My Diaries

A Lurid Tale of Obsession, Depravity, Wits and Attempted Wit

Saturday April 24, 2004

Super Trucks Racing is a Good Deal Cheap

A few weeks ago I picked up Super Trucks Racing for my PlayStation 2 from a Wal-Mart, for less than $20 (Canadian).

There is a web-site for the game at www.super-trucks.com, but, in fact, it describes an older version of the game--the newer version I have has more tracks and an extra series.

I'd first seen real-life European Super Trucks racing on television, in the program Motorsport Mundial on SPEED TV (previously Speedvision) (www.speedtv.com). The "tractor" parts of tractor-trailer combos, painted in bright sponsor colour schemes, race with 1400hp engines on tight tracks, creating quite a spectacle.

The game has no true career or simulation mode--the closest thing is the "unlocking" of more advanced series by placing in the top three in a lower series. One really nice feature it has is a two-player mode with AI racers also on the track.

It doesn't have quite the time-consuming depth of the Gran Turismo, but that's somewhat refreshing. In spite of that, it does have great range of difficulty between the easy and later series, and the more advanced series do take a fairly long time to play, although a series can be saved after each race. Races feature qualifying--best of an up to five lap solo session (no pesky AI trying to qualify at the same time), and your best lap in any qualifying, practice session, or race will be recorded in a "hall of records" if it beats the current records. (Most tracks have preset records which are relatively easy-to-beat, but one-or-two tracks are difficult to set a first-place record on).

Graphics are similar to Gran Turismo 3, but not quite as realistic-looking. Handling is similar to Gran Turismo 3, but a little more arcadey. You can save race replays, and they are well-done, but you can't change the views at all. Different trucks have different characteristics, but there are no parts available. There is a facility for tuning handling, but it's rather difficult to use since it's a global option for the whole game and all trucks, rather than being associated with a particular truck. You can't even tune during practice sessions, so that makes it even more awkward.

Like Gran Turismo, and unlike many games, your game controller setup is nearly arbitrarily configurable, a feature I really like.

An interesting feature of driving these trucks is that you must control the dispensing of water onto the brakes to cool them--and the water can run out (although there seems to be more than enough for any race if you're at all careful).

All-in-all I'd recommend this game if you happen to see it cheap, if for nothing else than the "two player plus AI" mode.