Video Game Review: Nitrobike

I'm sure that there are plenty of people who are interested in playing one of the many biking video games out there. So I'm going to review one of these games and tell you if it's worth picking up.

Here's Nitrobike, for the Nintendo Wii. Let me just get this out of the way, this is not a good game, for the simple reason of the core game mechanics and the track design not meshing together at all. It's like the developers decided to take the driving system and the tracks from two completely different games to see how it would turn out. Sadly, it did not turn out to be a good game.

To further elaborate, the main gimmick of Nitrobike is that your bike is fitted with a nitro-powered engine that allows you to perform speed boosts. You can get more boost energy by doing tricks, and you have to watch your boost gauge so that your bike doesn't overheat. This boosting gimmick is definitely capable of being the cornerstone of a very fun game. Imagine the possibility of rocketing down a long straightway, before jumping off a ramp and using the insane amount of airtime to perform a huge trick combo. Nitrobike's tracks aren't designed for that sort of fun though. There's a lot of turns on them, and they're cluttered with obstacles and other racers. Basically, if you try to use your boost, you're more often than not going to crash into something. That is terrible game design. You don't create a prominent gimmick then give the player nearly no opportunities to use it. It's like giving the player a gun and ammo supplies throughout all the levels, then making 95% of the enemies immune to bullets, it just makes for a boring game.

Another problem that Nitrobike has is that its collision detection is very buggy. What exactly happens when you bump into something seems to be chosen at random. Sometimes when you hit another racer, you'll just bounce off of them, but other times you'll be sent flying into the air. Also, hitting that one sign on the side of the track can cause a crash, but driving through a wooden post does nothing.

The most fun you can have with this game is through the exhibition mode. Here, you can lower the amount of racers and choose to race on only the better tracks so you can use the boost to your heart's content. Unfortunately, you need to play through the career mode to unlock more tracks, and the career mode does not any customization options. There's also an online mode, but good luck finding anyone to play with.

Overall, just pick up one of the MotoGP games, because Nitrobike is a waste of money.