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Euro Truck Simulator 2 Linux closed beta begins, my initial thoughts

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Euro Truck Simulator 2 a game widely known to be heading to Linux has begun it's closed beta and I have been lucky enough to have been gifted a copy to test, here's my thoughts on this odd title.

QuoteTravel across Europe as king of the road, a trucker who delivers important cargo across impressive distances! With dozens of cities to explore from the UK, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and many more, your endurance, skill and speed will all be pushed to their limits. If you’ve got what it takes to be part of an elite trucking force, get behind the wheel and prove it!


So it's a truck driving game where you run your own truck driving delivery company, odd but it's these types of games Linux needs to satisfy everyone.

If you remember I interviewed them a little while ago and so It may come as no shock I was picked to test!

Honestly when I first loaded up I really didn't expect much from this title as it's not one i would usually pick up and play, I am pleased to say I am more than pleasantly surprised by this one!

First thing that put a smile on my face, you can start in my home city of Plymouth! Cool eh?

The driving aspect is very nice, they give you 8 different views so hopefully you will find the one you want! It does take a little getting used to, I may have crashed a few times trying to get out of where I was parked...

The performance of the game play was great, everything felt fast (as fast as slow trucks are...) and fluid and the interface seems to be designed really well and gave me no confusion.

I will do a proper review in good time once it's polished up and out in the wild (no issues found yet!). Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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14 comments
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muntdefems Apr 10, 2013
Not a very impressing HQ, to say the least... :P

I've never played a game like this and I'm curious. How does the driving simulation part work? I expect you don't have to play for hours and hours just to do an international delivery. :O
Yulike Apr 10, 2013
As someone who uses the Ferry terminal in Plymouth at least 3 times a month, I have nothing nice to say about Plymouth. The game on the other hand, it looks awesome and I'll buy it when it's out of beta. :)
Liam Dawe Apr 10, 2013
Quoting: YulikeAs someone who uses the Ferry terminal in Plymouth at least 3 times a month, I have nothing nice to say about Plymouth. The game on the other hand, it looks awesome and I'll buy it when it's out of beta. :)
Hah ouch, I like Plymouth personally :P, although I actually live outside of it now!
Joe Apr 11, 2013
Played it for a couple of hours under Windows. At first it felt like a really boring game because every delivery mission takes about 10-15 minutes on average and your maximum speed is 90km/h. Graphics also aren't that mind-blowing as in - let's say Battlefield 3 - even on all settings maxed out, so there are no ultra realistic graphics to distract you and you start to wish there was a way to drive faster.

However, the game somehow still managed to pull me in after a while and the landscape is actually pretty diverse and reflects the area of Europe that you drive in. It's also fun to discover the various cities and recognize their landmark buildings. I also started enjoying the challenge to drive and park these big vehicles. When you drive at night and it's pitch black outside, with only your trailer lights visible in the rear mirror and you listen to music on the built-in Internet radio, it actually develops a pretty relaxing and immersive experience.

The game is not without its faults though. Computer controlled traffic often drives terribly slow (30km/h in cities and 60km/h outside of cities, even when 50 and 90 are the max permitted speeds) and will really annoy you as you often cannot pass due to the low acceleration of your heavy truck. Sometimes traffic in front of you will also suddenly yield to imaginary traffic, forcing you to wait forever or making you slam the brakes to avoid a crash. When traffic gets stuck, I found that changing the graphics settings will also reset the traffic simulation, so at least there is a way to get back to driving without restarting a mission (can also be used as a cheat to make slow traffic disappear :p )

So all in all, I would give it a 7/10. It's not a game for everybody and it is not without issues. However it pulls off what to me appears as a credible reproduction of what it must be like making a living from driving trucks and provide a decent amount of fun at the same time. Thus if you're someone who enjoys simulation games, this is definitely a game to check out.
Sabun Apr 11, 2013
If I had the Logitech Steering set of controllers, then I'd probably enjoy this game like crazy :)
(By enjoy, I mean crashing into everyone hehe. Can't road rage in real life, so virtual will have to do).
jack Apr 11, 2013
Liam, why don't you record us a video?
Thanks, 

Jack
Superuser Apr 11, 2013
Quoting: JoeThe game is not without its faults though. Computer controlled traffic often drives terribly slow (30km/h in cities and 60km/h outside of cities, even when 50 and 90 are the max permitted speeds) and will really annoy you as you often cannot pass due to the low acceleration of your heavy truck. Sometimes traffic in front of you will also suddenly yield to imaginary traffic, forcing you to wait forever or making you slam the brakes to avoid a crash.
Well, it's a no-nonsense driving simulation game. What did you expect, a GTA clone with trucks?

Which is why this game is probably not for me. If I want a boring drive in the countryside, I'll go in my car instead. Except that driving bores me. I still can't see the appeal of this game. Played flight simulators (Microsoft's and FlightGear) and they didn't pull me in much either. Hope a Linux demo is released once the beta is over.
anonymous Apr 11, 2013
There's more to it than just driving throug the countryside. There are trucks to buy, drivers to hire, garages to expand, loans to pay back. You all seem to miss management part of the game which is very satisfying.
Liam Dawe Apr 11, 2013
Quoting: anonymousThere's more to it than just driving throug the countryside. There are trucks to buy, drivers to hire, garages to expand, loans to pay back. You all seem to miss management part of the game which is very satisfying.
Indeed the majority of the game is driving but their is a full management sim behind it as well. Trucks have upgrades and all sorts.

It's actually quite challenging.
Liam Dawe Apr 11, 2013
Quoting: jackLiam, why don't you record us a video?
Thanks, 

Jack
I can try but no promises on how it will look, I don't exactly have the most powerful unit around :(
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