MUD – FIM Motocross World Championship is a motocross racer that lingers between being a simulation and an arcade game, almost like it can’t decide which one it should be.

The racing in MUD is very simple. At the start of the race you hold in the brake and accelerate, and then release the brakes as the gate opens to get a boost when starting. You can also perform a move called a scrub just as you are about to hit a dune to receive a speed boost.

The “Bubba Scrub” or “scrub” is a technique in motocross where the rider turns their bike sideways in the air. This is performed to help keep the rider lower in the air and quicker on the ground. In MUD however, the scrub serves as a way to get a momentary speed boost when performed successfully. Another cool feature of the game is the way the dirt bikes will actually effect the mud as it is driven over, making it a bit harder to drive straight when you are behind someone.

As part of an apparent marketing sponsorship, Monster Energy Drink has worked its way into the game. If you drink an energy drink it gives you a speed increase. However the energy drinks in MUD feel out of place, as it adds no real value to the game.

You can go through the entire game not needing a drink, and in my opinion, the game would have done better without it, as it feels like advertising is being shoved down your throat every time I look at the banners on the side of the road, or the energy drink amount indicator on my HUD.

When starting up the game, players will immediately notice the unique approach of the GUI, having hand drawn menus in a comic style. This style, combined with the sound track makes for an extremely interesting setting that works really well.

Mud offers 12 tracks, all modelled on real Motocross tracks found across the world. This however is not too evident as only the backdrops hint toward you being in a different country, as all the motocross tracks look relatively the same as they are all made of mud. It is a pity only the backdrops point towards this, since people mainly focus on the track while playing a racing game.

MUD has two game play modes: Official mode and World Tour mode.

Official mode consists of quick races, a championship, and Monster Energy FIM MXoN races. Here the player can choose from two classes of bikes, the MX1 and MX2, the driver they would like play with, and one of the 12 tracks they would like to race on.

World tour mode allows the player to take control of 4 heroes, each with their own unique skills and talents. There are four skills in total that help increase the heroes’ abilities. These skills are for example turning faster or driving better on bumpy surfaces. Talents are unique to each hero, consisting of Elimination Cup, Checkpoint Race, Trick Battle and Head to head. Finishing an event type that coincides with the Heroes talent, gives you extra gold. This encourages the player to unlock all heroes as soon as possible, and play with each hero to maximize the gold you get.

Everything in World mode however needs to be unlocked with money that you earn through competing in races. This essentially all adds up to you grinding the same races over and over until you have enough money to either buy the next set of events, a new hero, skill upgrades, or helmets and energy drinks.

Out of all the events in World tour, my biggest issue was with the Trick battle. To perform a move in Trick Battle you have to press certain button combinations in succession to initiate a move. This however becomes more problematic as you unlock more and more skills. The more skills you have, the more button combinations you need to memorize. This took away from the game, as you eventually just stick with one move, or bash buttons like a mad man.

The other events were straight up, no nonsense racing, which I enjoyed more.

Overall MUD – FIM Motocross World Championship is game that becomes extremely repetitive as you grind tracks and events to get more gold. With only four race modes to choose from, it doesn’t really help to keep the game interesting. However if Motocross games are something you really love, you will be kept busy for a few hours with the content and challenges available.