Posted on August 24, 2024 at 19:24 by Dean Jones

There were quite a few people involved in the development of this game. Terminal Reality developed the original PC version, while Edge of Reality ported it to N64 (they spent their first few years developing N64 ports, most notably the Tony Hawk series). Microsoft originally published it, but got it to be released on the N64 (incidentally, Rockstar only released one other N64 game in North America). There are some impressive names involved, so it’s pretty amazing that they somehow managed to turn Monster Trucks into something incredibly boring.

Monster Truck Madness 64 has an idea that might work: you can cut corners as long as you reach the checkpoints you want, drive up mountains or through water. However, the controls and physics completely ruin that. The trucks jerk around and turning is erratic, so you never feel like you’re in control. One moment you can make a 90-degree turn with a tiny nudge of the control stick, while another time you’re barely moving.

The physics are just as wonky, you can never predict how a jump will end and if an enemy collides with you you can end up slowly floating across half the map. It’s very broken.

The only time the game controls well is when you get a flight power-up – it’s weird how smooth and precise turning and soaring up and down is with this power-up. Other power-ups are pretty boring, some missiles and oil slicks are useful against enemies, but any boost or jump power-ups just mess up your race.

The graphics are also bad. Everything feels like it’s on a different scale and many parts of the game feel like they belong to completely different games. Even the trucks themselves feel like toy cars – when in fact they should be big, proper machines since they’re licensing real monster trucks.

There’s also absolutely no spectacle. There’s no satisfying sound or visual effect when landing, no splash when going through the water. There’s not even much to smash – just a few fences. This is a monster truck game, there has to be spectacle, destruction and mayhem. This game wouldn’t play any differently if you replaced the trucks with a milk truck or a scooter.

There are a couple of interesting multiplayer modes. There’s a soccer game where cars hurl a giant soccer ball into a futuristic goal (I’m surprised no one has tried this concept before), as well as a hockey game. Oddly enough, you can select these with only one player, but there are no CPU players, you just get the ball and an empty goal.

There’s also a King of the Hill mode that features CPU players, and a couple of 2-player-only chase modes. These might be a bit of fun for someone renting it, but they don’t make up for the whole game being a disaster.

Worst

Everything is absurdly “floating” – if you go over a bump, you’ll fly into the air, inevitably hit the ground, flip over and slide several feet before being put back on your wheels. The sheer exaggeration is quite entertaining for a while, but soon becomes tiresome due to its imprecision. Cornering is equally problematic and irritatingly unpredictable; you’ll slip while the camera swings in a way that makes you seasick.

Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine No. 33. Rating: 66%

Remake or remaster?

A monster truck game could be a lot of fun, but this isn’t. The soccer mode could be made interesting, maybe the monster trucks could be replaced with something crazy like supersonic rocket-powered battle cars.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Monster Truck Madness 64