Dirt Bike Retro Review

Dirt Bike Retro is a throwback to classic motocross games; the best way to explain it is that it’s an homage to Nintendo’s Excitebike. No scratch that, it’s a clone of Excitebike. Even the courses look similar and the game plays the same way as Nintendo’s classic gem, but somehow more irritating.

If you’re old enough to remember Excitebike, you do know that you, as expected, had to win the race by grabbing first place, but the twist was you couldn’t hold the gas button forever as your motocross’ motor would overheat. Same thing here, but it does feel like it over heats quicker than your opponents.

The game does have a cutesy cartoon-y and colorful visual and comically looking riders with bigger than normal heads on their smaller bodies. But as you can see in the screenshots, it looks like a glorified remaster/remake of one of Nintendo’s launch title. The soundtrack is also quick similar; down to the starting countdown. And as you’d expect the engine sound is annoying as all hell.

The game’s biggest problem is that it feels impossible to win. Your engine overheats quicker than the other racers meaning trying to managing to reach first place, let alone fifth place, impossible. Your best bet is for your opponents bo crash, but it’s still not enough. You’d also expect some sort of mechanics to manage your engine without having to come to a complete stop, but no. Also the pause is on the Button for some reason.

I can say confidently that Dirt Bike Retro is an easy pass. Even for its low price, the game feels unforgiving and comes off as a glorified Excitebike knock-off and no disrespect to that game, but it didn’t really revolutionize the gaming world. There’s a bevy of much better racing games, whether it be cars or 2-wheel vehicles, that feel free to overlook this one.