Friday, June 12, 2020

Eric Vs. 365 - Day 348 - Truck Driver

I love simulation games, but they need to have a balance between realism and playability to truly be successful. Farming Simulator is the best farm sim because they give you the options to make it fun while every other farm sim is so concerned with being realistic that they are basically unplayable. Soedesco's Truck Driver (finally) brings a truck driving sim to consoles and hits that balance of being a real-ass truck driving sim while remaining accessible and playable. Read more and watch gameplay here.

Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have Euro Truck Simulator 2 or American Truck Simulator on consoles, but since they're so stubbornly committed to keeping them locked away on PC, we have to make do with what we have. Truck Driver is OK. You drive around and pick up trailers and make deliveries. You unlock new perks and bonuses as you play. You earn cash to upgrade your truck and buy new ones. It's all pretty straightforward. The map isn't huge - it's VERY European, though - but it's OK.

The gameplay is only so-so, though. Keeping your truck going in a straight line is harder than it should be. Thankfully, the game isn't super strict about traffic laws and that nonsense, so you have a fair bit of wiggle room to make mistakes before the game starts penalizing you. Because of the twitchy feeling handling, playing in the cockpit view is way, way harder than it should be because you can't see well enough to do anything plus your truck is wandering all over the road.


So, all in all, it's all kind of "meh" but at the same time engaging and satisfying. It doesn't do anything especially well, but it doesn't do anything so poorly as to put you off. If you don't have any other options, Truck Driver on consoles is OK.