Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 - Review, racing cars flying again towards the next-gen

Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 - Review, racing cars flying again towards the next-gen

Several years ago, the shows featuring the show's giant racing cars Monster Jam they had been able to make known to the general public the reckless evolutions of the pilots of these incredible vehicles. As often happened within the videogame industry, this success inspired over time the development of numerous videogames, not all of them - it must be emphasized - of great level. Although the popularity of these shows has definitely waned in recent years, overseas interest in these beasts is more alive than ever and, a few years after Monster Jam Steel Titans, THQ Nordic decided to try again PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch e Xbox One with a well-rounded sequel to his arcade racing game. The first title proved fun but little more, it will succeed Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 to stand out and differentiate from other similar games like Monster Truck Championship, in view of its future arrival also on the new flagships of Sony e Microsoft products? Let's find out together in our review.



An RPG in disguise?

As soon as the game is started, a well-finished and complete tutorial will be immediately made available which, in great detail, will make us immediately delve into the driving mechanics and the various trick that we can do while driving our four-wheeled beast. The virtual assistant called will guide us in learning TINA, which will also explain the team mechanism. This is a similar concept - but only in intentions - to the teams seen in the Monster Truck Championship. Each team, characterized by particular names and vehicles, will provide us with a strengthening which can be exploited during the various events in which we will take part. Each of these teams also features specific competitions that, once completed, will allow us to earn experience points and enhance the special skills just mentioned. The concept of "leveling", so dear to RPGs, is therefore also applied in Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 and by facing (and, above all, winning) the various events, we will be able to improve not only the boosts but also the potential of our vehicles.



Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 - Review, racing cars flying again towards the next-gen

The licensed vehicles available within the title are a total of 38 and represent very faithful reproductions of the monster trucks made famous by the show, such as Maximum Destruction, Grave Digger, El Toro Loco e Avenger. The care in the reproduction of trucks clashes with the lack of realism in the physics of collisions and, in particular, in the lack of damage. Considering the nature of these vehicles, damage to the mechanical structure is anything but a rare occurrence during exhibitions. Original note, and therefore appreciated, is the presence of five different open-world environments that act as hubs, called Worlds. Freely explorable while driving our vehicle, they hide collectibles to find which, in addition to satisfying our obsession with collecting, will also allow us to unlock some trucks. From the graphic point of view these game environments are generally well reproduced but a little flat and monotonous in some situations and for this reason, although vast, they do not particularly inspire inspiration.

Unity is strength ... if you have the right team!

Speaking of the type of in-game events, Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 presents the same challenges that made the show famous on television. In career mode, divided into various stages that take place in different cities of the United States, it will be possible to compete with our opponents mainly in classic track races, events freestyle e contests of destruction. In the first, we will have to face one or more opponents within a track and cross the finish line in first place. In freestyle events, however, we will have to score more points than the others by performing stunts and chaining them in long combos. The contests of destruction instead will see us grappling with a myriad of objects to crush and tear to pieces to get the highest score.



The choice of the team, as mentioned above, plays a highly strategic role within the career as there will be boosts that can greatly facilitate the completion of a certain event. For example, having a speed bonus in track racing can be crucial to obtaining a positive result, as well as being able to count on an additional score multiplier while competing in freestyle events. Not badartificial intelligence of the opponents, albeit tending - sometimes even exaggeratedly - to commit unfairness towards us.


Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 - Review, racing cars flying again towards the next-gen

From the point of view of the technical sector, as already mentioned, the monster truck models stand out but the design of the arenas, the physics of collisions and the lack of damage largely compromise the search for a minimum form of realism. The solidity of the graphic engine which showed no slowdown during our test on PlayStation 4 Pro. Unfortunately, the driving behavior of trucks does not change as the terrain changes and having the same grip on both mud and asphalt therefore does not add any variables during the races. As for the audio, the sound of the engines and the metallara soundtrack are to be appreciated; on the other hand, the lack of a commentary (even minimal) during the matches is noted in a negative sense. As is customary now in the most recent games, there is also one photographic mode which, unfortunately, is really sparse and does not allow us to process the images captured during the game, limiting ourselves to being able to change only the angle of the camera and the zoom. In addition to offline single-player game modes, Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 also offers the ability to face in local split-screen your friends or connect to the network and play with up to 6 other players around the world.


add a comment of Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 - Review, racing cars flying again towards the next-gen
Comment sent successfully! We will review it in the next few hours.