My Wii Speed Racer Review

I always worry when the release of a video game is tied to the release of the movie the game is based on- usually, the result of a licensed title is a quickly-cobbled-together piece of junk designed solely to capitalize on the movie's release and turn a quick buck.  Part of what makes Speed Racer for Wii such a nice surprise is that it breaks out of this mold and manages to actually be a decent game., which I like to play while wearing my Speed Racer T-Shirt.

Speed Racer Wii aims at pretty much the same demographic the movie did; namely- families.  While this game is not going to win any Editor's Choice Awards from IGH, it still is good, and the main reason is because it doesn't try to fight the Wiimote control but embraces it.  The game only requires a Wiimote to play (yay, no extra nunchucks to buy!) and also is compatible with the recently released Wii Wheel (Whiil?).  Although the game is a little light on content for a full-priced title, I still recommend you pick it up.

First of all, the game is really pretty, especially when you use a set of component cables to get 480p out of your Wii, using an HDTV.  The game uses the same color scheme- described by one reviewer as "comparable to having molten Starburst poured into your cornea"- as the movie, and it looks just as vibrant here as it did on the silver screen.  There's no real "story" arc to speak of past "drive fast, win races, and advance through the series:, but the stars of the movie are included in short one-liners that play at the start of the races and also during them- Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox and Christina Ricci (whose Trixie features heavily in the tutorial) all reprise their roles here for short but punchy one-liners.

This is definitely not a "hardcore" game, as evidenced by the fact that it's appearing on the Wii, which is decidedly not a hardcore gamers' console.  I mean, you can't even really drive your car off the track, as the game makes heavy use of "assisted steering" to keep your wheels on the road and your nose pointed towards the finish line.  It's an interesting choice, considering that so much of the movie involved cars getting knocked off of the tracks.  The "car-fu" from the movie- cars jumping, spinning, shooting, flipping, sliding and spinning is represented here in spades- it's as important as driving skill to be able to pull off these maneuvers.  The good news is that most of these moves are performed by simple shaking the Whiil, though some do require a simple press of the directional pad to activate.

The more "car-fu" you manage to pull off, the more you avoid the invisible "Walls" on the sides of the tracks, and the more "turbo stickers" you manage to run over, the faster your car will go.  If you manage to save up enough boost, you can enter a super "In The Zone" mode where you become essentially invincible and race at a blinding pace.  The ability to build up and efficiently use this power tend to be a major deciding factor in most races, as the AI cheats (by rubber banding) viciously.

It's something of a novelty to see a licensed title that isn't horrible, and while the game isn't terribly deep it still is a cohesive package (and one of the better Wii racers) that families will be able to play and enjoy together.