Monster Jam Showdown review — Roaring beyond my expectations

Monster Jam Showdown is the definitive Monster Jam experience. With over five different game modes, 20 different monster trucks, and three different environments to race in, there is something for everyone in this game.

I have never had a Monster Jam experience that has felt this slick. Every truck and arena is visually stunning. Monster Jam Showdown takes full advantage of the PlayStation 5 system and the haptic feedback within the PlayStation 5 controller.

Monster Jam Showdown is far from perfect. The upgrade system bogs the game down in a way that is hard for me to ignore. You can’t select a quick race, you must go through the campaign menu to find a game mode to play. Online matches do not have an option to race against bots. This means you’re going to be locked out of a couple of game modes completely.

Accessibility and Settings

Monster Jam Showdown has a couple of areas where it shines in the accessibility department. Before diving into the rest of the game, I wanted to highlight these areas first.

This game features two sets of options: one set is for the game in general. You can change options such as the music volume, the controls, HUD, and your profile. Standout options include Night Mode and button remapping. Night Mode allows you to define the difference in volume between loud and quiet sounds. You can also map all the game buttons and change the rear axle control.

Monster Jam Showdown allows you to control your back wheels with the right analog stick. This can be jarring. Having rear control allows you to take tighter turns and pull off tighter stunts. However, in some of the game modes, it can become quite difficult to control your truck.

More options open up when you pick an event to run. You can change the difficulty of the AI and make your rear tires turn in the same direction as your front tires without using the right analog stick. If you turn this option on, you can still use the right stick quickly, but your truck will primarily follow the left analog stick first.

Profile Customization

Monster Jam Showdown has the perfect amount of profile customization. You can customize your player tag and choose any of your unlocked medals to show off. The car you’re currency playing as will be featured under your driver. Your challenges completed are showcased as well, I’m excited to see what people show off and strive to complete when the game is released. You can choose what statistics you want to show off. I love doing tricks so I made sure to show off my highest jump and my highest combo score.

Behind this card, you can see two of my favorite trucks that I have unlocked so far. The garage allows you to showcase three trucks and change their position. Everything on both of these screens is completely customizable. You can also change your profile picture, banner, and the two medals on the top right corner of the profile banner. Everything you see here was completely unlocked while playing the game.

Unlocks and Progression

As you play Monster Jam Showdown, the first thing you’ll notice is that you get something for everything you do. From experience points to new trucks and even victory cinematics, Monster Jam Showdown loves to reward the player.

You’ll have your choice of over 20 iconic Monster Jam trucks to race. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that all but three of the trucks are locked. As you play the game you’ll unlock more and you can track the challenges you need to complete to get new trucks. Trucks are unlocked through challenges and by completing events. As you get more trucks you’ll open up the option to further unlock more trucks. The sheer amount of ways to get more trucks is insane: You’re rewarded at every turn for every event that you complete.

Some trucks have different liveries that you unlock by completely truck-specific challenges. Some of the liveries are truly something to see, while others are a simple recolor. Regardless, you have to work for them. Some trucks don’t have a livery and, while I found it disappointing, Monster Jam Showdown has more than 140 liveries to unlock. I did wish that some trucks had one thing to unlock; it wasn’t something that bothered me too deeply.

A pain point in Monster Jam Showdown is the level up system for the trucks. Each truck can be leveled up a specific amount of times. During my time with the game, I found that level 5 seems to be the max level. Increasing a truck’s level means that you will get an increase to your score.

Using MAX-D as an example, this truck will net you a bonus of 200% to your score when it performs Wheelies, Nose Wheelies, and Moonwalk stunts. The Stunt Score is extremely easy to follow as you complete events. However, everything changes when you use a truck that applies to races.

You don’t need a high score to complete a race. In general, you only have to take first place by whatever means necessary. The level-up system should have been applied differently based on what each truck was best used for. You can tell what event a truck will get bonuses in by looking at the symbol on the upper left of the truck card.

There is no point in applying bonus points in racing events because racing events are not dependent on points. The upgrade system becomes redundant on these trucks too. The only reason I continued to upgrade trucks that did not benefit from being played in my preferred game mode was because I liked the way they looked.

Gameplay and Visuals

Monster Jam Showdown is fun as hell. I found myself cheering as I nailed two backflips in a row or shoved another truck off a cliff. Tossing your truck off of a ledge is extremely satisfying because you’re rewarded for every landing you make. Driving is extremely smooth regardless of the settings you choose. I love having control over the front and back wheels of my truck. Having such precise controls took a while to get used to but once I got the hang of it I came to love it.

Even when I’m playing a game mode that I don’t like I’m still having fun. The racing modes feel slick and have a lot more variety than I was expecting. I was happy to see all the off-road racing in different environments. Driving through a snowstorm while trying not to miss a jump was exhilarating.

The level of detail on each of the trucks made my jaw drop as soon as I loaded into my first event. Monster Jam Showdown looks like it’s taking advantage of the PlayStation 5 in every way. The trucks are gorgeous; the environments are gorgeous, and the truck destruction is the best it’s ever been.

Defying gravity has never felt better in any Monster Jam video game. The trucks feel like they have weight and if you plan on playing Monster Jam Showdown with a PlayStation 5 controller, you will feel everything and it’s amazing.

Game Modes

Kicking off the game modes, we have the Showdown Tour: this mode functions as the game’s story mode. It’s how you unlock new trucks and customization options. You’ll have your choice of where you want to race too. Showdown Tour is free flowing and as you complete events you’ll unlock more of that specific event type. My map is full of stunt events because I find them to be the most rewarding, fun, and captivating.

Unfortunately, there is no way to jump into an event without searching the map for it. As your map fills up, it becomes sluggish to pick and choose what you want to play for your session. Having a quick race option on the menu would’ve made things a lot better.

Before I dive into the rest of the game modes, you need to know a couple of things. First, Monster Jam Showdown does have a split-screen mode. I was unable to try it fully because I was doing this review by myself. With that said, I used an extra controller to see if it worked properly and it does. I was unable to try the multiplayer-only modes because you can’t play them with bots; this is my second biggest complaint about Monster Jam Showdown because these multiplayer modes sound like they encompass the spirit of Monster Jam more than the racing modes.

You’ll be able to choose from a variety of modes including:

• Head-To-Head
• Circuit Racing
• Horde
• FreeStyle
• Best Trick
• Figure 8 Racing
• Extreme FreeStyle
• Extreme Head-To-Head

Online-only modes include:

• Treasure Hunting
• Survivor

Head-To-Head is one of my favorite modes because it is just you and another truck. You race on a small course and whoever makes it to the end first is the winner. This game mode is done in a tournament style, if you can reach the end you win. The courses themselves are fun but not too exciting.

Figure 8 Racing is my second favorite game mode because of the chaos. You race on a figure 8 race track and do your best not to fall behind or get stuck behind anyone. As you get ahead you have to avoid getting slammed into in the middle of the track. Figure 8 Racing becomes more exciting as you increase the difficulty of the AI.

Every stunt course is fun: even the ones I detest located in Alaska. Some of the courses are bigger and some are smaller, meaning you won’t always have the room to do the tricks you want to do. It’s fun to come up with new ways to avoid flying into the stands because if you do that you’ll lose your score. If you flip over and can’t save yourself you’ll also lose your score. In some instances, slamming into the wall too hard will also cost you your score. Trying to find the right balance during the stunt events is what makes them so much fun to play.

Final Thoughts

Monster Jam Showdown is gorgeous. The environments are detailed nicely and the storms in the game look stunning. Each environment pops in its own way: the storms in each area provide a nice touch. Racing through a snowstorm where you can’t see anything adds a level of excitement to the racing events that I felt was often lacking.

The sound design in Monster Jam Showdown is simply out of this world. Everything sounds like it’s coming at you, even the sounds that come from the PlayStation 5 controller. I don’t have anything special in terms of speakers either, the sound is just that good.

Monster Jam Showdown is brought down by the lack of racing against AI opponents in the online modes. Despite there being only two online-only game modes it would be nice to play them whenever I want, even if the servers shut down. The other biggest issue is the lack of a quick race option. Scrolling through the events in Showdown Tour becomes extremely cumbersome as you unlock more events.

Other quality-of-life improvements could be made as well. Sorting your trucks by event type is needed, especially as you unlock more trucks. A tracker that shows you how many of a truck’s liveries you have without having to open two menus would be appreciated as well. Finally, pinning missions would make picking and choosing events in Showdown Tour slightly easier.

Despite the flaws I ran into, Monster Jam Showdown is an exceptionally solid monster truck game. Everything about this game draws you in, the trucks pop, the music is fast and upbeat, and the world of Monster Jam is brought to life in a way I’ve never seen before.

See below for our list of partners and affiliates: