The creators of Trials HD dare you to defy death in a dune buggy.
Scroll down to the bottom for a video review.
Finnish game developer RedLynx is probably best known for creating the addictive and sometimes brutally difficult Trials HD for Xbox Live Arcade. The studio's new racing title for WiiWare, MotoHeroz, takes the gameplay of Trials, adds platforming elements, and molds it into a colorful experience that looks and feels right at home on a Nintendo platform.
Maneuvering your car through the 2D sidescrolling levels is accomplished with a Wii Remote held NES style. Holding down the 2 button propels your car forward, while holding the 1 button makes it go in reverse. The d-pad gives you full control over your car's balance and tilt. It’s exhilarating to save your car from cruising into a bottomless pit by adeptly altering your cars angle of descent at the very last moment. If your car becomes immobile on its back, a shake of the Wii Remote will flip it right side up.
The single-player story adventure mode features 75 extremely inventive stages that show off RedLynx’s design prowess. All of the loop-de-loops sometimes make you feel like you’re playing a Sonic the Hedgehog game. Varied level objectives and crazy power-ups keep the single player mode from becoming monotonous; occasionally your racer will soar through the sky with a jet pack, or will need to navigate an underwater shortcut.
It only took me about four to five hours to complete all the levels in the story adventure mode, but there is incentive to replay them. Players are challenged to earn a gold medal on every stage by beating them within a certain time limit. Earning gold on every stage is not a simple feat, and will probably only be completed by the most determined individuals. Each level is also filled with coins to collect, along with two "ancestor spirits". Finding these blue spirit orbs will require players to explore every nook and cranny of the stages.
Another source of replay value is the local multiplayer party rally mode. Up to four players can fight for first place in specially-designed multiplayer courses. This mode is a lot of fun and is just as addictive as the rest of the game. While there is no online multiplayer component, players can partake in online challenge events. Much like the online challenges in Mario Kart Wii, RedLynx will be changing the levels and goals in these challenges at different times. Once a challenge is completed, players can compare their scores in online leaderboards.
The game's graphical style does a great job at emulating the look of a Saturday morning cartoon. In fact, you wouldn't be surprised if Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner showed up in the game's desert level. The action always runs at a smooth 60 frames per second, and overall, the game looks outstanding for a WiiWare title. There are some nice retro-style tunes to listen to as you complete the levels, but a couple of them can become a little repetitive, especially if you are stuck on a level for a long time.
MotoHeroz is an extremely addictive title that is very hard to put down. Its stages are challenging, but they will never get you frustrated to turn off your Wii. RedLynx has built in a lot of content that should make this title worth playing for a long time. Anyone who enjoyed Trials HD, likes a good challenge, or desires a unique local multiplayer affair should definitely look into picking up MotoHeroz.