Sega’s latest ‘real-life’ racing game 18 Wheeler lets players take the controls of a large rig and try to beat the clock and rival drivers in their quest to get their cargo the goal and earn money. 18 Wheeler’s graphics are impressive for the console while the gameplay offers straightforward arcade action and many visceral thrills. Sega has also included some extra modes and the ability to battle it out via split-screen with a friend. It’s a solid conversion of the arcade title but is there enough under the hood to go the distance or does 18 Wheeler’s lack of depth make the trip disappointingly short? Read our review and find out.

Taking its cues from the hugely successful Crazy Taxi, Sega’s latest release 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker sets the action on a series of open highways and follows a similar formula. Players begin the game by selecting their trucker, each of whom has their own strengths and weaknesses. Then, it is on to the main game, which is straightforward and not difficult to explain or understand. 18 Wheeler’s main mission is to drive your truck to it’s destination before the timer runs out, successfully doing this means you earn bonus money. This isn’t as simple as it seems because there is a lot of traffic on the road and smashing into most other vehicles and objects will cost you money. In later rounds, you can also select which cargo you’ll take on the road with you. This is important because it means you have to balance the cash reward with how much you want to slow down. You also have to watch out for the rival trucker on the route who will try to bump you off the road and get in your way, mocking you along the route. You can get your measure of revenge by beating the rival, which earns you a large cash bonus, though this isn’t very easy to accomplish. Additionally, the game doesn’t give you a lot of room for leeway since there is a timer on the action. Fortunately, there are several factors working in your favor: first most of the courses have short cuts which can help to significantly slash your time. There is also a strategy called slip streaming where if you place your truck behind another vehicle, you’ll get a speed boost – this is especially helpful early on the race when you still need to accelerate. Finally, there are certain target cars that if you smash, you can gain extra time.

18 Wheeler’s racing action is surprisingly simple – basically, you only need to worry about two things: Getting the truck to it’s destination and beating your rival truck. While beating the rival truck is a good thing to try and accomplish, it isn’t essential, since you can still progress even if you fail at this. Once you have beaten a rival truck, you can play a mini parking game where the object is to park your truck in a specified area before the timer runs out. Successfully doing this will gain you an extra part/upgrade for the truck. Aside from that, you only really have to worry about avoiding the opposing traffic and smashing up objects on the screen. That pretty much sums up the action in the main arcade mode – it is short and simple with very little in the way of complexity. Despite the exciting and somewhat original concept, the biggest problem with 18 Wheeler is the lack of length – there are only 4 legs on your cross country journey, meaning that once mastered, you can go through the entire game in less than 20 minutes. A few more branches or alternative routes would have really made 18 Wheeler a lot more fun, but as it stands, this conversion just doesn’t offer enough gameplay, and it’s linear nature is also a big problem, since unlike Crazy Taxi, you pretty much do the same thing every time through.  Sega has made a half-hearted attempt at adding replay value with some additional modes but these add little in the end.

Of the additional modes, the one that should provide the most enjoyment is the two-player battle mode, where you and a friend battle it out to see who can complete the course first. 18 Wheeler’s Split screen mode is designed in such a way as to not constrain you peripheral vision while still allowing you to see the rival’s position clearly on the other half of the screen. Unfortunately, of 18 Wheeler’s other modes, most are rather basic and don’t extend the replay value as much as one would hope they would. There’s a score attack mode where you go around the course three times making as much money as possible between your cargo bonus and time remaining. In this mode, you are trying to get a high score. It’s fun the first few times through but doesn’t really have the depth to make for a long term commitment. There’s also a special parking only mode where you can practice parking your rig. It makes good practice for the bonus levels during the game, but as a stand-alone game, it also suffers from a lack of depth. Despite some decent effort and thought that went into the game, 18 Wheeler doesn’t have enough depth to really engross you. It’s a real shame, because what is there is very exciting and enjoyable, and this is a case of having not nearly enough of a good thing. That’s usually good, except here you’re left wanting more because what’s offered is largely unsatisfying.

18 Wheeler’s controls are surprisingly simple; the player concentrates on steering, with only some minor shifting from low to high gear really needed. As you might expect 18 Wheeler’s large, bulky rigs don’t control with the same responsiveness that smaller vehicles do and players will need to compensate for this. However, once the player has become acclimated to their nuances, they should for the most part really appreciate the solid, responsive handling of the trucks, the key here is to anticipate turns and not end up being stuck. There are some very annoying turns and dead-end road signs where there just isn’t enough time for the player to avoid running into an object which is truly annoying at these points. Despite the flaws in the controls and some serious problems with its structure, 18 Wheeler is a joy to play, it’s a lot of fun while it lasts and the main challenge of beating each level before the strict time limits expire makes the initial rounds alternately thrilling and frustrating until you’ve mastered the controls.

As is the custom for Sega’s generally outstanding arcade-to-home translations, 18 Wheeler is quite impressive visually showing a high degree of production polish in a technically excellent engine. While it’s solid, there’s a strong sense of déjà vu  because the engine looks quite similar to the one used in Crazy Taxi. The objects onscreen look razor sharp and sport lots of details. Unlike Crazy Taxi, there is very little pop-in to speak of, which gives the game a solid appearance throughout. It also runs at a silky smooth frame rate that allows for a speedy action without very much slowdown evident. The trucks look impressive and show some good light sourcing and reflections throughout, with sun glistening off the chrome on your truck, making for an impressive effect. The game also allows players to view the action from either a behind the truck or first-person angle. Of these, viewing the action outside the truck is advantageous, since the first person view makes it difficult to see the periphery until you get the hang of the mirrors. The music and sound effects are excellent; the radio-motif adds to the game’s authentic hauling atmosphere. 18 Wheeler’s voice-overs have that trademark Sega attitude and should make you laugh a little here and there. So overall, the production is solid, with that classic Sega arcade feel, but is there enough to really justify a full-price purchase?

While there’s much to like about 18 Wheeler, it’s a good arcade to home translation with solid gameplay, excellent controls, a solid graphics engine and innovative racing action, there is still one over-riding issue that really undermines the entire game. What it comes down to is this: while 18 Wheeler is extremely enjoyable, it is also disappointingly short and lacks depth. Despite the extra modes put on the GD-ROM, the low replay value isn’t mitigated by these extras. Even though it’s based on an arcade game and is extremely fun while it lasts, its lack of depth makes for a seriously short-lived experience. While 18 Wheeler has that trademark Sega arcade feel in evidence and is far from a horrible game, there just isn’t enough to justify the price tag. Given the short length of the title, it might be best to rent the game now and wait until the price comes down a bit to add it to your collection.