"Star Trucker," Early Impressions

I tried the new game, "Star Trucker," via Xbox's Game Pass. I found it both fun and infuriating during the bit of time I've had to sample the simulator of sorts. In, "Star Trucker," you have a big space rig you fly around via the stars. It's a mix between wild sci-fi and at times focusing on the minutia of taking care of your vehicle. One minute you're admiring a space station the next you're replacing your cabin's air filters and making sure the gravity doesn't shut off in your rig. There are lots of little buttons and things to fiddle with in your truck and it gives everything a nice tactile feel even though we obviously can't truly, "Touch," our levers or buttons. "Star Trucker," takes great pains to really make you feel like you're inside a hefty spaceship, however, whether it's cycling your cabin's cameras or pulling the horn. It is quite charming. Then the issue arises that I'm not good at flight simulators.

Yes, you're in a truck, but you are flying through space. Up is down and down is up, but as this is space even that doesn't always hold true. I'm not the best at games with your flying or floating around and I found myself getting incredibly irritated when I'd try to dock myself with a space station or pick up some cargo. I attempted to be as precise as I could lining my truck up with things, but often would just smash into a wall and damage my poor rig. I'd get really annoyed, but then I'd also have fun once I finally got to cruising. Once everything was hitched, I could enjoy some tunes on the space radio and kick-back..before hitting some space debris and having to do a spacewalk to fix my hull.

"Star Trucker," requires patience. You need to watch all the life support systems in your truck at the same time you're flying through space avoiding debris and then slowing down to a crawl and carefully lining-up for cargo. Even on the easiest setting, there is much to manage. It's a very endearing game one minute and has you feeling like throwing your controller across the room in a rage the next. I've had some fun with it when I'm not cursing under my breath, and if you have Game Pass there really is nothing to lose if you give, "Star Trucker," a try. I haven't played enough of the game to feel I could offer an earnest review, but my early impressions are that this is a good time...when it's not enraging you.