Too often, you’re driving in the same area that you’ve already seen before.
There are enough tracks and areas for the first few hours, 25 circuit variants in total, but you soon realise that there perhaps aren’t enough to sustain the full career. However, despite the gameplay remaining relatively unique, the same old drawbacks remain.ĭespite this being a simulation when you heavily damage your truck, you can never disable it – wheels never fall off in a race, for example. In particular, with throttle control being so key to success for Freestyle events, this could have helped precision.īut, of course, the increase in console power improves aesthetics dramatically. I’ve never seen anything like it, you flow from on event to another without so much as an interstitial.īut, one feature that isn’t utilised, sadly, is the DualSense, both the haptics and Adaptive Triggers have been given a miss, something that could have given an extra level of emersion and differentiation to this new version. The longest one you will see from between the career menu and the event starting on PS5 is – and I’m really not exaggerating here – two seconds. I wouldn’t normally mention them with quite so much detail within a review, but they are staggering. This biggest next-gen feature, however, is the loading times. The visuals have tarted up well, like an old ornament after some Brasso.
This is helped by caravans, cars and portaloos that deform with a satisfying weight in the arena-based events.įor the PS5 and Xbox Series versions, you get dynamic 4K resolution and 60fps – a dramatic improvement over the last-gen console versions. Once you learn their ways, controlling oversteer with both axles is a dark art, there is something enjoyable about the bouncy behemoths. You may be forgiven for thinking that this is a glorified tech demo, but a full video game has been built upon the realistic physics. Throw in online multiplayer – although even on the established last-gen versions it has been hard to find opponents sadly – and on paper it seems like there is plenty to work through. There’s also a team management aspect, whereby you recruit individuals across a multitude of skillsets and thus providing perks such as a five per cent winning bonus. To further boost cash pay-outs, you must sign a sponsor that sets objectives. More than just the vehicle colour, you can even unlock whole new body styles. This includes the ability to change the cosmetics too. You earn money based upon your performance, which you can spend to unlock further events and to tune up your vehicle. There’s a brief tutorial, followed by a full career that mixes all the event types. There’s nothing worse than having to struggle to the finish of a race with a damaged wheel. You use the left analogue stick to steer the front axle, and for tight corners, the right analogue stick to steer the rear axle – independently of each other.Īs you crash and bash your way through challenges, which range from run-of-the-mill races to side-by-side knockout events, stunt areas (‘Freestyle’) and destruction tests, your bodywork will fall off after contact and the damage will affect vehicle performance. To drive, you need to be precise with your throttle control otherwise your end up in an upside-down imbroglio, struggling to get back up the right way again. Your aim is relatively straightforward start out from the bottom and work your way up to major league glory. While this is a review, to be clear, I will mainly focus on the next-gen version, as for many, this is a polished version of a pre-existing game. This is meant to be difficult, and to that extent, it largely achieves this goal. That’s right, Monster Truck Championship is a simulator, aiming at a different audience to the more accessible and fantastical world of the also recently released Monster Jam Steel Titans 2. And again, this month, when it arrives on PS5 and Xbox Series. Then in November when it came out on Nintendo Switch.
Well, until October 2020 when Monster Truck Championship was first released on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. But there’s never been a monster truck simulation so we at home can get a true sense of what they are like to drive. Bouncing around arenas, often upside down, tearing off their own bodywork like a three-year-old who doesn’t like socks. Big, brash, largely American and at times, completely stupid – but in a good way.