PC Preview Code Provided by Milestone
The next game in the motocross series from Milestone is nearly here! Monster Energy Supercross 5 is ready to bring the motorbike racing sport to players both returning and new. This fifth title in the series is set to release on March 17th for PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. To help newcomers, they are including extensive new onboarding guides and assists ready to help first-time racers lead the pack.
Milestone was kind enough to give us a first hands-on preview of the game to try it out early and I was quite surprised with how hard these things are to control! The gameplay they showed from Enduro last week truly shows how it looks when a skilled player plays these games, but above you can find my first look and see an average player experiencing their second race - I admit I did a practice race first. But now that I have completed a few races on this preview build, I am pretty excited to get into the meat of this game.
Gameplay
I don’t believe the planned extensive guides and assists were in this demo because the only thing I was able to find and pull up was the basic controls of the game. Using a gamepad controller, you hold down R2 to accelerate, L2 to brake, the left analog stick to steer, and include the right analog stick to help turn sharper. You can also pull off stunts when you get enough air time to do them, but I never landed these in my playtime on the preview.
On the menu, you can select from a series of different options. I only had the single-player options and even these were limited. Even so, there were a ton of choices to go through when it came to selecting which map to race on, which racer to use, the settings of the race including AI difficulty, and more. I can only imagine how wide the variety of choices are going to be once everything is unlocked.
Once you are in the game, you wait for the gate to drop, and then the race is on! From here you do your best to stay ahead of the pack, but this can be hard since other racers can push you around and even force you to crash. Of course, that means you can do the same to them, but when you are new to racing on a motorbike, this is a rough aspect to climb over. If you have even a little skill, you should be able to find a sweet spot in the middle of the pack where you aren’t around too many other riders and can maintain a form of progress on the map.
The controls feel like they make complete sense and are incredibly hard to get used to at the same time. I chalk it up to this being the first time I am racing on two wheels rather than my usual choice of the four-wheel tanks of ATVs and monster trucks. That said, it takes a little time to get used to the controls, but with some practice and a few races, it will start coming together. Just make sure when you want a big jump to lean back, when you see a turn coming up after a jump to let off the gas, try to maintain distance from other riders, don’t be scared to ride the wall or go on the outside of a turn, and don’t let any one mistake bring you down - recover and move on.
Expectations
I am really looking forward to these extensive guides they are going to include in this game. Despite us having a team member review Supercross 4 last year, I think this is the perfect entry for a newcomer to the motocross racing series to take it on. I’ve enjoyed multiple racing games within this general genre of motor racing, but with their focus on making this game friendly to newcomers, I look forward to being welcomed into this series.
From what I could tell, there will be a form of campaign for this game as well. That fact along with the character creation aspect planned to be included tells me that there will be a full championship series within this game. I am definitely looking forward to climbing the ranks with that! If I can land 12th place on my second race, just imagine my rankings once I win a few rounds in their campaign.
Verdict
Monster Energy Supercross 5 is definitely showing a lot of promise! After playing the game myself, I can see why they chose to have a YouTuber that focuses on supercross-type games to handle the gameplay. It has been a rough start, but once I dive into the full game and get to look through the beginner-friendly guides they are boasting about, I’ll be leading the pack soon after. Just this preview build allowing for some single-race action was enough to get me excited for what is to come next month.
