Reviewed: July 14, 2010
Reviewed by: Mahamari Tsukitaka

Publisher
1C Company

Developer
SoftLab

Released: July 19, 2010
Genre: Simulation
Players: 1

6
7
6
7
6.5

System Requirements:

Gameplay is simple and comes in two modes: Story and Single Mission. Both modes are pretty self-explanatory. Single Mission allows you to choose a starting warehouse location, from which you can pick from a variety of transport missions, and the game ends when the mission is complete.

In Story mode, you play Nick Armstrong, a trucker and entrepreneur who has dreams of running the best cargo transporting company in California. To compete with other carriers, however, he has to earn money, make friends, and gradually expand his business. The story includes a number of cut scenes and introduces several additional characters, but as far as I’ve observed, it’s best not to expect the plot to be a strong motivator to play the game.

As a trucking simulation, Rig’n’Roll definitely caters to a particular niche audience and incorporates rather detailed truck controls, including headlights (which you must turn on manually at night to see), turn signals, gear-shifting, window wipers (it does sometimes rain), and side rearview mirrors that come in handy when using the interior driving view. I found the game playable (if somewhat awkwardly so) with my keyboard, though you’ll have a significantly better and more immersive driving experience with a racing wheel controller.

Despite the occasional changes in scenery and developer’s attempt to depict California roads and landmarks faithfully, however, I found much of the driving experience to be a bit more repetitive and unremarkable than I had expected from the description on the back of the box. Ultimately, most missions come down to delivering cargo on time—and more quickly than your competitors, if possible—while avoiding mishaps like crashing into the center divide or other cars, and keeping on the police’s good side. Some of the routes, like the drive from San Jose to Los Angeles (about an hour in-game, compared to roughly six hours in the real world), are quite lengthy, so it can get old for those of us who spend a lot of time driving in real life already. For the game’s target trucking-enthusiast audience, however, it might be a great time.

As expected, though, practical limitations, including the need to cut down in-game driving time, mean that the roads aren’t actually all that accurate. The Rig’n’Roll world’s symbolic version of the highways in my area of the state is hardly recognizable, despite it being a major metropolitan area. Traffic is also unrealistically sparse, though realistic traffic would probably render the game so difficult as to be unplayable. Overall, it’s good enough for a game, as long as you’re not expecting a truer-to-life driving simulation of California.

There’s also more to Rig’n’Roll than truck-driving simulation. Beyond driving your truck and running missions yourself, you’ll also be overseeing your trucking business from one of your offices, managing your fleet, hiring and firing other drivers, buying new offices, and setting company policies. The game also offers some small amusements in between transport jobs, like the opportunity to upgrade and customize your truck at the repair shop, or side trips to the burger joint or local bar. Occasionally, you’ll come across an unexpected event, such as a fellow trucker on the CB radio asking for help with his cargo, though these don’t happen often enough, in my opinion.

Admittedly, besides having had a passing Optimus Prime-inspired childhood fascination with big trucks, I’m not really someone who falls into Rig’n’Roll’s target audience, so it’s difficult for me to say much about the 13 models of trucks available, outside of that they add a number of customization options. What I can say, though, is that the graphics—even given their forgivable level of monotony over those 1,200 miles of simulated roads—are reasonably easy on the eyes.

The attention to environmental and vehicular detail is relatively high, the trucks look attractively realistic and shiny, the cargo containers (such as the livestock trailer loaded with calves) actually reflect their contents, and the vehicles do take visible damage. When you hit something, windows shatter, panels and bumpers are knocked loose, and sometimes you might even lose your cargo. For a game of this type, the graphics are commendably executed where they count most.

I can only think of a few things that I found visually jarring. Road signs, for instance, are unreadable until you get close to them, and their visibility does not seem to correspond to the range of 20/20 vision. Nighttime driving, too, is much more difficult than it should be due to the incredibly dim headlights and no reflectors on the roads, and it can be nearly impossible to drive in dark conditions without switching to the first-person interior view. Also, the humans (in contrast with the beautifully rendered trucks) are unnatural-looking and animated like puppets, but given how infrequently they appear, at least they don’t detract too much from the visuals.

As for the game’s sound, the truck noises are believably realistic (yes, you can honk the horn at will), and the radio tunes and character voices are adequate but unremarkable.

Rig’n’Roll retails for €29.99 (or $34.95) and is somewhat resource-intensive, requiring at least a lower-end gaming graphics card and taking up at least 10GB on your hard drive. The pricing is moderate, and the game is decent, but unless you’re really into driving virtual big rigs or running your own simulated trucking company, you might get more bang for your buck elsewhere. Don’t get me wrong; overall, Rig’n’Roll provides a pretty comprehensive trucking simulation, but I just found myself wishing much of the time that there was more excitement to the game besides the mild suspense of whether I’ll accidentally hit the semi next to me while I try to pass him. Then again, maybe Rig’n’Roll isn’t designed with the hot-blooded mainstream gamer in mind.

Having had no other experience with big rig trucking simulators, I can’t say how Rig’n’Roll compares to its competitors, but it seems to run fairly smoothly and accomplish what it sets out to do as a truck-driving and trucking business simulator. It’s too bad that the game apparently contains strong language because I think kids in that truck phase might really enjoy this game with a racing wheel controller, and the economic aspects of managing a company might even be a little educational. Otherwise, the characters and storyline aren’t especially impelling, but if you love the idea of driving big trucks on open roads and developing your own simulated cargo transport business, I can’t see why you wouldn’t enjoy this game.