Monster Energy: AMA Supercross Championship 25, Review
I love the Italian developer, Milestone. They make games in niche motorsport racing genres that most big studios ignore. But I dig ‘em! Be it GP Motorcycles, Motorcross, Hotwheels, Monster Trucks, Rally or in this case, Supercross. Milestone have carved out a “AA+” niche all of their own, and more often than not…they smash it out of the park.
Unfortunately, the latest offering “Monster Energy: AMA Supercross Championship 25” isn’t their best work. (Going forward, I will just call the game by its moniker “Supercross 25”.)
As covered off in my video-review of MXGP2020, I know a bit about Motorcross. I rode MX and Enduro bikes for a number of years, and even though I have since hung up the boots and helmet, I still adore the motorsport.
Supercross 25 is the 7th edition of a “Supercross” game from Milestone. It is pretty much a lift of the real AMA Supercross world, with current season riders, tracks and bike manufacturers all featured. Stadiums and circuits from all over the USA have been recreated and can be raced as part of a career mode, one-off events or in online multi-player. I played some M/P and found a game in about 30 seconds, but there were only 2 other riders, so I suspect these lobbies will not be full for long.
Supercross 25 when compared to the previous titles and certainly the MXGP games is a strange step backwards in quality.
As I alluded to in my intro, this may be the 7th outing of this franchise, but it perhaps isn’t Milestones best work. As stated, Milestone titles tend to be “AA+” type games, so some allowances for refinement need to be made. Which is honestly fine. I love the MXGP series, which is essentially the same game as the USA centric Supercross games, but they set in the European MX circuit. But are more traditional style of flat and hill racing. So not “Super” in its jump sizes.
This backwards step has manifested in three particular ways. Firstly, the graphical quality. Even with the grunt of Unreal Engine 5 being rolled out for Supercross 25, it looks unremarkable. Serviceable, yes, but impressive or beautiful…certainly not. Flat textures, stadiums devoid of spectacle, and from what I could see, no HDR. In fact, I re-downloaded MXGP 2020, a game that is 5 years older but from the same developer… and it looks better! How is that possible?
The second issue is the “control feel”. This is crucial in a MX game. I mean how the bike and rider lean and flow across rough terrain. How that feels with the controller in the hand, and how its syncs with what the eye is seeing on screen. It is tricky to get right. It is something Milestone have nailed previously, in both the MXGP games and in Supercross 6.
However, for some reason though, the “control feel” has lost its way in Supercross 25. There is an input delay and a lack of feedback from the bikes. There is no sense or reason behind any oversteer and understeer, crucial in any offroad racer game. And the body weight system for ‘whips’ and ‘scrubbing’ is stiff and feels wrong. Which is crazy, as previous games had it nailed.
The last issue, which I grant you is even more subjective that the previous two, is the UI design and Aesthetic. Sure, this is literally a “Monster Energy” branded game. It is always going to be loud and unrefined, but its like Milestone have leaned too far into it.
Whatever, Boomer!!
Everything is big block lettering, with fluro-yellow everywhere and a “bad-boy” identity to everything. Its like they wanted to channel some edgy-youth, audio-jungle “Kyle” energy, but never figured out how cringy that actually is.
This monster-energy swilling, Gen-z vibe is no better exemplified in the “Career Mode” where before and after races you can deal with your “Monster Z” social feed. Its basically a off-brand twitter. You even have “followers”! If you win or lose and race, your follower number goes up and down. You get mentions and “dis’s” from other racers or followers, and you have to tweet back at, with agro or a more moderate response. Then watch how good or bad your online “reputation” gets and your respect around the circuit changes too.
It all felt gross and added nothing to the game except to remind me how bad social media is for young minds.
The audio design in these Supercross and MX games has always been hit or miss. The engine noise in my beloved MXGP 2020 is terrible, and sounded nothing like the bikes I have owned in real life. But Supercross 25 have got far, far, closer to getting the sound of a 450cc, high performance 4-stroke doing over 10,000rpm. Not prefect mind you, but pretty close. The crowd noise in the stadiums however is not so flash, and became this annoying white noise I couldn’t turn off.
I don’t think Milestone have nailed it this time round.
Supercross 25 is a solid game, and there is fun to be had for those dedicated “Supercross” franchise fans, looking for the next fix of this niche genre. For those looking to dip your toe into these types of games though, I would suggest checking out some of the past titles like Supercross 6 or MXGP 2021, both are super affordable now and frankly offer a better gameplay experience.
