This time, we move to the United States of America! With the new title of Milestone dedicated to two wheels, we must prepare to be real showmen, and not just skilled drivers. Fasten your helmet, and get ready to get dirty with mud with the official video game of the Monster Energy Supercross! The new team title offers us the opportunity to live the most adrenaline-pumping experience on two wheels in the world, both with the eyes of the riders who are writing its history, and with those of a young rookie ready to make his climb to the Olympus of Supercross. In terms of content, the game turns out to be much "cleaner" than expected: it is not a video game where modalities that could attract only certain types of players have been inserted "by force", but it is immediate and fresh. It will be up to us to choose the type of challenge on the track that we want to undertake, obviously starting from the single event, up to the career by creating our rider from scratch.
The title has 17 tracks scattered throughout the continent, and which, as expected, can be found in the huge stadiums of the various American cities. If these might seem few to you, however, here we are going to name one of the few but great news that it proposes to us Monster Energy Supercross: the much coveted and appreciated Track Editor! With a short video tutorial, and with a very clear and above all guided construction mode, we will be able to give life to the most reckless tracks simply by using our ingenuity, our imagination and our wickedness, in terms of difficulty.
50 shades of earth
The offline game modes that the title puts us in front of, as per incipit, are not very many, but they are immediate and above all non-invasive. These are:
- Single Event: It is a single show, a race against the AI where we will choose our rider (with attached "mount"), the track, the weather conditions, the various settings of the difficulty and the race itself, and finally the aids that can be activated.
- Time Attack: The classic solo time race, where we will have to try to achieve the best possible time on a track chosen by us. Obviously also in this case we will be able to choose our rider and the setting of his bike.
- Championship: By choosing one of the existing riders, we will be able to run a real Supercross championship. We can choose between the three categories available, namely 250 West, 250 East, 450. The first two have 7 different tracks (with only the one in Las Vegas in common) while the 450 category will make you experience a real “coast to coast” tour, running on all the available tracks. In this mode it is also possible to create a custom championship, which will be unlocked only after reaching prestige level 14 (don't worry, a few races will be enough).
- Career: This mode marks the real challenge in Monster Energy Supercross. As in the previous ones, even in the career we will choose how many and which aids to implement, but the main difference is that we will live everything with an original pilot that we will create by ourselves. In fact, we will choose the face, his name and nickname, the nationality, the bike with a lot of sponsor and, of course, from which of the two minor categories to start his adventure. Among the small entries in this game, also an old acquaintance of Milestone titles, or the social messages of the fans, who will always be ready to support us - or crush us - based on our results on the track.
There is also an additional one in the main menu creation mode, which will allow us to modify our motorcycles piece by piece - starting from the handlebars up to the brake discs - complete with graphics, but also to choose and model the different outfits for our personalized rider!
With regard to online mode, are also few but good, with the possibility of competing with pilots from all over the world with any level of prestige, both in single event challenges and in real championships with a limited number of races. On the good news, there is also the option to play with your friends with the simple invite system in the lobby.
Stuck in the mud
What though it will surely dampen the enthusiasm of the most avid players, it is the technical sector of Monster Energy supercross. Regardless of the version tested, the game has serious and heavy drops in frame rate, which are added to an insufficient physical realization: even if our choice will be to activate "normal" physics, the movements of our bike, but above all its behavior in case of collisions with objects in the environment and with other two-wheeled monsters, to say the least unnatural. It is clear that we are not talking about a title devoted to real realism, but it is equally clear that the team's videogame does not want to be considered an "arcade". With the system of modifications and aids, we have therefore arrived at one forced hybridization. Even if the graphic standards obtained with theU have been somehow maintained, everything that goes to affect the gameplay unfortunately needs a revision (including the weather itself).
Like a bolt from the blue, however, to improve the outline of everything, the soundtrack! Finally you can hear some guitar again, both on the main menu, both in the various loading phases and obviously also in the sessions on the track (including the pause menu)! The sound effects have been reproduced with care, as well as the dubbing of the commentators at the beginning and at the end of the race during the career mode is good.
