18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker

18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker was released on May 18th 2000 by games developer Sega-AM2. In the arcades it had been quite an attraction, with a huge cabinet, giant truck steering wheel and lever, which when pulled emitted a loud 'HONK!' almost as loud as the real thing. And the scenes onscreen were just as pretty as the cabinet.
It was another simple idea, pick a truck from a choice of four, pick a load to pull and hit the American highways and by-ways in a bid to reach the next stop. And as an added incentive you also had a rival (The Lizard Tail) which on beating him gave extra money.
It truly was a joy to play, and little touches like magazines skidding around the cab's dashboard and cow skulls swinging wildly from the rear view mirror everytime the truck bounced around added to a great sense of actually 'driving' a big rig.
The stages were cool too, tiny chunks of America squeezed into each stage/level. There was what looked like Nevada, with truck wrecking cyclones, and small towns found in most parts of the United States complete with diners and gas stations on the roadside. The player even visited San Francisco, hurtling down its many hills in careless abandon!
Unfortunately there was a major downside - the games length. It could easily be completed in 20 minutes, and thats not 20 minutes per level, thats the game entire! And once completed there was little to no replay value. It might not have hurt so much if 18 Wheeler had been bundled with an array of cool extras but sadly it offered only one, a truck parking mini game in which the player had limited time to park the rig. It was totally inadequate.
All in all, Pro Trucker worked well in the arcades, where its shortness were a strength because of the busy nature of the places. But at home, with unlimited 10p pieces it was a major flaw on an otherwise playable title.