Road trips. They’re fun
to watch in movies, and they’re fun to think about…but are they ever really
that great? The rides are long, bathrooms are scarce, and the most common food
comes from the Golden Arches. If that’s a vacation, I think I’d rather stay
home.
…And go on a journey
with The King of Route 66, the sequel to 18 Wheeler Pro Trucker. I’ve never
wanted to be truck driver, but Sega has made it so much fun that it really
doesn’t feel like a truck-driving game. The main goal is as simple as the main
goal in Crazy Taxi: pick up a load (anything from dinosaur bones to a giant gas
tank) and safely deliver it to its destination. That’s cool, but the game’s
real fun comes from all of the obstacles that try to prevent you from making
your delivery on time.
As Sega promised during a
recent conference call, The King of Route 66 is a much bigger and much
longer game than its predecessor. Aside from having a few new game modes, The
King of Route 66 has a much greater amount of diverse locations. There are
several branching points, where the player has the option to choose either an
easy or hard difficulty level, carrier a lighter or heavier load, and travel to
a different location! This essentially creates two different arcade modes, both
with different stages and different shipments to deliver.
While still linear, the
new stages are excellent. They were designed with more freedom and more realism
than before, allowing the player to choose which shortcuts to take and which
paths to avoid. Arrows help to guide you in the right direction, but all
existing areas in the game can be explored. Normally, when an arrow barrier
appears in a game, it’s just that. But in The King of Route 66, you can drive
right through it and continue down that path. Sometimes it leads to a shortcut,
other times you’ll end up in the middle of nowhere. It’s great having the
ability to make a choice and figure things out on your own, as opposed to some
of the more restrictive driving games out there.
18 Wheeler Pro Trucker
had the unique element of rival truck drivers. Not only did this increase the
game’s difficulty, but it also made it more fun. The King of Route 66 takes
that concept a little bit further by adding more rivals this time around, all of
which have a reason for wanting to defeat you so badly: they’re evil. Mr. Crown
is the head of the rival gang called Tornado. Crown wants to make every inch of
Route 66 his, and he’ll stop at nothing to do achieve his goal. In racing him,
making safe deliveries and doing as the town folks ask, you’ll defeat the
Tornado Corporation and put them out of business for good.
No Sega arcade game would
be complete with new game modes. An arcade mode is expected, though I did not
expect it to be nearly as involving it as it is. In addition, there’s a new
career mode called The Queen of Route 66. The title comes from the goal: you
must earn the love of eight different hotties while traveling from state to
state. As any man will tell you, it’s not easy earning the love of a woman.
These queens go a bit easier on you though; complete the objectives (such as
collecting lost jewels before the time runs out) that they have laid out for you
and their love is yours.
The Queen of Route 66
mode is fun, and so is Rival Chase (which is a more race-oriented version of the
game). But they really could have removed the challenge mode and replaced it
with something else (maybe an additional stage). All the challenge mode is, is
a collection of eight boring, repetitive mini-games that pale in comparison to
the exciting mini-games from Crazy Taxi. The mini-games include: hitting cars
like golf bolls; car destruction; and even more car destruction. There are
other types as well, but they’re all very similar, and fail to add anything to
the overall experience of the game.
That one complaint aside,
The King of Route 66 delivered the kind of gaming experience I was looking for.
Gameplay: 8
Superior
controls, superior courses, superior gameplay, superior graphics, etc, etc.!
Every aspect of 18 Wheeler Pro Trucker has been improved in this game. If you
take one virtual road trip this year, take it now with The King of Route 66.
Graphics: 8
From the
third-person view, The King of Route 66 looks great, but no more impressive than
other top PS2 games. From the inside-the-car view, however, the game becomes
even more impressive. The raindrop effects are exceptional, and camera is
positioned in such a way that it really makes you feel like you’re driving a
vehicle.
Sound: 7.8
The King of Route
66’s sound surprised me. Both the music and the voice-acting is good, meaning
that you won’t have to use the mute button while playing for many hours at a
time
Difficulty: Medium
The King of Route
66 is a challenging game, but it won’t take long for most gamers to get the hang
of it.
Concept: 7
Sega has taken
what they learned during the development of 18 Wheeler and expanded on it with a
sequel that no Crazy Taxi fan should miss.
Multiplayer: 7
Racing The King
of Route 66’s linear courses with a friend just isn’t as fun as the
single-player experience. It’s good, but would be better with four-player
split-screen action and several non-linear stages.
Overall: 7.5
18 Wheeler was
good, but The King of Route 66 is great. It’s vastly improved over the
original, with a huge increase in gameplay quality. It’s hard to pinpoint this
game’s length (Noah Musler estimates 20 hours long), but there is so much to do
that you’ll definitely be kept busy for a while, even if you’ve mastered 18
Wheeler.
