Digging its own grave.
Monster Jam: Crush It! Is a bad game. There is no eloquent way to describe it other than that.
I grew up with names like Bigfoot and Grave Digger. Watching Monster Trucks as a kid was exciting. Seeing these massive machines fly through the air and smash cars was the most redneck thing ever, and it was awesome. There have been several games attempting to mimic that experience for years, but none have ever really nailed it. Monster Jam: Crush It! continues that trend.
MSRP: $19.99
Platforms: XB1 (reviewed), PS4
Price I’d Pay: $4.99
Monster Jam is broken down into three modes: race, hill climb, and arena. Each of these modes consists of three types of event within, and each one fails to deliver fun most of the time. The races are frustrating, as the monster trucks control like buttered ice, sliding all over the track and flipping left and right constantly. I get it, these trucks would likely do that in real life, but that doesn’t mean it is fun in a video game.
The arena mode feels like the most useless. I just drove around various environments, doing “tricks” and not being able to go backwards. Also, the announcer sounds about as excited as I was to be there. Finally we have hill climb, which is the most competent of the bunch, and that isn’t saying much. This mode reminds me of a stripped down, and terrible, version of Trials. The truck moves along a set path while collecting letters and performing stunts. That is about it.
Each mode is full of various maps with exciting locales such as desert, polar, and harbor. Unfortunately, players have to unlock every single track and truck, which the game never explains, nor does it tell players how to do it. The only upside is for players who enjoy Achievements, as this game pops them regularly. It would be an easy game to boost some Gamerscore, if anyone is willing to stick with it for a few hours.
The music is bland and repetitious, looping the same loud, generic tracks over and over. As I mentioned, the announcer is also the definition of generic. Visually the game is bland on all accounts outside of the trucks themselves. They look pretty good, but even as bad as the game looks, it still has performance issues, which is perplexing.
Monster Jam: Crush It! has little to no redeeming value. It plays poorly, it doesn’t look great, and it is simply not as enjoyable as the name suggests. Decades later I am still waiting on that great monster truck game. Sadly, this is not it.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
