Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Video Game....Rocks!

[Bulldog]

I have about 10 hours playing Monster Energy Supercross, and in my opinion it is the best MX game made up to this point (hopefully one day they will combine SX and outdoor tracks into one game).  Even though the air physics are a little goofy they aren't as bad as I originally thought, but it would be really nice for more "free" whip physics.  If they would take just a tiny bit of the float away and give you more whip control it would be darn near perfect air physics.  Then if they added just a tiny bit of clutch it would be perfect...everywhere, in my opinion.  The ground physics are great.  if you go into big whoops out of shape you will swap like crazy until you crash unless you correct it.  The turning is the best of any MX game by far.

I also built one track with the track editor.  It is a replica track that I also made for MCM2...the 2004 round 2 Arnhem SX track.  It is named "2004SXrd2Arnhem" in the on-line track listing.  I think it came out pretty good other than they don't have any step-up step-down style jumps like the first 5 jumps should be in the first straight.  But I think overall it is a pretty awesome little track editor.  It's really nice because you can concentrate on making a good layout and all the other stuff like tuff blocks is all taken care of for you automatically.  Obviously this won't be liked much by the real "track artists" (which I am not), but I think people will turn out some really fun tracks with this track editor.  I have only ridden a couple other custom tracks and they have been pretty good.  Hopefully they will expand the editor capabilities with a patch or DLC, or at least in the next version of the game.

If you haven't bought it yet, you are missing out.  It is a really fun game.

https://www.g2a.com/monster-energy-supercross-the-official-videogame-steam-key-global-i10000141430001

[AMA_King]

That's pretty high praise from an old dog like you!

RE: step-up pieces in the editor, do any of the stock tracks have any step-ups?

[Bulldog]

The game is a blast, and I have not experienced any of the bugs that people were complaining about.  I still have only played one race online though and I think rider collision is a big issue for online racing from what I have read.  I think most people are turning collision off for online races to avoid the issue.

I believe some of the stock tracks do have step-up style jumps, but the stock tracks were not created with the editor.  I thought I read somewhere that they actually used a laser scanner to scan the real tracks to get them into the game, but I may be wrong about that.  That would be the way to do a replica SX track though.  They could easily scan the track from 4 angles with the scanner up in the stands right after it is built but before they place all of the tuff blocks.  You could also fly them with a drone and use photogrammetry software to model the track.

[Bulldog]

Looking through the track pieces in the editor again, there is one predefined "triple" jump that could be used as  "step-up" jump in some situations.  But I think that is about it.  They really do need to expand the track piece options.  They need things like half jumps, half tables, half dragons, and allow you to place half jumps in the same location to build unique sections.  I guess we will just have to wait and see what they do with it.

[Bulldog]

On sale on Steam now also.  http://store.steampowered.com/app/711750/Monster_Energy_Supercross__The_Official_Videogame/

[Bulldog]

I see I'm kind of talking to myself here, but I do that all the time anyhow, so I'll keep at it.   

I've put 16 hours into All Out and then I put 18 hours into MES (probably 4 hours of that time is messing with the MES track editor).  I fired up All Out to play again tonight and I honestly can't even stand to play it.  I know they are both arcade games, but All Out is absolutely ridiculous.  When you are on the ground it is like driving a slot car because the bike is literally glued to the ground, and adjusting the bike tuning doesn't really help much.  You go from glued to the ground where you can take turns full speed on a rail to riding on ice.  The bike physics are absolutely positively horrible compared to MES.  There is absolutely no "feel" to how the bike handles on the ground.  And when I say the physics are horrible, I mean they are HORRIBLE.  The only thing good in that game physics wise is the ability to throw some awesome whips.  Other than that it just plain blows!  The physics of Reflex are light years better.  Heck even Supercross Encore  is better with it's slightly slippery everywhere feeling.  But this is just my opinion.

If you are going to buy both games I recommend buying All Out first so that you aren't completely disappointed playing it after playing MES.  Then after playing All Out you will be absolutely amazed at the MES physics when you realize that the need to manually shift gears and lean the right amount in the right direction makes a world of difference in each and every corner.  Buy them both and see for yourself.

[AMA_King]

I'm reading everything, thx for the info!

[Bulldog]

I'm reading everything, thx for the info!

Cool!


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[Bulldog]

Online play has not been good. I have had several times where I joined and had to wait for the current race to finish only to lose connection when that race ended. Any other time I was able to join a race I would also lose connection when that race finished except for once. Once I was able to run two races before being disconnected. Hopefully they will fix the online issues soon.

As for single player I still think it is great other than the AI racers will just ride through you if you cross in front of one or you hit each other, even if they are the one who should be affected the most with the particular situation.  I've also seen a lot of people complaining that he AI are too easy to beat even at the highest setting, but that is not my experience. That said I'm not the fastest racer playing this game, that's for sure.  After looking at the leader boards I have no idea how people are turning the top lap times. They certainly aren't riding the tracks as originally intended and must be exploiting the flaws in the physics.  Sometimes if you get out of rhythm you can skim the tops of the jumps like you would a whoop section. This can end up being twice as fast through a section in some cases.

Still loving the game tough even with the issues that it does have.


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[AMA_King]

What controller are you using? I assume xbox360 gamepad?

Have you tried "cheating the spline" and lapping just outside the tuff blocks (like ppl did back in MCM1 and other games).  You could go out of the spline around jumps sometimes, then back into the spline before the counter, etc.  I assume that the amazing lap times are prolly the same ol' thing as past games... and the reason why most track makers put tuff blocks, tires, fencing and rocks at the entire perimeter of tracks.

I have a hard enough time doing a smooth, fast, legal lap & never intentionally cheated, but I saw ppl do it online all the time.  When I tried it offline I crashed more than it ever could have helped my lap times...

[Bulldog]

Yes, I use a Xbox 360 controller.  For some reason they don't let you set any controls on the "push down" of the control sticks.  If they did I would probably use then for shifting so I wouldn't have to take my thumbs off the stick.  My son showed me the "claw" grip where you wrap your right index finger up onto the 4 buttons, but I don't like that grip.  He will probably have problems with his fingers when he gets older from that grip, but he uses it all the time in FPS games and is really quick hitting any of those 4 buttons with his index finger.  My son has a third party Xbox 360 controller that I might try using.  It has two paddle buttons on the bottom that you can push with your fingers.  I'll have to see if the game will let me program those for shifting because that would be ideal.  The only problem is that the left stick on that controller sticks and you have to force it back to center.  When I used that controller playing Reflex on the Xbox it was a huge problem for me to correct the stick.  It's much better when it returns to center automatically.

Yes, you can "cheat the spline" around the edges, and you can go quite a distance before it will reset you, so that may be what they are doing.  It would be nice if they saved a replay of the hot laps, so that you can learn from their lines...or see if they are cheating by going off track.  If they are exploiting the physics but are staying on track then it isn't really cheating as far as I'm concerned, but intentionally going off track certainly is.  But yeah...I have a hard enough time making smooth fast laps myself.  I don't even think about ways to exploit the physics or cheat the spline.

[AMA_King]

Pretend that I just hit the LIKE button...

[Bulldog]

I attempted to replicate my Dog Bite SX track with the MES track editor.  For the most part I was able to recreate it, but it is a little different.  If you pick up the game search the online tracks for "Dog_Bite_SX" and that will be the one.

[Bulldog]

I also made a close replica of my "Last Chance SX" track.  Search "Last_Chance_SX" to find it.   

[Bulldog]

Last Friday I was able to race MSE online for about 2 hours pretty much non stop. I ran several races in a row with a few different groups of people as mini "championships". I only dropped due to connection being lost one time. I'll tell you, running a bunch of custom tracks with a group as a mini championship is awful darn fun when rider collision is turned off.  It was the most fun I've had playing an MX game online since about 2004.


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[AMA_King]

Great news, thx for keeping us informed RE: your experience w/ this game.

I still have not picked it up, but really look forward to playing this summer.

[Bulldog]

Great news, thx for keeping us informed RE: your experience w/ this game.

I still have not picked it up, but really look forward to playing this summer.

I think you will enjoy it.  It really is quite fun.  As as I said, in my opinion it is the best playing MX game to date...at least of all the games that i have played.

[Bulldog]

I have had a lot of fun racing online playing MES. However there doesn't seem to be a lot of people playing online and most of them do not want to race the user created tracks. They all seem to want to run the default tracks which frankly I'm already sick of.  I have also learned that I am a mid-bottom of the pack racer. But I also try to to race the tracks closely to how they were intended. I have been passed by some really fast guys who were definitely exploiting the physics flaws. Which is fine with me. I still have a blast and usually have a good battle with one or two other slow guys back in the pack.

They really do need to add some settings for the race lobby host. Like being able to create a list of tracks to race. As it is now you have these options when it comes to track selection when creating the lobby:

Allow online tracks?  Yes or No (answering yes will allow the selection of online tracks in addition to the default tracks, but not online tracks exclusively)
Track selection- voting or Random

Random sucks because I hosted a lobby and had two tracks that came up twice each within 6 races. And voting sucks because even as the lobby host you can and will be out voted if you choose an online track in most cases.

They need to have options for online tracks only and the ability for the lobby host to preset a track list. And then they need to allow a description to be typed in so people know what is expected in that lobby. It does show the lobby settings but in my opinion that is not enough. As an example I started a lobby and was not planning on starting the races until at least two other people joined. I had one person join and after less than one minute of not starting the races he left the lobby. Then a couple minutes later another person joined. I still wanted to wait for one more person but after no more than two minutes this guy started swearing at me to start the races and when I didn't start it up he swore at me again and left the lobby. Had the first guy waited another minute I would have had the two people I was waiting for and I would have started it up. Being able to type a description like "3+ before races start" or something would be helpful.  I should mention that I did have a headset on but I didn't think telling this guy why I was waiting would have made any difference so I just kept my mouth shut.


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[Bulldog]

Also, if you join a lobby with a race already in progress it takes you in and you can switch the camera around and follow the different racers.  But it does not tell you anywhere how much time is left in the current race or anything else.  You just watch people race around with no idea how long you will be waiting, which is annoying.  You will have an idea on the longest you will wait based on the race length that is set for the lobby, but you have no idea where they are in the current race.

[AMA_King]

Excellent info, thx for giving all one of us readers an update !