Cranking the throttle while holding down the clutch waiting for the gate to release. This is the very first part of every race in Monster Energy Supercross 2 for Nintendo Switch and is simple in description yet complex and nuanced. Seemingly simple yet complex and nuanced describes most aspects of this title precisely. While at first glance it appears similar to the first entry for Nintendo Switch, this version hits many of the right lines to make for one of the finest Supercross titles in many console generations.
Those who played the last iteration of this game on the Nintendo Switch will know, it was a challenging game to play. Not just because the game has nuanced controls and a high learning curve, but the frame rates often suffered plus the load times were frequent and long. This has been completely overcome in Monster Energy Supercross 2. The load times are near non-existent and it runs at a nice smooth pace. Gone are the stutters and waiting, but the challenging gameplay still exists. You can even restart a race without having to weigh the pros and cons of how long it will take to load back up.
Controlling a Supercross motorcycle can’t be easy, or we’d all be doing it. For better or worse, they’ve translated this difficulty into the gameplay. Using the right stick to control the physics of your bike and body in conjunction with the left analog for steering is very difficult. Add to this the need to slow down over whoops (small repetitive bumps) and brake hard for most curves and you’ve got the recipe for a learning curve that’s hard to swallow. Should you be good enough to get accustomed to lifting your bike up while simultaneously slowing down over large hills and dropping your nose when coming towards the bottom of a hill usually airborne, you can start to use scrubs to shorten the height of your jumps, giving you more speed and less time in the air. All these skills are necessary to make it to the top of the Supercross championships.
After getting my warm-ups in, I was excited to try some online play and put my skills to the test against some humans, but I was unable to find a game to join. Trying every couple of hours, I never found anyone in the lobby ready to play. Perhaps I was too early to the servers, or too late, but unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to test the online environment.
With a heavy dose of rock, the 9 track soundtrack is memorable though a bit small. I would have enjoyed a bit more variety in not only the music but also the sound effects. While all the right sounds are there, there is little variation in the sound effects. All bikes seem to sound the same, all spills sound the same, no matter how hard your bike hits or who it hits, it sounds the same. Even the crowd seems a bit dull despite it just being a cheering crowd.
By no means was I expecting procedural dirt from multiple bikes riding over the same part, but I was surprised that there was very little if any effect on the track overall from the many bikes driving on it. There are many bike options and even more rider customization options which you get to unlock by earning points from wins and riding well. All of the bikes look good, with resolutions on the detail about as good as you could expect from the Switch. I was however surprised at how well the customization options applied to my rider. Many games have options like helmets and goggles that just don’t seem to sit right on whatever face they are applied to, but Monster Energy Supercross 2 didn’t seem to suffer from this.
Despite the various shortcomings this game may have, it delivers a fun Supercross experience. While I feel the retail price is a bit steep, I’d still highly recommend this game to anyone who’s been looking to get that Supercross monkey off their backs as it’s one of the best we’ve had available in years. It corrects most of the significant problems that the first title had, and managed to give me an extremely satisfying Supercross experience.
