A worthy addition to the 18 WoS series and to anyone who has an interest in trucks.
User Rating: 7 | 18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin' PC
18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin' provides an easy enough learning curve to satisfy newcomers to the simulation genre, and enough realism to satisfy truck hobbyists, truck enthusiasts, and simulation enthusiasts alike. Haulin' offers enough variety of trucks, cargo, and cities to keep you satisfied for as long as you wish to play the game. The amount of colour choices and aesthetically pleasing upgrades offers an almost endless combination and customisation to your truck. Haulin' offers a wide variety of locations to start from and to make deliveries to. You are offered major cities in the continental U.S. and major cities in Canada along the southern border from east coast to west. Mexico, however, is excluded from this addition to the 18 WoS series just as Convoy is. The vast amount of trucks and cargo, however, makes up for the lack of any Mexican presence. Once you choose your character's name, starting location, - which is also your headquarters - and difficulty level, you start off with a mid-level truck and a set amount of money depending on your difficulty level selected. This truck is completely stock and devoid of any upgrades, but will be more than enough to get you started making deliveries and money. (I suggest starting off in either Seattle or Vancouver and making deliveries to the other, as this is a very short trip and can bring in quick cash) After you make some money you can stop by a service station and upgrade your truck. Start off with upgrading with an AVI, or automatic vehicle identifier, as this will allow you to cross borders and go through weigh stations without stopping. This shortens your commute time and effectively makes you more money in the long run. That, unfortunately, is where most of the positives stop. As stated earlier, this is a realistic game in that you are expected to obey all traffic laws. This can be a problem, however, as the detection system is overly realistic, if not more realistic than real life. If you fail to turn on your lights as soon as you are supposed to, you're penalised with your police status bar slowly filling up until you correct your mistake. The same holds true for failing to use your turn signal or driving on an "off limits" part of the road. But perhaps the most sensitive of these flaws is the traffic light. If you do so much as cross a wee-bit too far over a cross walk you are greeted by a maxed out police status bar. This is completely random as to whether or not you'll get a maxed bar. Sometimes you won't if you're already in the intersection, sometimes you will if you creep too slowly towards the cross walk, sometimes you won't even receive your penalisation until you've cleared the intersection and think you're in the clear. This can lead to loosing money often, however, this usually isn't a problem unless you're speeding; which you may find yourself doing quite often.
The game play isn't so bad for the first delivery or two. There's no pressure to meet a deadline on your delivery, there aren't any overzealous cops or competitors trying to run you off the road to make their delivery before you to get a larger chunk of the pay. That's because it's a simulation. And because of this it can seem a bit slow and/or boring at times. Sometimes you'll suddenly find yourself with a full police status bar because you've been dazing off at your monitor's screen, not paying attention to how fast you're going. On most routes you'll likely encounter a good number of sharp curves to keep you awake though. Other times you'll just feel lonely because most of the vehicles seem to disappear once the middle of the night roles around. Deliveries may sometimes take a long time to complete and will likely become repetitive and you may find yourself speeding as fast as your truck will allow just get your delivery over and done with. The sound isn't the greatest, but it suffices. Most of the trucks sound the same, engines and horns alike. Most of the traffic sounds the same as well. Meaning both other trucks and regular cars sounds alike. This isn't a major downfall, but in a simulation sound is one of the key elements you want to get right. Graphics are pleasing for a game with a below average budget and are satisfying. Realism is very apparent in the cockpit of the trucks. Functioning gauges and a 3D cockpit for you to look around are some of the examples. Turn signals, flashers, wipers, and mirrors are some of them.
For $20 18 Wheels of Steel Haulin' is a worthy buy despite some of the quirks that keep it from being a better simulation.
