Review: SnowRunner (PlayStation 4)

SnowRunner review

SnowRunner puts you in the driver’s seat of powerful vehicles as you conquer extreme open environments with the most advanced terrain simulation ever. Drive 40 vehicles from brands such as Ford, Chevrolet, and Freightliner as you leave your mark on an untamed open world.

Pros:

  • Decent graphics.
  • 15.11gb download size.
  • Platinum trophy.
  • Four control types.
  • Tutorial tips as you play and will repeat if necessary.
  • Online Co-op plays support.
  • Open world map.
  • Two driving views-driver seats and far behind.
  • Play how you want.
  • Watchtowers-reveals a part of the map and puts points of interest on the map oh and gives you some EXP.
  • Day/night cycle.
  • Gameplay loop-drive around taking contracts, level up to get better trucks and bigger trucks.
  • Earn EXP and level up to unlock new assignments/addons/options.
  • Full damage model-hitting the truck bangs up a damage number and over time the damage will affect how the truck drives.
  • 3 regions-Michigan/Alaska/Taymar with each region having 2 or 4 sub-regions to unlock. The initial area od each region is already unlocked.
  • Freely travel between regions.
  • Can change the time of day at whim on the menu.
  • Fuel stations to refuel.
  • Get your Ice Road Trucker fix.
  • The terrain model and how it works is quite remarkable.
  • It can jump between vehicles in proximity.
  • Gorgeous locations.
  • A wide selection of trucks each with unique features and stats.
  • Scout truck-small pickup used for exploring.
  • Full contract breakdown and accepting one will bring up icons.
  • Very satisfying.
  • Gears-swap between gears on the fly to get over tough terrain.
  • Winch- attach on your vehicle at multiple points then attach to an object around you to pull yourself out.
  • Recover to garage setting.
  • Winch-use for more complex jobs but also used to manually load cargo.
  • Autoload cargo for us lazy ones.
  • Garages-customise/buy trucks/and is used as fast travel.
  • Trailers can be found in the wild and returning them gives rewards and exp.
  • Discover points on the map or new contracts to earn exp.

SnowRunner review

Cons:

  • Long loading times.
  • Early bombardment of screens and icons.
  • Driving has a learning curve as you understand how the terrain types react to you.
  • A lot to take in.
  • Using the map is a pain and marking a location just puts a straight line which is no help.
  • Small text in places.
  • Never sure which truck to use and changing them is a long process.
  • No radio.
  • Basic cosmetic options.
  • An empty world in terms of life, it’s just you and the world, just feels sterile.
  • Constant camera management and no overhead cam.
  • More arcade than a sim with coupling trailers a simple button press, instant load cargo, etc.
  • Fast travel involves storing your truck then traveling then unloading your truck.
  • Garages are far apart.
  • Very easy to damage your truck in the smallest of hits.
  • Following the contract can be difficult with many icons showing and no proper clear explanation on where to go first or what to do.

SnowRunner review

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 7/10
    Sound - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Accessibility - 7/10
  • 9/10
    Length - 9/10
  • 9/10
    Fun Factor - 9/10
8/10

Summary

SnowRunner is a game that builds on what the previous game had, treacherous terrain, taking on delivery’s and ranking up. What I like most is how the open world works, meaning you can take a break from all the deliveries and take out a pickup and just find/unlock locations/garages and jobs. Back to deliveries and it’s very much a case of going over bad terrain, using gear management and a winch, you have to get across so much crap from fording rivers, driving though mud and snow. I love the driving aspect but don’t go in looking for a more sim approach as its very arcade from simple coupling to camera control to how you progress. Locations are really well designed and like I say the watchtower and job finding is good but again jumping into a pick up truck is not that easy and even fast travel involves packing and unpacking vehicles. Overall the game is a huge step in the right direction and Co op is a huge deal, it just needs to decide if its a sim or a arcade game and go full throttle.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!