I've been waiting for an official AMA supercross/motocross game for years, and if you're a hardcore Supercross fan like me, you'll love this game.. even if it does feel like it could A LOT better.
First thing is first. It's pretty clear that this a rework of the MXGP 3 game from last year, despite some definite improvements and it being a different series (sport even), that's blindinglyI've been waiting for an official AMA supercross/motocross game for years, and if you're a hardcore Supercross fan like me, you'll love this game.. even if it does feel like it could A LOT better.
First thing is first. It's pretty clear that this a rework of the MXGP 3 game from last year, despite some definite improvements and it being a different series (sport even), that's blindingly obvious. It's 90% the same game. Pros and cons:
Negatives:
- The game is based on the 2017 Supercross series which started more than 12 months before the game's release. Unlike nearly every sports game on the market (usually released BEFORE the season of it's sport), this game is not current. The 2018 season was 5 rounds in before the 2017 season's game release. There's now different rider's in each class on different bikes etc. I can't see a reason why the game can't be produced to cover the current season (possibly because of the tracks), so I feel this is a big negative.
- The games biggest mode, Career, is exactly the same as MXGP, which is really disappointing. There's hardly anything new here. You start as a privateer, select a sponsor, race, upgrade the bike, wait for offers from official teams. No story, nothing interactive, no difficult decisions to make, nothing to really express yourself or your rider's personality. It's just all about the racing - which is ok if that's all you want, but other sports games have moved on and have more immersive career experience. If you've played the MXGP career you will be bored after an hour and will only be playing for the racing. The addition of same badges does little, and is more annoying for the player than rewarding. They missed a big opportunity here...
- Lack of avatars for your rider. Only a handful of faces for riders available, and all of them are pretty ugly too. Given the ridiculous amount of customisation of the bike and gear available this seems odd. They need a face editor in the next edition, maybe even a gameface scanner.
- Gameplay realistic "normal" physics are not realistic. You can case a triple and just bounce off it, land on another rider and not crash, tough blocks slow you down but don't make you crash (ever). There should be much more less forgiving physics mode that makes it more of a simulation rather than easy arcade game. You will however get stuck on the inside of corner and have to reverse, or crash for no obvious reason occasionally.
- The technical sections of tracks don't feel technical because you're able to fly through it without worrying about crashing (because of the physics issue above). Nailing a section isn't usually any faster and therefore not very rewarding (there's not enough flow).
- Lappers (if you race the full length racers) get in your way and once you catch them they are suddenly able to keep up with you and race you. I've led races by 10+ seconds only to have been slowed down by lapper that keeps battling and lose the lead.
- Cut scenes, while a welcome and necessary edition to career, are pretty lame and look like they belong in a game from 10 years ago. Also they serve no purpose. - there's no interview when you get on podium etc.
- Frame rates on the race starts is really bad. Some riders ghost and disappear entirely in the first turn. Hopefully something they can fix.
- Every AI rider gets a good start out of the gate - just not very realistic.
- AI riders show no flair/individuality. They all race the same way, no scrubs, railing corners, wheeling through whoops. The fast riders are faster than the slow riders, otherwise they're all the same.
- No soundtrack. The same music gets old and annoying after half an hour.
- You can (still) basically turn when you're in the air.
- No Eli Tomac. Why? Having one of the sports top riders not in the game is pretty odd, but I'm sure there's a reason.
Positives
- Visually it's very impressive, beautiful even. And looks like an official Supercross game should. You definitely feel like you're racing Supercross, and the series is represented really well.
- Gameplay/racing is challenging (if a little frustrating at times) and slightly improved on MXGP3.
- The AI riders take different lines and are pretty aggressive in corners, just like the real thing. And importantly they don't all bunch up and race really close the whole race, they actually pull gaps on each other. You could be lapping a slow rider while battling another rider for position, which is realistic - although as mentioned lappers will also battle you like their life depends on it.
- Customisation is insane. There's so many brands and parts for bikes and gear, it would take hours to go through it all.
- In general the bikes look, sound and feel great.
- Track editor is good.
Overall I think it's a great game, but like the MXGP games lacks any real depth as far as career. The good still outweighs the bad, and if this is to be series then it's a good start and the only way is up.… Expand
Monster Energy Supercross - The Official VideogameYour Score0 out of 10User Score
