Just in case you weren't aware, THQ's Big Mutha Truckers 2: Truck Me Harder (yes, that's the classy subhead) is a arcade-style truck-driving game. What's it like? How does it play? Is it any fun? All these questions are answered, more or less, by this statement: it's an 18-wheel driving game. What else can truly be said?Well, there is just a little more. Sega-AM 2 started the whole 18-wheel truck driving madness in the arcades about five years ago with a fun, truly arcade-style driving game called 18 Wheeler. The giant arcade unit, big screen, rumbling sound effects and the novelty of it all gelled together in an extraordinary way to provide an inimitable coin-op experience. The silly idea, giant trucks, and bigness of it all were novel then, and Sega made it work in its own special way. But who thought it would last this long?The subtly named Big Mutha Truckers 2: Truck Me Harder recognizes the formula wow powerleveling and brands it with a low-class level of humor, swagger, and an ever greater level of personality. It's a game in which raccoon-shooting, whisky-drinking truck drivers, women with enormous boobs, and an infinite quantity of cultural references to society's stereotypes at once repulse yet attract, due to its up-front and shameless appeal.As for actual game, it's barely passable. THQ's less-than-original arcade driver is filled with the kind of obvious timing schemes, fetch-quests, and witless gameplay standards we've all seen before. Yet, it's oddly compelling. For a mindless afternoon when you're feeling non-critical, it's a distraction at best. For 18-wheeling fans, whomever you are, this is more of the same, only more obvious and with more stuff to do.Truck wow powerleveling Me Truck Me Truck Me!I have to say, to include the sub-name of this game "Truck Me Harder" in an actual open videogame market requires a certain level of gutsiness, a certain quantity of who-the-hells-cares attitude. Honestly, THQ is the last company I'd have thought to do it. So, kudos for being so targeted; the white trash effect is in full effect.

I'll get off the soapbox and into the gameplay. Truck Me Harder is essentially more of the same truck driving mayhem from the original title, with more things to do, a different story, a little more leeway to go about your business, and a whole lot more corny hick, sex, class, and related lowball humor. It essentially consists of all the exact same qualities of the first game with a slew of minor upgrades.The additional layers of gameplay come about in the form of alien attacks, a slew of new sub-missions, a slightly different menu system, more roads, locations, shortcuts, and different kinds of cargo and trucks required to handle said cargo. All of these are decent improvements, though they broaden the game's appeal rather than improve the Southern-fried recipe.The story is punchy yet forgetful. It's not so much an actual narrative as it is a set-up. The big boss, Ma Jackson, has been thrown into jail because of tax evasion. Yet, just like the best Mafioso, she has a cell phone and can direct her troopers to do her bidding while from behind bars. Her simple request is for you to bribe six different jury wow gold members so she can win the court case.

The driving part comes in while hauling from hick town to bumpkinville. While driving a truck, the handling for each vehicle varies modestly. The trucks all handle like giant trucks do. They are difficult to turn and park, and even more difficult to back up and take sharp turns. This is the skill part of the game, learning how to drive these wow gold trucks well. None, except the super expensive special trucks, move very fast (unless you have a nitro upgrade). If you're a racing fan, they're all clunky and irritating to drive. The trucks and various other cars use a simple control scheme that are very forgiving, and the noticeably floaty physics create a simple, basic level of joy. But if you're looking for racing depth or variation, forget it.Once you've filled up your truck and picked a location, each trip enables you to pick a difficulty level, easy, medium or hard. And each offers an increasingly higher bonus reward if you get from point A to point B in the respectively shorter times. If you make it to the desired location on time, you earn a time bonus and you'll get the option to win a parking bonus (similar to in 18-Wheeler). The bad part of the deal is if you blow the initial race against time. If you fail it, the game gives you a fake option to win the parking bonus. Eutechnyx should have separated the two bonuses