Review: Truck Racer

Take control of five tons of metal and power, and floor it until you reach the finish line! Drive fully destructible trucks in Championship, Time Attack, Elimination and Quick Race. Get rid of opponents trying to block your way and make a reputation for yourself!

Pros:

• Detailed graphics that look nice and have some excellent animations especially the work gone into each truck.
• 360 pad support and the best way to play the game.
• Full damage model, See every dent, head on collision as doors,bonnet and even roof falls off.
• Nice clean interface both in the menu and in game. A map in the corner shows you where everyone is and where you are on the track. Menu has simple options with no extra side options.
• All trucks have a boost bar ala Burnout where you get boost for drifting and fighting with other trucks. Giving the game the full arced feel and experience.
• Handling is tight and one of the best controls in the game. Even without upgrades, The truck is very responsive and can have you pulling some mad Tokyo Drift style moves.
• Earn cash from races with which you can buy new parts for your truck. Put new tyres,lights,bumpers and modify the engine. Each part has an advantage and a disadvantage to balance it out.
• Different race types are in the game, Either asphalt or dirt. You can change your truck parts to change the truck rating. A clear bar at the top of the screen will tell you if your truck is more suited for dirt or asphalt.
• Any parts you buy for your truck can be installed on any new trucks you buy.
• A handful of trucks are available to buy from the shop with the higher end models requiring you to unlock them.
• Huge single player championship spanning all the tracks in game (48 in ten locations). Split into smaller championships, These are like an arcade mode of sorts.
• Championship has the difficulty set and increase as you progress.
• Friends leaderboard support.
• Online racing which is easy to set up and play and allows the host to pick any course in which they have unlocked in the single player.
• Offline 2 player split screen support.

Cons:

• Minimal video settings. Only resolution,full screen,shadow quality and advanced shadows settings.
• Too much smoke on screen in races, making it hard to see where your going or indeed what the hell is going on. Its just too much and doesn’t add any extra atmosphere.
• Hit a truck wrong and you can actually get stuck to it. Extremely annoying and very common especially if you rear end someone (hehe)
• Sounds in the game are very generic and every truck sounds the same no matter of upgrade. The crowd are the same looped track over and over, even the crash noises are the same despite their severity.
• The price of the game itself is too much for what you get. Lower the price and more people will be willing to give it a go.
• Hit detection/reaction is over the top. Hit a wall or even scrape it and you risk crashing out spectacularly.
• No truck reset button in game.

In Summary, The game is an alright arcade racer in small bursts. Price does not match the content and for that it loses points on that merit. Take the game as a throw away bit of fun and you will enjoy it. The championship will provide many hours of trucking action, But you may feel there isn’t enough depth to keep you playing after you finished it. A few more trucks and more customisation could help the game. If you see the game on sale and fancy a lighter way to be a trucker then this is the game for you.