Hutch Games out of London, has recently released their latest game into the Play Store. It is a beautiful graphic processing beast, must like the huge monster trucks that are used in the game… beastly trucks that is. Hutch Games has been known to push the envelope in the graphics and controls departments, when it comes to racing games. If you have played Smash Cops, Smash Cops Heat, or Smash Cops Bandit, then you know what I am talking about. If you haven’t, you should definitely check those games out. Right now though, I would check out MMX Racing, their latest title to arrive in the Play Store. If you like Monster Trucks and CSR Racing (Natural Motion Games) type games, then this will be right up your alley.
With very little fanfare, Hutch Games released MMX Racing into the Play Store. I immediately chose to download it after seeing a video of the game play. As I mentioned before, the game operates in a style akin to CSR Racing type games. What that means is you are pitted against another driver on a track that is separated by a barrier. You are basically competing in a drag race. You start your engine, hope to get the engine idled at the right spot, just before you floor it. If you get it right, you accelerate perfectly down the track. If you miss it, you either are left with your wheels spinning, or a really slow start.
What Hutch Games has done masterfully, is modify how the controls are used. I mean, we are talking about monster trucks here, so just changing gears with these beasts wouldn’t be as much fun. In MMX Racing, you are on a track that has multiple jumps. Whereas in CSR Racing, you are required to change gears at just the right time, MMX Racing requires you to decelerate and accelerate at just the right times when you approach a jump or come in for a landing. Letting up off the gas at the green glowing bar at the edge of the jump allows you to catch more air, and then hitting the gas again when the first of your wheels touch the ground, gives you more speed moving forward on the track. I don’t necessarily play a lot of the CSR type games, but this one is fun, because that little switch in how the trucks are controlled. It makes the game challenging and enjoyable.
MMX Racing Features:
This is it! Your chance to create a fire-breathing Monster Truck and race it head-to-head over spectacular jump filled courses. Experience benchmark graphics, physics and adrenaline-filled excitement in MMX Racing, the must-have racing title of 2014.
- Screen-busting trucks if we made the trucks any bigger, they wouldn’t fit in!
- Nerve-shredding races. Blank out your opponent, nail your start and focus on the finish line. It is going to be tight.
- Unique game play. No gear-changes in sight! Launch your truck over huge jumps, timing your throttle action to perfection to stop things getting out of control.
- Monsterizing – Pickup, muscle car, jeep or SUV. Upgrade and customize every aspect of your chosen ride. Turn it into the Monster you know it wants to be.
- Rival Crushing – 7 Different events, 15 challenging tracks and hundreds of opponents in your way. Can you rise up the MMX ranks and reign supreme.
- And all this is just the start for MMX Racing. There’s lots in the pipeline, including multiplayer competitions, car crush races, truck drifting and more.
MMX Racing is an amazing looking game! The trucks and environment are well-rendered. The tires are huge, the paint jobs are shiny, and the engines roar as they should, when it comes to sound. As I mentioned before, the game is a beast graphically. To that end, I have noticed my devices heating up, like they were low on radiator fluid. I did say devices. There have been some complaints of the game crashing on some devices, in the reviews in the Play Store. I have noticed a couple of crashes myself, so that is something that you should look out for. What I have noticed though, is that Hutch Games is committed to working on the problems. There have already been a few updates to the game. If you have a relatively new device, you shouldn’t have a problem playing the game. Anything older than a couple of years, may challenge your device.
There are multiple tracks for you to compete on. The narrative of the game is pretty typical, and told through cut scenes. They have heard that you are a pretty good driver/racer, let’s get you a truck and see what you can do. As with most games in this genre, it is all about upgrading your truck, from the engine, shocks, supercharger, chassis and so on. You can tweak your truck to your heart’s content… or, until you run out of cash. I must admit, the user interface is slick, and goes well with the high-polish shown in the rest of the game. To further explain some of the finer attention to detail put into the game, when you level up in the game, your level is basically a sticker that you have to peel off. Doing so reveals the gold coins you receive for leveling up. You can tell that Hutch Games wanted the complete product to look good, and it does.
Each race earns you money or gold coins. The amount of money you get after a race depends on: Start quality, Jump quality, Landing quality and Crowd bonus. These races are about implementation of skill. That translates into how you race, and how you look while doing it. The increase in the crowd bonus is based on how tricked out your truck is. The options seem limitless. You can change the color of your shocks, the types of wheels and tires and so on. There are a lot of different options in dressing up your vehicle. You can also snap a photo in-game to share with friends. You will spend a lot of time in this area. The good part is, when your crowd bonus increases, so does your cash when winning a race. Did I mention cash?
Yes, MMX Racing is a free-to-play game. It uses a similar system, wherein tickets are required to race. However, so far, I have not felt like this is a money-grab type system. Yes, the trucks and various vehicles are pretty high priced. Most of them require cash, while others use gold coins to purchase. When you win races, you get cash, not coins in most cases. Just a note, there a quite a few different classes to pick vehicles from. There is plenty of eye-candy when it comes to these low-grumbling racers. There are exhibition tournaments and ladder tournaments. The ladder tournaments have you racing against drivers that get better as you go up the ladder. This is where upgrading your truck will be most important. The upgrades for your vehicle are not too expensive, and are typically paid for in cash. The ratio of cash distributed when you win to truck upgrades isn’t that bad. It didn’t feel like grinding through races just to win a few dollars, so that is a good thing. Some of the accessories and really nice vehicles can be expensive. It will be interesting to see how far in the game I can get, but I have been playing quite a bit, and the ticket system is much less annoying than most in similar type games. I have also been able to upgrade my truck without a lot of fanfare or spending real money thus far.
MMX Racing is integrated with Google Game Play Services. It does have achievements because I have unlocked a few. Where they are listed, I don’t know. However, since the Google Play Games App has been updated, I checked there. Sure enough, there are 46 achievements to unlock and multiple leaderboards. The new update to that app is pretty good by the way, if you haven’t checked it out.
Back to talking about MMX Racing. Any purchase in the store unlocks the ads in the game… interestingly enough, I have yet to see any ads. You also have the option of watching a video to gain extra cash or coins, which may prove helpful somewhere down the road. The other interesting thing, though I am not certain, I believe the game requires a constant connection to a server. That may be the reason my devices have been too hot to handle. It doesn’t say it specifically in the description, but I believe this to be the case. If it is, hopefully it is something Hutch Games can work on limiting, but it is not a deal breaker at this point.
MMX Racing is a fun game. The graphics are amazing, the level of detail and the amount of game play is… monstrous. For a free-to-play game, it is well-structured for the player to enjoy.The only quibbles I have, relate to a few crashes and whatever the reason may be, for my devices heating up while playing. These are things that I believe can be easily fixed by Hutch Games. There are plans for multiplayer, different types of tracks and racing to come in future updates, so it appears Hutch Games will be supporting this game for a while. They should because it is a fresh infusion into the drag racing genre. If you like monster trucks or drag racing type games, you should give MMX Racing a spin.
MMX Racing: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hutchgames.mud
MMX Racing Video Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1GKoXOQRSE
