‘Monster Truck Destruction’ Review (PC)
Maybe I’ve been spoilt by the choice of games I play on my PC, but I tend to expect a certain quality. I’ve played games on the platform for years, all the way back to the pre-DirectX days. This may be why I took such a disinterest to Monster Truck Destruction.
When I started to play, my initial reaction was that it reminded me of a test animation that used to be available to show off what early versions of DirectX could do. When you think about this running on Windows 95, you should start to realise the problem. Pushing all the graphics options to the max, Monster Truck Destruction can start to look okay, for a game that runs on a tablet, and that is the problem. Doing a bit of research on the game led to the discovery that the game was tablet/phone based, and ported to the PC. The question I feel I have to ask really is, why was it not improved upon for the PC version,? And if it actually was, where were the improvements?
Getting past the feel that you are playing a mobile game, the idea behind Monster Truck Destruction isn’t that bad. Based around the sport of Monster Trucks, you take part in drag style races that see you having to make it through checkpoints before your opponent. There isn’t much checking just how far you get through the checkpoint, so just ram through the markers and claim a win. The other style of event is one based around creating as much destruction as possible. This feels a little too basic, but would be fun on as a tablet game.
To make progress in the game you have to gain win money, which I assume would be added to with in-app purchases in the original game. In the PC version, you have to earn the money through playing through events, which leads to grinding away through races until you make enough to be able to upgrade. There is a balance in the amount of money needed to make upgrades and the money each race gives you. Again this feels focused on a tablet game and one pushing players to make in-app purchases. What this leads to is little impetus for the PC gamer to keep on playing.
It’s a shame that Monster Truck Destruction doesn’t try harder to be an actual PC game. It is cheap, so is worth a try if you are a fan of Monster Trucks. Looking on Google Play though it is available free, so it’s probably better to try the game on a tablet device instead.
If we are going to see tablet games upgraded to the PC, hopefully the developers will do so with a view of turning it into a game that is worthy of being on a PC, Xbox One or Playstation 4 or even last generation consoles. I do not want to be harsh with a game like this, there is potential, but we also have to state the facts as we see them. I won’t find myself coming back to Monster Truck Destruction on the PC anytime soon.
Monster Truck Destruction, from ODD Games, is available on Steam now at http://store.steampowered.com/app/324760/
