When the DS was first released, the first question everyone asked was "Where's Mario Kart?" After the success of the Gamecube's Mario Kart: Double Dash and the GBA's Mario Kart: Super Circuit, it seemed only natural to release this game on the DS. So we waited and waited and waited… Of course it was worth the wait and Mario Kart DS is now the essential DS game.

It was during this waiting that every games developer with a racing game on the cards should have worked 24/7 to ensure that it was released before Mario. These games would have sold like hotcakes to quench the thirsts of any DS-owning racing game fan. Here is where the problem lies. Every racing game that is now released on the DS will have the "Is it as good as Mario Kart?" issue to deal with. In terms of this game, Monster Trucks DS doesn't even come close.

Upon first inspection, it seems like this is a can't miss project. The graphics look good and the vehicles have a fun, chunky feel to them. It follows a simple premise of a race with Monster Trucks either over a Career Mode, single or multiplayer race. It is as simple as that. This, sadly, is where all the positives end. With only eight trucks and twenty-five tracks, this game feels like a waste of money. Sure, if all the trucks were dramatically different it would be another story. But they're not. Other than the colour, there are really only two or three basic designs. The multiple tracks also have no character and this makes playing them unrewarding and very dull. You could play any random track and it would still feel like the track you were racing on before. This makes working to unlock the tracks a really disappointing reward.

Despite looking good at first, once you begin playing, the screen becomes a glitching frenzy. There is no feeling of speed as you play, which really saps the fun from the game and you get no buzz as I attempt to get to the finish, no feeling of urgency or desire to win. The difficulty levels seem to range from amoeba to Einstein's mentor. By doing this, it is doubtful that you will be able to complete a third of this game and thus will never, ever see many of the tracks that are available. If the graphics were bad, the music and sound has to be dubbed atrocious. No other word comes close to describing the insanely bad music that is on offer. The fact that it took me a while to find out how to switch it off also drove me insane. (No pun intended!)

The gameplay is atrocious, with awkward controls and terrible, terrible menus. At one point I spent five minutes navigating the menus to find the section to take me to the main race, before finally, in desperation, trying the start button. (I know, I know, but when it takes fifteen different button presses to select a car you stop thinking straight!) There is no fun in playing the career mode and only the perversely curious will try to play the game for more than a few races. The option of upgrading your trucks seems so dated that it could have come from an old NES game. Multiplayer, where games of this nature should thrive, is like an exercise in how to lose your friends. Though four players can play at once if you have found three other people willing to purchase the game and sit through a number of races then you really need to find new friends.

Monster Trucks DS is the worst game I have played on the DS since its creation. There is not one area of the game that I can drag out any positive aspects out of. The only thing I can think of is the fact that the game makes you really appreciate the work that went into Ridge Racer DS and Mario Kart DS. I can deal with bad graphics and bad sound, but I am unable to recommend a game that is simply no fun to play at all, so steer clear or this like you would a real monster truck that you spotted hurtling towards you down the road.

Reviewed by David Simpson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).