When it comes to televised entertainment monster trucks was my first love. The gigantic machines like Bigfoot, Carolina Crusher & Grave Digger running over cars became a staple of my childhood. Of course I wanted my love for monster trucks and my growing enthusiasm for gaming to blend together, but the quality rarely proved high. While there were some exceptions to the rule of monster truck games being terrible like “Monster Truck Madness” on the PC, my hope of having that epic monster truck experience on a gaming console seemed impossible.
Rainbow Studios & THQ Nordic came together alongside the Monster Jam license to put some of the biggest names in modern day monster truck racing in environments both real & fictional with “Monster Jam Steel Titans” – a solid experience hindered by lacking gameplay modes & multiplayer options. Hoping that the developers would learn from what made the previous entry so short-lived & mostly forgettable, I got ready to strap in for another monster-sized go-round with my favorite car-crushers.
Did I Complete “Monster Jam Steel Titans 2”?
“Monster Jam Steel Titans 2” does a great job at appearing beefy at first glance, but it’s truly a hollow experience especially in regards to completion just like its predecessor. The game immediately thrusts the player into its tutorial upon loading up for the first time before preceding to the open world HUD/Park made to explore and find secrets like truck-specific jumps to grab gigantic upside-down triangles promising to help unlock more trucks. And just like the previous entry, every truck other than the two starter vehicles are locked until the player works their way through “World Career” mode – a mode featuring a few stadium events, but mostly way-point & checkpoint races across the various HUDs that open up as the player progresses through the single-player modes.
The other single-player mode – “The Big Show” – removes the open world action and puts the player in the biggest stadiums available to compete in head-to-head drag races, freestyle battles, and timed events featuring the destruction of objects like buses & boxes containing balloons. Both modes are grand prix in nature with the player doing their best to finish in first in every race or battle.
After a little over ten hours I finished both “World Career” and “The Big Show” modes while picking up many achievements and unlocking their new game plus versions for more repetitive action where the difficulty is solely based on the fact the player must finish first to unlock the next sub-event. “Quick Play” for gamers who don’t care for the grind of playing through the single-player modes is just like its predecessor in presentation while shattering the hopes of said gamers thanks to the terrible drawback that only the trucks unlocked through “World Career” mode & HUD exploration can be used. Improvements to the multiplayer encouraged yours truly to spend more time playing online than expected; though finding a plethora of players is pretty much impossible. For completionists the real grind comes from discovering all the collectibles & secrets, and unlocking all the trucks – something proving too time consuming and admittedly boring to complete.
Did “Monster Jam Steel Titans 2” Live Up to the Hype?
“Monster Jam Steel Titans 2” doesn’t lie to the player by trying to present itself as a simulator, going with a more arcade approach right down the presentation as the first thing introduced to the player is some of the insane things a truck can do like back flipping off steel containers, spinning off two tires to reset the truck on all fours, and soaring like an eagle. Rainbow Studios has done an impressive job in crafting each truck from an aesthetic perspective especially when the truck body starts coming apart during a particularly wild encounter; and “wild” is what the player will experience most of the time due to the game’s physics.
Easily the biggest flaw regarding its predecessor and its sequel is its physics. Each truck is incredibly light in terms of control; bouncing unbelievably from hitting a low point in the world or simply taking a quick turn. The physics are frustrating at times as it will cause unwarranted rollovers that can ruin a race as resetting a truck via the “Reset” button will usually put the player’s truck in the back of the pack no matter how far ahead the player is compared to the competition. While playing more will allow the player to understandably adjust to the physics, there will be many a time when the game decides to do the seemingly impossible with a truck coming off a minimal jump by sending it spiraling forward.
The performance customization features from “Steel Titans” have been removed with the game automatically upgrading certain aspects of whatever truck is being used via experience points gained from completing events. This is actually a little surprising as the player doesn’t have control of truck performance progress, but the difficulty even on “Normal” can be a little overwhelming for a truck at its base stats. If the player can finish the single-player modes or discover the secrets scattered around the HUDs they will find some trucks even have color swaps. One of the oddest additions to the gameplay is class-specific powers. Every truck is connected to a particular class and each class has a specific ability like a sudden speed boost or being able to send nearby trucks careening backwards. It’s an interesting idea that doesn’t really add much strategy to races outside of the open world environments.
Another huge issue with the original “Steel Titans” was the lacking multiplayer options. All players could do in “Steel Titans” was “Circuit Races” online. “Steel Titans 2” has split-screen local play, as well as the ability to have an online one-on-one grand prix where players can drag race, freestyle, two-wheel stunt, and take part in “Timed Destruction” events. Players can also participate in online way-point & “Circuit Races” with up to six human racers, as well as free-riding throughout the HUDs. All the online options have public & private hosting features to give gamers an opportunity to enjoy themselves as they see fit.
Technically the game is definitely a mixed bag. The trucks look more polished & impressive, but the open world elements have a rather flat, almost seventh generation look to them including things like trees and the cars being driven over at any given moment. Framerate drops can be a problem in the HUD areas and when simply moving through a stadium. There are extensive loading times times when going from any area back to the HUD, as well as the online modes featuring up to sixty second idle moments to set up the next game even if there are only two people playing a private match (and that’s not mentioning the times when the next online race will refuse to load and the player has to restart the game). The soundtrack is mostly unremarkable, and the lacking commentary during actual arena races takes away the feel of being a part of a real monster truck event.
“Steel Titans 2” is essentially just a bigger, somewhat better version of what came before it with some interesting decisions in regards to gameplay modes both offline & online; but lacks the improvements necessary to be an overall crushing good time.
Should You Play “Monster Jam Steel Titans 2”?
Improving on several areas of “Steel Titans”, “Monster Jam Steel Titans 2” still lacks in several departments including the base gameplay featuring rather weightless trucks struggling to stay balanced – with said trucks needing to be unlocked through mundane single-player offerings. For die-hard monster truck fans this will prove fun for a short time thanks to things like the improved multiplayer options and the absurdity of a three-ton truck doing cartwheels. The initial asking price of forty dollars is nice, but still is too much for what a player is given unless your greatest joy in life is ridiculous physics featuring a gigantic machine failing to get off its back or side like a high-octane turtle.
