Nitrobike

Once you hit the game's rhythm it's all downhill. It's also one of the console's better looking games in terms of textures. [Mar 2008, p.60]

The thing that hurts Nitrobike the most is that it just doesn't bring much new content to the table in terms of Wii racing titles. In fact, aside from the well-done online mode, it's a near carbon-copy of Excite Truck.

It’s a one-trick pony for the most part, but worth a rental at least for arcade racing fans.

On the gameplay side, Nitrobike is good, but not great. As far as audio/visual/presentation goes, it lacks soul, and that is certainly a downer.

Nitrobike is a good idea, it does a lot of things right, but it isn't the final product I think Left Field Productions wanted it to be.

Good controls and occasionally thrilling, but more often it's frustrating. [Apr 2008, p.82]

Nitrobike is very much a middle-of-the-road game. It does a few things right, a few things wrong and, most of all, it does nothing new.

People who are interested in technical accuracy will be turned away by the glaring inaccuracies in how nitro is used and the fact that it is nearly impossible to control your vehicle in any appreciable degree, and speed junkies will throw down their Wiimotes in disgust at how the game punishes you over and over again for actually using the edge you've been given.

Course designs are limiting and don’t really take advantage of the "Nitro" in Nitrobike. But worst of all, the game’s generic characters and setting rob it of any personality. Nitrobike is not extreme - it’s just boring.

But when the game finds itself up against one cheaper, much better year-old rival and fails to make any in-roads, it's hard to justify sending you out to buy it.

Sure it’s got remote tilt steering, liberal boosts, and plenty of jumps, but the core control is so fundamentally sloppy it verges on unplayable.

It's a shame, because the Wi-Fi play is arguably the best part of Nitrobike. While the technical issues persist, the smaller field and lag-free experience benefits from the knowledge that your online competitors are putting up with the same glitches that you are.

Despite all of its flaws, Nitrobike has one thing going for it: if you blowup 15 times during your career you can unlock crash test bowling. It’s not particularly fun and uses some whacked-out physics, but at least it will keep you from playing the main game.

Nitrobike works well when it's living up to its boost-inspired name, but most of the time, it's a slow, clumsy mess.

While the MSRP may not scream bargain title, the overall package certainly does.

Frustrating and painful. [Apr 2008, p.66]

With mediocre gameplay, even worse graphics, an annoying soundtrack, and almost no incentive to play for more than twenty minutes, this game doesn’t even warrant a rental.

The makers of Excitebike 64 return to the motocross circuit with a disappointing wreck of a Wii game. [Feb 2008, p.89]

With some of the worst presentation the Wii has seen and some partially broken controls, even an inevitable appearance in a bargain bin shouldn't tempt you to buy Nitrobike.

Visually, it's a horrid mess of jagged polygons and smeared textures. [Apr 2008, p.76]