Monster Energy AMA Supercross FIM World Championship 3: The Official Videogame review

By Manish Rajesh | Updated on 05-Mar-2020

Manish Rajesh

05-Mar-2020

HIGHLIGHTS

There is a somewhat steep learning curve in Monster Energy Supercross 3, with timing of acceleration and breaking being of paramount importance.

All the racer's names and brand affiliations are all legitimate.

The game also features a track creator where you can create tracks and share them online with other players.

We’re personally not very big on Supercross, and we’d imagine not many in this country are. That being said, we can’t take away from what Milestone has achieved here. There can be no doubts in anyone’s minds that Milestone knows how to do bike racing games. Makes sense if you think about it, they’ve been at it for a while now, with this being the 20th bike-themed title(!) they’ve brought to the PlayStation 4. Monster Energy Supercross 3 is no different, and brings with it the same polish you’d expect from a Milestone bike racing game at this point.

Gameplay

We’d recently played MotoGP19, also by Milestone, and were quite impressed. The game actually managed to convert us and change our opinion over time as we played. Having played that, we were somewhat familiar with Supercross 3’s control scheme. We’d also played the first Supercross, so we were familiar with what we were getting into.

Starting off

The game starts you off with a character creation, of sorts. Here you can change your racer’s name (Mile Stone by default), number, font style etc. You have different faces to select from, but no further customisation. Additionally, new with Supercross 3 is the ability to play as a female character as well. The change is purely cosmetic and doesn’t affect performance whatsoever, which is good. Once you’re done, you will be given the option to do a tutorial to familiarise yourself with Supercross races and then you can get into the game.

Look at all that mud

Dirt bike racing and MotoGP are miles apart. We learned that the hard way. While we were used to controlling our acceleration and turning on MotoGP, it’s a whole other ball game in Supercross. However, we learned the mechanics on MotoGP over time. Here too, you’ll get an idea of how to handle on the mud with some practice. There is a somewhat steep learning curve here, and understandably, the theme included, this game is not for everyone.

Learning the flow

Back to the racing itself, like we mentioned, not your typical race, Supercross is all about the flow. Getting into the flow takes some practice, but once you master it you’ll be zooming across tracks.

The flow here involves knowing when to break and accelerate. Timing is of paramount importance, especially at higher difficulties where messing up your timing can mean losing your position in the blink of an eye. Since the tracks are all a series of mounds, orienting your bike to land the right way is also important to maintain your flow. Milestone has done a great job with the game’s physics, which explains why getting the flow right ultimately pays off and feels good.

Furthermore, there are points to be earned while in a race, prestige points to be exact. These are accumulated when you jump, drift, or perform tricks in the air, which just added to the number of things you need to keep in mind when you’re racing in Supercross 3. Like we said, steep learning curve. Rhythm and flow are everything when you’re racing on the mud, embrace it to succeed.

Modes and Online

There’s plenty on offer here, for both single and online play. You’ve got six single-player modes, including the Career mode, Time attack, Challenge and more. Most of your time will be spent in the Career mode, going from a nobody to Supercross champ. The racers names and brand affiliations are all legit, even their numbers are locked out during the character customisation at the start.

Coming to online play, you’ve got the standard online multiplayer mode and a bunch of online minigames you can play as well. We didn’t explore online play too much in our time testing the game, but we still didn’t come across any major problems for the short time that we did.

Customisation and track creation

While you can’t customise your character’s face, you can go crazy customising your bike and rider suit. There’s a bunch of customisations you can purchase with the game’s currency and customisation packs can also be bought. Furthermore, the game also features a track creator where you can create tracks and share them online with other players.

Graphics and audio

Milestone definitely got this department right, the stadiums, the mud, the bikes, it all looks very good. The bike sounds are also good and they’ve definitely improved on the commentary from the first Supercross game, it’s still average at best, however.

Verdict

If you’re into Supercross, we have no doubt that you’ll thoroughly enjoy Monster Energy Supercross 3. For the rest of us, the charm starts dropping after the first few races. Additionally, the game’s tricky learning curve might turn some away. However, Milestone has still made a game that plays well, it’s simply not for everyone.