LadiesGamers War Truck Simulator

War Truck Simulator Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: War Truck Simulator
Genre: Action, Racing
System: Nintendo Switch (also PC)
Developer|Publisher: Dev4play | Ultimate Games
Age Rating: EU 18+ | US Teen
Price: US $7.99 | UK £7.19 | EU €7.99
Release Date: January 19th 2020

Review code provided with many thanks to Ultimate Games

Expectations Smashed

Last year my expectations of a video game with ‘simulator’ in the title were transposed when I played Tank Mechanic Simulator. Not a perfect game but it certainly convinced me not to judge every simulator game by its title. But it only takes one game to revert your opinions back to where they were before and War Truck Simulator reaffirms my original opinion that if it has a simulator in the title, then approach with extreme caution.

When I saw the title War Truck Simulator my thoughts were that the game would educate me about War Trucks past or present. Maybe go into detail on their use in conflicts and what the army teams that use these vehicles roles are out in the field. Maybe even go through maintenance of these vehicles. There are a lot of things War Truck Simulator could have been.

In reality it’s a game where you drive a truck about in a dull open area performing basic objectives which mostly translate to drive from point A to B. It feels like a really rubbish version of Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast only without the fast driving, a kicking Offspring soundtrack and just fun in general. No, War Truck Simulator simply instructs you to drive to a location usually pick up some soldiers and transport them elsewhere. The game gives you minimum direction to where to go and you are just left to sorta guess where the objective is. When a objective does pop up it’s presented in English which has not been translated well get all. 

LadiesGamers War Truck Simulator
Maybe I should get my red pen out 

Beware the Trees

Your biggest foe in this game is deadly trees which as you drive by literally uproot and fall into the road. It was kinda funny to begin with but soon it’s just annoying.  As well as deadly trees there are also mines, enemy soldiers and random spawning boulders which just all act to slow you down from reaching your destination. If you fail the level will start right back at the start. Since the game crawls at a snails pace I was not particularly keen to start up the game again. This was not a fun experience.

Controls are just odd. You use the left stick to move forward and the right stick to change gears. Driving is slow and sloppy and I rarely felt I had full control of the vehicle I was driving. I guess you can turn on the headlights if you want but I really didn’t see much point in this. 

LadiesGamers War Truck Simulator
Video games deadliest foe, trees!

Bland and Buggy

The graphics are bland. The vehicle you drive is a basic model with a very plain looking soldier sitting in the driving seat. You will see the same boring landscapes over and over with basic landscape design and almost no variation. As you drive about the open landscapes, trees and grass are constantly popping in as the game has awful draw distance. This is apparent in both handheld and TV modes. 

LadiesGamers War Truck Simulator
Apparently my truck can drive underwater

I’m baffled that games like War Truck Simulator make it onto Switch. This game feels as though it went through no quality control testing. I saw multiple bugs on my first playthrough, including soldiers running around in mid air, sometimes my truck just spawned in the air and you seem to be able to drive just fine through water. Additionally the translation of this game to English is atrocious. When the game gives you instructions the grammar is just awful with sentences making little sense.

What is more shocking is that War Truck Simulator has been available on PC for over 5 years now. From the footage I found online it’s clear no effort has been put in to improve the game when it comes to Switch. This title generally made me angry playing.  While I noticed some famous YouTubers enjoy poking fun at this game back in the day I’m not getting the joke.

LadiesGamers War Truck Simulator
You have a map but it’s pretty useless

Not the Ride I’m Looking for

War Truck Simulator should not be for sale in the state that it is in. There was a huge missed opportunity here to make something different and original but all the game ends up being is an awful PC port.

It’s a reminder of why quality control is essential for game development. Do not buy this.  

Final Verdict: I Don’t Like It

 

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