If strapping a rocket to the back of a motorcycle and riding it around cliffs and debris sounds like a good idea to you, you should probably check your life insurance policy, but if it sounds like a good premise for a video game, you might enjoy NitroBike.

Through a series of unlockable events, you choose a character and motorcycle and rocket around all kinds of tracks--dirt, paved, or a combination of the two--to claim the title of NitroBike Champion. Get medal in the events to unlock more tracks and events, and get the gold medal to unlock new riders and bikes, each with different advantages and disadvantages. This also brings my first caveat with this game: while not noticeable during gameplay, most of the default characters have costumes that, while covering skin completely, wear their protective undergarments on the outside of their clothes, so parents will want to be aware of that.

The game controls much like Excite Truck, using the sideways Wiimote as a steering wheel, or handlebars in this case. Tilt left to turn left and vice versa. The 1 and 2 buttons serve as brake and gas, and the control pad is your nitro boost, just like Excite Truck. Because the controls are nearly identical, younger children will have trouble controlling their cycles, as they'll tend to overcompensate, which is easy to do. In addition, the key to control is a combination of brakes and gas in the turns, doing 135° doughnuts on sharp turns, requiring a certain degree of precision uncommon in most kids under 10ish.

 

The "Nitro" in the title is the key to this game, and carefully deciding when to use it can mean the difference between 1st place and dead last. While you don't have to "earn" nitro boosts, using it for too long at a time will cause it to overheat and explode, so when you see a red warning, let up on the nitro or follow in the footsteps of Wile E. Coyote. Performing stunts similar to those in the MX vs. ATV series will extend your maximum temperature, allowing you to boost longer, but since tracks in later levels tend to get twistier, extra nitro is not necessarily helpful.

Events are grouped into series, and each series has between 3 and 10 events, many of the events in each series using the same tracks. While more variety would be fun, playing different events on the same tracks serves as a sort of tutorial, forcing you to practice on the tracks and master them before working your way up.

All of the events fall into one of 6 event types, varying in scenery and degrees of difficulty:

• Single Race: A regular race against 9 computer opponents, Nothing fancy, but lots of smoke.
• Fast Lap: A time trial. Get better and better times to get higher medals.
• Hoop Havoc: Like Fast Lap, but this time trial has you riding through hoops, each hoop giving you an extra 3 seconds to finish the race within the time limit. Get medals based on time left on the clock.
• Trick Attack: Given a series of tricks, you must perform them within the allotted time. This one's probably the trickiest (no pun intended) just because you need to stay on the track for the most part, so you have to keep looking for steep hills to boost up to have enough time to pull off the trick. Thankfully, not only the name of the trick, but the button combination is displayed on-screen.
• Elimination: Similar to Single Race, you race four laps against four computer-controlled riders, but once the first place rider crosses the finish line each lap, the last place rider blows up and is out of the race, so don't fall behind.
• Series Race: A "Cup"-style collection of Single Races, the winner being the rider with the most points at the end of the series. To unlock the next Series, you must medal in the Series Race, and to play the Series Race, you must have accumulated enough points from the other tracks in the series, which is a good idea anyway, as this will familiarize you with the tracks in the series.

NitroBike features a variety of environments, from airplane burial grounds to urban to tropical to farm. Most tend toward the earthy side, with mud flying back at the camera on acceleration, and when 10 bikes all nitro out of the gate, the smoke obscures most of the screen, but while annoying, it's realistic that way (Really--if you go find people with jet engines strapped to their motorcycles, you'll run into the same visibility issue. I've heard them complain about that time and again. Or not.). Parts of the environment are destructible, though a bit unrealistic in this regard, and a single bike can knock down a natural stone arch without harm but then explode when hitting a pile of hay, but at least the explosions are fun to watch.

Sound is average--nothing amazing and nothing horrible. A bit more musical variety would be nice, though. All of the background music sounds basically the same. Once you get sick of it, turn the BGM sound down and turn on your home audio system while you play.

 

Once you meet certain criteria, you unlock one of the most fun parts of this game: bowling. I won't tell you how, but you'll do it without even trying. This may disturb some parents, but those who've played Flat-Out will get the concept. In this case, you drive your bike into a barrier, and the rider goes flying into giant bowling pins. It's a silly concept that works as a nice diversion.

The game offers multiplayer as splitscreen or online. The splitscreen works fine and gives the game a social aspect that adds to the fun. Sadly, I wasn't able to try the online play, because nobody seems to be around. I have no friends with the game, so I tried the "Auto-Match" and literally left it on "Attempting to match with other players" screen all evening, trying different settings every 20-30 minutes on a Friday evening. Either the only people playing online were playing with friends, or nobody was playing, period, so unless something changes, if you're buying this mainly to play online, don't unless you buy another copy for a friend and swap codes. (If I'm able to get online at a future date, I'll post a comment below and would appreciate comments from any readers who were able to get on and race.)

 

Overall, this is a "blender game." Take Excite Truck and MX vs. ATV, and throw them in a blender. The end result will be something like NitroBike. If you're looking for a great off-road experience, you may enjoy MX vs ATV better, which has a lower learning curve and less overall challenge, but I enjoyed it more than Excite Truck for the stunts and variety of tracks. If you're looking for an off-road racing game, get MX vs. ATV, but if you're looking for a break from that, NitroBike is worth at least a rental.