''Euro Truck Simulator'' (known as ''Big Rig Europe'' in North America) is a 2008

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

simulation game Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

developed and published by the Czech company SCS Software. The game is set in a scaled-down rendition of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, from the United Kingdom and Portugal to Poland and the Czech Republic, where players drive a variety of semi-trucks and trailers across the continent, visiting the continent's major cities and picking up and delivering cargo for various companies. More than 300,000 copies of the game have been sold in Europe. It is the first installment in the '' Truck Simulator'' series of games.

Gameplay

''Euro Truck Simulator'' offers a realistic driving experience for navigating trucks around Europe. The player must deliver goods around Europe while obeying street signs, highway rules and managing their fuel levels. ''Euro Truck Simulator'' has different truck models from different companies. Each truck has its own unique engine power, tires, and size that affect its driving capabilities. The game doesn't feature an ending and allows players to continue after having completed all objectives. The game features four European truck models, available in three classes each, with working instruments such as flashing indicators, temperature and low fuel warning lights, wipers, and gauges. Since the game lacks an official license from truck manufacturers, the trucks included, despite closely resembling real-life truck models, are given generic names, Majestic (

Mercedes-Benz Actros The Mercedes-Benz Actros is a heavy-duty truck introduced by Mercedes-Benz at the 1996 Commercial Vehicle IAA in Hannover, Germany, as the replacement for the SK. It is normally used for long-distance haulage, heavy-duty distribution haula ...

), Runner (

Renault Magnum The Renault Magnum is a heavy-duty truck that was produced by the French Manufacturer Renault Trucks, Renault Véhicules Industriels and later Renault Trucks (also part of Renault, now Volvo) from 1990 to 2013. The Magnum was available in Artic ...

), Swift ( Scania R-series) and Valiant ( Volvo FH16).

Reception

The game received mostly positive reviews from critics upon its release. Reviewers highlighted the game's good graphics, the game world and a "satisfying driving experience." They also mentioned the long driving times and repetitive gameplay as uninteresting for those not fans of transportation simulators. User scores on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, Steam and

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

indicate more favourable opinions from customers than initial reviews suggested.

Sequel

A sequel, '' Euro Truck Simulator 2'', was released in 2012.

References

External links

* 2008 video games Excalibur Publishing games MacOS games Meridian4 games N3V Games games SCS Software games Single-player video games Truck simulation video games Video games developed in the Czech Republic Video games set in Europe Windows games {{vehicle-simulation-videogame-stub