Monster Energy Supercross 25 PS5 Review
Summary: A bold update to the physics and move to Unreal Engine 5 in this years title introduces more problems than it solves.
2.8
Disappointing
Fans of racing games will no doubt be familiar with Milestone, if not by name, by their work. Veterans of the genre, releasing titles regularly since the mid-nineties that have included officially licensed games for the World Rally Championship, MotoGP and superbikes, and motocross disciplines and have worked with superstars like Valentino Rossi and Sébastien Loeb.
Monster Energy Supercross 2025 is their latest release, and sequel to 2023s ‘Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Videogame 6’.
Aside from a vital trimming of the title, this 2025 release claims to have massively overhauled the gameplay seen in previous years, with the entire game being built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5. Covering the 2025 Supercross season, it features all the riders, bikes, and tracks you’d expect, including a few new circuits that make their debut in the game before a bike has even turned a wheel at them in real life.
Career mode has been revamped, as a newcomer you must make your way up the ranks, improving your reputation and synergy with the team, and later the bike itself, developing it throughout a season. It isn’t as deep as something in a Codemasters F1 title, but it does the job well enough. Along with the career, there’s a host of other single-player disciplines to dive into, including single races and time attack, as well as custom championships.
Taking part in these events levels up whatever bike is currently being ridden. Acting like mini battle passes of sorts, there are nine in total, one for each of the manufacturers in the game. It’s thankfully all free and unlocks new bikes and upgrades to use on them such as new brakes, exhaust, etc. In much the same way your custom rider has its level-gated progression system, with most of these levels unlocking a random reward or cosmetic item.
Multiplayer features both online and pleasantly an offline, split-screen racing experience. Something that is getting harder and harder to come across. The player base seems to be rather low now, unfortunately. Whenever I tried to search for a game, I either found games with only one or two players or none. When in an online game, however, the experience was fine with no noticeable lag or other network issues.
What I found most surprising about Monster Energy Supercross 25 was the level of customisation that was available. Along with changing your rider and bike appearance, it features a Gran Turismo or Forza-esque graphic editor and marketplace, allowing for fully custom helmets, suits, and liveries, all of which can be shared with the community. Along with this, there’s a full track editor system, reminiscent of the park editor from the old Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater titles. It’s something that isn’t seen all too often anymore and its inclusion is very welcome.
So, in terms of content, and what there is to do here, Monster Energy Supercross 25 is looking pretty good so far. The eagle-eyed of you have no doubt seen the score atop the page, however. So, where does it all fall apart?
It’s all in the physics. They’re just a bit on the weird side of things. There’s a massive emphasis on shifting both the bike position and your rider’s weight on a near-constant basis. This is done with the left and right sticks respectively. Using both sticks while simultaneously manipulating the throttle and both front and rear brakes at the same time takes a while to get used to, and even when I’d started to get comfortable with the system, it never felt like it ever truly clicked for me.
Your bike can randomly slide out from under you, even on flat straights. Turns always felt awkward, often being filled with understeer and then snap oversteer. I will say that navigating the dozens of ramps and jumps on any given course did feel good once you got the hang of the system, nailing these stretches occasionally was the only time I ever managed to get into any kind of flow with the game.
There are a few assists that can be toggled to make the experience easier, but I felt like they hindered rather than helped a lot of the time.
The move to Unreal Engine 5 has brought an update to the overall presentation of the series. With that said, it isn’t exactly a looker. It’s fine, but nothing spectacular. The audio presentation is much the same, in that it does the job but isn’t going to win any awards. Thankfully, Monster Energy Supercross 25 runs well because of this. There are no graphics modes, with 60fps being the default, something it didn’t seem to deviate from at any point during my time with the game.
Final Thoughts?
Ultimately, I didn’t enjoy my time with Monster Energy Supercross 25, which is a shame because I’ve had a lot of fun with past games in the series and Supercross games in general over the years. There’s a lot here in terms of content, with a robust career mode and track editor, and plenty of things to unlock along the way. However, I just didn’t get on with the actual riding experience.
If you can get past the awkwardness then there’s a decent game in here somewhere, however, it might be too much of a hurdle for many.
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