18 Wheels of Steel

18 Wheels of Steel (sometimes abbreviated as 18 WoS) is a 3D animated series of trucking simulators developed by SCS Software and published by ValuSoft from 2003 to 2011. The series currently has 7 installments.

Games list

18 Wheels of Steel: Across America [2003]

This installment is very similar to Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel except that the graphics were updated, more trucks and cargo were added, and a new map was created that enables users to travel across the entire continental U.S., through 30 cities. In this version, players can choose from 30 trucks and 40+ trailers. The trucks each blow brownish colored exhaust from their stacks when their engines are operated above 2500 RPM. Time is made up of a total of 24 minutes in a day in the clock, and goes by rather quickly. You will also battle 3 AI drivers.

This game focuses on the delivery of cargo. Unlike in Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel, the sleep timer was removed from the simulation. There is an improved traffic model as well as Planes, helicopters, and trains with authentic sounds. This game also features the fastest fuel consumption when driving a truck.
Countries: United States

Trivia: The "Rusty" truck in the game is based off the "Duel" truck from the film "Duel".

18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal [Aug 30, 2004]

In this installment, released in 2004, the user can travel across the entire continental US, and also through northern Mexico and southern Canada, through 30 cities. The sleep timer was brought back in this version. It has an improved traffic model. 18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal requires OpenGL This installment is the original. It also has the fastest map to date besides Haulin' and is the first trucking game to feature more than one country. Countries: United States, Canada, and Mexico

Canada: Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Thunder Bay, and Edmonton

Mexico: Chihuahua, Monterrey, and Guaymas

18 Wheels of Steel: Convoy [Sep 1, 2005]

In this updated installment, you can travel through the United States, as well as southern Canada, though it differs from 18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal in that Mexican cities are not present, this might be considered as the bad part of the series since it did not improve much from its predecessor except for minor additions. You can travel through 30+ cities and choose from 35+ rigs, 45+ cargoes and 47+ trailers. The player has to use the mouse to look outside of the cab at the mirrors. The graphics are also much improved in this version, and users can see drivers in other vehicles and when the trucks are "lugged" under 1500 RPM, they emit black exhaust much like older non-computerized trucks do. However, other graphical features such as dynamic dashboard gauges were replaced with simple inanimate textures, although this and minor bugs were fixed with a patch released by SCS Software in 2008. Players can also buy things to protect themselves. This version is considered the worst in the series because of lack of improvement and several glitches. Also, players cannot save the game during a delivery. Only before the delivery or after the delivery.

Countries: United States and Canada

18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin [Dec 8, 2006]

This installment adds more cities and has more realistic graphics, but Mexico is gone from this installment, as in Convoy. The ability to use custom soundtracks and save games during deliveries was added also. Users can choose from 32 rigs, 45+ cargoes and 47+ trailers in the game, including double trailers.The game does not require a very powerful computer to operate properly since it can run on most older PC-s(RAM 256MB, processor 1.4 GHz,64MB video card). The game's engine, Prism3d, may not respond on older graphic cards resulting in a game crash on the game's start-up. Countries include the United States and Canada.

18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul [Dec 3, 2007]

This installment of the game is very similar to and has the same game play as Haulin' but with renamed companies, 2 new trucks, and 3 cities in Mexico added. The previous 9 cities [Chihuahua, Guaymas, Monterrey, etc.] from 18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal have returned but the map for each was slightly updated. Countries: United States, Canada, and Mexico.

18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker [Sep 23, 2009]

Extreme Trucker lets you be the brave trucker and deliver cargoes in any of the three main areas of the game: Yungas Road (also known as Road of Death), Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road, and the Australian Outback. All three maps are "extreme" in their ways: Driving on the icy and snowy roads of northern Canada can be a tough challenge no matter what you deliver. The Australian long distance routes will let you drive "road trains", up to 5 multiple trailers attached. The South American area is known for its narrow roads, a moment of lack of caution and you find yourself dropping off the edge of a cliff. This game is quite different from the previous installments as the whole concept is changed. The player can no longer drive around in free roam unless you decide to go around the map during a delivery, but you can only pick a job offer from the selection menu only if users have met its requirements of having multiple new trucks and accomplished deliveries. The trucks and cars are this time made after real brands, although users can not own any vehicles through the game, and you are simply a truck driver seeking for various jobs. Still, today's low to mediocre range computer will be able to run the game without getting low FPS (1.9 GHz CPU,1 GB RAM,256 MB graphics accelerator). Continents: North America, South America, and Australia

The game was mostly poorly received by critics. Game was criticised mostly for change of series concept. But it was well received by players and some reviews were positive towards the game and praised the game for its graphics and gameplay.

18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker 2 [Jan 6, 2011]

Released in 2011, Extreme Trucker 2 is a sequel to 18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker. The game has two additional locations: Montana and Bangladesh, and a few new types of cargo.

Continents: North America, South America, Australia, and Asia.

Modification

Much of the game's data is in a file named "base.scs". This file can be extracted with most zip compression software. Within the new folders are most of the game textures, including terrain, truck skins, backgrounds, and others, as well as code for cities, trucks, and other in-game objects. While the game's publisher, ValuSoft, does not provide support on exactly how to "mod" the game, there are several communities and sites dedicated to that purpose, creating even new maps and trucks.

External links

• SCS Software
• ValuSoft