Monster Energy Supercross 25 review: Get mucky and bumpy!
Ben Minarelli
STACK Writer
‘Monster Energy Supercross 25’ - aka 'Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Videogame 25' - breaks the series title tradition by including the current year, rather than being named ‘MES 7’.
Given the name change, this could have been the perfect opportunity to release a game aimed at capturing new audiences, welcoming new fans to the stadium floor, to get in amongst the muck and bumps of a virtual supercross experience.
And MES25 seems to open with that intention. The game is the first in the series to use Unreal Engine 5 and, on startup, recommends that you tinker with the generous difficulty options and ride assist measures to find settings that you’re most comfortable with.
However, even on the ‘Rookie’ settings, MES25 is a tough track to master. The slightest misuse of your weight shifting, or brakes, can send you careening off the track at every turn, and careful management of your speed is a must to prevent you from losing vital momentum at each jump.
And the game doesn’t seem too keen to teach these fundamentals, either. The tutorial consists of a single sequence of ‘press X to do Y’ prompts followed by a glossary on performing particular manoeuvres. Yet, there’s little explanation for why you’d need to ‘whip’ or ‘scrub’, especially when failing it will send your bike and rider tumbling into the stands.
Once you’re out of the tutorial, you can take on single races and tournaments either single player or online. Or try the ‘Career’ mode, taking a customisable rider from a fictional ‘Futures’ category through 250 and 400 class seasons, playing on real-world tracks, and for or against real-world teams mirroring the current Supercross schedule.
While the racing itself can be tense and unfriendly, each new track is fun to master and comes with occasional challenges from weather changes and the new ‘deformation’ system.
Essentially, over time, ruts and berms can be carved out of the dirt of jumps and corners, creating new obstacles or opportunities for the rider with their eye on the track. This keeps longer races with multiple laps feeling fresher - and it’s especially useful once you’ve outpaced the competition.
Between races, you’ll engage with a fake social media platform to earn ‘followers’, an XP tracker of sorts that unlocks new bike parts and outfits. Interacting with opposing riders can create friendships and rivalries, which can organically set up showdowns during the season’s many ‘acts’.
In practice, though, the system feels quite underbaked. The social media conversations were quite blandly written; something also found in the pre-race commentary.
All in all, while we enjoyed our time with Monster Energy Supercross 25, this is a game laser focused on an existing audience. While existing Monster Energy enjoyers will find plenty to love in the wealth of tracks, riders and teams, along with the new deformation system, MES25 hasn’t taken the opportunity to open the stadium to new fans. Leaving them super cross…
^Discounts apply to previous ticketed/advertised price prior to the discount offer. As we negotiate, products will likely have been sold below ticketed/advertised price prior to the discount offer. Prices may differ at airport stores.
