In addition to racing cars, the other four-wheeled vehicles that drove young and old alike have always been i Monster Truck, incredible racing cars with gigantic wheels that have become very famous especially as a result of the US series of motor shows Monster Jam, having at the center freestyle competitions and exhibitions of various customized trucks in the most bizarre ways possible. While the fame of the program has waned with the end of its television broadcast, in the United States these shows are still very strong and, aware of this, Teyon has realized Monster Truck Championship, a title for PlayStation 4, PC, Nintendo Switch e Xbox One which aims to recreate the atmosphere of the Monster Truck shows, putting us behind the wheel of one of these motorized beasts. It will have succeeded in its intent, after the flop of Terminator: Resistance? Let's find out together in this review!
From amateur to king of Monster Trucks
Monster Truck Championship offers three main game modes: Fast Tour, Online multiplayer e Career, that is the main one. The first allows you to immediately get on the track (or in the arena) by choosing one of the various types of races available, namely:
- Race: as in the most classic car games, it is about finishing first after completing a series of laps together with other opponents.
- Duel: it's about a 1 vs 1 challenge in a short track, where we will have to get the right start to avoid falling behind, given the practically zero margin to remedy the mistakes.
- Freestyle: in this mode we will be alone inside an arena and with our vehicle we will have to do as many trick possible, chaining them in order to score more points than the opponents.
- Distruzione: Similar to Freestyle mode, points are awarded as we destroy as many designated targets as possible in series while performing tricks.
- Try in time: in a certain number of laps we will have to beat, running alone, the best time set by the opponents.
As the name implies, the online multiplayer mode allows you to compete online with other real players in the previously mentioned modes. You can create a custom game from scratch or join one created by someone else. The real focus of the game, however, is, without a doubt, the Career mode, and this can be understood as soon as the game is started as the first thing we will have to do is set the profile with which we will compete and attempt to conquer glory. Within the Career mode menu there are several options that we are now going to analyze.
The most important is the Events section, the very heart of Monster Truck Championship. The events present in the game are divided into three different leagues: National, Professional e Major League. The National League is the first that we will face. Each event present within each league consists of a variable number of phases of a different nature (Duel, Race, Freestyle, etc.), each of which will give us points depending on the position reached. Based on the score obtained, we will be able to win the ranking of the single event and accumulate points to improve our placement in the overall ranking of the entire league. Only by winning a league will it be possible to access the higher level one.
By winning an event it will be possible to get a certain amount of dollars that can be invested to buy mechanical parts, aesthetic changes, new frames and hire new ones team members. Additionally, most events require a registration fee to be paid in order to access them. In addition to the Events section, there are three other sections: Training, Garage e Management. The Training section allows you to learn the fundamentals of driving a Monster Truck. There's a extensive tutorial which shows one by one the various tricks, in which we will also be assisted by a ghost which helps us to understand which are the maneuvers to perform. The mode Free exercise instead it allows you to try your hand without time limits and without constraints, for as long as you want.
The Garage section, on the other hand, allows you to customize our vehicle. There are tons of editing options, from frame when setting the suspensions, from engine to the painting drive shaft. The only note at the moment concerns the freedom of modification, as at present it is not possible to change the position of the stickers compared to the default one. To unlock new parts to buy later, you need to win events and successfully make deals with them (to become a sponsor). These can be selected in the Management section, which will also allow us to choose the members of our team to hire. The latter are of different classes (Manager, Engineer, Engine specialist, Accountant), each of which provides gods bonus (and sometimes some penalties) different to weigh well before letting them join the team. Unfortunately, there is no form of interaction or cut-scene that proves their existence, so they can only be considered as gods perk classics role-playing game.
Important elements instead are the sponsors, who in addition to providing a good amount of money once their challenges are completed, they allow you to unlock more parts to customize the Monster Truck. Each sponsor will follow our companies for a limited number of events and for this reason they must be selected frequently, based on the type of events we are preparing to face.
The rumble and the thunder
As soon as the game is started the surprise is to discover the guide voice in Spanish which explains every single game mode in detail and what to do in the early stages of the game. Even during the races we will be able to count on dubbing in other languages of the reporter who, especially in the Freestyle and Destruction events, intervenes by commenting every single trick correctly. Convincing the roar of the engines and collisions, a little less than the cheering of the public, which is completely static in the stands, without a minimum of animation (which certainly would not have spoiled). A little' monotonous the soundtrack, characterized by very few tracks both in the menus and during the races.
Developed with the Unreal Engine graphics engine, from the graphic point of view it proves to be a good product and the quality of the Monster Truck models, very well detailed and with light effects (and mud) crashing with a good level of realism on the means. The behavior of the vehicles is also realistic, as they react in real time to the roughness of the terrain, to too abrupt changes of direction and to different types of asphalt. The backdrops of the circuits and arenas also lack personality in part, since they do not have the same care taken in the construction of the vehicles. As for the video sector, the negative one stands out lack of replays at the end of the race and a photo mode which, hopefully, can be included with future updates. A frequent one should also be noted framerate drop in cases where too many media are present at the same time on the scene, also warned on PlayStation 4 Pro.
From zero to myth ... with the right effort
As already mentioned, Career mode is the centerpiece of Monster Truck Championship. Starting with $ 4000, two team members and the most classic of Monster Trucks, we will have to build a reputation for victories in various events. Pleasantly balanced the difficulty of the game, which manages to make almost every victory rewarding. In fact, even at the lowest difficulty level it will not be so obvious to win thanks to the realism of the trucks, which could spin or spin. run off the track due to a too risky maneuver. This eventuality makes each race different from the other and adds that level of challenge that, otherwise, would have made the game excessively monotonous. The progression of the finances it is also well balanced and to get to have a vehicle with top performance it is necessary to reach the Major League division. Good artificial intelligence of the opponents, who will tend to ram us as soon as we try to overtake.
At full throttle?
Monster Truck Championship is a game for everyone but at the same time not for everyone. Despite being a accessible title from every type of player, after not too many hours of play it begins to be repetitive also due to the few game modes available in addition to Career. Furthermore, the lack of a local multiplayer mode it's a flaw in a title that, in our view, lends itself well to being played with friends in split-screen. Noteworthy are the vehicle models, collision physics and dubbing in other languages, although it consists of a few sentences. The detail of the circuits and the backdrops can be improved, as well as the dancer framerate in some situations.
Ultimately, Monster Truck Championship is a title that immediately turns out to be fun for everyone but then gradually becomes truly appreciable especially by true fans of these monstrous four-wheeled vehicles. However, he manages to give luster to the world of Monster Trucks again, after the disappointing Monster Jam: Steel Titans by THQ. Available for purchase starting today, the title is available for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One e PC means Steam.
