Truck Driver: The American Dream Review

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Fast Facts

I have never played many of the ‘simulator’ games. Yet I can’t deny they hold a mystical sort of appeal. When I saw Truck Driver: The American Dream come up, I decided to jump right in. How did I find my time out on the open road? Read this rapid review to find out. 

Life’s One Big Adventure

I was unsure what I was getting myself in for when I loaded up Truck Driver: The American Dream. I was pleasantly surprised by the game’s simplistic charm and felt an unexpected connection with the main character. Our lives don’t mirror one another. We’re from very different periods, but still, I felt empathy toward him, which drew me into the game.  

As the name would suggest, in Truck Driver: The American Dream, you play a truck driver. It’s your job to drive from place to place, collecting and hauling various loads. However, woven around it is a charming storyline that is cleverly written and bordering on lunacy in equal measure. I won’t give anything away, as that is not the way I write reviews, but I wasn’t expecting a story anywhere near as engaging and intricate as the one Truck Driver: The American Dream delivers. When you slow down and listen to the characters’ conversations, as shallow and bizarre as they sometimes may be, there are layers there that speak a far greater tale.

A Simple Game

There is something enjoyably simplistic about Truck Driver: The American Dream. The story all plays out from within the confines of your cab or via cutscenes. You drive your truck, perform your tasks and the game occurs around you. While this was undoubtedly enjoyable, I found myself wanting a little more depth. For something that is a simulator, I expected a little more than just accelerating, braking, and changing through a dozen or more gears. Simple things like hitching up to a trailer were reduced to a single button press. I’m not suggesting I know how they could have made the game more immersive, but I do know it was missing something. 

The game did a good job of telling a story. I enjoyed watching it play out from behind the wheel of my big rig. However, the simple game was also plagued by some simple problems. We’ll cover them in more detail shortly, but the main one that ruined the immersion for me was the lack of continuity between the time of day in the game and the story as it played out. Various checkpoints on the map triggered story elements. However, the time it took you to get there often didn’t align with the story sections. It was a small thing, but frustration pulled me away from the world I wanted to sink into. 

The AI Needs to Take the Blame

There is something almost therapeutic about driving around in this game. The map was large enough to give long drives yet not so overwhelming that you felt bored or lost. What did ruin things for me was the AI behaviour and programming.

I lost track of the utterly insane behaviour of the AI, which frequently reminded me more of someone playing the original GTA for the first time than a quasi-serious driving sim. They would cash into me for no reason. They would come to a complete and sudden stop in front of me and then just sit there for (in-game) hours. I would get overtaken, only for them to swerve into the side of my truck. This was not only annoying but resulted in damage that I had to pay for. I get that the odd bizarre incident could be called fun, but this happened to the point where it was commonplace. 

The game was also strange in how it dealt with driving offences. You get penalties for speeding or running red lights, etc. However, the AI will sit at lights not moving for several light cycles, leaving me sitting there, unable to move. This causes a lot of unnecessary annoyances that simply didn’t need to be there. One example, it took an AI car several cars ahead of me at the lights over an in-game hour to pull away at a junction. 

Questionable Decision Making

While I enjoyed driving around in Truck Driver: The American Dream, it was far from the perfect game. I loved the peace and near meditative headspace the calmness of this game delivered. However, some questionable decisions became strong annoyances. Namely the sudden appearance of invisible walls that would see my truck crash as if it had been speeding downhill without brakes, like Arnie at the start of Commando.

In one instance, I overtook a car that had stopped after hitting a cow. The animal lay in the road, and the car was battered and smoking. I thought this was a nice touch at the time. I indicated, moved into the next lane, and as I passed, my truck suddenly shot into the air and twisted around. There was an invisible wall there stopping me from following that route. What then happened became a borderline trauma-inducing paranoia that the roads could suddenly disappear at any minute whenever something blocked my path. Sometimes, it let me overtake. Other times, it did not. This was nerve-wracking and entirely unnecessary. I understood what the devs were trying to do. They wanted to guide me along a different route. The whole exercise made me use the map and plan my journey, but their manner of implementing the idea was not suitable. 

Final Thoughts on Truck Driver: The American Dream

As I pull up at my final spot, I look back at my time spent playing Truck Driver: The American Dream fondly. I enjoyed the game, but maybe not for what it was, but rather for what I needed it to be—an escape on the open roads. Credit goes to building a fun story from within the confines of a truck cab. Truck Driver: The American Dream could be a good game with a little more care and attention. I would be interested in playing more instalments. However, certain changes need to be made, if not for the sake of a semblance of realism, but then to stop the anxiety that rages when ghost walls are part of your daily life. 

Rapid Reviews Rating

2.5 out of 5

2.5

You can get your copy of Truck Driver: The American Dream from the PlayStation store now.