Monster Energy Supercross 25 – The Official Video Game Review (Xbox Series X)

STAFF REVIEW of Monster Energy Supercross 25 – The Official Video Game (Xbox Series X)

Monday, April 21, 2025.
by Adam Dileva

Monster Energy Supercross 25 – The Official Video Game Box art

Having skipped 2024, which I can only assume is for the new engine swap, Monster Energy Supercross is back, complete with a new naming scheme as well; Monster Energy Supercross 25, replacing the sequel number with the year instead. Other than a title change, we have updated rosters, new mechanics, a new engine and more. Has the year off been enough to earn a holeshot? Let’s find out.

Like most sports titles, Career Mode in Monster Energy Supercross 25 has you starting out as a rookie, working your way up through the SMX Next tier, both 250SX classes, eventually competing in the elite 450SX series to become world champion. You’ll have a manager that offers you advice, acting like a guide of sorts. You’ll also have to deal with earning fans and responding in different ways on a fake social media app.

Each season of your career is split into different chapters, culminating in a ‘Climax Race’. The better you do you perform, the better your career will go, as your team synergy will make your upgrades complete quicker. Upgrades take a race-week to complete, and you’re able to choose which stat you’d like to increase, boosting what makes your bike already good, or another stat that isn’t as high. After a handful of race wins and upgrades, your bike will be able to compete with the best.

Every few events you’ll get to take a break from the standard races and compete in MX tracks or a Rhythm Attack event, somewhat like a drag race on a straight path 1 versus 1 to the end. The outdoor tracks were by far the highlight and a change of pace from the typical indoor championship races.

The social media aspect that you can choose to do between races seeps quite superficial, as it even has fake ads in between tweets. Yes, even on the fake social media app you'll have to also deal with fake ads. Choosing to reply to opponents nicely or not will have different outcomes on the track, though I’m not sure why you’d want to reply negatively aside from achievements I suppose.

The career mode is there, and what you’d expect, but I just feels shallow overall. It feels the same as we’ve done many times before if you’ve ever played any of the previous games. It’s always great to earn XP and unlock new gear, though I wish there was more to the bike upgrading aside from picking a stat and waiting for a race to be done to have it competed before choosing another and repeating.

For series newcomers, there is a tutorial, but it’s terrible. It doesn’t do a great job at teaching you very well. You’ll have to perform one of each of the maneuvers but some of them took me a dozen tries, as it doesn’t tell you what you’re doing wrong. Whips for example never seemed to register for me regardless of how many tries I attempted, eventually just working somehow and moving me onto the next lesson. There’s not even any narration, simply look at the controls at the bottom of the screen and attempt until you somehow get it to be successful. It’s certainly going to be frustrating for new players, and it doesn’t teach you the ‘why’, or how to maintain correct speeds to make it over sets of jumps. It’s a very poor tutorial that feels tacked on last minute and not at all helpful.

Being built from the ground up with a completely new engine, Unreal Engine 5, visuals, physics and track evolutions have been improved for the most part. Ruts will form over time after each lap, making the race dynamic and changing depending on what’s happening during the race. There’s certainly quite a difference from lap one compared to the final lap where a number of ruts have been formed from all the riders. This means you’ll need to pay more attention and adapt as needed.

The physics take some getting used to. Sure, a bunch of upgrades for your bike will make the races easier when you improve its handling, braking, speed and acceleration, but there’s still some weirdness if you happen to land on the barriers, other riders, or just take a sharp corner. More times than I can count I would have my rider flip or launch off the bike because of a weird landing. When you’re hitting the ramps just right and land perfectly on a downslope it feels great, but there’s just as much that feels off when not riding so perfectly as well.

AI is also more unpredictable and can change their tactics based on what’s happening in the race as well. With a number of different official supercross tracks, a couple motocross tracks, and some drag-like rhythm attack races, there’s enough variety to keep from getting bored. The outdoor motocross was by far my favorite, adding some different scenery, though this may be because the lack of the previous game’s Supercross Park seems to be absent now for some reason. If that’s not good enough, the simple to use Track Editor once again returns where you can create or download any else’s tracks. If online play with your friends or against others is your thing, then you’ll be happy to know that full crossplay support is included, so you can compete with anyone across any platform.

While the year away and jump to Unreal Engine 5 has made the drivers and tracks look improved during gameplay, racing a muddy track and seeing your suit get all dirty, the faces and pre-race animations still look quite stiff. There’s no emotions to the faces and even victories aren’t as animated as you’d expect them to be. Even the audience and people hanging around the track as you race are practically motionless when you take the time to notice.

Aside from the constant engine noises, there’s not much to the audio aside from some preamble pre and post-race. There’s some light music during races but nothing memorable at all. I’d highly suggest having your own playlist going if you’re going to race more than a few tracks at a time, unless hearing the same engine sounds is your thing.

Having taken a year off and changing its name, I was hoping Monster Energy Supercross 25 was going to be a drastic improvement. Sure it’s better in some aspects with the new engine, but it just feels like the same game once again. If I didn’t know what year of the game I was playing, I wouldn’t be able to tell you without looking. If you’ve skipped the last game or two, then it’s a worthwhile upgrade, as well if you’re a superfan of the sport, but for casual fans or those that buy it every year, it just feels like another lap.

**Monster Energy Supercross 25 - The Official Video Game was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 6.0 / 10
Gameplay: 6.5 / 10
Visuals: 8.0 / 10
Sound: 3.0 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Monster Energy Supercross 25 – The Official Video Game (Xbox Series X)

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