Your annual Supercross game has returned. Could this finally be the motorbike game to find enough grip to catapult itself out of the corner the genre has found itself in? On the surface, it’s looking quite promising, but there still an oil leak or two holding it back.
Yes, Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame is indeed a mouthful, but in the world, we find ourselves in developers require money to fund games of niche genres. In this particular case, Monster Energy has obviously sponsored the game’s existence. Everything is green. From the gritty sheen on the menu, through to the lightbar on your PS4 controller and everything in-between – it’s green everywhere. In fact, I was expecting some sort of Hulk cameo appearance that never materialised. At its heart Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame is an all-out game of Supercross and nothing else. It’s got big names attached to it, like Chad Reed, Ken Roczen and the reigning champion, Ryan Dungey and it’s presented just as you would see on TV with Ralph Sheheen handling introductions. If you’re a fan of the sport this has been developed with you in mind. Where it wants you to start is with your own career and that’s a good idea.
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Let’s get dirty
As has become an expected mechanic you’ll be creating your own rider. Name, Surname, nickname, number, face type and height will make up your basic data. Your outfit also comes with various customisation options that’ll have you upgrading your helmet, goggles, suit, boots, neck brace and even your butt patch. Once you have sided with your team of choice (Honda, Husqvarna, KTM, Suzuki and Yamaha) you’ll have the option at kitting out your ride. Components can be bought from official part suppliers and before you know it you’ll have a look and style that defines your character. These upgrades do come at a cost. SX Credits are required to buy upgrades and these can only be secured in races (or microtransaction real-world money purchases, but I never saw a need for buying it).
The career is the perfect entry point for both novice and veteran.
The career is the perfect entry point for both novice and veteran. At first, you only have access to the two-stroke bikes and can decide on either tackling the East of West American leagues. Each set comes with a total of nine tracks, with the Las Vegas track being repeated on both. In other words – there are 17 tracks in total. These tracks are surrounded by stadiums as it’s based on the Supercross series, with no Motocross in sight. It’s a bit of a shame as Motocross featured in MXGP 3 and allowed players to race in some spectacular settings in other areas outside of the USA. The good news is that the developers have improved the quality of the game quite a bit since MXGP 3.
Bikes don’t just slide out around corners anymore. You now feel as if you have much more control over your bike than before. That’s not to say you can drive like a complete hooligan and win without eating some dirt. There is still quite a bit of skill involved in understanding the use of your rider’s weight (using the right analogue stick) that comes into play. Thankfully there is a basic but functional tutorial that helps explains the various buttons on the controller and exactly what each does. For example, pressing the L1 button out of a corner has you using your clutch to gain that extra speed advantage, or using the right analogue stick to manipulate your weight off ramps causes you to pull off scrubs (whereby your rider and bike goes into a horizontal position with the track) to gain that extra bit of distance. In practice, it really helps improve the experience. I found that the bikes all handle in a very similar fashion, so whether you decide on KTM or Honda – it does not really matter. Go with the brand you personally like.
Excitebike returns! Sort of…
Other single player modes include Championship mode that is, in essence, the same as career mode, it’s only that you get to play it as one of the Supercross heroes instead of yourself. The one mode where you will spend a lot of time in is with the new track editor. It feels like a long time ago that we were all building our favourite jumps in Excitebike, but here it allows you to build your tracks and share it with the world. That, of course, means that talented people around the world are building some of the best tracks and you get to download it for free. Building a track is simple enough, should you want to create your own piece of bike heaven. To top it Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame has seen a massive graphical upgrade from MXGP 3. Everything is way more detailed now that it’s being displayed in 4K, and the HDR implementation really does bring the game to life (especially the lumo green Monster Energy signs). Something else that brings the gritty feel of the sport to the forefront is the filter they’ve implemented in races. It creates the perfect illusion of the race being in a stadium when racing in the first-person mode or in the new ‘googles’ viewpoint. There are still, unfortunately, some other problems at hand.
Speed into the first corner with 21 other riders and you’ll see the frame rate dropping below 10.
Depending on your settings (I left it at default) races don’t last too long and you’ll be back and forth between signing up with sponsors, upgrading and racing. Jumping between most menus isn’t a problem, but loading a race can take over a minute at a time. I understand that it has some pretty textures to load for 4K, but they need to come up with better compression techniques as it’s a long wait after 20 or so races. That’s still manageable. There’s something else that ultimately hurts the overall outcome. The frame rate is a problem. Speed into the first corner with 21 other riders and you’ll see the frame rate dropping below 10. Once you’re out of the first corner it’s a much better affair, but that first corner could be the difference between first place and last, especially when you’re playing it on the harder difficulty. Throughout your race, you’ll witness frame drops and that’s just something you should not expect to see on the PS4 Pro.
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Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame has seen some fantastic improvements for the longstanding series, but it’s struggling to overcome the basic flaws holding it back. It’s very close to finally becoming that off-road motorbike game fans deserve. For now, they’ll have to be content with being green with envy as they watch their 4-wheel counterparts enjoy all that’s good.