{"id":109143,"date":"2020-02-12T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/nintendo-switch\/monster_energy_supercross_-_the_official_videogame_3"},"modified":"2020-02-12T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T16:00:00","slug":"review-monster-energy-supercross-the-official-videogame-3-mucky-madness-on-two-wheels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/02\/12\/review-monster-energy-supercross-the-official-videogame-3-mucky-madness-on-two-wheels\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Monster Energy Supercross &#8211; The Official Videogame 3 &#8211; Mucky Madness On Two Wheels"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/nintendo-switch\/monster_energy_supercross_-_the_official_videogame_3\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/nintendo-switch\/monster_energy_supercross_-_the_official_videogame_3\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 3 Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102741\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102741\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 3 Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Italian developer Milestone might not have the pedigree of Polyphony Digital or Codemasters \u2013 at least, not yet \u2013 but the racing specialist has always seen the value in porting many of its games to handheld platforms. Just being able to play the original <strong>MXGP<\/strong> \u2013 albeit in its \u2018Compact\u2019 form \u2013 on PS Vita, years before Switch even launched, was a revelation for off-road racing fans. In the years since, Milestone has had varying degrees of success on Nintendo\u2019s current-gen hardware, and with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/monster_energy_supercross_-_the_official_videogame_3\"><strong>Monster Energy Supercross &#8211; The Official Videogame 3<\/strong><\/a> it\u2019s produced a port that reflects those years of refinement while still not doing enough to elevate the series beyond the usual pitfalls of an iterative motorsport series.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/nintendo-switch\/monster_energy_supercross_-_the_official_videogame\">first entry<\/a> in MXGP\u2019s arena-based cousin ended up being a very choppy experience, with notable modes completely ripped out as part of the process. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/nintendo-switch\/monster_energy_supercross_-_the_official_videogame_2\">When the sequel arrived<\/a> on Nintendo Switch at the start of last year, it brought with it a far more agreeable take for those that wanted to take their two-wheeled racing on the go, including the return of online multiplayer and the popular track editor. Admittedly, it wasn\u2019t perfect, but at least it was a step in the right direction for a studio that clearly wants to create as much parity as possible between Switch and other platforms. With the series\u2019 third entry, that parity is closer than ever, including changes to the sandbox compound map, a new physics model and more.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 3 Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102736\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102736\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 3 Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>For those yet to be initiated in the ways of muddy motorsport, Monster Energy Supercross &#8211; The Official Videogame 3 is a bike racing simulator based on the annual AMA Supercross Championship. Raced primarily in the US, the sport functions a lot like motocross, with a large number of competitors riding off-road motorbikes around dirt tracks filled with ramps, jumps and tight corners. Much like previous entries, success is all about knowing how to use the inertia of your bike (controlled with the left analogue stick) and the balance and position of your rider (controlled with the right stick). When you\u2019re jostling for space around a wide corner, or having to readjust your angle in mid-air to compensate for an upcoming turn, you realise there\u2019s far more going on here than just overtaking other riders and pulling off fast lap times.<\/p>\n<p>With a relatively stable 30fps on Switch, even the slightly blurry track or rider textures fail to impact the sense of accomplishment that comes from successfully taking your fingers off the gas, leaning into a corner, shifting the weight of your driver to compensate then hitting the gas to gain a few extra inches of progress. Even pulling off a scrub (where you twist your bike in mid-air on a long jump to reduce your height) is incredibly satisfying. The game\u2019s physics have been adjusted for this third entry, but only series veterans who play with more realistic settings will really appreciate these adjustments (such as how your speed is far more affected by where you land on a ramp or braking bump, or how easy it is to fly off your bike if you clip a berm).<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 3 Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102740\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102740\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 3 Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Years of development in this genre have given Milestone a lot of opportunities to refine its craft, but that does mean we\u2019re now in a position where each entry has fewer and fewer major changes. The inclusion of female riders is a welcome one \u2013 even if it is laughably late by this stage \u2013 and the newly-updated &#8216;Compound&#8217; presents a new desert-esque environment to bomb around when you want to practice your landings and tight cornering. You can play through this sandbox environment with up to three other players, and compete in a generous helping of mini-games and race modes (Treasure Hunt being one of our favourites), but the larger environment does make the asset-blurring downgrades really stand out.<\/p>\n<p>Dedicated servers for online multiplayer \u2013 which, according to Milestone, protect online players from being kicked from a lobby if the host abandons it or is disconnected \u2013 is another new improvement that\u2019s being touted loud on the game\u2019s marketing campaign, but as of writing the online lobbies are completely empty so we weren\u2019t in a position to test their integrity; a shame considering the game has barely been out two weeks and it\u2019s already like a ghost town. You can still play locally with friends, but it makes you wonder whether having servers shared by players on multiple platforms would help avoid this kind of online void.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 3 Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102738\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102738\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 3 Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The Monster Energy Supercross series \u2013 in fact, all of Milestone\u2019s series \u2013 continue to prove a Double-A studio <em>can<\/em> produce solid racing physics and a mostly polished experience, but even the likes of EA\u2019s internal sports studios have struggled with franchise fatigue over the years. The Supercross &amp; MXGP games don\u2019t have the audience size of, say, Codies\u2019 F1 series, but a game with a smaller yet dedicated following still deserves something with a \u2018wow\u2019 factor that helps it stand out from the previous game. Whether it\u2019s utilising the Compound as a trick-driven arcade hub, or incorporating a narrative-driven story mode, you\u2019re simply left wanting something more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019ve played the previous instalments and the series and you appreciate updated rider rosters, the introduction of female riders and the improved physics (for those that play on more realistic settings) then Monster Energy Supercross &#8211; The Official Videogame 3 will definitely appeal, but with a completely absent online community, this port is a tougher sell over those on PC and other console platforms. Still, despite its shortcomings, this is a solid two-wheeled racer that retains all the usual modes and extras and runs like a treat in handheld mode. Just don&#8217;t expect it to feel massively different from the previous instalment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Italian developer Milestone might not have the pedigree of Polyphony Digital or Codemasters \u2013 at least, not yet \u2013 but the racing specialist has always seen the value in porting many of its games to handheld platforms. Just being able to play the original MXGP \u2013 albeit in its \u2018Compact\u2019 form \u2013 on PS Vita, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}