Review: Euro Truck Simulator 2

4 stars
Why this is my favourite simulation game

When I played this game for the first time in 2013 I already felt like a truck driver, although I played it with mouse and keyboard. Comparing it with other so called ‘simulation games’ especially the graphics and physics behavior of Ets2 are standing out. Last year I bought a steering wheel and pedals only for Euro Truck Simulator 2 (and its American counterpart) to have an even more realistic experience. And that’s what a simulation game should aim on, not releasing a new game every (two) year(s) like Farming and Bus simulators do. That’s another great advantage of Ets2: The game has been released in 2012 and still gets free updates with more or less cool features, as well as paid DLC.

The DLC politics is always a problem of simulation games. But it’s not that extreme with Ets2 like with Train Simulator where you have to pay 3.600€ to unlock all features. Yes, Ets2 has some DLC too, but they are from high quality and don’t cost that much. Some of them also bring cool new game mechanics, like special transports.

The problem I have with Ets2 is that you can see that it’s a game from 2012 in some parts. The original map (Germany, UK, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium) looks very monotonous and doesn’t really represent the countries. If you have some of the map expansion DLCs it seems like you drive through an entirely different game if you come from Italy to Germany, or France to Belgium. Some of the trucks also seem to be stuck in 2012 but that’s a license problem, I guess.

So in the end I would say that Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a great game for truck fans, travel fans (like me) or people who are just looking for a relaxing game.