18 Wheels of Steel: Across America for Windows

18 Wheels Of Steel: Across America, developed by SCS Software, is a realism trucking simulation game. Across America puts you in the driver's seat of a big rig tractor trailer truck and it's your job to turn a small trucking business into a massive haulin' mother trucker. Across America boasts a somewhat realistic gameplay environment with 18 cities across the United States, 15 rigs, 30+ types of cargo and your own cb radio! Across America is the second game in the 18 Wheels Of Steel series and since its release, has been followed by three other games; Petal to the Medal, Convoy and Haulin'.

The basic idea of the game is that you drive a tractor trailer truck and haul various types of cargo from city to city in order to receive money. This money is then used to upgrade trucks, purchase fuel, service rigs and pay fines or tickets. This basic idea may sound fun and for the most part is it. However, this basic idea doesn't go too far and quickly becomes very boring and repetitive. I guess that is part of the realistic factor here because driving a truck really is boring and repetitive.

There is also a backend business model where you can hire drivers and purchase trucks for them to drive for your business. Unlike some of the more recent games in this series, in Across America there is actually a huge incentive for hiring drivers. Across America has missions, one of which is to earn one million dollars and that goal is harder to accomplish without hiring several drivers. In addition to these incentives, you can also see your hired drivers on the road and communicate with them on the cb radio, even form a real time convoy. This gives the game that bit of realism that you won't find in the more recent games, which is a shame because it's what made Across America successful and without it you lose that realism factor.

One of the biggest downfalls of the game is that you are forever lost in a time warp of boring, repetitive and certainly endless trips across America, hauling fictitious loads of cargo all over the place. Across America includes a competitive environment in which you compete against other computer opponents. You are constantly trying to make more money, retain a high prestige, hire the most qualified drivers and become the preferred carrier for every city. While these factors do give the game a more realistic sense of reason, you'll still be hauling cargo for hours on end in a repetitive loop. It may be fun for about 30 minutes but you'll grow tired of seeing the same graphics and hearing the same sounds over and over and over again; a real mind numbing experience.

Graphics

Across America uses an outdated version of the 3dprism graphics engine, which by todays standards, is utterly cartoonish. The environment is realistic in a basic sense that most details are accounted for but the amount of prefabs and textures are dreadfully low. Every city looks exactly the same and the terrain or skyscape can change from greenery to barren desert in the blink of an eye. There is a day time, night time, rain effects, smoke effects from the exhaust pipes and basic headlights. There are many smaller effects that are not account for which make the game less realistic. For example, the headlights do not actually illuminate objects, there is merely a ray of light in front of the truck. While driving in the rain, there is no splatter effect from the wheels. The traffic lights are somewhat dynamic but you could sit at a red light for 5 minutes and the traffic literally stands still because the computer intelligence is non existent. Since this is an older game, the system requirements are very basic and almost any computer made within the last five years can handle these graphics, even on the highest level of detail.

Sounds

An important area for any simulation game is sound effects. Unfortunately, Across America fails to succeed in this area. The number of sound effects is lacking and their quality is rather bland and boring. The basic sounds are there: engine, horn, radio chatter and other sound effects for rain drops, police sirens and generic urban ambience. You'll easily experience all of these sounds in the first 15 minutes, after which they become quite annoying and unrealistic. There are many smaller sounds that are not always accounted for like turn signal blinkers, windshield wipers, truck brakes and other vague areas where you'd expect some dynamic sound to be played. The sound effects are basic and simply provide a low level of realism for some of the essentials.

Gameplay

As mentioned earlier, the gameplay is very basic because all you do is haul cargo from point A to point B. Along the way you must obey traffic laws by not speeding, staying in the correct lane of traffic and perform other tasks such as: stopping at weigh stations and refueling or repairing truck damage. Most traffic laws can be broken with no punishment as long as there are no police in the area. This is good because red lights can last up to 5 minutes, and computer traffic can block intersections and back up miles. Being able to run red lights and go off roadin', is almost a requirement at times. This gives you more freedom when compared to Haulin'.

For each successful cargo delivery you receive a small amount of money as income. This money can then be used to buy trucks, upgrades or simply pay your driver's salary. Every delivery made to a specific city will increase the preferred percentage and if you are able to make enough deliveries to that city in one week, you'll become the preferred carrier for that city. As a preferred carrier, you'll make more money for each delivery made to that city in the future. Remember though, other computer opponents are also making deliveries so there is some direct competition in becoming the preferred carrier for each city. You can also lose your preferred status if another opponent makes more or better deliveries in your absence. Hiring drivers to make those deliveries is another key ingredient. This goes back to the whole business model system wherein you can hire drivers to haul cargo for your company. However, it's nothing more than a notebook type system where you simply put down a driver's name and send them on their way, never to see or hear from them again. All aspects of this business model are handled in a notebook which you rarely access anyway because the hired drivers are self sustaining. You may pass one of your drivers on the road but essentially there's not much interaction with them.

Given the name "Across America" this game also has an advantage in that you can drive from east coast to west coast in less than 10 minutes, depending on the truck being used. Compare this to Haulin' which can take more than 30 minutes. The fact that cargo can be transferred quickly means that you can make more hauls in less time, a really good thing if you only intend to play a quick half an hour session.

Replay Value

18 Wheels Of Steel: Across America is basically boring and repetitive. Even though there are 18 cities across the United States, 15 rigs, 30+ types of cargo, you will experience almost every aspect of the game within the first 15 minutes. Compared to some of the other games in this series, Across America has missions and goals which are not often found, especially in the most recent release, Haulin'. Across America includes real time driver interaction, delivery missions and a business model that makes sense. There is some purpose to the madness and it actually makes for a decent reason to replay the game on the second day and beyond. Across America is what I like to call the "gameplay phase" where the developers focused more on gameplay, missions and opponents while lacking on the eye and ear candy. Sure, you'll battle against some computer opponents and go through an emotional rollercoaster in order to win the game, but it will look and sound like crap the whole time.

Conclusion

18 Wheels Of Steel: Across America is nothing more than an outdated game that should be pulled off all shelves, real and virtual. Granted this game does have some rhyme and reason for hauling cargo across america, every other aspect is either outdated or seriously lacking in detail. The graphics are very basic, cartoonish and overly used in every city while the sounds are lacking or simply non existent. If you are seriously interested in the 18 Wheels Of Steel series, sway towards Haulin' because it is the newest release. Haulin' is good for graphics and sound but lacks in purpose because there are no missions or opponents but then again it doesn't matter much because 99% of the game is just driving. If you're only interested in driving, then Haulin' is the perfect game. But if you want some purpose, missions, opponents and totally dynamic gameplay then Across America is perfect, just be warned though that the graphics and sound are utterly horrible. Don't pick this title up for anything more than $5 bucks and make sure you like Haulin' first because this game is a major step back.