Review Reprise: European Truck Simulator 2

I’ve written hundreds of reviews, previews, and retrospectives during my twenty-odd years as a games inspector. As many of these appeared in the British version of PC Gamer magazine and nowhere else, now and again something from my archive may appear as one of THC’s daily posts. Read on to discover why PCG awarded an obscure £15 truck sim 85% back in 2012.

Freedom-loving citizens of Dunwall, please accept my sincere apologies. I was a hop, skip and a slide away from the Lord Regent’s chamber when this seriously compelling lorry sim sped into my life. Suddenly, stealthy vengeance seems far less important than ensuring a load of new JCBs gets to Bratislava on time.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 is that rare thing, a strong sim tethered to a strong game. Where other vehicle-obsessed devs seem to take player motivation for granted, Czech studio SCS understand that a pleasingly modelled steed needs a pleasingly modelled environment to truly shine.

On this occasion that environment is a swathe of Europe stretching from Plymouth in the west to Wroclaw in the east, from Aberdeen in the north to Milan in the South. The tangle of motorways and major roads is heavily stylized and condensed, but feels massive. After a splendid week of non-stop trucking the stats screen tells me I’ve still only seen 50% of the network.

There’s satisfaction in exploring new routes, seeing new golden been-there-done-that squiggles appearing on the in-game map, however, it tends to be the promise of cold, hard cash that gets you out of bed in the morning. Like Farming Simulator, ETS2 has a simple yet resonant economic sandbox at its centre. You start out as low-skilled and truckless lorry jockey, forced to take work from established haulage companies. Slowly (or rapidly if you go cap in hand to a bank) you amass the funds necessary to buy your first rig and rent your first yard. Then the fun really begins. Contract perusing, truck purchasing, truck pimping, skill upgrading, driver hiring… this is Eddie Stobart: The Game in all but name.

Spending 90 minutes ferrying a tank of propane from Sheffield to Prague could (should?) be tedious. The fact that it isn’t, is largely down to good-if-not-quite-OMSI-standard physics, and varied road layouts and scenery. Every long-distance run involves a mix of single and multi-carriageway driving. Periods of smooth, almost soporific motorway motoring nestle between passages of edgier wheelwork. One minute you’re cruising along contemplating the sunset over the central reservation, the next you’re on a rain-lashed country road at night, waiting for the right moment to pass a painfully slow pantechnicon. Tiredness can’t kill in ETS2, but it can leave you jack-knifed in a ditch, feeling awful with a substantial repair bill to pay.

The only times when the game itself loses concentration is when its attempting to evoke certain regions and sounds. The further you get from Central Europe the less convincing the landscapes become. No-one seems to have told SCS’s countryside crafters that rural Britain features long green things called hedges. Cities are often depicted with the shortest of visual shorthand – a few warehouses, the odd landmark if you’re lucky. Don’t expect to see a favourite local roundabout, slip-road, or speed camera in this highly-recommended HGV-driver RPG.