Developer: Rainbow Studios
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Tested on: PS4
Monster Jam Steel Titans – Review
Monster Jam is one of those ‘sports’ that always looked fun on television, but even more fun if you could see it in real life. Nonetheless, the Monster Jam series still runs strong and has quite the following. While we didn’t immediately expect to see a new game come out of it, THQ Nordic published the game developed by Rainbow Studios for our entertainment. Steel Titans is a very impressive name for a game revolving around cars with a lot of plastic attached to them.
Story
There is no story present in Monster Jam Steel Titans, as you’ll just be roaming around in the sandbox world which gets gradually unlocked by completing events. The latter are just a concatenation of different tracks and different disciplines. There is no point in driving around in the open world, except for a few collectibles. We lack a proper career mode in the game, that has clear rankings and something to truly motivate you. It would have been nice if you could create your own player, customize your own car and become a part of the Monster Jam universe.
Graphics
While some of the cars look okay-ish, the entire game screams ‘last generation’ from start to finish. The damage physics are always the same, you don’t leave any dust in your wake when going through sandy areas, the audience in the arenas looks as if you’re playing FIFA on the first PlayStation and the constant low frames tend to annoy you. It would have been nice to see different types of car damage, to see damage on the things you crash into, and just have some soil flying around, possibly even changing the stability and visuals of the track you’re driving on. If you add the fact that at times you can’t even see what is happening on the screen because an AI driver is so deep up your ass that you only see his car or that road markings are nearly invisible until you drive through them, things do get rather stupid. It feels like a game that had to be made in a hurry simply to keep a license or two.
Sound
While you sometimes hear a few tunes that sound interesting during one of the many loading screens, the game drowns out the background music when actually playing the game. The overall soundtrack feels very generic and uninspired, with a few whiffs of fun songs now and then. The sound effects sound decent, and that’s all you’ll have to make do with.
Gameplay
Monster Jam Steel Titans is foremost a racing game, with some freestyle elements now and then. You’ll have to play through the career mode in order to gain credits, unlock new areas, new upgrades and new cars. The latter takes a lot of grinding if you wish to bring home some sweet new rides. The offset is once again simple, but the execution proves to be laughable, making it barely fun, only when you decide to take things not that seriously.
The controls of the game make you feel as if you’re only in control during normal racing challenges. Everything outside of normal racing is simply atrocious and makes it feel as if the game does a lot of effort to foil whatever it is you’re aiming for. Sometimes score combos get broken down for no reason, the physics are simply ridiculous and there is almost no incentive to keep on playing, except for the rest of the cars, which are exactly the same as your starting car, albeit with a different visual appearance. Sadly, you will still have to purchase all the upgrades all over again for your new cars, even though the stats will remain the same for every car in the game. This means you’ll have to grind even more to actually be able to play with your newly unlocked car.
For a game that looks this simple and dated, the loading times are extremely long. This is certainly an annoyance when you’re playing in tiny arenas for some disciplines and still have to endure long loading times. It’s also noticeable that, during races, the AI doesn’t do anything wrong at all, even at lower difficulty settings. You’ll see all of the AI drivers drive in a specific formation from start to finish, and that they instantly recover when you drive into them.
The game does offer a few different disciplines, ranging from racing to performing tricks. Racing is somewhat fun but if you make a mistake, it’s often over, as the AI doesn’t make any mistakes. Combine that with the ‘off track’ mechanics, where the game punishes you and places you back on the track, and you’re in for a world of hurt. The performing of tricks feels very random at times and it just feels like the developers had a few good ideas but didn’t have the time, budget, effort or will to create something admirable. Outside of the events there is the sandbox in which you can roam around freely, but the game offers no proper incentive to even bother driving around here.
Conclusion
Monster Jam Steel Titans is one of those games that could provide some fun when found in a sales bin, but at its current price it’s best avoided. The game does offer a few fun racing moments, but the constant grind to unlock something new makes the game bland, especially in combination with the horrible physics, the terrible controls and the useless sandbox mode.
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