Review: Trucker: Parking Simulator
Score:
82%
Ever wanted to haul cargo around the roads of the United Kingdom, Steely Eyed Span on the stereo, and making sure you don't hit the fence on a tight turn? If you do, and you never quite managed to get there, Trucker: Parking Simulator could be the perfect game for your weekend.
Version Reviewed: 1.0.0.0
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Let's be honest here, this is a fascinating idea for game. It's a precision driving simulator, which rewards you for navigating the roads, paths, and obstacles placed in your way without touching them. You also have to watch the timer to finish the levels as quickly as possible, and your final challenge is to park up in the space with no overhanging truck beds, wheels, or cabs.
These three areas will each award you a star if you complete them - one star will let you advance to the next level, but more will of course be better.
With three styles of truck (an oil tanker, a monster truck, or a pickup truck), and thirty six driving courses for each truck, there's a lot of action to get through. If you think of these courses as a separate level in a puzzle game, then you'll see where Trucker is targeted.
All of the levels are possible, but with tough time limits and evil design they're not easy. As you progress through the game your driving skills will improve... you'll have no choice, if you want to pass through and get the starts you'll need speed as well as accuracy.
You also have the free driving mode, where the 'driving school' roads and courses are open for you to explore and practice wherever you want to go.
To help you navigate around the world, you have ten different camera options. Eight of them are spread around the truck to give you a viewpoint when you get close to the edge. The ninth is perhaps the most useful, representing the top down camera so you have no foreshortening to deal with.
But the last view, the cab view, is the one I find myself using a significant amount of the time, It just feels right, even if I can't see just where my trailer is crashing into.
The sound replicates the grumbling of a large engine, and really does help to sell the idea of being in a truck while playing, but the small speakers on a Windows Phone does not help the audio experience. Grab a big pair of headphones and crank the volume up, that makes it sound closer to real life.
Graphically this title is not perfect. While the obstacles and objects in your way are very much of the real world variety (so expect a lot of shades of concrete and the occasional traffic cone), I was surprised that when I was in the top down view, there were a lot of texture mirroring and shuttering effects going on (as if there was more than one texture fighting to be on top). Initially I thought it might be an issue on the 512MB devices, but it's present across a range of WP devices.
It's nice to see that Trucker is suitable for the WP8 devices with the smaller memory footprint. Apart from some issues on the smaller screen (specifically the space between the controls leading to a cramped feeling), the visuals and the gameplay are the same over the platform. Arguably delivering a consistent experience for developers is one of the key advantages to Windows Phone, but it's always nice to see it implemented well.
And that sums up Trucker. It's very well coded, and glitching aside the graphics and look feel accurate. The levels are well designed, and everything feels achievable. Okay it might not be to everyone's tastes, but as an ad-supported free download (although you can purchase a 'remove the apps' token) there's no reason not to check out Trucker. It might look like a driving game, but it's actually a mix of puzzle, platform, and precision that I'm happy to recommend.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at