Monster Truck Championship was released last year as a necessary competitor to THQ Nordic’s Monster Jam Steel Titans franchise. Sadly, not a single thing in that game manage to surpass what its main rival offered. It had less content, lacked an open world mode, and its performance was subpar. It also ran really poorly on last-gen consoles. The game is now available with a brand new next-gen build for PS5. Let’s see if, at the very least, some of these issues have been fixed.

First of all, let’s state the obvious: content-wise, this is still the same Monster Truck Championship from 2020. This is still the same game that paled in comparison to its main THQ Nordic rival, with its unenthusiastic presentation and career mode. This hasn’t changed at all, so if you’re looking for a crazier monster truck game (and if you’re into this kind of sport, you most certainly are), Monster Jam Steel Titans is still the way to go. The main difference between this brand new build from last year’s version is its performance.

Monster Truck Championship did not run very well on an Xbox One. Its resolution was underwhelming, its loading times were significant, and the framerate was disappointing. It would tank to single digits if way too many trucks were onscreen at any given time, such as during the beginning of a race, for instance. This would also impact on the game’s controls and responsiveness. Even though controlling the trucks themselves wasn’t terribly complicated, the horrible framerate made things much more annoying than they should have been.

Good news though! Thanks to the sheer power of the PlayStation 5, this version of Monster Truck Championship features much better visuals, resolution, and performance. It runs at an ever constant 60fps, no matter how many cars are onscreen, how detailed the background is, or how ridiculous of a paint job your truck might have. As to be expected, this makes the gameplay a bit more enjoyable as well, as you’ll never have to worry about input delays. Sadly, the game does not take advantage of the DualSense’s haptic feedback in any way, unlike DIRT 5 or MXGP 2020.

I do need to alert you that, despite looking much better than its last-gen counterpart, the PS5 version of Monster Truck Championship still doesn’t look or feel like a next-gen game at all, with the exception of the basically nonexistent loading times. Assets remain a bit ugly and the textures are subpar. This is still a mid-tier last-gen game taking advantage of a brand new console’s ridiculous horsepower to hide some of its ugly scars. For instance, performing tricks is still a nuisance and the sound design couldn’t have been any less exciting than it already is.

The PlayStation 5 version of Monster Truck Championship fixes some of the performance issues featured in the previous-gen versions, and as a result, it’s the definitive edition of the game. With that being said, it’s still nowhere near as interesting as its Monster Jam competitors, as it’s still disappointing in terms of content and presentation.

Sadly, given how a vastly superior monster truck game has just been released as well, which is far more polished in both last-gen and new-gen systems, I have to recommend Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 over Monster Truck Championship. There is a nice foundation for a more competent and content-heavy sequel in here, however. With the PS5 version running so well, I am actually curious to see what will Teyon do next with the Monster Truck Championship franchise.

 

Graphics: 6.5 It runs at a smooth 60fps at all times and the lighting effects have been slightly improved. Even though it’s a vast improvement over the base console versions, it’s not very impressive for PlayStation 5 standards.	Gameplay: 7.0 Performing tricks still feels way too punishing, but the overall gameplay has been improved as a consequence of the rock solid framerate.
Sound: 5.0 This is something that hasn’t changed at all. The narrator still lacks enthusiasm, the soundtrack is barely audible, and the tutorial guide sounds like she would rather be somewhere else.	Fun Factor: 6.0 Despite still not featuring as much content as its main competitor, this PS5 version of Monster Truck Championship is still superior over the base console versions due to the performance improvements.
Final Verdict: 6.5

Monster Truck Championship is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch. Next-gen versions available on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of Monster Truck Championship was provided by the publisher.