Trucking Majestic - American Truck Simulator

Hello beautiful people of the Internet! And not so beautiful ones... hehe. Buckle up folks because it's time to hit the road! Ren! Don't throw our readers out already, we just started! Wh- Oh forget it... (heh...) Anyway! Let's head onto PC to check out the latest 'Simulator' game from SCS Software, American Truck Simulator!

Simulator games like this aren't for everyone. For the most part the only reason they exist is so people can experience what it's like to do a boring old job that they don't or can't do for whatever reason. There are two types of people in the world, people like Sin, who think they're pointless and wonder how playing them can be fun for anyone. And there's people like Ren, who for some strange reason enjoys experiencing boring everyday life through the medium we use to escape such things. American Truck Simulator is the newest release and a further improvement on the popular Euro Truck Simulator 2 game. If you could call any transition from Europe to America an 'improvement.' Hey. Down girl. All Sin's bias aside, let's take an in depth look at what's special about the American Dream sim.

Can't stop to play the tables in Vegas. Some great simulator this turned out to be.
Winners don't gamble Sin.
They don't exactly truck either Ren.

The quote-unquote, plot- Sin! Jeez... the plot of the game sees you starting your own trucking company in your chosen city in either California or Nevada (The only states currently in the game, yeah, should be called two-state truck simulator it'd be less misleading), do some odd jobs to earn money until you can eventually buy your own truck with hundreds of customization options. Jobs start with shorter routes until you gain experience to take on longer ones. Completing routes gives you EXP for level ups and you can use these to earn qualifications to enhance the jobs you can do and the money you earn, for example the ability to carry explosives or being entrusted with fragile cargo, jobs such as this are of course worth more money for completion. That's basically all there is to it, the goal is just to complete deliveries and get money for your business.

Feel the excitement boys and girls! This is a lot of what you'll see in this game. Miles and miles of nothing!
Empty... just like your heart.

The game has a lot of options for control methods. Using a keyboard and mouse is... generally fine, but if you want the real immersion you should be getting from Truck Sim you need to get a wheel and pedal to connect up. Those cost a lot of money though, so if feeling like a real mother trucker isn't important to you, work with keyboard controls like we did. The game controls very nicely with the keyboard... Sometimes too nicely even. I'm not sure if it's the same for all control styles but for god-knows-how-heavy trucks these things can turn unnaturally tightly. For a game that is supposed to be 'realistic' shall we say, there's a lot of things very unnatural about it.

Let's start with the first thing, which is specifically only for the keyboard control method (it's not something to rat on the game for, it's to be expected, but still remains annoying), it's impossible to keep a steady speed, which can cause troubles in a game were you get fined for speeding. You only have to contend with W to accelerate, and S to brake. This leaves you in either a state of constant acceleration, which will bring you over the speed limit pretty darn quickly, or slow deceleration, which just means yeah you're still going, but hey now you're gradually going slower. Now hey, I don't know if SCS Software know something about Cali and Nevada that we don't, but if you wait long enough at a junction because there's all this traffic coming you can start to pull out and everyone will stop to let you out... or you could keep waiting, and after a little while... All the traffic just suddenly stops! Even on the busiest roads. I get that this is like some kind of anti-frustration feature but you could have made it less obvious!

I assure you, at no point did I forget that Americans drive on the wrong side of the road.
Silly Ren! Everyone knows Americans drive on the 'RIGHT' side of the road, come on.

Yep roads follow some strange rules in this game. It feels as though you're traveling large distances in the US really quickly because of the way the map is scaled down in order to fit inside the game. Basically to my disappointment a lot of actual American roads are scaled down immensely, much more so than in Euro Truck Simulator might I add. The map scaling is much worse here, and it means there's a lot less of those long scenic drives that players of Euro Truck knew and loved.There are other problems kind of related to the scaling that arise too, most notably of which is the fact that speed limit signs are impossible to see if present at all, this often creates sudden changes of speed limit that sometimes results in an instant fine as soon as you cross the threshold because there happened to be a cop car that could just about see your left mirror moving too much from a mile away. Yeah some fines happen when the cops catch you doing something wrong, like driving in the dark without lights on. Notice how he said some. A lot of the others just sort of happen.

There's a strange kind of allure to this game in that it's strangely relaxing to ride the wide open roads with pretty much nothing either side of you. The American scenery isn't the prettiest thing to look at by far, but even I'll admit it's relaxing to drive along leisurely without having to worry about 'real' consequences for screwing up. Not to mention, the ability to add your own songs to play or listen to actual radio stations as you drive is a superb touch.

Shit.

Believe it or not there's also a multiplayer mode. Things are a bit different there, it's a lot faster as speed limits are much less strict, oh and all the non human traffic is gone too, did I mention that? I can see why they did it but hell now the maps are just even more empty! Players on Multiplayer aren't the nicest of people either. Some will honk as you pass to say 'hi!' and that's cool... But others will just try and ram you into walls like dicks. But other than the traffic being gone, multiplayer is basically the same as single player.

So what we have here is a very relaxing game that takes the stress out of driving and then some. There's not much to do other than driving and decorating your trucks, so if you're looking for a game full of action and excitement you've probably already guessed a Simulator game probably isn't the one for you. While this one may not be as polished world-wise as its predecessor, it's still a very strong Simulator game and is worth picking up for anyone wanting 'to start their new dream job:' being a mother trucker.'

You know, your driving is beyond horrible.
W-Well why do you think I like this game! Can you imagine me taking the helm of a REAL screaming metal deathtrap?
Oh god no. I don't want to die...
Heh... I think I've made my point. Until next time folks!
We love you all!

Ren Score: 8/10
Sin Score: 4/10