REVIEW – Milestone. I could just stand up from the desk and slam the door behind me, but then who would write in two pages that this time around, the developers put together an acceptable title, which even managed to include a track editor feature? Fine, I’m not going to leave this table just yet.

Milestone is already experienced in motocross – they made three MXGP titles, and if I remember correctly, the third one was already using Unreal Engine 4. This time, they made a game out of the 2017 season of the AMA Supercross championship – instead of open areas, riders are competing for victory in stadiums, changing the vibe a lot, not to mention how the HUD looks more stylish. (Isn’t it a little too late to make the 2017 season in early 2018?)

Every beginning is difficult…

…but in this game, it’s not a joke. Instead of starting you off by making your custom rider, you get thrown into a race to learn the grips. Is there a tutorial? You can see the controller layout on the right side of the screen, but in the menus, the tutorials are just done with standstill images. You will have to learn everything on track! That is shameful. It is going to be troublesome for beginners who have never played motocross games before. Milestone shoots itself in the foot. You’ll have to figure out yourself that the DualShock 4’s right stick is used to balance the weight of the rider, which is going to be necessary at jumps and landings. (However, as expected from Milestone, it has a lot of options to help, and Supercross could do this automatically for you. And no, I’m not going to write the name of the game down once more!)

At the first race, it was hilarious to see half the grid just bail in the first turn. Here, I was worried that the game is going to be yet another 5/10 title, but my fears slowly disappeared, as, after the race, I could create my rider for career mode (with the same limitations as in other Milestone titles, of course), who could fight from the smaller categories to reach the top. During the ride, rewinds might be useful – yes, the game has these as well – for beginners. Tracks need to be learned, or you’ll get lost and get respawned back to the track in three seconds, which looks pathetic yet again. Same goes for bailing – if you fall off your bike, your rider’s rag doll effects are disappointing, and as usual, there’s no running to the bike to get back on it – all you see is yourself teleported back onto your vehicle. Don’t forget that the tracks also constantly change with the riding lines becoming visible as laps go by. These should help you in avoiding trackside objects (except the fixed ones, in which you’ll get stuck, forcing you to reverse…), as they will undoubtedly cause chaos for you in later laps.

Load ‘er

The game’s other major issue is that it loads a lot. It was not as much as in RIDE a few years ago, but it looks quite sad, and there’s also the noticeable Unreal Engine texture loading in the first few seconds. Other than these points, the visuals would be alright. I cannot say the same about the sounds, though. Sure, there’s the usual pre-race commentary provided by Ralph Sheheen (an American sports commentator), but the way how the bikes sound are… dry. Shallow. There’s definitely room for improvement here.

The others

With the physics, there’s not much to improve for Milestone in my opinion. It’s average. What about the career mode? You get credits, which will get you sponsors, and those will make the bigger, better teams notice you – nothing out of the ordinary here.

However, the track editor DOES boost my rating of the game. It’s not too complex, but you can put together some solid tracks with a little effort, and it is absolutely going to have a positive impact on the game’s life. Online? Well… I didn’t see many riders yet (the game was barely released), but it’s your usual suspects of single races and championships. It might be long-lived in America. I’m not sure about Europe, though.

Good

As the game punishes you a lot in the first hours, not providing much help for beginners, it falls short of the 8/10 or even a 7.5/10 rating. It deserves a kind-hearted 7/10 from me, as the ambiance and the track editor are excellent. In every other aspect, it’s just a run of the mill Milestone product. If you liked MXGP3, get it. For others, I only recommend a cheap purchase.

-V-

Publisher: Oizumi Amuzio, Milestone S.r.l, Square Enix, BigBen Interactive

Developer: Milestone S.r.l

Genre: Motocross

Release date: February 13, 2018