Yee-haw, Jim-Bob! Ain’t nuthin’ like the open road. The sweet smell of asphalt and the not so sweet smell of three month-old underwear, bugs on yer windscreen and bikers in yer bull bar. Whoo-hoo!

All you budding long-hauliers out there will be glad to know that all that livin’ on Yorkie bars, keepin’ yer motor runnin’, headin’ out on the highway and looking for adventure stuff can be done from the safety of your own home without all the hassle of tachometer forgery, thanks to the dangerously titled Big Mutha Truckers.

Despite being, at its most basic level, a rather cheap 18-Wheeler rip off, BMT most definitely finishes first in terms of depth. At first glance you may (as I was) be wholly unimpressed by the lack of imagination evident in this title, but after a little time spent playing, the rather tame driving sections are enhanced and added to, creating a well-rounded and actually quite enjoyable experience.

It may not be saying a lot but BMT is by far the most involved trucking game I’ve ever played, taking elements from 18-Wheeler, Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto III. There’s even shades of Transport Tycoon thrown in for good measure.

As you might imagine, the gameplay consists mainly of driving around and delivering goods. The ultimate goal of all this is the acquisition of the Big Mutha Tuckers trucking firm. The only way of getting the head honcho (Big Mutha, a rather revolting old hag) to hand over the deeds is to give her more money than your Hick County siblings, thus sending her off to retirement with a hefty wodge with which to buy all the things she’s always wanted, like a new shotgun rack and a much needed face lift.

Getting your grubby little hands on this cash is much more complicated than just driving from A to B however, requiring you to make decisions not only on where to go but also what to haul. In addition to astute, buy-low-sell-high trading, cash can also be pursued through many other more dubious channels, including occasional task based missions (which can be played on their own) and challenges such as parking or plain old hard currency wagers. If you’re really strapped then a loan shark can be approached in each of the six cities and a deal struck, often leaving you seriously out of pocket at the end of the day - a lesson worth noting for real life.

Surprisingly enough, the least enjoyable aspect of BMT is the driving. I doubt whether anyone, having played GT3, Auto Modellista or even GTA3 will be even slightly impressed by the quality of the highway hogging. Everything from graphics to sound, from the size of the map to the handling, is spot on average, in fact, were it not for all the extras BMT would be a very dull clone of another very dull game. Thankfully, however, it isn’t and whilst getting from one city to another may be a little tedious at times, actually being at point B and working out where C should be takes more brainpower than the average driving game. Motoring around aimlessly, shifting the cheapest rubbish you can lay your hands on won’t get you enough coins to buy a receptacle to urinate in, so time has to be spent talking to the local bar staff and getting hints on where to go next in order to send Big Mutha to that old people’s home.

Arrival at the various cities allows you to spend some of your hard earned (or gambled) cash. Upgrades for your motor are available as well as repairs and refuelling. You most definitely have to speculate to accumulate in this game, as a busted rig means game over. One bad decision can often see your cashflow become totally insolvent, leaving you trying to scrabble together enough to load up your truck, fix it and chuck some more petrol in. This is a nice variation on the genre as constantly racing against a clock can limit the longevity of a title like this considerably.

As I said before, the presentation is pretty average, with the exception of some GTA3 style radio stations, pumping out some decent tunes along with a lot of dross. This addition is by no means in the same league as the aforementioned classic, but does edge BMT above the standard set by driving games in general. There’s quite a bit of dialogue, mostly in stereotypical redneck drawl, some of which will bring a smile to your face but, as is the norm, can have you skipping right through some inane drivel. There are a few weather effects, slightly embellishing the pedestrian graphics and making for a little variation in scenery, but for the most part you’ll be truckin’ through dusty country roads or city highways, both of which you’ll have seen before in any number of driving games.

If you wanted to say that BMT has a big mutha of a problem then I guess it would have to lie in the slightly undercooked flavour of it all. The map is smaller and harder to use than it should be, there’s no two player mode, the rigs look and drive very plainly, there’s no way to record all the info you gather from your sources, apart from the archaic medium of pen and paper and all the characters are just that little bit too stereotyped for them to be funny.

I kind of expected all of this but what I didn’t expect was that when seen as a whole, this game is very fun to play. Overall, Big Mutha Truckers is a solid purchase and whilst it feels a touch rushed, you can rely on it to last a while with its buckets of unlockables. I have a feeling, however, that BMT 2 will address all the problems cited above and perhaps your 40 quid could be put to better use at the moment, but right now I, for one, am happy to keep on truckin’.

Reviewed by Tom Leclerc for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).