Last month, Hutch Games soft-launched their latest game MMX Racing (Free), and as of today the game has completed its soft-launch period and is now available worldwide. The easiest way to describe MMX Racing is “it’s like CSR Racing with monster trucks," but there’s more to it than that. You’ll be drag racing against a progressively more difficult ladder of opponents, and timing is crucial as you’ll need to step on the gas at just the right times to maximize your speed through each of the courses. Don’t get me wrong, this is some super simple single-tap racing, but it’s surprisingly fun.
I’ve spent a good amount of time with MMX Racing prior to its worldwide release, and I’ve actually really enjoyed it. As I said the racing itself is simple but fun, and happens in short bursts that feel perfect for a mobile game. Upgrading and customizing your fleet of monster trucks is also incredibly satisfying.
It’s definitely a cool game, but my main concern is over its free to play implementation. Hutch’s previous release, Smash Bandits Racing, was a good game made bad by its stiff timers. Thankfully, they rectified that in an update, and found a nice middle ground that let Smash Bandits shine as it should. Well, MMX Racing uses a “ticket" system not totally unlike the “wanted level" system in the original release of Smash Bandits. Races cost tickets, and once your ticket allotment runs out, you’ll need to wait for them to regenerate or use in-game currency to speed them up.
As we’ve said before, most gamers are willing to put up with most free to play shenanigans, but game-stopping elements are usually a big turn off. MMX Racing is far from the worst free to play game I’ve seen, in fact it’s quite generous and its gameplay well-suited to short bursts anyway. But the fact remains that with hundreds of other games on my device vying for my attention, it’s very easy to be forced out of a game and never come back.
It’ll be interesting to see how MMX Racing shakes out in the long term. Like I said, it’s a fun game, and totally worth checking out for free if you’re into monster trucks and drag racing. For further discussion, check out the game’s forum thread.
