18 Wheels of Steel: Hard Truck

As the first game in this series, 18 Wheels of Steel: Hard Truck started things off well and truly on the right foot. Now, as I write this, we are talking about a game that is 20 years old! However, I have always been a fan of truck sims so I decided to fire this one up and see how well it holds up after all this time. I am a huge fan of these types of games and I was certain it was going to feel very dated. To be fair, it actually holds up pretty well for the most part!

The Best Game In Town

There is not a big and deep story to play through in 18 Wheels of Steel: Hard Truck as that was not really the style of games like this back in 2002. Instead, you are just concentrating on building up your trucking business. You want to make money of course, but as a trucker that takes real pride in their work, you also want to build up the prestige of your company as well.

Working All Night In The City

While it may not be as huge a playground as the Truck Simulator series 18 Wheels of Steel: Hard Truck still offers you multiple areas that you can drive and work in. Each one is its own contained area and brings with it a series of challenges as well as a different vibe and style to it as well. The game looks decent enough, although it clearly does not look as good as the modern truck simulator games that we have these days. Still, I was impressed at how the visuals had aged fairly decently.

Making That Sweet Cash

You will need to be careful about what jobs you decide to take on. At the end of the day, you want to make money, and making the most money you can from any given job in 18 Wheels of Steel: Hard Truck is easier said than done. You will pick up your load and you will be told the specifications for that particular job. The condition it is expected to be in, the delivery location, and so on. Starting out, you are better off taking easier loads that are not as difficult to drive so you can build up some money and prestige.

Hard Driving!

One of the things that I thought was pretty neat about 18 Wheels of Steel: Hard Truck was that some of the missions/loads had extra parameters to them. For example, there are “dangerous goods” that you can deliver which will earn you far more money, but you require a special certificate to be able to deliver these legally. Speaking of legally, if you want to really maximize your money, you can take jobs that require you to move stuff that is over the legal weight limit. This forces you to really think about how you drive and also make sure you miss out on any weighing stations that may be located on the way to your destination!

Pros:

• You have different cities you can work in
• I liked how there were many different types of deliveries to do
• It was fun how you could take more difficult jobs
• The game has a really addictive quality about it

Cons:

• The presentation as you would expect is a bit dated
• While this is decent, modern truck sims offer far more

Among automobile simulators there are not many projects devoted to freight transportation. One of the best such games for 20 years remains 18 Wheels of Steel: Hard Truck. So what is special about this game and why should you download it for all fans of virtual journeys on trucks? About everything in order.

What is it?

18 Wheels of Steel: Hard Truck is a car simulator, created by the American company Sunstorm Interactive and the Czech studio SCS Software. Distribution of the game, released in 2002, is the publisher Cosmi Valusoft.

The main difference between the project from most racing sims is a completely different gameplay. 18 Wheels of Steel: Hard Truck is not a race on trucks and other massive equipment. This is a virtual simulation of trucking, in which you can leisurely move between the destination and the point of arrival. The main thing is to deliver the goods in time. And do it before your competitors do. But it is not necessary to press the accelerator pedal to the floor.

The most similar to the 18 Wheels of Steel game is "Truckers 2", more commonly known as the King of the Road. It is partly its success and was inspired by the developers from the U.S. and the Czech Republic. However, their game has a number of significant differences from its counterpart in the genre.

Time to hit the road

18 Wheels of Steel is a quality trucking simulator, in which the player has to start as an ordinary hired worker. The more orders successfully delivered across the country, the faster you can earn money and create your own business empire. But first you need to get enough money to buy the first truck.

The user will have to sit behind the wheel of one of the available massive tractors, get the cargo and deliver it to its destination. The game features 7 prototypes of real vehicles and 15 U.S. cities available to visit. These include Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Denver and other major population centers.

The map in the game is divided into 3 huge locations. Moving between them gradually opens up as you move along the storyline. With the opening of new locations increases the difficulty level. Earned on the carriage of goods can be spent to purchase a new car or improvements to existing equipment.

Advantages and disadvantages

18 Wheels of Steel still has an impressive army of fans. Fans love the game for things like:

• Not bad, despite its age, visuals
• Well-developed plot
• Real cities
• A good fleet of cars
• A variety of gameplay

Among the disadvantages of the project is the most outstanding graphics (we do correct the fact that the game is more than 20 years old) and regularly recurring events during the trips.