Monster Jam video games

Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour and television show operated by Feld Entertainment^[1] The series is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) and takes place primarily in the United States. Although individual event formats can vary greatly based on the "intermission" entertainment, the main attraction is always the racing and freestyle competitions by monster trucks. Several licensed Monster Jam video games have been made, generally under the Monster Jam brand name.

Games

Maximum Destruction

Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction is a video game of the vehicular combat genre released in 2002 by Unique Development Studios. The game is based on the USHRA Monster Jam series, and features several real life monster trucks including Grave Digger. Although it contains racing-based minigames, the primary focus is on the combat, which includes power-ups and weapons in addition to demolition derby style maneuvers.

Players can choose between Exhibitions, Mini Games and Seasons. Exhibitions are either Death Matches, where the match will only go until there is one truck standing; Cash Grab is where the player collects most of the power ups, with a certain number based on the difficulty played on by the end of three minutes; players can also try to collect the most money for damage (which are considered points) in Points mode with a certain number based on the difficulty by the end of three minutes.

Masters of Metal

Monster 4x4: Masters of Metal
PS2 cover art
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Barcelona Inland Productions
Publisher(s)	Ubi Soft Entertainment
Platform(s)	GameCube, PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	PlayStation 2 NA November 25, 2003 GameCube NA December 10, 2003
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Monster 4x4: Masters of Metal is a racing video game released in 2003 by Ubisoft. It is licensed by and loosely based on the USHRA Monster Jam series and features many real-life monster trucks, including Grave Digger and Maximum Destruction. Although it is an unofficial sequel to Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction, it forgoes the vehicular combat of the predecessor to focus on arcade-style racing and exaggerated freestyle.

The player's goal is to win as many races in stadiums and off-roads as possible. The player can race in New York, Florida, Louisiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, South California, North California, Nevada, Las Vegas and The Moon (as a bonus level). As long as the player has the most points in the end of the season, the player is the Monster Jam World Finals Racing Champion.

The game was met with very mixed to negative reception. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 48.71% and 48 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version,^[2][5] and 46.15% and 49 out of 100 for the GameCube version.^[3][4]

World Circuit

Monster 4x4 World Circuit is a racing game published by Ubisoft, centering on Monster trucks. It was released in early 2006 on Xbox, and later on Wii as a launch title for the system. It is similar to San Francisco Rush, with huge jumps and vast speed. The game is a sequel to Monster 4x4: Masters of Metal, although it lacks the Monster Jam license. A sequel developed by Ubisoft Reflections, entitled Monster 4x4: Stunt Racer, was released for the Wii in 2009.^[6]

Ubisoft revealed a steering wheel shell for the Wii Remote as an accessory bundled with the game. The peripheral steering wheel, created by Thrustmaster, is controlled by tilting the wheel forward to use nitros and backwards to brake/slow down. Also, when on a ramp, if the player thrusts the shell forward or in any other direction, they will perform a stunt from the ramp. Other games may make use of this peripheral as well when using the same controls.^[7]

The game was met with very mixed to negative reception. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 54.18% and 51 out of 100 for the Wii version,^[8][10] and 50.82% and 47 out of 100 for the Xbox version.^[9][11]

Monster Jam

Monster Jam
Developer(s)	Torus Games
Publisher(s)	Activision
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii, Windows, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	NA November 13, 2007
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Monster Jam is a video game of the off-road racing genre released on November 13, 2007 by Activision. It is licensed by the USHRA Monster Jam series and features 20 real-life monster trucks, in contrast to Monster 4x4: World Circuit, including Grave Digger and Maximum Destruction. This was the first Monster Jam game to feature stadium drag racing, and to also have cross-country off-road racing in a similar vein to the previous Monster 4x4: Masters of Metal game, as well as freestyle. The game features commentary by Scott Douglas.

The included trucks are: Avenger, Blacksmith, Blue Thunder, Bounty Hunter, Brutus, Bulldozer, Captain's Curse, Destroyer, El Toro Loco, Grave Digger, Grave Digger 25th Anniversary, Iron Outlaw, King Krunch, Maximum Destruction, Monster Mutt, Monster Mutt Dalmatian , Predator, Scarlet Bandit, Team Suzuki, and Pastrana 199

Original music for the game was composed by Finn Robertson.

Urban Assault

Monster Jam: Urban Assault
Developer(s)	Torus Games
Publisher(s)	Activision
Series	Monster Jam
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2 PlayStation Portable Wii Nintendo DS
Release date(s)	October 28, 2008
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Monster Jam: Urban Assault is a video game based on the popular monster truck series Monster Jam that was released on October 28, 2008, for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS and Wii. It is the sequel to Monster Jam video game. It is based on the USHRA Monster Jam Monster Trucks series. The game was published by Activision and made by Torus Games.^[25]

Players drive monster trucks on the streets of New York and London. The game also includes minigames such as skee ball.

Path of Destruction

Monster Jam: Path of Destruction was a racing video game based on the USHRA monster truck series that was made by Activision. It was the fourth edition in the series, the previous release being Monster Jam: Urban Assault. Monster Jam: Path of Destruction was released on November 9, 2010 in North America and on November 12 in Europe and the United Kingdom.^[26]

The game features 28 licensed Monster Jam trucks. A new feature allows players to customize their own trucks with more than 1,000 parts. The game's multiplayer functions are head-to-head like the previous games.

On July 28, 2010, Activision announced the title of the game is "Monster Jam: Path of Destruction". Dennis Anderson, along with Tom Meents, George Balhan, Lupe Soza and Scott Douglass provided voice overs.

References