"Snow Benz" review: Is there a tip for driving a Tesla delivery?

The ancient tea Horse Road, developed in the Tang and Song dynasties, connected the trade needs of the frontier for hundreds of years. Under the flood of time, the ancient road wind is still leisurely, but those who travel north and south to seek a living are no longer seen. The highways that sprung up everywhere became the capillaries that kept the vast system running. Benz in the Snow is one such game that tells the story of modern land transportation and truck culture.

In short, it's a "truck simulator." So, if it's a "truck simulator" game, why don't I try the prestigious European Truck Simulator 2? To this problem, "Snow Benz" gives its own solution, while ensuring fun, producers strive to expand their own game in the "technology" advantage.

Compared with the "Oka 2" drivers who have been driving on the highway and heavy "heart" experience, the drivers of "Snow Mercedes" and the previous work "Rotating Tires: Muddy Mercedes" have to spend the days of running long distances on more rugged roads. Therefore, after giving up a certain degree of fidelity, subtracting elements like "Oka 2" radio station, and reducing the difficulty of the player's operation, "Snow Benz" puts the design focus on the "transportation difficulties" and "solutions" design.

The process of transporting goods and exchanging needed goods is always accompanied by natural or man-made disasters. Fortunately, the economic system of this game is not complicated, and it is the kind of common "delivery" task.

Bumps in the road will not cause damage to the quality of the cargo, most of the tasks have no time limit, and the quality of the cargo is not specific. Whether it is broken by an accident along the way, or it is stable and ultimately intact, the player just delivers the goods, and the reward is the same.

Although there is no demand for the quality of goods, this does not mean that "Snow Benz" is a game that everyone can play well. The difficulty of this game is reflected in the wheels, that is, the road.

The previous game is often mentioned as "driving on the worst road in the world", but also the new game will give players the feeling. Just one minute into the game, the player will understand what the "world's worst road" is and what it will be like to drive on it. After all, the first section of the novice tutorial is a road we commonly call "mud road", which looks only a few short meters long, and the speed of driving out may be a struggle with the tortoise.

As the game progresses, the player will encounter more difficulties. Not only "dirt roads", but also swamps, snow and gravel surfaces, and even more troublesome slope designs to figure out if the engine is powerful enough. In some special cases, the player has to "climb" the truck to the top of the mountain in order to complete the task.

Interestingly, these difficulties can be solved by thinking in terms of realistic logic. Because the main simulation reality, so the game naturally does not have RPG, will be marked with the "driving" skill level. Whether it is a "zero" driver or a "full" driver, as long as the same vehicle is used in the same complex road section, they will encounter the same difficulties, such as getting into mud and a dilemma.

You have to find a way to deal with difficulties, but the way varies from person to person. Beginners who do not know much about the game can directly choose "recovery" and return to the "birth point" with a full state. Players who understand the basic gameplay can choose to use the truck's own winch tool to "pull" the car out through engine power. Already familiar with the operation mode and have a good car, you can adjust the differential, manual downshift, switch full drive, a set of operations flow, in an instant, mud only exists in the rearview mirror.

After trial and error, success naturally carries more weight. However, although the difficulties in the game, there are ways to overcome. However, even considering that "most of the players who choose this game have some knowledge of the truck itself", the difficulty curve of the game is not reasonable.

The unreasonable here is not only the difficulty of driving control, driving control is really not difficult, the real difficulty is that the fault tolerance rate of players' early failure is too low, and the learning cost is too high. Compared to the more entertaining "rollover" accident, the player will be perfectly restrained by "mud" many times - after all, the early vehicle is very primary, and there are no advanced accessories to help you escape.

There are two ways to get better vehicles. One is to look for "upgrade" locations on the map, unlock and get free car parts. However, on the way to the "upgrade" location, you will encounter more difficulties than the normal section. The second way is closer to life, making money. Keep running long haul errands, make more money, and get a better car.

Shoeing a horse makes money, and shoeing a horse makes money. This embarrassment in the early stage is not difficult to make us understand how smooth the game experience will be after getting more good cars in the medium term, or even just unlocking some accessories. One way that doesn't exist in single player, and that makes sense as a solution to the difficulty curve, is multiplayer.

Breed cycle

Even the traders who led horses on the ancient road at that time mostly set out in a team, and few ran alone. Although today's truck freight is two people a car can "run", but really encounter what is difficult to get into the mud, but also have to find a passing peer to help.

Unfortunately, in the single player mode of Snow Benz, players have no way to call the traffic control department for help, and of course they will not encounter the same driver running on the road. The only way to come to a car to "help" is to turn off the "crash car" yourself, then cut into the garage, and drive a car to help. Although it sounds silly, this time-consuming method is often the only solution that does not "restore."

Multiplayer obviously doesn't have this problem. Not talking about the natural happiness of "with friends", even from the perspective of "multiple tools", you can harvest the results of "1+1 > 2". In contrast, the single player mode pays too much attention to "overcoming difficulties", which makes the happiness of driving on the road itself somewhat diluted.

That said, the reality of the "on the road" state of its own "harvest", but also in the game successfully offset part of the boring driving - watching the scenery along the way.

Needless to say, the refinement of the truck model, although the water and the tire interaction, the exaggerated details make people want to laugh, but the lighting and vegetation performance effect is very commendable. In the more maps opened in the middle and late period, the endless snow scenery and the lush jungle are even more immersive.

Moving from the initial third person perspective to the first person, the game's sense of engagement increases. The casual country music and nature sounds mixed with the engine sound in the background make you shake your legs. Want to take a good chance on the road, calm down and look at the scenery around.

In addition to the truck element, the producers also tried to give players a sense of accomplishment of "single-handedly driving regional economic development." But it's hard to get that feeling any other way than by looking at the mission's text descriptions. At most, it will produce some equally "simple" sense of accomplishment in a simple CG that may appear after the completion of the mission.

Despite its flaws, Snow Run is still a game worth trying. Although truck culture has little influence in our country, it is more often a means of livelihood for "road sailors". But some special scenery, perhaps only to come back and forth dozens of times people can see. And the truck itself is a different kind of romance, otherwise Optimus Prime would be a heavy truck and not something else.

Years ago, traders led horses on straw sandals to make a living while promoting cultural exchanges. There is such a phrase in a song of singing foot households (traders) : "The spring breeze blows the green Huangshui bank, the willow trees in front of the hill point their heads, the peach and apricot flowers blush their faces, and there are white peonies in the green seedling field." I think, as long as you like this song, I believe that you will naturally like the "Snow Benz" to bring you some kind of resonance.