Monster Truck Madness

aka: Monster Truck Madness: Down & Dirty Racing!
Moby ID: 2584
See Also

Description official description

Microsoft moved beyond Minesweeper and other windowed games after publishing Windows 95, and this was one of their first games, and one of the first to natively support Direct3D. The chaotic world of Monster Truck racing, with its huge jumps and wild slides, provides the basis. It offers straight racing with dirt track, circuit and drag modes, as well as specific challenges such as jumping over cars.

The goal is pretty much the same as in any racing game, except you have the option to stray very far from the tracks and find your own shortcuts. You have a selection of eight trucks to handle, and setting them up to suit the track is vital. Also included is multiplayer support, for modem, LAN and internet.

Groups +

Screenshots

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (Windows version)

34 People · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 70% (based on 16 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 29 ratings with 2 reviews)

Take a classic racing game and throw in real monster trucks

The Good
And real monster trucks aren't the only novelty. Terminal Reality's Monster Truck Madness is simply rad, and one of the definitive racing games in my book. Back when I was like 8 or something, I was looking through an old Windows 95 Sampler CD on an old computer (which was running, coincidentally, Windows 95), and saw the promotional video for this game. The video really made it look like something crazy and awesome, with monster trucks smashing everything, doing stunts, and just having a rowdy, fun time. Later I got the game for Christmas, and when I first played it...it just seemed like a standard racing game. But it goes beyond that, at least a little.

Monster Truck Madness has lots of real life monster trucks to choose from, including Grave Digger, Carolina Crusher, Snake Bite, and Bigfoot (everyone knows what that is), among many others. You also get a nice handful of tracks with varying difficulty, in 3 gameplay modes: Circuit, Rally, and Drag. There's also a Tournament mode where you race a sequence of tracks. There is a Garage feature that allows you to customize your truck before you race, and it does work pretty well, despite the fact that it's got slim pickings when it comes to features. The gameplay itself is pretty straightforward as an off-road style racing game. The physics are quite unrealistic, especially when you do a jump off a ramp. But, you know, unrealistic physics are what's fun about a racing game, and Monster Truck Madness is no exception. In fact, taking a big jump (or "Doing it... IN THE AIR!!!" as the announcer would call it) is the fun part for me. Not to mention this game gives you more freedom than other racers, where you can get off the road and drive wherever your heart desires, or think up your own clever shortcuts to outsmart the competing trucks. That's the other fun part of Monster Truck Madness, along with, of course, getting into smash brawls with the other trucks, which could send you flying a good distance away at high speed. Don't you just love video game physics that don't apply to real life?

Overall, I think the folks at Terminal Reality nailed it when they made Monster Truck Madness. The title of the game pretty much says it all: it's just madness. With monster trucks. And the memorable Army Armstrong.

The Bad
Let's be honest, this isn't exactly the GREATEST racing game of all time. I mean, it hasn't really aged as well as other racing games, and its sequel brings forth lots of improvements, like more tracks, more trucks, and better graphics.

The Bottom Line
Simply because of fun physics, fun truck smashing, and pure nostalgia, Monster Truck Madness remains one of my favorite racing games. It's definitely worth a grab if you like the genre. As far as availability, Monster Truck Madness 2 is a lot easier to find on eBay. (at least according to my tests) Go ahead and just skip the first game and try the second one if you want, since it's better anyway, but if you find a CD copy of MTM1 for a decent price somewhere, I'd recommend picking it up. It's a game that definitely deserves to be revisited.

Windows · by OrcishGrunt (114) · 2014

Monster Truck Arcade Racing at its best

The Good
Monster Truck Madess is a fun game to play. The lack of realism is not a hinderance to the game, but only enhances your experience. It is great fun to go flying off a jump, only to land right in front the opponent you had been trying to overcome throughout the race. A nice aspect of MTM is the open maps. Many times there are short cuts to take or just fun little ramps and jumps that you can go off of just for the sake of doing something off the wall. Some elements of the environment are destructable, such as hay bales, signs, barrels, and other obstacles meant to keep you on the road but which really don't serve their purpose. It's great fun knocking over a bunch of signs, and then seeing your opponents get hung up on those objects on the next lap. The handling of the trucks is very arcade-like and simplistic, but I feel this is a positive for the game. It makes hitting those jumps and driving across mud and dirt all the more easy and allows you to focus more on the fun aspect rather than the "trying to stay on the road" part that makes most hardcore sims difficult and frustrating.
There are a wide variety of tracks to race on, from country side to mountains to hawaiian with lava and everything.


The Bad
MTM is a game that you will like from the get go or not at all. The game exhibits an air of redneck, monster truck loving from the get go. The music and announcer in particular can get on your nerves over time. The driving in the game is very simplistic, and some may consider it too easy and arcade-like. There are no spin outs (unless you are on mud) and you can take corners quite fast. BUT as I said before this is an arcade game, not a simulation.
The graphics are quite poor by today's standards. This game came out right when 3dfx cards were just hitting the market, so it can take advantage of the most basic acceleration while not providing much else in the way of eye candy. Also, the stadium mode, where you can take on different events like car jumping and racing around a track, feel rushed and just tacked on. There isn't much to them, and most can be completed in a matter of minutes.

The Bottom Line
Monster Truck Madness was the first in a lone line of "Madness" games which included Monster Truck Madness 2, Motocross Madness 1 and 2, and Midtown Madness 1 and 2. In Monster Truck Madness, the player chooses a monster truck from a list of licensed trucks, and then takes to the tracks in various races and events. The events range from racing around a track, to jumping over cars to racing on a long continuous rally style track. The physics in this game are VERY relaxed, your truck flies through the air with the greatest of ease and takes no damage. There is some nice redneck monster truck music and an annoying monster truck announcer that interjects his thoughts whenever you go off a jump or smash into someone particularly hard.
MTM does not try to be a simulation, and it revels in its own ridiculousness. Its a fun game for arcade racing fans, as well as anyone who just needs to let off some steam for a while. Driving around the tracks, knocking down signs, and jumping over bridges is fun to do, especially in a monster truck.

Windows · by MojoHelperMonkey (39) · 2005

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Monster Truck Rumble
Released 2001 on Windows
Monster Truck Ultimate Playground
Released 2015 on Browser, Android
Maximum Racing: Super Truck Racer
Released 2005 on PlayStation 2, 2010 on Wii, 2012 on PlayStation 3
Truck Drag Racing Legends
Released 2023 on iPhone, 2023 on Nintendo Switch, 2024 on PlayStation 4
London Racer: Destruction Madness
Released 2005 on Windows, PlayStation 2
London Racer: Police Madness
Released 2005 on Windows, PlayStation 2
Space Madness
Released 2010 on Browser
FIA European Truck Racing Championship
Released 2019 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Madness: Project Nexus
Released 2012 on Browser

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 2584
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Zovni.

Additional contributors: Victor Vance, BlaringCoder.

Game added November 7, 2000. Last modified October 10, 2023.