Star Trucker - space truckers

As most Fringe readers know, I love tractor-trailer simulators. I also love games about space. So, of course, I couldn't pass by the space trucker simulator Star Trucker. As it turned out, this is the American Truck Simulator carefully transferred to airless space.

It's really almost 100% American Truck Simulator in space. There is a spacecraft in the form of a tractor-trailer with a huge hood, similar to some International 9900i or Kenworth W900. It even has exhaust pipes, filters, and a radiator, but instead of wheels, rocket engines are hidden in the wheel arches. These space trucks move at a speed only slightly faster than their Earthly counterparts - 180-250 km/hour - and the distances within one system in Star Trucker are only 5-9 km, not thousands and hundreds of thousands, as they should be in reality.

There are also numerous businesses and freight depots; trailers that look eerily similar to Earth trailers, but without wheels; gas stations and weigh stations; even highways with huge signs like on Earth roads, here they point to areas free of space debris and debris; lines of white jump gates that look very much like the lines at traffic lights in ATS/ETS2; car repair shops, and so on.

The speeds here are almost the same as in American Truck Simulator, the only thing is that you have to dodge meteors and debris, and maneuver in three-dimensional space, which is a bit more difficult than with a regular car, especially when docking with the station and trailers. By the way, practice driving the space truck with the help of cameras, as this is the only option available in some systems.

However, Star Trucker is not just a clone of American Truck Simulator in space, this game has many more options, some of which should be taken into account by the authors of ATS, SCS Software. For example, in Star Trucker, a collision with a meteorite or other debris can damage a truck and cause a hole. To fix it, you need to put on a spacesuit and go into space. In addition, you will need a spacesuit to inspect the sites of space crashes in search of useful cargoes that can be transported in a truck cab and then sold or used yourself.

The thing is, your truck in Star Trucker consumes more than just fuel. Its systems are powered by universal batteries that need to be replaced from time to time. In addition, the control electronics also deteriorate and need to be replaced. If you don't have time or don't have a spare battery or board, gravity, thrust, air conditioning, or oxygen production may shut down. In the latter case, you will quickly suffocate and have to start from a service station, which will bill you a hefty fee. Oh, I almost forgot, you should also keep an eye on the filters.

And in Star Trucker, all the buttons in the space truck's cabin work, and there are two dozen of them. Radio, air conditioning, separate zone lighting, blinds, jump, air brakes, switching modes of two service screens / cameras. Even a separate shutdown of the maneuvering motors on the axes to stabilize the control during gateway. This is really impressive.

In addition, Star Trucker takes into account how carefully you drive and avoid sudden braking and collisions. Because the cargo in both the trailer and the cab can be damaged, and a damaged battery or electronics will perform less well.

All this sounds interesting enough, but the authors of Star Trucker overthought the difficulty a bit, and even on Normal, the game turns into an endless management of batteries, boards, and patching holes in the body, a kind of first-person FTL, there is simply no time left for driving the truck and delivering goods, and the money that is earned by completing tasks at the beginning of the game is not enough to maintain the truck. The authors have realized their mistake and promise to release a patch soon to correct the balance, but given that only two people worked on the game, it may take some time. For now, I advise you to start playing on an easy or custom difficulty level.

Another thing that Star Trucker does well and that other developers of similar games should pay attention to is radio communication with other truckers with the ability to choose answers and the need to complete small tasks for colleagues. In this way, you will open up additional systems and sectors whose gameplay is very different from what you see at the beginning. These tasks from other drivers really diversify the gameplay, they are interesting and original.

As for other sectors, what about, for example, the need to close the blinds during a solar storm and control the space truck using only cameras? Or systems where electrical charges accumulate in nebulae that can "fry" the truck and its systems. Or systems that have hidden asteroids, and in order to "highlight" them for a while, you need to honk the sonar horn. Yes, a horn in space, we know, but Star Trucker has its own rules, almost like the movie Space Truckers (1996).

Among the disadvantages of Star Trucker, it is worth noting the very modest possibilities for customizing the car, especially inside the cab, and the fact that there is only one "car" in the game. And of course, like all transportation games, it may seem a bit boring and monotonous to some.

And one more thing, docking is certainly cool and very interesting, but why can't new tasks be received by radio? Why do you have to first look for the right docking node and then carefully dock? It's understandable in the case of a store where you need to deliver or pick up things, but in the case of information?

If it wasn't for the balance issues, Star Trucker could have gotten a higher score. So, if you like games about trucks and space, be sure to give it a try, especially since the game is available as part of the Xbox/PC Game Pass.