Monster Jam Showdown (Switch) Review

The last Monster Truck game I played was Monster Truck Madness back in the 90s, so I wasn’t sure what to expect almost 30 years later — or how far Monster Truck games have come. While researching for this review, I discovered something interesting: Monster Jam has a dedicated fanbase (and an upcoming movie starring The Rock, he’ll probably do that eyebrow thing). They’re as die-hard about it as some people are about other sports, or even wrestling. After my time with the game, I can safely say this is a game specifically for those fans, but I’m not sure who else will enjoy it that much.

Monster Jam Showdown offers a bunch of modes, but the single-player campaign is where most of the action takes place. This campaign loosely uses the word “campaign,” as it runs you through a variety of different monster truck events. There are races, head-to-head races, a “run-down-and-capture-the-enemy-team” mode, and of course, many trick courses. At some point, though, you realise all of it starts to feel the same.

The problem with these racing modes is that you’re driving a monster truck — a vehicle with rear steering and a center of balance worse than that of a Canberra politician. There are different levels of assists to help you tame these beasts, but you still have to nurse these monsters around the tracks. On the 101 mode, where almost everything is taken care of for you, they basically drive themselves. Dial it back a bit, and the computer handles the rear steering for you. Turn it all off, and you’re driving around like you’re on a slippery bathroom floor. If that sounds like fun in an arcade racer, you’ll be happy. Still, there’s another issue: there are other trucks on the track. If you touch one, you’ll both slow to a crawl. There’s just no room for clean racing. It gets very frustrating trying to overtake someone, only to rub wheels and slow down. The AI opponents aren’t very smart either.

Doing tricks, though? That’s really great, and you’ll get bonus points for stringing combos together. I preferred the stadium events, just doing tricks or going up against one other opponent, as it allowed me to drive without other people getting in the way. The game is definitely more about driving tactically than driving fast. Using the boost usually just ends with you crashing into a wall.

There’s a wide variety of Monster Jam trucks to unlock, though it’s perhaps a good thing they all control the same. They even sound the same. However, during my time with the game, I barely unlocked anything. The game requires some serious grinding to unlock more trucks. After every event, you level up — much like in Apex Legends or Fortnite — in what feels like a battle pass system. You’re given a variety of tags, colors, and other items for completing events, but all of it just feels lost in the menus.

The game has an online mode, though we had to wait until release day to find anyone to play with. You can play with up to 8 people online, or locally in splitscreen.

The Nintendo Switch version of the game is… something. The boot-up logos tell us it runs on Unreal Engine — and that’s obvious. The game runs fine, but to maintain that speed, it runs at a very low resolution. It’s mostly blurry and jaggy, but at least it runs well. The game’s music is also irritating, but if you turn it off, you’re left listening to the same engine noises over and over. Your choice.

Monster Jam Showdown faithfully recreates the dual-steering controls and physics of driving a monster truck — for better or worse. However, the game’s story mode quickly devolves into a grind-heavy experience with events that all end up feeling the same. It’s faithful to a fault.

Rating: 3/5