Features

So I've Finally Played… Monster Jam Steel Titans 2.

It's not something you're going to hear in a video, because I've already refunded the game. Granted, I'm not surprised, I was merely curious to try this game out, as I'm rather unfamiliar with Monster Trucks despite my general love of racing.

It's certainly not a bad game. Far as I can tell, it's got all of the basic content a Monster Truck fan would want in terms of notable vehicles, stadiums, and disciplines. There's races but also one on one's and even stunt events that are about combing moves and destroying things on the map to build combos.

My favorite aspect was open-ended checkpoint races. I've played these before in games like Midnight Club and Burnout Paradise but they're honestly kind of frustrating, due to the layouts of a city dealing out some extremely harsh punishments to players who don't just follow the AI, unless they're very familiar with the layout.

Belting across open landscapes in a Monster Truck though? Well, that's a much more enjoyable context. There aren't any highways, intersections, or bridges getting in the way of your progress. Want to take a route that's a little more bumpy or up a huge mountain? You've got the ideal vehicle for the job.

So, Steel Titans 2 has things going for it… the problem, is all of them have to do with the sport itself.

The actual construction of the game's systems and code is extremely basic. Handling feels assisted to the point of being intrusive, the damage model is more reminiscent of a PS2 title or earlier, sound-design's completely average, the AI doesn't respond to your existence, and (here's something that my friend Sparky pointed out, sounds insane) the MONSTER TRUCKS are too light. There's no sense of heft, weight transfer, or force.

It got me thinking…

The reason Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 and games like sells features is because they're so much easier to sell. How exactly do you describe a character or vehicle's momentum? Or the pacing of a level? Or the quality of your sound-design? How do you convey physical sensations in a byline?Meanwhile, the number of levels, weapons, vehicles, whatever it is your game features? Well, that's a number, I can do something with that! I can take X game and say it has more Y than Z game.

Truthfully though, features only matter if the core-gameplay has any backbone, and as previously established on my channel, you can't put gameplay on the back of the box.

I said previously that Halo Infinite will be damaged by lacking certain features at launch, but that's because people are loving its core, and that core is further enhanced by things like a co-op campaign or level creator. Were Infinite as middling of a first person shooter as Steel Titans 2 is of a driving game, the inclusion of those features wouldn't matter in the slightest.

It makes me appreciate the games that devote so much time and energy to nailing those details in regards to player control.