Welcome to our review of Monster Jam Steel Titans, a monster truck racing game that is all about torque!
Monster Jam Steel Titans takes fans beyond the stadium, allowing fans to experience what it takes to train and eventually compete like their favorite, real-life, professional Monster Jam athletes. All the trucks, athletes, stunts, stadiums and massive air are in one game!
Developed by THQ Nordic’s Rainbow Studios, Monster Jam Steel Titans competitions include Stadium Racing, 2 Wheel Skill Challenges, Freestyle, Waypoint Racing, Circuit Racing and Timed Destruction.
“From the stunning visuals to the ultra-realistic truck physics, we are delivering the most authentic Monster Jam videogame experience to date,” said Jeff Bialosky, Vice President of Licensing & Retail Development, Feld Entertainment. “We are thrilled to be bringing Monster Jam Steel Titans to our fans, allowing them to feel what it’s like to be behind the wheel of a Monster Jam truck following our 2019 Monster Jam World Finals in May.”
“Our team at Rainbow Studios has worked tirelessly with our partners at Feld Entertainment to ensure that we are delivering on every fans’ fantasy of getting behind the wheel of their favorite Monster Jam truck,” said Chris Gilbert, CEO, Rainbow Studios.
Monster Jam Steel Titans is all about speed and trying to be as close as possible to the real deal. Though as someone who has never driven one of those mammoth cars, how do fudge do I know if they drive as lifelike as can be? I sincerely doubt it and that is also the tone of my review. Is Monster Truck racing really this boring?
Allow me to start with the reality of things. I was playing the career mode and what I noticed straight off the bat, how the AI of the opponents made exactly the same decision every single time. They drove in a near-perfect line to the end of the level without even trying to overtake the winning truck. How could this be lifelike? Right?
Next thing I noticed, the incredible amount of torque and how overpowered its acceleration really was. I mean really, again, no comparison with real life, but the monster trucks often fell on their top while trying to perform a trick, which can be rectified easily by pressing B or just maneuvering out of the position.
Not just falling on their top, but also rather hard to take turns and before you know it, you are reset onto the track because you went out of bounds. Bounds that are merely there by small signs on the road, easy to notice yeah, but before you really get the hang of things, more often than not just passed by.
The tutorial(s) however are a godsend and were among the best I ever played. Easy and quick, just how I like it for this kind of game. I must say and insist to play through everything in the tutorial as it really teaches you to up your game quite a bit, not just talking basics here.
Monster Jam Steel Titans is a game that in my opinion does appeal to fans of the franchise and racing fans all around. It does not mean that because I had some issues with the gameplay and mechanics that it is a bad game, no, it is not. It is not great, but far from bad. I loved coming in first on my second race, but that was also one of the select few highlights I had throughout my gameplay.
I do think that the real deal is far more interesting as I love the impact and magnitude that monster trucks bring to a sport on its own. I do feel that in a way, it is a family-friendly sport and I could easily see families go out for the entertainment levels that are easily surpassed, but not its spectacle. That level is “over 9000” to say the least.
In conclusion, Monster Jam Steel Titans has some issues to take care of, that AI is really a bummer and despite being an overall positive experience, it did not impress me much. I had fun to a certain extent and after a while, my races became more of a chore for the purpose of this review rather than my own entertainment. This is not how it should be. But regardless of that, it just did not fully click with me and I am very well aware of that.
