Monster Truck DS (Nintendo DS) Review

Kick starting either of the games and you are greeted with what may well be the most confusing and altogether useless menu layout of all time, bar none. Basically options are flung here there and everywhere, and on different 'levels'. This means that every time you select something you are whisked away to a new and equally confusing selection of scrolling options. If you want to change any particular detail you have to undo all your selections and cycle back through again. Then, just to top it off, if you do finally manage to enter a Championship race (the main single player mode) the game seems insistent on forgetting what position you came in, or how far you have progressed after you leave the race. It is nigh on impossible to actually work your way through either game (if you have any inclination to do so after navigating the menu's that is).

Once you get yourself into a race things do begin to improve, marginally. It is worth noting that of the two titles, ATV Quad Frenzy stands out because it appears to be the originally developed game, the foundations for which were merely whisked away to create the inferior Monster Truck DS. Both titles are essentially 3D racers which are technically impressive considering the hardware they are using. Unfortunately due to these technical limitations both games face a number of limitations whilst trying to impress in some departments and subsequently failing miserably in others. Firstly the draw distance of approaching scenery is so poor it's often impossible to react quick enough to fully avoid an obstacle or even stay on track.

Help is (supposedly) on hand in the form of checkpoint markers, or rather sets of dual flags scattered about the designated path you have to take. Unfortunately these are generally more hassle then they are worth seeing as how missing certain of these checkpoints means any further driving you do is not counted! This means turning around or reversing (both very annoying and flimsy) until you get back to the flags you missed so you can drive through again. Of course by this time it is more than likely that you have lost the race completely, brilliant. Given this rigid course structure there are very few avenues for taking shortcuts or indeed any route other than the linear one you are initially presented with. On numerous occasions we found ourselves driving over a hill that leads back to the road on the other side only to miss a flag and have to swing back round again, and lose yet another race in doing so.

Moving on to the game play in a little more detail now, there are only a few minor differences between the two titles. ATVQF (lazy so and so

We mentioned in passing that the graphics are somewhat impressive for the DS, but that this comes at the cost of a tiny draw distance. Well to add a little meat to that comment, it's fair to say that the vehicle (and character in ATVQF) models are all suitably fluid, although somewhat limited in the animation department. The locations are also suitably attractive, although there is next to nothing distinguishing between two different races in the same area. Scenery such as small trees and bushes occasionally act as barriers on the road but are often oddly out of proportion. Given the relative size difference between a motorbike and a monster truck it is blaringly obvious which game the flora was originally designed for, and which it has been lazily copied into. Sorry, are we being a bit harsh to the developers by constantly mentioning that? Nah.

Finally it is worth mentioning that the audio in the game is completely and utterly average. Ok, perhaps that wasn't worth mentioning but we have so let's examine it a little more closely. To go with both titles 'cool' image, much of soundtrack consists of mundane, clich