WARNING: I’ve given a negative review of Spintires even though I find the game to be truly unique and interesting based on the fact that the publisher of the game is not paying the developer for his work and because the sequel to the game Spintires: Mudrunner (with a different publisher who’s paying the developer) is a more polished and complete experience.
In Spintires you play a driver tasked with bringing lumber from point A to point B in various muddy, forested, swampy and sometimes watery Eastern European wilderness locations by making use of different heavy duty vehicles.
Spintires is a driving simulation game unlike many others with unique and impressive technology for bringing the terrain to life visually and to provide interesting gameplay challenges.
Pros
- Unique and compelling man vs. (with?) nature experience that you can’t find anywhere else.
- Getting a vehicle weighed down by logs stuck in mud (god forbid flipped over in mud) and having to tow it out is a slow, methodical but extremely tense and exciting experience like no other.
- Advanced terrain (mud, swamp, river, etc.) technologies bring the game to life visually but more importantly provide interesting gameplay challenges to overcome.
- Minimizing your impact on the environment (for example by avoiding certain terrain with very heavy vehicles to avoid creating muddier terrain, by not knocking over trees which can be used as tow points in times of need) is usually optimal over the long term encouraging you to think strategically and possibly philosophically.
Cons
- Eastern european jank specifically with regards to playing on a controller (most actions can be performed with a controller but not all requiring you to use the keyboard and mouse for certain rare but required actions).