Finally, after years of bad monster truck games, Monster Jam Showdown changes this. While there are certainly some glaring issues, Milestone has done a good job with this game.

-Great graphical fidelity while still having good game performance. This is an Unreal Engine 5 game, so expect that will be heavy in some aspects. I found the Colorado environment hit the performance the hardest.

-Interesting art style for the menus and HUD.

-Excellent vehicle handling that makes you feel the sheer weight of the trucks. Without assists on, you really need to keep the truck down or it can spin out / flip.

-Fun, technical outdoor tracks that have multiple routes, hidden shortcuts, and huge jumps. The weather effects on some events is also a major plus.

-Great racing for both outdoors and stadium events. You can tell a lot of the time was spend on this aspect of the game.

-A ton of assists and options to adjust the gameplay.

-Crossplay for online and splitscreen are great additions.

-Decent music that despite not being well known, licensed tracks, they still are pretty good songs.

-The physics in freestyle aren't great. When the truck starts to flip or isn't perfectly level, the physics just start to freak out. They twirl around like they have moon gravity. Plus, the crush cars have terrible collisions that fling you into the air. The freestyle events are more frustrating then fun, which is a damn shame.

-AI could be better at driving as even on hard they tend to crash into you and the environment frequently.

-While there is visual damage, there is no mechanical damage.

-Difficulty feels kinda all over the place. Some events were pretty easy and other just spike up in difficulty for no reason.

-There is no a single event option to be able to freely pick events and tracks / arenas.

-Not being able to have AI in the online multiplayer races is a bit disappointing.

Monster Jam Showdown easily crushes the previous Steel Titans games. While freestyle could be a lot better, the racing is a really strong asset the game has. Get this on a discount, and you will have a solid monster truck experience.

[h1]Intro[/h1] Finally, after years of bad monster truck games, Monster Jam Showdown changes this. While there are certainly some glaring issues, Milestone has done a good job with this game. [h1]Pros[/h1] -Great graphical fidelity while still having good game performance. This is an Unreal Engine 5 game, so expect that will be heavy in some aspects. I found the Colorado environment hit the performance the hardest. -Interesting art style for the menus and HUD. -Excellent vehicle handling that makes you feel the sheer weight of the trucks. Without assists on, you really need to keep the truck down or it can spin out / flip. -Fun, technical outdoor tracks that have multiple routes, hidden shortcuts, and huge jumps. The weather effects on some events is also a major plus. -Great racing for both outdoors and stadium events. You can tell a lot of the time was spend on this aspect of the game. -A ton of assists and options to adjust the gameplay. -Crossplay for online and splitscreen are great additions. -Decent music that despite not being well known, licensed tracks, they still are pretty good songs. [h1]Cons[/h1] -The physics in freestyle aren't great. When the truck starts to flip or isn't perfectly level, the physics just start to freak out. They twirl around like they have moon gravity. Plus, the crush cars have terrible collisions that fling you into the air. The freestyle events are more frustrating then fun, which is a damn shame. -AI could be better at driving as even on hard they tend to crash into you and the environment frequently. -While there is visual damage, there is no mechanical damage. -Difficulty feels kinda all over the place. Some events were pretty easy and other just spike up in difficulty for no reason. -There is no a single event option to be able to freely pick events and tracks / arenas. -Not being able to have AI in the online multiplayer races is a bit disappointing. [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] Monster Jam Showdown easily crushes the previous Steel Titans games. While freestyle could be a lot better, the racing is a really strong asset the game has. Get this on a discount, and you will have a solid monster truck experience.