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Excitebots: Trick Racing: vehicles with arms and legs, eye ball-melting aerial tricks, and why its a much 'stronger game than Excite Truck'

• By Dave Rudden
• April 16, 2009 14:58 PM PST
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EXCITEBOTS Q&A: We find out why Wii owners will want to check out the exciting third game in Nintendo's Excite racing franchise.

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The Nintendo Wii is already home to one of the biggest over-the-top racing games out there, Mario Kart Wii, but come next week the console is getting another promising racing title that doesn't rely on realism to deliver a great experience. Of course, were talking about Excitebots: Trick Racing, the spiritual successor to the Wii launch title ExciteTruck.

GamePro sits down with Monster Games President and Team Lead Richard Garcia and Software Supervisor Hiro Yamada to find out just what sets Excitebots apart from other racing video games.

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Click here for more screens of Excitebots!

GamePro: Why move away from the semi-traditional automobiles of Excitebike and Excitetruck to animal-based vehicles?

Honestly, we never intended to move away from the "semi-traditional" automobile concept. However, we had the "transformation" idea from the beginning. First, we added two legs to the vehicle.

Then, we added the arm to the vehicle when we came up with the bar idea. Finally, we added the wings (in glider form) to allow the vehicle to glide through the air. At this point, we decided to redesign the vehicles to make them blend better with the unique game-play.

That is when we decided to base the vehicle design on bugs/critters. Looking back, we now think that the combination of the "transformation" idea and the "bugs/critters based vehicle designs" has turned out to work well.

GP: Do you worry the new animal focus might turn away older fans of the franchise?

Sure, it is a risk, but we are certain that fans of Excite Truck will not be disappointed. Excitebots features the same big air, huge airspins, and turbo jumps as Excite Truck, plus much much more.

There are more stunts, new tracks, new game modes, new unlockables and online play through Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection. All this adds up to a stronger game than Excite Truck.

GP: What sort of new gameplay elements does the move away from traditional vehicles allow?

There are almost too many to mention, so we'll focus on only three here.

First, each Bot features an arm that allows it to grab onto bars or hold items. Imagine spinning around a bar and being released at a high speed to reach areas you couldn't reach otherwise, or holding on to a large hammer and using it to bash other Bots.

Second, your Bot can transform into other forms, like the Leg form and the Glider form. As a leg you can run down the track to "punt" other Bots into the sky. As a Glider you can soar over chasms.

Third, the track design is full of fun mini-games to play while racing. From sports games like Bowling and Darts, to wackier game like the Sandwich rail, there is never a dull moment. These mini-games are worth big points, so you don't want to miss them.

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