While I feel the more modern trucking games have a much larger USA to drive through. For the time and to be fair even now, the map is a great size, and going on a long haul can be quite the challenge. As you drive in 18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin' you have to follow the laws of the road. Download 18 Wheels of Steel Extreme Trucker 2 for Windows to take missions hauling extreme loads across five hair-raising locations across the globe. 18 Wheels of Steel: Across America 23 Sep 2003 This installment is very similar to Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel except that the graphics were updated, more trucks and cargo were added, and a new map was created that enables users to travel across the entire continental U.S., through 30 cities. In this version, players can choose from 30.
- Developer: ValuSoft
- Genre: Racing
- Originally on: Windows (2006)
- Works on: PC, Windows
- Editor Rating:
- User Rating: 9.0/10 - 2 votes
- Rate this game:
I will start by saying that 18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin' is a damn solid game, but I must say right off the bat that I do feel that American Long Haul the follow up to this is a more complete experience. As someone who has always had a strange interest in the world of trucking, despite never having driven or even been inside of one myself. Truck games have always had a major appeal to me.
The Trucker Hall of Fame
If you get my Regular Show reference there you are awesome and we can be friends. In all seriousness, there is not what you would call a “story” at play here in this game. You are a trucker and you want to be the greatest trucker of all time and you are out to make a name for yourself. You do this by hauling loads across North America to make money and prove you are the best and build your reputation as well as make fat stacks of cash.
The presentation is not the best, but to be fair this game as I write this is well over a decade old. It does not have the polish that a modern game such as those from the American Truck Simulator series.
Making Money
As you progress through the game and haul more and more loads, you will start to make some money. With this money, you can buy a new truck which you want to do as soon as possible as the one you start with kind of sucks and is super slow! You can take out a loan, but for me, it was best to just grind and make enough the honest way as I felt this was better long term to get the best out of 18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin'. You also need to make money as everything in this world wants to take it from you! From gas to the cops who always find you when you go to fast or run a red light. It can be very easy to have your money drain away.
Hitting The Road Again
The driving in the game is a lot of fun. You will haul a load from point A to B and the game has many cities for you to drive in as well. While I feel the more modern trucking games have a much larger USA to drive through. For the time and to be fair even now, the map is a great size, and going on a long haul can be quite the challenge. As you drive in 18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin' you have to follow the laws of the road. As I said earlier, the cops are always watching and sometimes they watch too much! The AI drivers on the road are just nuts. I have seen a ton of collisions, not with me, but with themselves and it is always funny, even if I do have to swerve out of the way sometimes.
I always get enjoyment out of truck games and this one here is no different. I do feel that the follow up is a better game as it has more content and has improved visuals. However, I still found myself having fun with this game and wanting to do just one more haul each time I played it. If you are a fan of trucking games and want something that has a bit more of an old school feel over what the current ATS games are offering. I am sure you will have fun with 18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin'.
Final Score
Pros:
- Lots of open roads to drive on
- Hauling loads is always fun
- I like the progression of buying new trucks
- The visuals are improved over its predecessor
- Lots of cities to drive through
Cons:
- The cops are way too strict and always on your butt when you make a mistake
- The AI in this game is drunk!
Download Links
System Requirements
Processor: PC compatible, P-IV 1.4GHz 256MB, Free hard drive space: 540MB 3D Accelerator with Hardware T&L and Pixel Shading 64MB 9.0c
OS: Windows 9x, Windows 2000 Windows XP, Vista, Win 7, Win 8, Win 10.
Game Features:Single game mode
18 Wheels of Steel is a series of truckingsimulators developed by SCS Software and published by ValuSoft from 2002 to 2011, as a spin-off of Hard Truck, with the first game becoming the third Hard Truck game released.
Games[edit]
| 2002 | Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel |
|---|---|
| 2003 | 18 Wheels of Steel: Across America |
| 2004 | 18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal |
| 2005 | 18 Wheels of Steel: Convoy |
| 2006 | 18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin' |
| 2007 | 18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul |
| 2008 | |
| 2009 | 18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker |
| 2010 | |
| 2011 | 18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker 2 |
Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel[31 Aug 2002][edit]
The first installment in the series, released in 2002.[1]
18 Wheels of Steel: Across America[23 Sep 2003][edit]
This installment is very similar to Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel except that the graphics were updated, more trucks and cargo were added, and a new map was created that enables users to travel across the entire continental U.S., through 30 cities. In this version, players can choose from 30 trucks and 40+ trailers. Time is made up of a total of 24 minutes in a day in the clock. This game focuses on the delivery of cargo. Players will also battle 3 AI drivers. Unlike in Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel, the sleep timer was removed from the simulation. There is an improved traffic model as well as airplanes, helicopters, and trains with authentic sounds.[2]
18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal[30 Aug 2004][edit]
In this installment, released in 2004, the user can travel across the entire continental US, and also through northern Mexico and southern Canada, through 30 cities. The sleep timer was brought back in this version. It has an improved traffic model. 18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal requires OpenGL. It also has the fastest map to date besides Haulin' and is the first trucking game to feature more than one country.[3]
18 Wheels of Steel: Convoy[1 Sep 2005][edit]
In this updated installment, the player can travel through the United States, as well as southern Canada, though it differs from 18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal in that Mexican cities are not present. The player can travel through 30+ cities and choose from 35+ rigs, 45+ cargoes and 47+ trailers. The player has to use the mouse to look outside of the cab at the mirrors. The graphics are also much improved in this version, and users can see drivers in other vehicles and when the trucks are 'lugged' under 1500 RPM, they emit black exhaust much like older non-computerized trucks do. However, other graphical features such as dynamic dashboard gauges were replaced with simple inanimate textures, although this and minor bugs were fixed with a patch released by SCS Software in 2008. Players can also buy things to protect themselves.[4]
18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin'[8 Dec 2006][edit]
This installment adds more cities and has more realistic graphics, but Mexico is gone from this installment, as in Convoy. The ability to use custom soundtracks and save games during deliveries was added also. Users can choose from 32 rigs, 45+ cargoes and 47+ trailers in the game, including double trailers. The game does not require a very powerful computer to operate properly since it can run on most older PCs. The game's engine, Prism3d, may not respond on older graphic cards resulting in a game crash on the game's start-up. Countries include the United States and Canada.[5]
18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul[3 Dec 2007][edit]
This installment of the game is very similar to and has the same gameplay as Haulin' but with renamed companies, 2 new trucks, and 3 cities in Mexico added. The previous 9 cities [Chihuahua, Guaymas, Monterrey, etc.] from 18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal have returned but the map for each was slightly updated.[6]
18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker[23 Sep 2009][edit]
18 Wheels Of Steel Full Version
Extreme Trucker lets the player deliver cargoes in any of the three main areas of the game: Yungas Road (also known as Road of Death), Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road, and the Australian Outback. This game is quite different from the previous installments as the whole concept was changed. The player can no longer drive around in free roam unless they decide to go around the map during a delivery, but they can only pick a job offer from the selection menu if users have met its requirements of having multiple new trucks and accomplished deliveries. The trucks and cars are modeled after real brands, although users can not own any vehicles through the game and are simply truck drivers seeking various jobs. Still, today's low to mediocre range computer will be able to run the game without getting low FPS. The game was mostly poorly received by critics. Game was criticised mostly for change of series concept. But it was well received by players and some reviews were positive towards the game and praised the game for its graphics and gameplay.[7]
18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker 2[6 Jan 2011][edit]
Released in 2011, Extreme Trucker 2 is a sequel to 18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker. The game has two additional locations: Montana and Bangladesh, and a few new types of cargo.[8]
References[edit]
18 Wheels Of Steel Across America
- ^'Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel Critic Reviews for PC'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^'18 Wheels of Steel: Across America Critic Reviews for PC'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^'18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal Critic Reviews for PC'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^'18 Wheels of Steel: Convoy Critic Reviews for PC'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^'18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin' Critic Reviews for PC'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^'18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul Critic Reviews for PC'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^'18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker Critic Reviews for PC'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^'18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker 2 Critic Reviews for PC'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
18 Wheels Of Steel Extreme Trucker