It won’t be
long before racing games are differentiated primarily by their control status.
On Xbox 360 the genre continues down the path of the analog stick. But on Wii
and PS3, so much more is possible.
One of the
games daring to provide that "more" is Monster 4X4: World Circuit. Built for
the current generation, the game doesn’t look that impressive, and may not be
noticed by the average gamer passing through the Wii aisle of their favorite
retailer. But if you’re into racing games, if you love the Wii’s motion
controls, if you want something else to play besides Excite Truck, and if you
want a game that’ll give you a rental’s worth of entertainment, Monster 4X4
will fulfill your needs.
In Good
Control
Picking up
the Wii remote for a drive with this game is like grabbing hold of a racing
wheel attached to an arcade cabinet: you won’t be a pro on the first lap, but
the experience is instantly intuitive. There isn’t a learning or adjustment
period. No fumbling with passing opponents, nor any time wasted trying to
figure out the best way to take a corner. The movement, and the amount of
speed and pressure needed to be successful is crystal clear. A year from now
this will be expected – anything less will be a total mess. But for a Wii
launch ("window") title that’s been brought over from other, less advanced
consoles, this game is impressive.
Only a
couple of game modes are available: quick race and world circuit. The quick
race is your average arcade / exhibition mode. You can start off with it, but
you won’t be able to access every single course until you’ve conquered the
full circuit.
Monster 4X4
has a total of 10 individual tracks. You’ll experience each course twice
before the game is finished – once in normal form, and again in reversed
formation. Win first place and you’re all set. It’s not that difficult of a
task to accomplish – courses are typically short, opponents are easy to pass,
and there are plenty of opportunities to increase your speed (should you fall
behind and need a little help).
Trucks are
upgraded through a simple point system. Points are earned by winning and
performing stunts, and often end up in the thousands. Those are your base
points, and they don’t mean anything until they’ve been converted. The game
makes the conversion automatically. Once several thousand are in your
inventory, you’ll be rewarded with one experience point. Assign EXP to
different parts of your vehicle: speed, air, handling, etc.
Power-ups
are scarce, but when you do find them they’ll be fired off automatically. This
wouldn’t have been my first choice (I prefer the tried-and-true
store-until-you-need-it method). But it does offer up an interesting
challenge. When you’re in first place and you hit a bomb power-up, the weapon
is obviously going to waste. However, it’s still worth hitting the power-up
because they do not replenish themselves. Therefore every power-up you snag is
one less your opponent can grab and use in your direction.
Also, just
because an opponent is in the lead doesn’t mean you’ll have an easy time
attacking. Since power-ups are shot on their own, the only way to influence
their destination is by the angle that you hit the power-up from. Hit it from
a corner and it’ll be shot left or right – hit it dead-on for a straighter
firing.
Speed boosts
are also obtainable and come in two forms: automatic and turbo replacement.
The latter fills up your turbo meter. Unleash its juice by quickly pushing the
Wii remote toward the screen. It sounds lame – I love Tony Hawk and think
Sonic has a lot potential on Wii, but I don’t like the idea of shaking my
controller to activate a turbo boost (Tony Hawk does have a button
alternative, thankfully). The style Monster 4X4 uses didn’t seem like it would
be much better, but it works surprisingly well.
Perform
flips and spins by quickly tilting the remote left, right, or down. Tilting it
up or back does not yield any different results. But the other three actions
result in the truck flipping in the expected direction. Your speed and
precision when performing these stunts will determine how quickly the truck
moves, and how many stars are acquired. A three-star rating gets you a nice
point and turbo boost bonus. Anything less is just okay. Some weird landing
effects can occur – you could wind up on your two back tires, which jerks the
vehicle in a funny way, yet may still lead to a speed-boosting power-up. This
part seemed more random than the other aspects of the stunt system.
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Gameplay: 7.0
Satisfying
(motion-controlled) steering mechanics combined with short and fun courses and
an interesting (though minimally examined) trick system. You push the remote
toward the screen to ignite your turbo boosts, and twist the remote after
launching off a ramp to perform one of three spin moves.
Graphics: 4.0
Not as grainy or
washed out as Excite Truck, but still a far cry from producing Wii- or
GameCube-quality graphics.
Sound: 3.0
There must be a
library for generic racing game sounds. Every year, 90% of the racers sound
exactly the same.
Difficulty: Easy
Like taking candy
from a monster’s baby … who doesn’t have any teeth or claws to fight back.
Concept: 7.0
Same old racing
game, now with superior steering.
Multiplayer: 7.0
One of the few
four-player racers for the console, Monster 4X4 is a fun game to test out all
your new Wii remotes.
Overall: 7.0
Quick and
straightforward arcade-style fun. Monster 4X4 isn’t long or deep enough to be
a must-own, but racing fans will derive a day or two’s worth of pleasure. The
courses are short and usually sweet, and the controls are intuitive without
being overly sensitive, paving the way for Wii newbies who might not be used
to the console’s motion controls.
