Mini Review: Monster Jam Showdown (PS5) - Familiar, Enjoyable Monster Truck Madness

The Monster Jam series is no stranger on PlayStation, with many entries. However, after Rainbow Studios developed the middling MTX vs ATV Legends, the licence landed with Milestone, which produced the recent Hot Wheels Unleashed series. With Monster Jam Showdown, the studio has brought its experience and racing finesse to the franchise, with a far more interesting set of events and stylish presentation.

Set across a variety of different environments, the game's main career mode, Showdown Tour, has a host of courses and tracks for you to race on. From the obstacle-filled woods of Colorado to the frozen lakes of Alaska, each area offers its own challenges, like icy tracks that can cause you to skid and large jumps over canyons.

Additionally, weather changes can affect how your monster truck handles. A snowstorm can seriously obstruct your vision, while thunder and rain can play havoc with your ability to take tight turns. All of this adds some much-needed variety and excitement to the franchise, on top of the different events like a knockout battle royale-style race, a head-to-head racing bracket consisting of multiple rounds, and skill arenas that task you to complete a combo chain of skills without crashing to reach a certain score.

The game also makes good use of the DualSense haptic feedback and adaptive triggers with great vibrations, and the boost mechanic at the start of the race challenges you to balance the trigger delicately at the right point within the boost gauge. It's a small but neat addition.

Flashy camera angles, stylish menus, pre-race intros, post-game leaderboards, and the destruction combo meter encouraged us to create havoc, giving Monster Jam Showdown a great chaotic vibe that fits its racing style. The Unreal Engine 5-boosted visuals and effects also help the game stand out with top-class vehicle destruction.

The game has a solid selection of more than 60 monster trucks to collect and upgrade, almost 150 liveries to unlock, and a list of challenges and objectives to complete across an account and within the Showdown Tour. The only area of the game we haven't been able to test is the online multiplayer, but every race type is playable online.

It isn't offering much you haven't seen before in the genre, but Monster Jam Showdown is a really solid racer and by far the best the series has been in a long time.