Wrapping up my last week of Summer, I thought I'd get one more review down the hatch. What exactly is this title that didn't get much coverage and why should you perhaps for once care about a WiiWare game? Because it's made by RedLynx, the folks that brought us the Trials series; also, it's a lot like Trials. The game's release sort of flew under the radar and being exclusive to the not so glamorous WiiWare service probably didn't help.



Release Date: September 15, 2011
Developer: RedLynx
Platforms: WiiWare
Price: 1500 Points ($15)
Nintendo Store Page
Website
Trailer

If you've played a Trials game before (hopefully you have as I'll be mentioning it way too often in this review), you have an idea of what you're in for. MotoHeroz is a sidescrolling time attack game that heavily revolves around you maneuvering your vehicle through a track to its end point. The tracks usually consist of a lot of platforms and physics based pathways making it feel more like a platformer than something like Excitebike. The structure itself is pretty straightforward with you having to complete a track by its specified time to move on to the next one with them unlocking in a linear fashion.



Unlike Trials, the game takes on a much more approachable presentation, opting for cartoony, exaggerated designs and environments reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country Returns (down to the wooden HUD, similarly enough). While the wide variety of vehicles and characters is well done, the game doesn't give many opportunities for them to be shown off, especially in singleplayer. Very early on, some of the tracks start off with dialogue that prefaces the event, but this concept is abandoned very quickly. You only have access to a single vehicle throughout the entire game (two in reality, but you'd be hard pressed to notice the difference). While the developer's rationale of allowing a single type of car's handling makes sense design wise, a simple cosmetic change to swap between the different vehicles would have still been nice.



Frankly, the WiiWare service hasn't been known for its standout titles. The few worth checking out don't usually get much attention or become irrelevant on WiiWare when they're eventually ported to other platforms. There's also the host of other problems associated with purchasing from WiiWare, although I'll avoid the trollbaitery. It is pretty safe to say though that MotoHeroz is one of those standout titles that's just plain good.

This is definitely RedLynx's most polished and well presented game. It's a small point, but while the menus are animated, they're very responsive and are topped off with glorious ambient playful music. The game runs at 60fps and manages to do so while managing some pretty complex visuals. For those not familiar with how a typical playthrough of a Trials game occurs, you usually succeed in one try or it'll take you many frustrating attempts to get by. The main thing that helps lessen that frustration is being able to quickly restart from the begining which this game fortunately let's you do. The downside is that instead of being bound to a single button as is the norm, you have to pause and select the restart option.



My biggest problem with the game is probably partly my own fault. From the cartoony visuals and Wiiware platform, I was assuming this would be a sort of Trials Light. Trials is up there with Super Meat Boy and VVVVV as one of those masochistic, soul crushing games. So I was caught a bit off guard when a large portion of the tracks I was finishing were starting to become milliseconds within the target finish time. Very commonly I'd do something like mess up on the landing angle of the first or second jump 10 seconds in and immediately restart. I like to think I'm at least average when it comes to these games, but many playthroughs of this had me having to stop altogether because I'd basically just hit an impasse and there's no way to advance until you beat the level you're currently on.

Pros

- Something good on WiiWare
- Great design, use of colours
- 4 player split screen

Cons

- May be too difficult for younger folks
- Is on WiiWare
- Lack of player customization/variation

Score

(4.5/5 Nanas)