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Gamers have had a renaissance of driving games recently with entries like Gran Turismo Prologue, GRiD and Burnout Paradise. Activision have decided to enter the fray by bringing something new to the table, and to be honest it’s a bit odd. It comes in the form of Monster Truck racing, taken straight from the ‘well known’ Monster Jam competitions. Which doesn’t really sound particularly fun as Monster Trucks aren’t normally known for their speed fast nor their ability to take corners, Luckily the game’s  design of the arenas means that they’re perfectly suited to race.

The basic design of a solid driving game is there, with specific dynamics in place to create a driving experience that is just south of Burnout Paradise. Sadly, as it turns out, the usual pitfalls appear meaning the concept is always better on paper.

Monster Jam follows a very simple and direct course of action; you have a race series to complete, that offers up to four tracks to race against other Monster Trucks on; giving you a small variety of modes, ranging from straightforward three lap races to, one or two lap dashes. Rounding off the package is an elimination mode. One the standard races are completed, you move on to arena-based-action with stunt drives, obstacle runs and head to head battles. On the whole Monster Jam offers very little variety in modes but what’s on offer are honed to a tee, so feel tight and well suited to its concept. Therefore, the lack of game types doesn’t really matter.

The actual gameplay is again, simplistic, with the aim of the game being to drive round a circuit trying to beat the other trucks on the way. This really doesn’t sound that interesting does it? But less we forget, you are driving a Monster Truck! There are plenty of objects to smash through, all designed to cause chaos and disruption to any vehicle following your warpath. The great thing is how the destructible environment helps to create new ways in which to beat the opposition. For instance, there may be a ramp that leads into a water tower; taking the route lets you knock out the legs of the tower, and rewards you with it collapsing onto the track, giving your fellow racers something to worry about. Admittedly the obstacles that you create don’t really cause too much pain, but it can give you a few milliseconds in which to take the lead.

The arena-based events are by far the best of the game. The trials are based solely on the score awarded from judges, making it feel close to the televised events. The most enjoyable is the freestyle, giving you an arena with jumps, cars to crush and buildings to destroy. You are awarded points on how well you perform tricks and how solid your general performance is. You have complete free reign to rack up the points.

As you can expect, Monster Jam doesn’t look particularly special, or really screams that its next-generation. In fact, the graphics bounce around more often than your truck. Trucks themselves are decently rendered, but as actually enact some movement and it seems to go downhill. The trucks take damage as you smash and bash your way to the pole, but compare the presentation to other games and it falls flat. Which really is shameful is that panels that fall off are perfect puzzle pieces that would fit back in place without a sweat. The courses are nothing, the textures poor and it really make you wish for something that would just jump out at you. The colour palette seems to be made up of some admittedly lovely greens and browns with a little white and red thrown in to add a bit of brightness to things.

The surprising thing about Monster Jam is its just plain good-old fun. Even though the presentation is lacking, there is just so much fun to be had steamrollering five wooden houses in a row; taking a massive leap off a ramp, only to land and crush a group of cars. The game is fully licensed, meaning that for the fans of the show, you can drive your favourite truck into metal crushing battle. Monster Jam is a good game for all the monster truck fans around the world.

Score: 6/10

(Xbox 360 version tested, also out on PS2, Wii, DS and PC.)

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