We all have our
destructive side that finds pleasure in seeing things get smashed to pieces or
blown up in glorious eruptions of flames and smoke. Perhaps this is the reason
that people go to monster truck shows or to demolition sites when they blow up
old buildings. Either way destruction does go well in games, especially when
vehicles are concerned (such as the enjoyable Twisted Metal: Black). Joining
the ranks of vehicular destruction is Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction.
Gamers begin the game with
a choice of twenty-six monster trucks (with a few more to unlock) and eight
worlds to select in most of the modes (such as a jungle temple or the Vegas
Strip). The three modes–Exhibition, Season and Mini-Game–each have their own
challenges. Still both Exhibition and Season share the same three game playing
modes: Death Match (a last man standing wins mode), Cash Grab (acquire as many
Cash Power-Ups) and Points (earn enough points by destroying other trucks and
parts of the environment).
Mini-Game offers six
playing modes that range from races to Deathmatch-style battles in new
settings. The races are made up of Stadium Race and Canyon Race. The others
are Lava Island, Stadium Freestyle, Arena Challenge and Stadium Challenge.
While the Mini-Game mode offers many unique challenges, it’s the poor AI that
ruins it all.
The other monster trucks
seldom seem to attack one another; instead, they all seem to be driven towards
destroying only you. Many of them always seem to know when a Weapon
Power-Up re-spawns, often beating you to it without any resistance. And forget
trying to slam into them! You’ll find them slamming into you more easily than
you can and the only time you can properly smash into them is when a truck
helplessly gets stuck between an object and a wall.
While the controls are so
easy to manage the game suffers from a number of “stutters” that draw away from
the smoothness of the driving. Collisions are usually met with slight momentary
delays in sound and the image would sometimes freeze for a second or two.
During the Lava Island challenge, when your vehicle is thrown off the edge of
the island you’re greeted with an awful bug that turns your screen pitch black
for a long period.
Gamers can bring a friend
to the fray for a little two-player multiplayer action, but unfortunately this
does make for an awfully “bumpy” session. The game freezes during collisions on
some occasions and this does interfere with the flow of the game. You can,
though, play almost any game mode except for Season Play Mode and the Stadium
Freestyle Mini-Game.
Interesting enough, the
monster trucks themselves look spectacular. Many range from the ordinary to the
bizarre while others are based on Marvel comics characters (Spider-Man and
Wolverine) or WCW wrestlers (Goldberg and Sting). The environment looks awful,
however, and backgrounds (such as distant cities) appear like a childishly
rendered flat backdrop from an elementary school play production.
The sound doesn’t have
much going for it in terms of a moving soundtrack and that leaves the sound
effects of the truck’s engines and sputtering of the tail pipes that pretty much
take it’s place. Thankfully the announcer does not pop up very often, yet his
assessments of the match is often vague. Once he noted–during a Death Match
challenge using Gravedigger–that “Gravedigger is going down in flames” when
clearly the vehicle was not even damaged.
Sadly, Monster Jam fails
miserably in all aspects and does not provide an entertaining title worthy of
those fans that enjoy a good vehicle smash-and-bash. Gamers should definitely
look elsewhere to satisfy their destructive craving.
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#Reviewer’s |
Gameplay: 4.8
Depending on the monster truck you
choose the controls still handle like a dream. Gamers will easily learn the
driving controls and how to use boosts and weapons to their advantage. Yet when
these Power Ups are not available, you are forced to slam into an opponent . . .
a feat that is somehow very easy for them and extremely difficult for you.
The battle arenas don’t
look that interesting and many of them are quite awful. Although there are
things in the environment you can interact with, such as pillars or parked cars,
every other arena are basically flat backgrounds and lack the pleasures of
discovering many secret areas.
Graphics: 5.2
Unfortunately, while the game itself
doesn’t present itself all that well gameplay-wise, the visuals are somewhat
striking in certain aspects. The monster trucks themselves are actually quite
impressive and are highly detailed–especially those trucks with outrageous
features such as the Reptoid truck’s “fanged” front grill. And since there are
twenty-six monster trucks from the very start, it’s fun seeing them all in
action.
However, despite the
decent appearance of each monster truck, this doesn’t save the graphics from the
horrors of a not-so-good background and this is really unfortunate because there
are eight worlds to select and play through. Also, with the sketchy frame rate,
the game seems to suffer from a number of hiccups during collisions, which
happens often in the game. And the damage inflicted on the monster trucks
really isn’t at all very realistic . . . unless you’ve seen car crashes where
tiny wrenches pop out of the vehicle.
Sound: 4.0
The game’s long list of weak points
also includes the sound. The running soundtrack is noticeably toned down to
almost nothing and, considering all you’ll ever hear is the roar of engines and
the slamming of trucks, a soundtrack with hard hitting tunes would have been
very welcome. Regrettably, the only signature theme is the same one that plays
in the main menu.
While the sound effects
are in the so-so category–the engine roar is quite nice and the crunching
sounds of your truck crushing parked cars is equally so–there will be times
when other monster truck drivers sometimes yell back at you. There is also no
running commentary, although a male announcer does come on to tell you that you
picked up a Power Up, destroyed an opponent’s truck or are about to blow up.
Difficulty: Hard
The game includes four difficulty
settings: Easy, Normal, Hard and Extreme. While the default setting is on
Normal, the game feels entirely way too difficult and will no doubt force
players to go straight to Easy, which doesn’t provide much of a challenge.
Immediately gamers will think “If this is Normal, I’d hate to see what Extreme
is like.”
The difficulty is in the
battle instead of the controls and gamers will be frustrated with the unfairness
of the opponent AI. The other monster trucks don’t seem to be attacking one
another and the minute you cross their line of sight, they will abandon
everything and attack you all at once. Also, Power Ups don’t spawn very often
but when they do the other trucks seem to know about it first and beat you to
it.
Concept: 5.5
With emphasis on destruction, gamers
with a taste for vehicle mayhem will be drawn by Monster Jam and the abundance
of playing modes and monster trucks it possesses. It’s good to find a game with
dozens of features and Monster Jam has its heart in the right place. There are
also several unique challenges and interesting mini-game ideas but none of them
seem to provide anything close to fun.
Gamers can use money
earned during an event to purchase such items as new tires, shocks and even a
better engine but the upgrades seldom make much of a difference.
Multiplayer: 4.6
The good news is that another player
can join the action in mostly any game-playing mode. The bad news is that by
adding a second player the game’s noticeable little “hiccups” become annoyingly
more noticeable than before. These little moments happen more during
collisions, often times you’ll hear the grinding crashing noises three or four
seconds after the collision.
Overall: 4.7
Monster Jam is a good idea that,
somewhere along the line, has forgotten what it was really meant to be: a fun
and challenging monster truck title. Fans of vehicular destruction will only
find disappointment with this title and should invest their hard earned cash on
the more superior Twisted Metal: Black.
