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IGN Review of Monster Jam
I think I saw Bigfoot! No, not the brown yeti variation, I'm talking about the monster truck variety. Publisher Activision and developer Torus Games have teamed up for a DS racing game that pays homage to those massive, rocking trucks of the 80's and today with Monster Jam for the Nintendo DS. The game mixes equal parts track racing and destruction-wreaking in one of the more unique racing hybrids on the system.
The trucks handle very true to how one would expect them to. So when a corner is taken too quickly, the truck will begin to slide along the edge of its wheels and force the player to wobble it back to stability. Although most of the game is focused on racing around tracks in a bid for first place, the developers made sure to focus heavily on destruction in the game, too. The player can use the R button to boost their truck for a limited time, but this quickly causes the truck to overheat. However by plowing through cars, crates, light posts and other objects on the track, the truck receives additional speed boost without overheating. It doesn't make much sense logically, but as a game convention it forces the player to collide with as many objects as possible in order to keep the lead on the harder difficulty settings.
Crushing objects also earns the player Monster Points, which contribute to unlocking trucks and tracks. Monster points can be earned through destruction or pulling off crazy moves such as catching air and doing wheelies. It's a smart design decision to link unlockables to a score tally rather than completed races, because it gives the player one more reason to drive through as many obstacles as possible during a race and live a little dangerously.
There are a ton of modes in this game. The game features a whopping twenty selectable monster trucks: seven to start with and the rest unlocked through gameplay. There doesn't appear to be any ability differences between each of the trucks, but their designs ooze personality. The main game mode is Championship, which offers four difficulty levels (Performance, Challenge, Super and Extreme) and a fifth (World Finals) when the other four are beaten. Each set of races has nine challenges and although these reuse a lot of the same tracks (there are only nine in the game), each challenge sets a best time and contributes toward an unlockable 3D trophy.
In addition to the Championship mode, there are five single race types available. Circuit Race is essentially the same as the Challenge Mode races, Eliminator kills the last truck across the finish line each lap until only one remains, Stadium Racing sets races within a dirt stadium, Stadium Circuit offers the same gameplay but in different tracks, and Freestyle is the typical crushing-cars and mass destruction mode. In addition to this, there's a multiplayer racing mode that unfortunately requires a copy of the game for each player, but allows up to four players to race one another.
Racing is pretty solid, but what's most disappointing about the game is the lack of actual carnage. Anyone who's seen a monster truck video knows that the most memorable thing about these vehicles is their ability to tear through any object in their way. Shredded metal flying through the air and smaller cars wrapping themselves around the bumpers of these mechanical beasts is what makes the events worth watching. While the gameplay of Monster Jam does make destruction important to gameplay, it's pretty weak visually. Crates and boxes fling apart in the air about as well as a low poly object could on the DS, but colliding with cars is severely anti-climactic with dull, tiny vehicles crushing quietly under the monster truck. Watching a car get crushed in this game is about as exciting as watching a key get pressed on a keyboard. The DS is by no means a powerhouse of 3D graphics, but this game needed a little more UMPH! in its carnage to really capture the power of these vehicles. The developers absolutely nailed the physics of the trucks, but without impressive destruction this game might as well be another kart racer.
Level design is very solid in the game, with what probably amounts to a dozen or more shortcuts per level. There's a very open mentality to the structure of each racetrack that allows the player to explore new paths with each lap, and since the game focuses on a destruction system for points in addition to just placing first, the shortest path is not always the most desirable one. The level designers also did a nice job of ensuring that the player is never led into a dead end as a result of exploring. Very rarely did I ever hit a wall and have to reverse; most of the time when I lost my heading, I could just barrel through any openings I found and eventually burst back out onto the main track.
As well constructed as the levels are, they're definitely not much to look at. Textures are murky and repetitive, and even the trucks have pretty unflattering textures on them. Everything is very low-poly, even for the DS, but this probably helps maintain the game's solid framerate and lack of geometry pop-in.
Presentation is pretty energetic. The game opens with an FMV collection of real monster truck moments that's several minutes long. It definitely gets one pumped for the game that follows. Menus clank around options like steel plates in a factory, and heavy rock music blares through the speakers the entire time. The menus are easy to navigate and capture the feel of the sport.
Music is pretty rocking in the game with heavy guitars and drums driving the player along, as well as a surprising amount of vocal tracks. Sound effects are a bit on the lean side, but don't stand out as particularly bad.
If monster truck racing doesn't get you excited, neither will this game. There's not enough appeal here to have people selling off their copy of Mario Kart DS. The destruction and carnage in the game is pretty disappointing as well, and can't match up to games like Burnout or the live monster truck events. But these complaints aside, Torus Games has thrown together an energetic, feature-packed game with fun racing, multiplayer and plenty of unlockables.
©2007-12-06, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The trucks handle very true to how one would expect them to. So when a corner is taken too quickly, the truck will begin to slide along the edge of its wheels and force the player to wobble it back to stability. Although most of the game is focused on racing around tracks in a bid for first place, the developers made sure to focus heavily on destruction in the game, too. The player can use the R button to boost their truck for a limited time, but this quickly causes the truck to overheat. However by plowing through cars, crates, light posts and other objects on the track, the truck receives additional speed boost without overheating. It doesn't make much sense logically, but as a game convention it forces the player to collide with as many objects as possible in order to keep the lead on the harder difficulty settings.
Crushing objects also earns the player Monster Points, which contribute to unlocking trucks and tracks. Monster points can be earned through destruction or pulling off crazy moves such as catching air and doing wheelies. It's a smart design decision to link unlockables to a score tally rather than completed races, because it gives the player one more reason to drive through as many obstacles as possible during a race and live a little dangerously.
There are a ton of modes in this game. The game features a whopping twenty selectable monster trucks: seven to start with and the rest unlocked through gameplay. There doesn't appear to be any ability differences between each of the trucks, but their designs ooze personality. The main game mode is Championship, which offers four difficulty levels (Performance, Challenge, Super and Extreme) and a fifth (World Finals) when the other four are beaten. Each set of races has nine challenges and although these reuse a lot of the same tracks (there are only nine in the game), each challenge sets a best time and contributes toward an unlockable 3D trophy.
In addition to the Championship mode, there are five single race types available. Circuit Race is essentially the same as the Challenge Mode races, Eliminator kills the last truck across the finish line each lap until only one remains, Stadium Racing sets races within a dirt stadium, Stadium Circuit offers the same gameplay but in different tracks, and Freestyle is the typical crushing-cars and mass destruction mode. In addition to this, there's a multiplayer racing mode that unfortunately requires a copy of the game for each player, but allows up to four players to race one another.
Racing is pretty solid, but what's most disappointing about the game is the lack of actual carnage. Anyone who's seen a monster truck video knows that the most memorable thing about these vehicles is their ability to tear through any object in their way. Shredded metal flying through the air and smaller cars wrapping themselves around the bumpers of these mechanical beasts is what makes the events worth watching. While the gameplay of Monster Jam does make destruction important to gameplay, it's pretty weak visually. Crates and boxes fling apart in the air about as well as a low poly object could on the DS, but colliding with cars is severely anti-climactic with dull, tiny vehicles crushing quietly under the monster truck. Watching a car get crushed in this game is about as exciting as watching a key get pressed on a keyboard. The DS is by no means a powerhouse of 3D graphics, but this game needed a little more UMPH! in its carnage to really capture the power of these vehicles. The developers absolutely nailed the physics of the trucks, but without impressive destruction this game might as well be another kart racer.
Level design is very solid in the game, with what probably amounts to a dozen or more shortcuts per level. There's a very open mentality to the structure of each racetrack that allows the player to explore new paths with each lap, and since the game focuses on a destruction system for points in addition to just placing first, the shortest path is not always the most desirable one. The level designers also did a nice job of ensuring that the player is never led into a dead end as a result of exploring. Very rarely did I ever hit a wall and have to reverse; most of the time when I lost my heading, I could just barrel through any openings I found and eventually burst back out onto the main track.
As well constructed as the levels are, they're definitely not much to look at. Textures are murky and repetitive, and even the trucks have pretty unflattering textures on them. Everything is very low-poly, even for the DS, but this probably helps maintain the game's solid framerate and lack of geometry pop-in.
Presentation is pretty energetic. The game opens with an FMV collection of real monster truck moments that's several minutes long. It definitely gets one pumped for the game that follows. Menus clank around options like steel plates in a factory, and heavy rock music blares through the speakers the entire time. The menus are easy to navigate and capture the feel of the sport.
Music is pretty rocking in the game with heavy guitars and drums driving the player along, as well as a surprising amount of vocal tracks. Sound effects are a bit on the lean side, but don't stand out as particularly bad.
If monster truck racing doesn't get you excited, neither will this game. There's not enough appeal here to have people selling off their copy of Mario Kart DS. The destruction and carnage in the game is pretty disappointing as well, and can't match up to games like Burnout or the live monster truck events. But these complaints aside, Torus Games has thrown together an energetic, feature-packed game with fun racing, multiplayer and plenty of unlockables.
©2007-12-06, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved