REDONE REVIEW 11/17/2023 on version 1.48.5:

This will now be my third revision of the review for this game. I have played it for over 10 years now as I had it locally before Steam, and let me tell you I've sunk some serious hours into this game.

So let's start off with the basics. This game is a driving simulator where you haul stuff around the map, thus building a trucking empire. You can keep it small if you want, or own every garage on the map with a full fleet of trucks and trailers. It all depends on your playing style. You can play it arcade-y and wreck everything, or use it to learn how to run a truck. It's a simulator, play it how you want.

There are 19 different trucks in the game as of now, coming from 7 different fully licensed brands with their appropriate configurations. When I started playing, less than half of these trucks didn't exist, and there were a few unlicensed brands.

The quality of this game has improved dramatically since it released, don't think it's just some 12 year old game still updated. Yes there are some parts that are extremely dated, however most of this is/has been reworked. For example the map, they have been revising the older countries for the last 5 years now to make the roads and towns match the real thing. Not to mention the graphics updates, physics updates, truck reworks.. this game is extremely different to what it was 11 years ago when it released.

On to DLC and mods support, there is a TON of it. You can get almost all of continental Europe via map expansions, and you can also find licensed trailer packs, new cargo packs, among other things. While these map expansions are pretty pricy and would add up quick, you can more than double the map size with them. Plus, they come with new companies, new loads, all kinds of new scenery and more. Onto mod support, you can find almost anything for this game. Yes the mods can be tricky to get working, but if you know a little about how mods work, then it's very easy to load up with a ton of mods and play the game truly how you want. From sound packs to new trucks to new trailers to custom UI to custom graphics, almost anything is available as a mod.

There is also a built in multiplayer aswell as external known as TruckersMP. The external came out in 2014 and I got it in 2016, and while it served it's purpose, there's not much reason to play it anymore. It does add a few new towns, and removes AI traffic, so if you see any vehicle driving around it's a real person. This can be good and bad, but I really like the feeling of the huge servers. As for the built in multiplayer, you are limited to 8 players, and it also enables mod support. You can play with almost any mods you want as long as the clients match the host. This can make the game very fun, however multiplayer is clunky. Lots of desync problems, broken mods, and the AI logic is changed from singleplayer and seems to use a very old version of the code, so you will constantly run into problems with that. But, at the same time, when you and your friends can jump on and cruise wherever you want in whatever you want, it's a really cool feeling.

The experience can be very repetitive as it's picking up a trailer, drive it, drop it off repeat. But there are ways to make it entertaining, such as taking undiscovered roads for every trip, taking very long drives across multiple countries, switching trucks every few loads and more. If you go to the older parts of the map the roads get extremely tight and can be a big challenge, I myself love this aspect, as I have very fine motor skills and love the tight turns and bumpy roads. The newer reworked areas can have some very tight areas too, albeit not as difficult to navigate. But, sometimes it's fun to just set the cruise control and ride down the smooth big reworked roads too.

All in all I would continue to rate this game an 8/10. It has it's pros, it has it's cons, but all in all I can play this game for hours and never get tired of it. The American sister, while it also has it's own pros and cons, seems to be kinda lacking compared to this one. I don't have near as much fun playing it as I do ETS2. However most people seem to be flipped, so to each their own. If you are new to the series I would HIGHLY recommend this game first, as there is almost double the amount of content compared to ATS even vanilla. Plus, this game has much more in terms of scenery and extra content.

I hope this review convinces somebody into getting into this great game. Happy trucking.

REDONE REVIEW 11/17/2023 on version 1.48.5: This will now be my third revision of the review for this game. I have played it for over 10 years now as I had it locally before Steam, and let me tell you I've sunk some serious hours into this game. So let's start off with the basics. This game is a driving simulator where you haul stuff around the map, thus building a trucking empire. You can keep it small if you want, or own every garage on the map with a full fleet of trucks and trailers. It all depends on your playing style. You can play it arcade-y and wreck everything, or use it to learn how to run a truck. It's a simulator, play it how you want. There are 19 different trucks in the game as of now, coming from 7 different fully licensed brands with their appropriate configurations. When I started playing, less than half of these trucks didn't exist, and there were a few unlicensed brands. The quality of this game has improved dramatically since it released, don't think it's just some 12 year old game still updated. Yes there are some parts that are extremely dated, however most of this is/has been reworked. For example the map, they have been revising the older countries for the last 5 years now to make the roads and towns match the real thing. Not to mention the graphics updates, physics updates, truck reworks.. this game is extremely different to what it was 11 years ago when it released. On to DLC and mods support, there is a TON of it. You can get almost all of continental Europe via map expansions, and you can also find licensed trailer packs, new cargo packs, among other things. While these map expansions are pretty pricy and would add up quick, you can more than double the map size with them. Plus, they come with new companies, new loads, all kinds of new scenery and more. Onto mod support, you can find almost anything for this game. Yes the mods can be tricky to get working, but if you know a little about how mods work, then it's very easy to load up with a ton of mods and play the game truly how you want. From sound packs to new trucks to new trailers to custom UI to custom graphics, almost anything is available as a mod. There is also a built in multiplayer aswell as external known as TruckersMP. The external came out in 2014 and I got it in 2016, and while it served it's purpose, there's not much reason to play it anymore. It does add a few new towns, and removes AI traffic, so if you see any vehicle driving around it's a real person. This can be good and bad, but I really like the feeling of the huge servers. As for the built in multiplayer, you are limited to 8 players, and it also enables mod support. You can play with almost any mods you want as long as the clients match the host. This can make the game very fun, however multiplayer is clunky. Lots of desync problems, broken mods, and the AI logic is changed from singleplayer and seems to use a very old version of the code, so you will constantly run into problems with that. But, at the same time, when you and your friends can jump on and cruise wherever you want in whatever you want, it's a really cool feeling. The experience can be very repetitive as it's picking up a trailer, drive it, drop it off repeat. But there are ways to make it entertaining, such as taking undiscovered roads for every trip, taking very long drives across multiple countries, switching trucks every few loads and more. If you go to the older parts of the map the roads get extremely tight and can be a big challenge, I myself love this aspect, as I have very fine motor skills and love the tight turns and bumpy roads. The newer reworked areas can have some very tight areas too, albeit not as difficult to navigate. But, sometimes it's fun to just set the cruise control and ride down the smooth big reworked roads too. All in all I would continue to rate this game an 8/10. It has it's pros, it has it's cons, but all in all I can play this game for hours and never get tired of it. The American sister, while it also has it's own pros and cons, seems to be kinda lacking compared to this one. I don't have near as much fun playing it as I do ETS2. However most people seem to be flipped, so to each their own. If you are new to the series I would HIGHLY recommend this game first, as there is almost double the amount of content compared to ATS even vanilla. Plus, this game has much more in terms of scenery and extra content. I hope this review convinces somebody into getting into this great game. Happy trucking.