18 Wheels of Steel
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''18 Wheels of Steel'' is a series of
trucking Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations e ...
simulator A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...
s developed by
SCS Software SCS Software s.r.o. is a Czech video game development company based in Prague, Czech Republic. It primarily produces simulation games for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux, including the '' 18 Wheels of Steel'' and ''Truck Simulator'' serie ...
and published by ValuSoft from 2002 to 2011, as a spin-off of '' Hard Truck'', with the first game becoming the third ''Hard Truck'' game released.


Games


''Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel'' 5 Aug 2002/small>

The first installment in the series, released in 2002.


''18 Wheels of Steel: Across America'' 3 Sep 2003/small>

This installment is very similar to ''Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel'' except that the graphics were updated, more trucks and cargo were added, and a new map was created that enables users to travel across the entire continental
U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, through 30 cities. In this version, players can choose from 30 trucks and 40+ trailers. Time is made up of a total of 24 minutes in a day in the clock. This game focuses on the delivery of cargo. Players also go against three AI drivers. Unlike ''Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel'', ''Across America'' does not feature a sleep timer. There is an improved traffic model as well as
airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurat ...
s,
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
s, and
train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...
s with authentic sounds.


''18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal'' 0 Aug 2004/small>

In this installment, released in 2004, the user can travel across the entire continental US, and also through northern
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and southern
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, through 30 cities. The sleep timer was brought back in this version. It has an improved traffic model. ''18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal'' requires OpenGL. It also has the fastest map to date besides ''Haulin and is the first trucking game to feature more than one country.


''18 Wheels of Steel: Convoy'' Sep 2005/small>

In this updated installment, the player can travel through the United States, as well as southern Canada, though it differs from ''18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal'' in that Mexican cities are not present. The player can travel through 30+ cities and choose from 35+ rigs, 45+ cargoes and 47+ trailers. The player has to use the mouse to look outside of the cab at the mirrors. The graphics are also much improved in this version, and users can see drivers in other vehicles and when the trucks are "lugged" under 1500 RPM, they emit black exhaust much like older non-computerized trucks do. However, other graphical features such as dynamic dashboard gauges were replaced with simple inanimate textures, although this and minor bugs were fixed with a patch released by SCS Software in 2008. Players can also buy things to protect themselves.


''18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin Dec 2006/small>

This installment adds more cities and has more realistic graphics, but Mexico is gone from this installment, as in ''Convoy''. The ability to use custom soundtracks and save games during deliveries was also added. Users can choose from 32 rigs, 45+ cargoes and 47+ trailers in the game, including double trailers. The game does not require a very powerful computer to operate properly since it can run on most older PCs. The game's engine, Prism3d, may not respond on older graphic cards resulting in a game crash on the game's start-up. Countries include the United States and Canada.


''18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul'' Dec 2007/small>

This installment of the game is very similar to and has the same gameplay as ''Haulin but features newly renamed companies, 2 new trucks, and 3 cities in Mexico added. The previous 9 cities hihuahua, Guaymas, Monterrey, etc.from ''18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal'' have returned but the map for each was slightly updated.


''18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker'' 3 Sep 2009/small>

''Extreme Trucker'' lets the player deliver cargoes in any of the three main areas of the game:
Yungas Road The Yungas Road is a cycle route about 60 km long that links the city of La Paz and the Yungas region of Bolivia. It draws about 25,000 tourists per year and is a major La Paz tourist attraction. Many tour operators cater to downhill moun ...
(also known as Road of Death),
Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road, an extension of the Dempster Highway, was an ice road on frozen Mackenzie River River delta, delta channels and the frozen Arctic Ocean between the Northwest Territories communities of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, in Canada. ...
, and the
Australian Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...
. This game is quite different from the previous installments as the whole concept was changed. The player can no longer drive around in free roam unless they decide to go around the map during a delivery, but they can only pick a job offer from the selection menu if users have met its requirements of having multiple new trucks and accomplished deliveries. The trucks and cars are modeled after real brands, although users can not own any vehicles through the game and are simply truck drivers seeking various jobs. Still, today's low to mediocre range computer will be able to run the game without getting low FPS. The game was mostly poorly received by critics. Game was criticised mostly for change of series concept, but was well received by players and some reviews were positive towards the game and praised the game for its graphics and gameplay.


''18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker 2'' Jan 2011/small>

Released in 2011, ''Extreme Trucker 2'' is a sequel to ''18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker''. The game has two additional locations:
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
and
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, and a few new types of cargo.


Sales

The series sold in excess of 580,000 units by 2003.


References

{{Trucking industry in the United States SCS Software games Trade simulation games Truck racing video games Video game franchises introduced in 2002 Video games developed in the Czech Republic Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender Video games set in Australia Video games set in Bangladesh Video games set in Bolivia Video games set in Canada Video games set in Mexico Video games set in the United States Windows games Windows-only games