Hard Truck: Apocalypse Preview

The future is a bleak place in Hard Truck Apocalypse. The majority of the world's population has been wiped out due a mysterious incident. The few remaining survivors have done their best to rebuild and survive in the now unpredictable and hostile world. Gone are the complex jobs of a modern society. Instead the world of Hard Truck: Apocalypse (HT:A) is built upon simple trade, especially trading and shipping, which is where you the player come in. You're driving a truck, traveling from town to town performing various trades or tasks for the citizens within the cities.

The basic premise of HT:A revolves around your truck, your driving skills and your thirst for revenge. Because of the world's conditions traveling from city to city requires vehicles armed for combat. It's a race for survival when you venture out of a city because of bandits and gangsters looking to take you out. The reason for the hostility is simple, to control trade routes between the cities. If all of the independent couriers (you) are taken out then the bandits can take over all of the cities. But instead of starting off with a heavily armed vehicle (think Twisted Metal for PlayStation) you slowly earn money and better weapons for your car.

The trade and weapon upgrades are the RPG portion of the game. Instead of this just being a vehicle-combat game, HT:A lets you talk to various NPCs in the game to accept (or turn down) jobs or quests. The jobs/quests usually involve you transporting an item or person from one city to another to earn money. You can then spend the money to upgrade your truck with better guns, armor or other items. The quests also expand the plot of the game with the interaction between your character and the other characters in the game. The preview version played up the revenge card very early in the game with my character. I will leave the spoilers out, but needless to say someone wasn't happy after I started to win a battle in the game.

The combat in the game is the meat and potatoes of HT:A. The game is presented in a third-person perspective with the controls similar to a first-person shooter. You move with the "W, A, S, and D" buttons, fire with the mouse buttons and control the camera angle with the mouse. The combat in the game is straightforward and simple, but I felt that I was always fighting and traveling in slow motion. My truck never seemed to have any speed to it which made the combat seem lackluster. Hopefully the slowness isn't a sign of the entire game and only a portion of the preview version. The graphics in the game were well done with a very consistent framerate and no pop up or draw-in issues when traveling between the various cities.

The game's Web site mentions detailed physics but I can't say that the physics engine in the game will have you looking for small details to show off to your friends. In fact, I noticed a couple problems during certain parts that could be either AI issues or physic issues. I was on an escort mission with an NPC character and her character got stuck on a pole in the game. I had to ram her car in order for her to move. Then my truck got stuck in another city on some pipes next to a building. I spent at least 10 minutes hitting the acceleration and brake on my truck to rock the truck back and forth just to free it up. But yet when I was in combat anytime I knocked one of the bandits cars over it would pop right back up. Once again maybe this was just an issue with the preview version.

Hard Truck: Apocalypse should be a game that appeals to gamers looking for something a little different. It's not a straightforward car-combat game and it isn't a pure RPG either. But the game offers a nice mixture, with a few issues, of both genres that should attract an audience when the game is released soon. Remember it's up to you, your truck and your combat skills to stay alive in Hard Truck Apocalypse.