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I confess that in recent years I have become a fan of Monster Trucks. Thanks to my children, I have been able to see this micro-universe of immense success in which toys are usually the central axis of this type of entertainment. In the case of Hot Wheels Monster Trucks, it is exactly like that, since they do not have a competition as such, but the Monster Jams are the authentic ones, those that actually participate in exhibitions, yes, mainly in the United States.
In fact, Monster Jam is an institution and its iterations in the world of video games have been continuous for many years, but to analyze the new Monster Jam Showdown it is inevitable to visit its latest main installment, Monster Jam Steel Titans 2, which It was a very complete product at all levels. And the main lack of Showdown compared to Steel Titans 2 is the absence of an open world where, especially children, can go crazy without restraint.
In Showdown we find an arcade game with circuits, stadiums where we can show off our stunts and a more classic development with which we can unlock the game until everything is open. Well, once this problem is fixed, I can say that Monster Jam Showdown beats Steel Titans by a landslide in something we all wanted, the playability and physics of these huge trucks. The change of developer to Milestone, a specialist in fast-paced titles, was undoubtedly excellent news. for your final result.
Just by having the creator of speed arcade gems like Hot Wheels Unleashed as a reference, we have a good sample of Showdown’s technical advancement, but we’ll continue the analysis, put on your earmuffs, because the engines of these Monster Jams are incredible. Imagine beasts weighing nearly 6,000 kg, with 1,500 hp V8 engines that consume 10 liters of fuel for every 200 meters traveled.. There are many fans of the brand all over the world as well as many young followers who can get into this game. For whom will it be most worth it?
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Technical section
Monster Jam Showdown is equipped with the Unreal Engine, something that looks perfect, which has also allowed it to get a good boost in the physics of the Monster Trucks, which is very important, especially for the events part, where the tricks and stunts will be the ones that determine our score to win. Thanks to this, it is much more intuitive, since by controlling the acceleration, the way we take the ramps, etc., we can easily perform the tricks.
In principle, on Xbox Series X the title works perfectly. Despite some errors in the subtitles at the beginning, which appear in Italian, The game flies at 60fps in any situation, everything is solid and looks good on general levelsnothing crazy, because the title is still intergenerational, since it also has a version available on Xbox One. Of course, the recreation of the cars on this occasion is great, and in addition to having a lot of detail, getting covered in mud. , snow or whatever, They will also break realistically, offering a very attractive result on the screen.
The sound is the section that I can say that I enjoyed the most. Starting with the roar of the engines, the licensed music typical of the franchise and the commentators who will narrate our races or tests in real time, the truth is that I can’t fault anything, quite the contrary.
Gameplay
Skidding so hard that a wheel lifts when accelerating hard is one of the most powerful sensations that Monster Jam Showdown can transmit. In the race, the fun lies mainly in the drifts, which, together with the jumps, will determine our success. Although it is precisely the first thing that must be mentioned, the difficulty, which in my opinion, must be set to the maximum, because at the Beginner or Novice level, it does not even allow the rear axle to be turned, one of the essential functions of the Monster Truck, being able to turn with both axles.
In fact, the assistance is so strong in the early difficulty levels that it will even automatically brake the car when cornering (initiation, the game does practically everything by itself). Monster Jam Showdown doesn’t aim for anything realistic, but with everything turned on, it’s at a very interesting level of manipulation.without losing the arcade point at any time. The point on this subject is that the help is used so that the smallest of the house can enjoy the game without any problem, being able to play games without problem with the assistance.
The second challenge of Monster Jam is that of the collector’s desire. There are 40 official models that we can choose from, once we unlock them little by little. Grave Digger, Max-D, Megalodon, Avenger, etc… but what is interesting and what I think is a great idea is that Not all of them unlock in order or in the same way.. Most of them are obtained after completing “challenges”, such as running 4000 meters on two wheels, jumping in the air for 10 minutes, etc… while others will be obtained by fighting against them in “Showdowns”.
He The main mode of the game is the Showdown Tour, where we will have three regions (Alaska, Colorado and Death Valley) with different biomes, to choose the events that will be unlocked. These same events, depending on whether they are of the Race, Exhibition or Face to Face type, will give us a kind of currency. When we have accumulated enough, these special individual tests will open, allowing us to obtain the corresponding new Monster Jam. This campaign mode is very similar to other arcade titles, but Being able to choose the events in no particular order seems to give the player a bit more dynamics.who can focus on those you love most.
Monster Jam Showdown also emphasizes a player leveling system, which will mark some of the unlocks of tracks, vehicles, and even their levels, which, depending on the type, can be upgraded up to three times to improve their main ability, usually a score increase for certain stunts or scenarios.
Duration
The campaign mode will entertain us for a good few hours, I estimate between 15 and 20 hours, and assuming you want to continue enjoying it, the online mode will help us continue competing with other players online. At the moment, analyzing it previously, its player population was almost zero, so we were not able to test the experience, but we found the game selection system, distributed between the different modes, somewhat obsolete and without a marker indicating the number of players who are looking for a game, luckily we found it. According to the study, Showdown features cross-platform multiplayerso we can play with rivals that are not from Xbox, thus expanding the future community as much as possible.
Which works well and is once again a plus for the little ones in the house, is the possibility of playing in split screen, being able to select the events of our total choice. Of course, a common or “double” mode would have been nice in the Showdown Tour, so that players could help each other. In this sense, Monster Jam Showdown does not get too wet and relies on classic modes, without taking risks.
Conclusion
When I saw the announcement of a new Monster Jam, the truth is that it aroused a lot of interest in me, since at home we had invested many hours in the previous Steel Titans 2. But since it did not have that open world where we could freely explore and discover secrets about the different Monster Jam, expectations were considerably lowered. I do not deny that it was a very fun mode and that it would have been great, but I also do not deny that once I was able to try it on my series Monster Jam Showdown was fun for me, even more so than it was for my kids..
Racing is fun, challenging, the drifts are a lot of fun to maintain and the exhibitions, whether in Free Style or with recommendations, a very good detail for those who are starting out, have transmitted to me those sensations of wanting to score more and increase my multiplier in the purest Tony Hawk Pro Skater style. If you like arcade driving titles and want to have quality guarantees, you should seriously consider buying Monster Jam Showdown.
Milestone’s plan, already confirmed, is to provide new trucks, tests, etc… with a season pass, which will be launched shortly after the first, for this same reason we have had the game for a while. The base is good and something like what is usually said in my country can happen to you: “He came once on vacation and he stayed forever.”
*Thanks to Milestone for providing us with the materials needed for the exam.
Pedro Del Pozo
The good
- Improved physics and graphics
- Fun for the whole family
- The good dynamics of the Showdown Tour
- For the first time in a Monster Trucks game, tricks can be done well and are actually fun.
Bad
- Too conservative in his ways.
- It does not have an explorable open world segment like the previous Steel Titans 2.
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