Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Praise be to the Gods of simulation. Just when I thought there wasn’t going to be any exciting domestic transport sim news this morning, the best thing happens: I spot that there’s an updated demo for Euro Truck Simulator! Yes, it’s the game where you can drive a truck around a miniaturised and truncated Europe, delivering payloads like there’s no tomorrow. If you haven’t played this game in which almost nothing can happen, then you haven’t lived. I’ve posted the trailer below to give you a taste of the truckin’ that awaits.

Ah, today is going to be sweet.
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And it’s pretty good. I mean it! I know that driving an HGV across central Europe was exactly the kind of activity you took up gaming to avoid, but SCS Software have somehow made a brilliant job of it. It’s about as close as we’re going to get to a really compelling lorry simulator – and that’s why you should play it, right now. The demo is a mere 116mb.

Can the upcoming Euro Truck Simulator really deliver the same open-road mythos as its predecessor, 18 Wheels Of Steel: American Long Haul? I can’t see how it can: even the name is less interesting. And European lorries are rubbish. 18 Wheels, incidentally, is the greatest trucking game ever conceived – a bit like Elite if it were based an American road-lore film starring Patrick Swayze. It’s the only haul ‘em up I’ll ever need. Don’t believe me? Play the demo and tour the sinisterly miniaturised America in your grand “rig”.

Euro Truck Simulator will be published in the UK on the 29th of August.

When we posted about Bus Simulator 2008, a few people commented with questions as to who exactly is the audience for such a game. The placid simulation of moving humans from stop to stop seems such a niche interest. Put it all to one side, because here’s the preview footage of Euro Truck Simulator!

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