Don't get me wrong - I love the modern day European Truck Sim 2 and American Truck Sim by SCS, the same publisher. But this game really just not it. Granted, it's 17 years old, but it feels like it's not polished.
NEGATIVES:
BRAKING: I could not get used to the braking in this game. ETS2 and ATS are set up so anybody, not just people who are accustomed to trucks, can brake their vehicles. It should not take 10+ seconds to stop a semi with no trailer from 25mph.
PENALTIES: Unlike its successors, you cannot turn off penalties. I ran my first red light because I was not expecting the brakes to be so bad and I did so right behind a cop AI car who turned around and drove to me, on the wrong side of the road, crashing into other AI vehicles before stopping right next to me
and giving me a ticket for $4800. Keep in mind I only had $20,000 to my name, so that made me pretty upset. Later, I got another fine for $2000, but it had been a long time since I had run a different light (at that point I was already on the highway).
STARTING TRUCK: I first started in St. Louis and picked a very well-paying load to Los Angeles; a double trailer full of fruit. As soon as I merged onto the highway, I found out that I could not accelerate beyond 40mph, and AI vehicles were passing me going much faster. My truck would not shift up from 5th gear. I thought maybe the double trailers were just too heavy for the starter truck, so I restarted in Los Angeles with a single trailer of video games, which would not accelerate beyond 45 mph or 5th gear. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I had the truck in automatic mode, so I don't know why it wouldn't shift. Maybe the starting truck is supposed to be bad on purpose, but it would have been an unbearable trip anywhere to earn money, or buy a different truck.
LACK OF REST POINTS/SLOWER TIME: I spawned in LA at 3:00 PM, and as fast as I could, I picked up a trailer from LAX and got on the freeway headed to Salt Lake City. Unlike ATS and ETS2, time does not pass slower in cities, so as I was merging onto the highway to get to Utah it was already 8:00 PM and my driver was complaining that he needed to rest soon. No big deal, I thought, so I open the map to find a parking lot and the closest one was in Las Vegas, or south of LA. Seeing as it had already took me 4 hours to get from one end of LA to another, and coupled with the fact my truck wouldn't go more than 45, I just quit the game for a second time.
LACK OF TUTORIAL: If there is a tutorial in this game, I could not find it.
LACK OF CONTROLS: I do not have a wheel. I am used to just turning with my mouse and driving with W/S keys for ATS and ETS2. In this game you can only turn with A/D keys, which seemed to make the truck wobbly, hard to control, and constantly needing to be corrected.
THE POSITIVES: Somewhat cool to see the game that laid the foundation for ATS and ETS2. Some brand names are re-used in those games, and sound effects, like the yawn when your driver needs to rest. Is it worth $10? Not really. I did get it on sale for $5, so I am not really upset that I probably will never play this again. Is it worth $5? Maybe, if you are willing to put in the effort to figure out how to counteract the negatives...
Also, it's somewhat cool that the map includes the US in its entirety, as well as some of Mexico and Canada, but once you realize it's mostly reused assets everywhere with just a few unique ones, it loses some of its charm. Obviously, not much to expect from a game of its age, so just keep your expectations low with this aspect and it's fine.
