One of the things that has taken me by surprise in this generation has been the impressive progression of games involving monster trucks. Way back in the days of the arcades, and even up until this generation, whenever I checked in on them they seemed too narrowly focused and weren’t generally implemented very well. The thing is, I’ve now reviewed a number of monster truck titles on the Switch that have really opened things up, allowing for different types of events and even some legitimate racing. Unfortunately, with that in mind, Stunt Mayhem feels like a pretty big step backwards.

As you’d expect from the title, the focus here is on stunts and mayhem, and overall the game does a reasonable job of bringing you those sorts of thrills. You’ll hit the arena circuit with a growing roster of trucks both old and new, jumping off of ramps, plowing through different objects, and running over cars. Unsurprisingly, while you’re able to maneuver in the air to a degree to pull off a roll or a flip, your airtime isn’t typically very long. So you’ll need to do your tricks quickly and then focus on being sure you’ll land in a way you’ll be able to control, since the focus is on keeping your combos going, and ending up on your back or side will obviously stop those in their tracks.

The problem is just that aside from changing the arrangement of elements, or throwing specific tasks or vehicles at you to work with, it quickly becomes apparent that there’s a general lack of depth here. No matter how much you may enjoy stunting and knocking things over, there’s only so much you’ll be able to do before it starts to get a bit dull. Without some variations to break up the grind of performing the same stunts over and over again, the whole experience runs out of steam pretty quickly.

While there’s nothing wrong with having a focus and then trying to make the most of it, when your competition is able to deliver at least comparable action in the same area, and then quite a few others as well, it doesn’t put you in a great position. Aside from the general look of the cars I’m not sure the Hot Wheels license feels like it was utilized well, though I suppose that did allow some of the action to feel a bit less realistic. Regardless of whether you’re a monster truck fan, and may even enjoy the opportunity to stunt and have some fun, there’s no denying that Stunt Mayhem just doesn’t bring enough to the table to justify itself over some of its better-fleshed-out competition.