While most non – racing
fan friends of mine consider NASCAR to be a “redneck sport”, the truth is that
it’s gaining popularity with city folk as well. Now destruction derbys, tractor
pulls, and monster truck rallies on the other hand (which I enjoy my share of
now and then) don’t seem to have caught on all over the country yet. Still, any
commercial on TV for one of these events at your local state fair or whatever
will show that they are popular with sellout crowds constantly, so it’s only
fitting that there be a string of video games to glorify it. The latest release
in the world of monster truck racing is Monster 4×4 World Circuit, and it does
about as much to show the fun of monster truck racing as eating Hooters wings
cooked in pure lard will do for a slimmer, trimmer waist and healthy arteries.
When you first boot up
the game, you are treated to a neat and destructive video of monster trucks
running through city environments, destroying sports cars and causing mass
amounts of property damage. Upon hitting the A button, you can then jump
immediately into a quick race, play the world circuit “career” mode, or play
four different multiplayer games like soccer or a deathmatch style game where
you launch barrels at opponents by running into them. In addition, you can also
go and visit your garage, where you will be able to use points earned by
destroying things or pulling off stunts to upgrade your truck in various areas,
like speed, handling, or stunt maneuverability.
While racing, there are
various things scattered around the track which act as powerups. There are
virtual tunnels you can hit for speed boosts, nitro pickups for an extra boost,
and even triggers you can hit which will set off environmental traps like fire
fountains or walls to slow down opponents. There are also jumps set up that you
can pull stunts off of to earn bonus points (and a nitro).
OK … so now that we’ve
got the basics of the game down, let’s run through a quick checklist to make
sure that we have everything that a good monster truck game will need. Trucks?
Check. Big tires? Check. Running over cars? Check. Fun? … well, looks like fun
called in sick today … how about solid control … oh … he called in sick too huh?
Well, looks like this game isn’t going to be very fun after all then. Basically,
it seems to me like the developers tried to add in a bunch of options and
different tracks to mess with, but neglected to make sure that everything was
enjoyable on the finished product.
First off, that opening
movie of running through the city destroying stuff? False advertising … plain
and simple. The game limits you to a bunch of confined tracks, many of which
were confusing and cluttered, and many of which were just plain dull. Secondly,
the amount of “destruction” in the game pretty much boiled down to boring and
repetitive boxes, stacks of tires, and wood planks on the sides of buildings or
tents or whatever. Oh … and the stuff on the back of the box about “tricking out
your truck”? Well, tricking out is limited to putting one point on an upgrade
graph line like we’ve seen in those “trick out your ride” games on the 8 bit NES,
putting some crappy unlockable decal on it, or choosing from two exciting color
schemes (like YELLOW WITH A BLACK STRIPE AT THE BOTTOM! WOW!). Oh … and what
about the other back of the box claim … “spectacular stunts”. Well, the stunts
in this game are about as spectacular as a Yugo outfitted with spinners and a
dual exhaust. Basically, stunts are the side flip, front flip, and back flip.
Man, if it got any better than that I may have to change pants at some point
during the game.
Lastly, the gameplay in
Monster 4×4 World Circuit is WAY more frustrating than anything else, and
there’s not a darn thing you can do about it. Competitors always find some
random shortcut (usually near the end of the last lap so you can’t do anything
about it), and adding those massive amounts of upgrading to your fly ride don’t
seem to do much of anything either other than make you wonder why you’re
bothering to play it (which I did constantly). Also, I’d like to find out why
the developers decided to make the stunts as hard to pull off as they did. You
can’t just run up a ramp and do a stunt here … instead, you have to hold the R
trigger, wait until at least two wheels are on the ramp, turn the truck whatever
direction you want to go on the stunt, then release it when the handy, dandy
“stunt meter” fills up … or it fails. I was kind of hoping that they would put
in a 5 button combo to hit the brakes or maybe a timed button press to gas the
engine too, but I guess they left that out.
Monster 4×4 World Circuit
is a $19.99 budget title, but personally I’m tired of companies seemingly using
this as an excuse to put out an unpolished game hoping for someone to buy it.
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Gameplay: 4.6
Aside from the
frustrating gameplay, sloppy controls, confined tracks, upgrades which don’t do
anything, and complex yet simple stunt system … well, that’s actually about what
can be expected.
Graphics: 5.1
If these graphics
were on the launch of the PS2, or possibly the last leg of the PS1, they may be
forgivable. Unfortunately, this is WAY into the Xbox’s life … and it isn’t
forgivable. Jagged lines, slowdown, and clunky destruction animations abound
here.
Sound: 5.0
While some of the
explosion sounds were OK, the truck sounds were generic and the music is made up
of repetitive and uninspired hard rock / heavy metal tunes. This score would
have been lower, but fortunately you can load your own soundtrack in which
helped add some points here.
Difficulty: Hard
While racing isn’t hard, the difficulty of the stunts, the frustrating AI, and
the overall maneuvering of some of the tracks just make it too difficult to be
fun.
Concept: 4.7
This was a game
which could have really done something good (especially considering the
developer), but it didn’t.
Multiplayer: 5.5
While this is a good way for four friends to waste some time, it won’t last too
long. It’s not bad, but it isn’t a reason to buy the game.
Overall: 4.7
This was a game
that I really expected more from, but in the end it was nothing more than a
monster disappointment. Overall, I would highly recommend that even the most die
hard monster truck fan instead look to get into something else for the time
being.
