Excitebike 64

"The NES one was better, but this one is still great!"

It was October 1985, a legend was released. Excitebike for the NES, was setting the stone for future dirt bike racers. Almost fifteen years later and Excitebike 64 is released, the legend continues. Excitbike returns with a 64 bit upgrade, and a superb one at that.

Gameplay:

Season:
Excitebike 64's season is packed with great AI, detailed tracks, and big air. You start off as a Novice, in the Bronze round and work your way up to the top of the ladder, and enjoy every second of it. Unlike other dirt bike racers for the N64 (*cough* Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000), this one is actually challenging, and fun. You may be surprised as how hard this game actually is though, I was, and let me say this, it is NOT easy. But to keep you wanting to go on...you get a few...gifts on the way. Like Soccer, Hill Climb, and my favorite Excite 3D.

Exhibition:
Like almost all racers, there is a single race mode. This is where 2, 3, or 4 people. Battle it out to see who is the best. But it doesn't just have to be multiplayer you can take on the computer by yourself or with your friends.

Special Tracks:
Excitebike 64 has a section of different types of races. A section of complete fun too:

In the desert you and five other bikers are in a race to find the ten bonfires. Sound easy? Its not, you have to jump the sand dunes, beat your opponents in this long, grueling race. Find the bonfires, run over them, then go on to the next one. This is where you get that serious air. Hmmm....high speed + big air + a big area + five opponents asking for you run them over = FUN.

Next you have the original Excitebike, a true blast from the past. Time sure has been good to this game, though it is the same as the game we played fifteen years ago it still is a blast.

Now you get a strange multiplayer soccer game with a unique dirt bike twist. You and at least one other player are in a large stadium, with goals on each side, the point is get the ball in their goal. Simple enough right? Wrong! You have a huge area, that means lots or space to cover, though this is very hard, it is very exciting.

The Hill Climb is exactly the opposite of a high speed race, you have to go up an amazingly steep hill as fast as you can. The problem is, it is very steep! Gun that throttle and spin those tires while you go almost no where, as your bike battles the tough terrain.

Finally we have my favorite, Excite 3D, Excite 3D is the hardest mode to get, but for a good reason. Here you can play the old version, in a new 3D world. This is just so much fun, thinking back to what Excitebike has become, and now looking at it in 3D. This area has everything you would remember, the oil slicks, the table tops, the big ramps, and a bunch of fun.

Custom Tracks: (Track Editor)
Another feature coming back is the track editor. Here you can select between different turns, jumps, sand type, and even make your own jump. You get a large area to make your own indoor track, select the number of laps, and you are off.

Sound:


Excitebike 64 has some of the best sound I have seen on the N64 yet. The bikes sound real, the announcer sounds real, the music sounds good too. Another excellent part of the sound, is how your tires react to the sand. You will hear a different sound when you carve the turn on different surfaces.

Graphics:

Wow! This game looks so real, the bikes, the bikers, and even the backgrounds will amaze you. I was amazed at nearly everything in this game, but the graphics stuck out even more. In many games the backgrounds are sacrificed for a good foreground. This isn't the case in Excitbike 64, lighting effects, moving backgrounds, characters, and the painful animations of your character getting knocked off your bike, are all top notch.

Overview:


It looks as if Left Fields left no stone unturned in this game. Graphics, tracks, and the gameplay all are marvelous. No point in this game is bad at all, in fact the only bad part about it is, I only have this game for 5 days. But that's okay, I will be walking in to my local game store to pick me up a copy. Excitebike 64 is definitely a must have game, and it could give Perfect Dark a run for its money, unless Rare releases a perfect game Perfect Dark could easily come up second.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/11/03, Updated 02/11/03