Milestone are the gold standard when it comes to games involving two wheeled modes of transport, and the team is back in their familiar wheelhouse with Monster Energy Supercross 25. Rather than issuing a lazy yearly update which we have seen in many sports franchises over the years, the studio has really turned up the throttle here, delivering a much improved take on the sport that not only looks sublime, but also uses the power of the Unreal Engine 5 to not only give it a glow up, but to deliver a game engine that eschews some, but not all of the arcadey-ness of previous entries and dials up the realism and simulation elements.
After spending some time with this one I can confirm that they have certainly accomplished the latter; this is an immersive and impressive piece of work – even if it is so hard that sometimes I felt like I had been thrown off my two-wheeled mount and ended up face down in the grime. My favourite racing game is Outrun 2, where you worry about acceleration and drift, or whether to choose Magical Sound Shower or Splash Wave. On the motocross bikes of Monster Energy Motorcross 25 you have to worry about throttle, the way you lean, and scrubbing.
Now I know this sport can get very muddy, but this is a different type of scrubbing: it is a Motocross-specific technique where a rider minimizes air time and maximizes speed over jumps by leaning the bike over and absorbing the rebound with their body. This allows for quicker transitions back to the ground and continued acceleration. So it is a bit like and extreme version of accelerating out of a drift in Outrun, but far more difficult – not to mention dangerous in real life.
As tough as it is, one thing that impressed me a great deal with this Monster Energy tie-in is the ridiculously deep and precise physics engine, which doesn’t just include the movement of the bikes and the riders and all the scrubbing, but stretches to the terrain. The Dynamic Ruts system may sound like a late 70s new wave punk band, but refers to the actual physical make up of the track. As well as worrying about the momentum of your bike, you also have to now consider the grooves and even dynamic changes to the track during a race. It is incredibly impressive.
Once I had learned the basics with some standalone races, it was time to see what the game had to offer with different modes. You can race friends or foes online, and I dipped my toe into this and found the online races were stable and fun, but I did get my ass utterly handed to me against clearly more experienced players. A course designer is a series staple and lets you really go nuts with your inventive side, even more so with the cracking new physics on offer, and you can share your courses with like-minded Motocross fans online. You can also take on individual events, try and beat your best times, in Time Attack.
There is an overhauled career mode which allows you to create a rider and embark on a journey through the sport, with RPG style skills trees to customise your experience once you have earned the requisite number of in-game currency points. You can earn these by beating rivals, taking on challenges and winning races, and unlock a tonne of new abilities including improving the stability and level of control afforded to your ride.
Elsewhere in the career mode there is an aspect of management where you get to thrash out contracts, entice and rotate sponsorship deals, and spend revenue on improving the bikes. You even get to do a bit of social media stuff and whilst this is undeniably bare bones it fleshes out the career aspect and makes it feel like a well-rounded and immersive experience.
With great looks, a seriously impressive and highly realistic feel, and just enough arcade race traits to grab you by the balls and not let go, Monster Energy Supercross 25 is a fun and exhilarating motocross experience, that would make a great entry point for anyone fancying a crack at something a bit different and getting involved in the muddy, high octane, energy drink-fuelled franchise.