Silly Monsters
A Review of Monster Truck Madness
by Edmond Meinfelder
Unless you were under a rock during the 80’s, you heard the radio advertisements: SUNDAY, SUNDAY SUNDAY! MONSTER TRUCK WEEKEND! The ads dripped attitude, enthusiasm and showmanship. Like a two-bit carnival huckster, these ads grabbed your attention and drew you in.
Into what, you ask? During the 20th century, the country fair with its tractor pulls long-reigned as the proving grounds for farmers with testosterone to spare. A new generation, was turning to Van Halen, Sony Walkmans and Nintendo, leaving the country fair behind. Somewhere, a brilliant showman decided if people won’t come to the fair, reinvent it and bring it to them. Thus, you have the travelling Monster Truck show, with its high-tech, oversized vehicles and enough glitz and hype to rival the World Wrestling Federation.
Microsoft, publishing for Terminal Reality Inc., brings us Monster Truck Madness, hoping to bring the energy and spectacle to your PC. Microsoft put a lot of faith in this product claiming, “This is as real as it gets!” and, “It’s more than a game; it’s a lifestyle!” As usual, more promises are broken than kept.
Reality has little to do with Monster Truck Madness. The scale of the houses around some of the tracks, for example, is off. Bigfoot is a large truck, but the driver does not look down on buildings. I am sure most, if not all, Monster Trucks have 4-wheel drive with oversized wheels, but does this mean Monster Trucks can drive on the Ocean? During one rally, I got bored and raced circles about a sailboat. This is as real as it gets?
Monster Trucks may, or may not, be a lifestyle, I don’t care; I just want a fun game. Driving about a track 3 times is interesting, but fails to captivate. There’s no novelty here. The gameplay is cut-n- dry: stay ahead of your competitors. The physics model and the design both fail to add any depth or complexity to the game. There are no tricks to gain speed. There’s no damage modeling to degrade performance. This game appears, at first, shallow and after 30 minutes, verifies first impressions are sometimes correct.
The game’s interface is easy to operate, but is consistently clunky. Monster Truck Madness mixes the use of Microsoft Windows controls and custom controls in the interface, leaving the game with a mismatched appearance. Controlling any of the trucks is like steering a boat. You hit the joystick hard to the left or hard to the right and, ever-so-slowly, the truck turns. This turning behavior is true regardless of speed. When travelling 70 mph and turning hard, I expect a skid, roll or some repercussions other than a lazy turn. The upside is, while clunky, navigating the game’s option interface and driving the truck are both easy, if tedious, actions.
I hate a bad install system. I choose a large install, taking 200 megabytes. Seeing I had free space on my C drive, Monster Truck Madness placed itself there without asking me where I thought it should go. Is it too much to ask for a say in where large applications go? Not everyone has only 1 harddrive. The install gets worse. Monster Truck Madness is a Direct X2 game. Seeing I have Direct X3, Monster Truck Madness happily installs Direct X2 over my Direct X3a drivers and dynamic link libraries. Great.
This was my first Direct X game employing Microsoft’s controversial Direct 3d library. The main benefit, Microsoft claims, for Direct 3d, is automatic detection and acceleration for any game using Direct 3d on a PC with a 3d accelerated video card. On a Gateway P6-200 with an STB Virge, Monster Truck Madness died. Direct 3d may not be the silver bullet for 3d games as Microsoft claims.
Despite the lack of 3d hardware support, the game looks good. The graphics in 640x480 manage to please. The detail on the trucks is good, the terrain textures while not awesome, don’t rely upon your imagination to guess this is dirt or that is grass – it’s all very clear. In fact, when compared to I-76 purely on graphics, Monster Truck Madness wins. The art and presentation lack a coherent mood or style. Granted, artistic style is hard to convey in a game built upon 3d models, but it’s not impossible; look at Pod.
The sound and music are below-par. The sounds are flat, failing to give any clues on gameplay. Many games use sound effects to warn players: something is about to happen, or you look out for this. Integrating sound into gameplay truly enhances the experience, yet Monster Truck Madness plays just as well, if not better with the sound effects off.
A big feature of Monster Truck Madness is the use of Army Armstrong, the Monster Truck announcer, to call events as they happen. Teeter a bit and Armstrong says, “Monster Patrol is on his tippy toes!” Deviate from the course and Armstrong says, “Bigfoot is looking for a detour.” Sometimes, with no provocation, Armstrong will say, “When it’s going your way, it’s going your way.” In short, Army really makes you feel like you’re listening to inane chatter as if you were watching a televised sports event. For me, this game plays better with the sound off.
With a lot more work, Monster Truck Madness would still be a weak game. You race about a track. With weak physics, good (not great) graphics technology and uninspired gameplay, this game comes in last as I-76, POD and Carmageddon race past. The weak sounds, bad music and clunky interface don’t help the situation, either. At it’s best, Monster Truck Madness is briefly entertaining, but at its worst this game is silly, inane and boring.
Gamer's Zone Scorecard
| Product: |
Monster Truck Madness |
| Company: |
Microsoft
|
| Cost: |
$39.99 |
System Requirements:
Pentium processor, 8 MB of RAM (12 MB Recommended),
Microsoft Windows 95 (or later) operating system,
20 MB available hard disk space for compact install, (100 MB for typical install),
Double Speed (2x) or faster CD-ROM drive (not necessary for trial version),
256-color, 640 x 480 display, Audio board plus speakers or headphones,
Hayes-compatible modem --14.4Kbps for head-to-head play.
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 3
Graphics 4
Sound 3
Interface 2
Replayability 3
Overall Score:
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