There are many games that are very niche. What I’ve noticed in all the years I’ve been playing is that when something is done very well, it doesn’t matter much whether the niche itself interests me beforehand, as it can attract and then entertain me. regardless of genre. But it’s still pretty fascinating that even though I have no interest in vehicles in general and heavy machinery in particular, I can spend several hours playing Expeditions: A MudRunner Game and have a great time.
This idea of steering SUVs slowly over rough surfaces has to be good so I don’t lose patience and get tired, and luckily in many ways it is. With two predecessors, MudRunner and SnowRunner, this series has begun to establish itself. Of course, as a sequel you want to do something different, and as the title suggests, the focus here is on pure exploration rather than transporting goods. Thus, the tasks are much more focused on driving through huge environments and exploring and discovering every corner. While there are some more classic missions, such as recovering a stuck truck, the majority of playtime consists primarily of exploring the three available maps.
However, the same idea of discovery leads me to my first criticism. In most missions you have to do this fly with a drone to observe the surroundings, and these moments often become tedious, interrupting the pure driving in a long and boring way. You’ll see a circle to explore and a percentage in the corner indicating how much you’ve mapped. However, the process is marred by the fact that most of the time you’re flying randomly, hoping to get 100% without really knowing what, what are you looking at? It is also not possible to lift the map to check if you are flying within the ring and, above all, it is very unclear where you have to fly for the percentage to be complete.
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In general, unfortunately, the use of instruments and devices is something that distracts from the actual thing you want to have fun with. You have to go into the menus a lot and the vehicle stops as soon as something needs to be measured or mapped, which slows the pace even further. The interface with menus and everything else doesn’t work as smoothly as I would have liked, and I wish the developers had spent a lot less time fiddling with the different types of equipment, or at least made the process more dynamic for players. As soon as you have to use something, it becomes a pause instead of being able to do it without taking your hands off the wheel.
However, the drive itself is brilliant. It’s great fun to push the large vehicles over the treacherous terrain and up steep hills, through small water passes or through mud. There’s something very satisfying about maneuvering your vehicle through the terrain, almost like completing a complicated course in a platform game. There are a lot of challenges here and I also like that the three maps differ significantly from each other in their environments.
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These cards are Coloradowhich acts as a kind of prologue with five missions to complete, and then Arizona and that Carpathians, these are large maps with countless missions. What I didn’t like so much, however, is that you have to Complete the missions in a specific order When a time-consuming or insanely difficult quest comes up, you need to complete it rather than have the chance to play something else in the meantime. This frustrated me because I got stuck on the more difficult missions, and I would have preferred to have the option to choose from all the missions on offer.
Visually, Expeditions is often a feast for the eyes. It should be noted that there are some desolate places with no life, which is a bit sad, but the biggest graphical mishap is that the ground textures seem to disappear and they appear randomly. When you turn the camera, what is supposed to be mud or rock can become completely flat, and then when you move a little or turn the camera, it is there again. There are places where this is more noticeable and detracts from the overall impression, but otherwise the visual effects are very appealing. The soundscape also creates a good atmosphere and although the environments lack wildlife or movement, it is the sound that creates the best atmosphere and the vehicles also sound great as they whiz by.
In order to move around easily, it is often necessary to use items that you can carry with you. In addition to taking extra fuel with you for long journeys, there are also some tools that are used a lot. The most commonly used are: the winds, which allows you to attach your vehicle to a tree, for example, to gain some traction. There are usually several anchor points here, but not all of them are equally durable and trees can be uprooted, which is as realistic as it is entertaining. Fortunately, you can purchase anchors to attach to a surface that otherwise doesn’t have anchor space. You can purchase a limited number depending on how much storage space your vehicle offers.
It is often necessary Plan the trip well, something I wasn’t aware of at first, but especially on the most difficult expeditions you realize that it’s good to take some time to recognize and plan. Because when you embark on a longer journey, it is often difficult to have to start all over again. Therefore, taking time and planning what to bring is one thing, as is opening the map and setting markers along a smart route. . This is something I started doing after that almost ten hours of exploration, and the truth is that it enhanced the gaming experience even more. This way you don’t have to constantly take it out Check out the map to see which routes are the bestbut you can devote your concentration to the difficulties ahead.
Definitely, it might be too difficult. The physics are a bit sketchy at times, as the vehicles can easily climb a steep hill that seems completely insurmountable, and there is also sometimes a back and forth in the vehicles that feels unrealistic. Likewise, the occasional rock under a tire can completely block your progress, while you can use a winch to pull the car up a sharp slope. Illogical and yet the vehicle suffers damage when it crashes and I understand that there is a trade-off between being realistic and offering fun.
A little story or some kind of contact with the characters would have been appreciated. There is a lots of side questsand there is often satisfaction when you complete a difficult expedition, but it would have helped a lot if there had been something more substantial than choosing a mission from a list where everything was just in text form.
Although the story seems empty, there is a strong focus on what is still most important and what makes this a really good game. Moving forward with your vehicle requires patience, as mistakes and negligence can cost you dearly. You have to do that often Reduce tire pressure to gain traction on more difficult terrainHowever, this costs more fuel and the risk of damage to the vehicle is greater.
There is a lot to discover on expeditions. Ever since I found this Remains of an old airplane, to many other things hidden in the most remote places. I also like something as simple as: If you bring enough parts, there are places where you can, for example, build a small bridge to cross a river more easily. Even though it’s really just about driving from one place to another, it’s a lot of fun. It should also be added that the cooperative mode is unfortunately missing from the start, but it will be available with the first update and will make the whole thing even more dynamic and curious when you can ride with friends.
As it is it offers a very enjoyable experience, the main downside is the use of the equipment and I would have liked a little more in-depth presentation in terms of some sort of story. If you ignore this, it will be just as fun and exciting every time you set out on a new expedition across the huge maps. Expeditions: A MudRunner game is a special combination that leads to a fantastic end result. It’s as elegant as it is entertaining, as relaxing as it is pleasantly frustrating, but above all it’s something you should experience behind the wheel.
