Overall and Final Verdict
Monster truck games over the years have been very hit and miss and I nearly skipped on past this one at first glance as well. What caught my eye was that it was being developed by Nacon which used to be called Bigben Interactive. They have been involved in the WRC or World Rally Championship games and Flatout (just the last one). So I figured I would give the game a look and would be a nice break from testing hardware to run things over and not even get arrested for it!
I’ve had a good time playing, its kind of a mix of normal racing games with Tony Hawk mixed in when it comes to the arena stunts. I found that overall it's an easy game to jump in for 45 minutes or an hour but it did start to get repetitive and grindy when I played for a lot longer. This mostly has to do with the lack of a variety of tracks and track locations. More variety there would be good or having a map creation mode where you can put obstacles together would be even better.
The career mode is what I like the most, especially the customization of the trucks. You can upgrade all of the performance aspects, pick and choose your team for more advantages, and then make a unique looking truck with the aesthetic changes.
It’s the graphics though that are holding the game back. I feel like the overall level of detail is best compared to GTA 5 which dates the game back to 2013. Especially when you now have sports games and racing games that can sometimes be confused for real video footage, it makes Monster Truck Championship stand out in a bad way. That isn’t to say that graphics or detail is everything. Hell, every year many games show that isn’t true. But when I play games I love being able to be able to do things I can’t do in real life, like being a monster truck driver and I want the full experience. There aren’t any monster truck games with better graphics out there, but I would love for it to feel a little more next-gen with the PS5 and new Xbox coming out soon.
As far as bug and issues, I did run into a few. Specifically, I had one game crash which is pictured below. I also think that some of the menus like the multiplayer one fully loading the GPU is a bug as well. But I didn’t run into any game ruining issues. Controls are solid, at least as good as they can be when you also have to control front and rear steering which does make using a steering wheel useful at all.
Overall I did like the game and have been playing it here and there even when I was done with my testing. There is a lot of room for improvement, but the game does feel like Dirt with monster trucks. If you like monster trucks you won’t get to see the trucks that you have grown up loving, but you do get to get the monster truck experience. Career mode lets you progress and upgrades your truck and there are quickplay and multiplayer modes to jump into when you don’t want that grind as well.
Live Pricing: HERE
