Hello everyone and welcome back to the Gamerman Weekly! Sorry for the absence last week, things got in the way, but now I’m back so let’s jump right into it.
This Game Review will be on the 2012 simulator release, Euro Truck Simulator 2. Now, as a gamer, I usually laugh at simulators. Either for their very buggy performance, lack of excitement, or the high intensity that comes along with trying to figure them out. In my opinion, simulators are not necessarily what could be considered a game. Their primary function and goal is to simulate the activity or job of your choice, not really to derive pleasure or enjoyment from. However, Euro Truck Simulator 2 does something different.
In the “game” you play as a driver. You never see the actual person even though you get to choose a person to be in your driver’s license. You never leave the truck and your only task is to operate your vehicle to its destination. So basically, it’s like being a robot designed for one task its whole empty life. If you think about it too much, it can get depressing. However, what Euro Truck Simulator 2 does to make all of this mundanity enjoyable is the relative ease in playing the game.
There are really only around four buttons you’ll need to worry about. The directional pad, the number keys (to change view), the head light switch and the enter button for various other actions you need to perform while driving the truck. That’s all. In other simulators, especially those that have you flying planes or even more intense trucks, and especially the train simulators, the number of buttons that you have to constantly use can go up to ten.
A huge attraction point for the game is the ease with which you can play it, letting you enjoy the scenery around it. Now, it depends on which routes you choose to drive how beautiful the scenery is, but the game never provides any drab views, which is very commendable. However, you will see these weird floating objects in the sky, that sort of look like birds. I don’t really know what they are. Maybe the Sentinels are keeping tabs on you trucking, I dunno. Also, because of how easy the game is, you can relax, and treat it as a moment of calm peace in your hectic days. Put on some music, or listen to a podcast and ride that unending road.
With all of these positives with the game there are also some slight negatives. The most glaring one is the inconsistency with the speed limit. I don’t mean how the game seems to have weird speed limits in weird places, it does though sometimes, but the speed limit changes without warning and when you’re traveling at 80 KMPH and all of a sudden you have to go 50 or lower, and the cars ahead of you are doing the same, and you might get a speeding ticket, it starts to feel like the game is playing against you.
In Euro Truck Simulator 2, the player also has the opportunity to build up a trucking company. To do that, you have to play until you’ve earned enough money to start buying trucks, drivers and warehouses. However, even though this is a nice progression to the game and would add a lot of new gameplay mechanics, the money earning is turtle slow. Like, you could do a ten-hour job (which is around 30 minutes real time) and have made $9,000 and the cheapest truck to buy is $300,000. This may be the case in real life, the difficulty in which to start up a trucking business, but I think to keep the players interested there should have been a thought to add a way to unlock this part of the game more quickly. Not with micro-transactions though, which I am firmly against, luckily the developers didn’t think of that.
So I give Euro Truck Simulator a buy, and if you are person with anxiety, like myself, a must buy. The game itself has a very soothing effect while you play, and since you are performing a job, it makes you feel like you’re being productive. But don’t confuse it with doing real work or errands. I’ve done that before… you almost can’t come back from it. But traumatic flashback aside, the game is very good. You can tell right away you’re gonna get your money’s worth. On Steam it’s about $23, and a lot cheaper during sales. I haven’t seen a physical copy before, so your best chances are probably just to buy it on Steam. So buy the game, get into your rig, crank the tunes and let the good times roll, there’s truckin’ to be done.
--G
