Excite Truck is basically an off road racing game in which you take control of a number of varying trucks (with more to be unlocked the further you progress) and pit them in a racing environment.

Progressing in the game does not always rely on you winning the race, but instead relies more on you collecting stars. To gather stars you must complete a number of objectives while on the track including destroying opponent’s trucks, making long drifts and catching air.

You are able to boost by hitting a button on the Wiimote and the whole game is played with the Wii controller held on its side. This allows you to tilt the remote to the left and the right in order to steer the vehicle, and also relies on you tilting the remote control forward and backwards to make sure you land your jumps. Landing jumps was an important element of Excite Bike and this is probably the biggest element that Excite Truck has with its counterpart.

Boosting will be an important gameplay element in Excite Truck as you will need to use your boost effectively in order to beat the opponents, and also boosts will be needed to take down various opponents. Also a nice touch will be the ability to use your boost in midair, which may allow you to gain substantial distance on your opponents, but will leave you requiring more skill in order to actually land any jumps you make.

Graphically Excite Truck doesn’t really stand out on any counts, but from the videos and screenshots available at this time the colours look vibrant enough and the various trucks look well modelled and fairly detailed.

Unfortunately there will be no online modes in Excite Truck (like the rest of the Wii launch titles). This is a great shame because out of the US launch titles for Wii I think this is the one (and maybe Call of Duty 3) that would appeal to gamers across the pond. There will be a simple 2 player split screen option available for those wanting multiplayer action, but unfortunately there will be no computer controlled opponents appearing in this mode, leaving things very sour.

The news that you will be able to create your own custom soundtrack using SD cards within the game will appeal to some and is a good sign of things to come soundtrack wise with the Wii. Those without SD Cards can expect to listen to a mix of jazz and rock, which should be enough to encourage you to get your foot down.

While it is obvious from this preview that Excite Truck is looking a little shallow in terms of the games content, only an in-depth play test and review can confirm exactly how fun this game will be. And in fairness – twisting about the Wiimote like an idiot as my truck careers off the road seems pretty fucking fun to me.