evil time-traveling villain named Kang the Conqueror. Along the way you explore Chronopolis, the central hub world, completing missions, and building and destroying the Lego environments.
Appealing to fans with in-jokes
Like many of the other Lego projects TT Games undertakes, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 follows a particular formula to ensure it appeals to as broad an audience as possible.
Arthur Parsons, the head of design at TT Games, says the Lego games stick to two core principles in order to ensure they’re broadly appealing.
“Ultimately, fun is number one. Fun, funny, humorous. Everything has to be enjoyable,” he comments. “But then the second one – and I think this is where we probably manage to appeal to older gamers – is authenticity. And that’s authenticity to whatever the source material is.”
Parsons points to the humor in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 to highlight this point. In the game, there’s plenty of slapstick humor for children, but there’s also tons of complex in-jokes and references to appeal to long-term fans. For instance, the game features humorous cameos from minor characters from the Marvel extended universe, like J Jonah Jameson and Giant Man, which may go over the head of those who haven’t seen the Sam Raimi films or read the older comics.
“You have that in-your-face humor,” Parson says. “That sort of ‘someone has a ladder on their shoulder and they’re turning around and someone has to duck out of the way’ slapstick. But then we also go onto another level where we do our best to add humor that’s very relevant to the IP. If people analyse the games, they’ll see the various influences [we draw from].”
The golden rule
The game’s art direction is another factor that contributes to the franchise’s broad appeal.
“Usually in our games, we have a very clear rule of you have environmental art and you have you’ve got Lego. A lot of people very quickly understand that anything made out of Lego is interactive and everything else isn’t,” says Parsons. “It’s really nice because that’s just something that happens naturally when people play.”
This approach ensures that no matter what your age is, you can understand the environment and what options you have available. It’s a subtle bit of direction, but it’s one that’s been implemented in almost all the Lego games, including Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, to help players navigate the map and find key items within the stage.
Introducing new challenges or distractions
As for the older and more experienced players, most Lego titles are full of additional challenges to cater to people looking for a greater challenge.
In Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, specifically, you have tons of extra objectives you can complete, such as finding collectibles, locating ‘Easter Eggs’, or finishing additional objectives.
“We put a lot of Lego and interactive Lego into our levels, because we’ll have our core story path, but along the way we like to fill the level with a lot of peripheral content. A lot of the time that is just hidden free play or extra collectibles,” explains Parsons.
“Sometimes it’s just stuff for fun. So it might be some little ride-on vehicle that you can have a lot of fun with, or just some bits and pieces that can be interacted with for fun. It’s creating something where there isn’t that one route start to finish. You want people to have a different experience. It may be that someone goes in and they just really want to go through the story straight through the level. Then there’s some people who really do just enjoy mooching around, exploring every nook and cranny, and seeing what every bit of different Lego does.”
Focus testing and playtesting
Playtesting and focus testing are key to balancing these aspects and ensuring that a Lego game remains accessible for all ages.
For instance, the team on Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 team put together a “first playable” build very early on in the development of the game to focus test it with a group, including younger players and experienced gamers. This helped them to see how players respond to certain obstacles, whether they are engaged, and where they might need help.
Parsons gives the example of Doctor Strange’s rune-tracing ability as something that was changed as a result of focus testing. This ability requires players to draw runes by tracing a line around a shape without overlapping.
“That was something we did focus test. And based off of those findings, we actually put something in where if people actually fail a rune-tracing I think three times, the rune fades and then comes back, but it actually goes back to the next level of difficulty,” he recalls. “So as you progress through the game, the runes get more and more difficult, but if it’s something where people actually get blocked it will actually do a slightly easier one. They’ll never notice, hopefully.”
Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 seems to be well in line with TT Games’ tradition of making games not only suitable for all ages, but enjoyable for them as well. The team accomplished this by identifying areas they could improve throughout development, and by sticking to the core principles they’d developed over years of working on the Lego games.
To end the interview, I asked Parsons for any advice he’d give to a developer trying to make games for the all ages market.
“It’s a bit like asking the Colonel for his special recipe. I think any developer will openly state that the success of their game is down to their people,” he said, with a laugh. “If you’ve got a great development team that really buy into what they’re making, then you can’t help but making something fun and engaging and rewarding. We do look at our games and we do try and have fun while making our games, because that’s how the fun is going to come out. We encourage creativity. We encourage people on our team to add to that mix.”
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-09-2018, 08:45 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Humble-hosted Jingle Jam raises $5.2 million for charity
The Yogscast and Humble Bundle’s annual Jingle Jam game bundle has raised a total of $5.2 million for charity, bringing the lifetime funds raised by the event to $11 million.
Typically, Humble Bundles allow purchasers to divide and distribute their payment between Humble itself, charity, and game developers. But, in the case of the Jingle Jam, over 50 game developers and publishers donated more than 60 different titles in order for the entire amount raised by the bundle to go straight to charity.
The full bundle was unlocked for a $35 minimum donation and offered players roughly $850 worth of titles for their contribution. Humble saw as many as 148,853 individual bundle sales through its platform during the month-long sale. This year marks the sixth year of the event, with last year’s Jingle Jam raising a total of $2.6 million through 86,589 sales.
The funds are set to go to seven charities that were supported by the event, though donors were also given the option to donate to any of 3,000 other optional charities as well.
Star Wars Battlefront II offers an epic multiplayer experience and an engaging single-player campaign, one that follows the events surrounding Inferno Squad as the Empire preps for their next mission: Operation Cinder. In addition to Star Wars Battlefront II‘s story-based campaign, you’ll also get to experience expansive multiplayer modes that will have you playing across the galaxy against players from all over the world. And with our five tips, you’ll be prepared to take out the Empire, the First Order, or Rebel scum!
For even more strategies and tactics on today’s hottest games, plus plenty of other gaming-related fun, tune in to Tips and Tricks every Tuesday at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET on Mixer.com/TipsAndTricks!
Turbo Pug DX Has Been Confirmed for Nintendo Switch
If you’ve ever wanted to control a tiny pug as he jumps over boxes, platforms, and spikes whilst collecting little, spinning pug-head tokens, today is the day for you.
The creator of Turbo Pug, a game previously released on Steam with thousands of glowing reviews to its name, has confirmed that Turbo Pug DX will be heading to Nintendo Switch. The game is a casual runner with difficult, random, procedurally generated levels. Players have to keep an eye out for random weather types such as lightning which can give your pug a nasty zap, and you are able to collect new costumes and characters to play as.
Whilst there is no confirmed release date just yet, the Turbo Pug founder went on to say that they are going to do their best for “an ASAP 2018 Switch release.” Hopefully it won’t be too long before we get to see what all the fuss is about.
Are you ready for a new, cheap and cheerful runner to take with you on the go? Share your thoughts in the comments.
It’s a new week, so it’s time to check out the UK software charts again. Last week Super Mario Odyssey was the star of the show, holding its own against strong third party competition on PS4/Xbox One. This week we see it slip from 6th place to 8th place, but we’d imagine that Nintendo will more than happy with that.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild jumps from 10th place last week to 9th place this week. Could people who picked up a Switch be looking for that next game to add to their collection perhaps? Whatever the reason, it’s a strong showing for a game that is almost a year old.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-08-2018, 06:38 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Watch Live on Steam – Paladins World Championships
Watch the Paladins World Championships live on Steam.
The first-ever Paladins World Championship takes place at Hi-Rez Expo, and will bring top teams from the Paladins Premier League to face off against teams from China, LATAM, Brazil, SEA, Oceania, and CIS.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-08-2018, 06:38 AM - Forum: Lounge
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At GDC 2018 you’ll get a postmortem look at the design of Horizon Zero Dawn
You’ll have your pick of a boatload of interesting talks when you come to the Game Developers Conference in March, including a behind-the-scenes look at the design of Guerrilla Games’ hit game Horizon: Zero Dawn.
Guerrilla’s Eric Boltjes is coming to GDC 2018 to present “‘Horizon: Zero Dawn‘: A Game Design Postmortem,” a Design track talk that will run you through through early prototypes and delving into design decisions and processes that shaped development of the 2017 game.
You’ll want to make time for this, because Boltjes plans to give you insight into the journey Horizon‘s game design went through while moving from an ambitious paper concept to a finished open world action RPG, with all of the small and large design decisions and choices that had to be made along the way.
You won’t want to miss it, as well as the many more GDC 2018 announcements we’ll be making in the coming months! For more information about GDC 2018 head over to the show’s official website, and subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.
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