Some might argue that Monster Jam Showdown really does live up to its name, because aside from its Showdown Tour mode, there is not much else that it offers to its players.

Unfortunately, when even the main gameplay mode comes with a game-breaking bug that has the potential to force players to put the controller down for good, it becomes quite difficult to list down the few strengths that the latest Milestone title actually possesses.

Being the very first Monster Jam video game to debut on current-gen platforms comes with certain expectations, but while it is not completely devoid of entertainment, Showdown does not take as big of a leap as it should have taken.

At Least the Vehicles Feel Beefy in Monster Jam Showdown

Fresh off the success of Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged just last year, if there is one thing that developer Milestone seems to fully understand, it is the implementation of different kinds of vehicles in its video games.

The streak continues in Monster Jam Showdown, with the featured roster of trucks truly feeling weighty, which can take some getting used to but feels quite rewarding once mastered.

With Grave Digger leading the charge as one of the greatest monster trucks on the roster, the game features plenty of real-life vehicles like the El Toro Loco and Max-D, each of which comes with enough of a difference to make it stand out from the rest of the collection.

Presenting its players with a total of 40 trucks, with 26 more already planned as DLC in the future, perhaps the standout aspect of Monster Jam Showdown is the clear way in which it allows these vehicles to be unlocked. The conditions are laid out in a straightforward way, and it is thankfully not that big of a hassle to make one’s monster truck collection bigger.

Sadly, once the wave of excitement regarding the trucks wears off, which it does pretty quickly, that is where things start to go a bit wrong.

Perhaps Some Proper Customization Could Have Helped the Milestone Title

Proper customization in a year like 2024 has basically become an element that most developers decide to add into their video games in various forms, including character upgrades, outfit changes, and more.

Similar to the countless racing games that have preceded it, Monster Jam Showdown does indeed feature vehicular customization and upgrade features, but unlike some of the best titles in the genre, the options are extremely limiting.

Players can upgrade their entire truck by holding down a single button, with no mention of any specific part of the vehicle, making Milestone’s latest effort come off as more of a small-scale mobile game than a full-fledged Monster Jam experience.

As far as the appearances of the monster trucks are concerned, the game does include multiple liveries for each vehicle on the roster, but since these are also preset, players do not have much control over how they want their vehicular behemoths to look during various events.

Monster Jam Showdown also lets its player base take a long, hard look at its Garage and appreciate the three swappable trucks on display, but while this section of the game could have been the perfect place to allow players to style their vehicles, all they can do is change the truck poses.

Not only does that limitation make the Garage seem like an addition whose resources could have been better spent on other aspects, but it also feels like filler content in a game that suffers from an obvious lack of substantial variety in many areas.

Monster Jam Showdown’s Lack of Variety Does Not Just Stop There

Although Monster Jam Showdown comes with various game modes like Head-to-Head, Freestyle, Best Trick, and more, the only apparent way to access them is through the Showdown Tour option on the main menu screen.

Which means that players can’t necessarily select a specific mode to their liking unless it is unlocked as an event at that moment on one of the three points in the game’s world.

These are Death Valley, Colorado, and Alaska, all three of which have their distinct environments, but shortly after making the way through different events in these areas, the feeling of monotonous dullness starts to emerge, as they all start seeming a little too similar to one another.

This is due to the map layouts coming off as repetitive even though the environment itself changes from a desert to snowy mountains, but the problem becomes especially glaring during the Freestyle mode and its variations.

The obstacles and arenas in the three stadium categories are all just slight tweaks of each other, resulting in the event feeling like a chore once the thrill of a monster truck doing a backflip passes over.

Even the split-screen multiplayer mode doesn’t let players freely pick and choose their preferred play style, taking a similar route to the Tour mode, making Monster Jam Showdown rapidly lose its potential replay value.

When the Tour Comes to a Halt Due to a Game-Breaking Roadblock

Similar to the strong trees and other objects that can apparently face the full force of a monster truck coming in at full speed, unless they are glowing, the Circuit Racing event called Snow Turbo Twist at the Arctic Glacier in Alaska was accompanied by a game-breaking bug at a specific part of the map.

Despite giving it the benefit of the doubt and trying to find numerous ways around it to win, including restarting the race, changing the vehicle and difficulty setting, taking a different route, etc., the monster truck would stop listening to the controller input and start glitching in some shape or form.

Issues like these prove to be an unfortunate roadblock in the Showdown Tour, and when the only major mode that the game offers comes with problems, it doesn’t really feel like the glorious return that Monster Jam fans may have been hoping for.

At least the menu screen music and the announcer’s passionate voice acting add some much-needed life into a game that does the absolute bare minimum with its explosive premise.

Monster Jam Showdown – 3/10