S1E36 - Big Mutha Truckers

Welcome back to another episode of Discrete Error, the podcast where every week we dive into the extensive and fascinating library of the greatest selling video game console of all time time, the PlayStation Two. I'm Derek Kicker.

I'm Ian Golding.

And this week, we are running from the Bears, aka the law in Big Mother truckers.

Breaker one nine is a rubber duck. Right? Got a smoky no, I get it. Yeah, it's good. I'm driving a truck driving a big old truck pedal to the metal hope I don't run out of luck rolling down the highway until the break of dawn driving a truck with my high.

Heels on well, big mother truckers. I immediately, upon doing any sort of research on this, was shocked at the first thing I found, which is that this is from a British developer.

Wow.

I mean, they nailed white trash America.

They absolutely fucking did, actually.

Yeah, it's wow. Kind of crazy. But this game was released on December 6, 2002. Christmas release.

Okay.

Christmas time release.

Give the kids what they want.

Yeah. 2002, it was developed by Utechnics, and the way it's spelt is very funny. It's E-U-T-E-C-H-N-Y-X.

So maybe Euro technology, something.

Maybe X.

And then, of course, X.

Of course, that's the most scientific or the most technological letter is an X. And they are a British video game developer based in Newcastle. Like the beer, I suppose.

Okay.

And they make mainly racing games that tracks with this. Yeah, they make a lot of racing games. They were previously called Zeppelin games. And they did a bunch of games for the Commodore 64, the Atari, the ZX, the Amiga, shit like that. And then they became Merit Studios. Did a couple Super Nintendo games they did based on Micro Machines. Remember Micro Machines?

Fuck yeah, baby cars.

Yeah. So they did the video game versions of Micro Machines. And then in 1996, they became Utechnics.

Utechnics.

Utechnics. And started right off the bat with PS One driving game, Total Driving, which I have never heard of.

Total Driving. Why do I that sounds familiar.

It was North America. It was an activision game in North America, but an ocean game in Europe. Total Driving supports dual analog controller. Okay, well, yeah. Fancy. Then they did a game that I actually really kind of like seven racing for the PS One.

That's actually not an awful game.

It's a little spy hunter, a little twisted metal, a little ridge racer. Sure, it's kind of fun.

It's not awful. It's not awful.

Then they did f One World Grand Prix 2000 for the PS One and the PC.

Okay. Don't know anything about that.

And then they did. Big Mother truckers.

Okay. So they took a little break and said, I think we're going to mix it up here, guys.

Yeah, well, they haven't really done shit since 2015. But between Big Mother truckers in 2015, they did Ford branded games. Ford Mustang. The Legend lives. Ford versus Chevy. They did. Big mother truckers two. They did Cartoon Network racing.

Okay?

They did the PS two the Fast and the Furious game.

Bam.

They also did weird one. And I think we had planned on doing this game at one point or another, but they did the Pimp My Ride game for PS Two. Yeah. And then after that, they decided to just go back to what they know, and they did a Hot Wheels game, ferrari, a couple of NASCAR games. In 2013, they did a motorcycle game called Ride to Hell Retribution.

Okay.

They did an RTS Warhammer 40K game in 2014. Storm of vengeance. Random.

Very fucking random.

And then, yeah, in 2015, they did NASCAR 15 for the PS Three. And it doesn't look like they have done shit since NASCAR.

15 didn't hit for them, I guess.

I guess not. But in the US. Big Mother Truckers was published by THQ? Of course. And it's very funny. When I started up this game, they did THQ. And in my head, I'm like, EA sports.

Sports.

It's in the game.

Yeah.

Or EA big. Yeah. But yeah. There's not a ton of information on the development of this game.

No, I wouldn't expect there to be.

I wouldn't either. This seems like someone pitched this idea and they were like, yeah, okay.

No one was saving the notes of the pitch meetings and the brainstorming sessions for Big Mother Truckers.

Yeah. They were probably like, can we do this for cheap?

Yeah.

And they're like, yeah, hell yeah.

Sure.

Can we do it fast? Hell yeah.

Could we do it good?

Nah, maybe. Probably not. Yeah. We'll do what we can. That big mother truckers was born. So let's get into the one paragraph worth of story in this game. You listening? Didn't think so. Well, you're here, so you can get yourself to the bar. Okay. So I had a very funny thought when I was playing this game, which is and by playing this game, I mean I had a very funny thought during the opening cutscene.

Okay? Very long opening cutscene.

This is a film school, dude. A film school, dude was like, no, this game has to have a long intro long fucking intro to Born to Be Wild. Born to be wild.

Huge fans of the steppenwolf over here.

But the funny thought I had during this was this game is basically trailer trash succession.

Yeah. Yes, it is. Holy shit. Yeah.

Because the whole game's plot revolves around Ma Jackson, who is the matriarch of her family and the proprietor of Big Mother Truckers trucking company. And she plans to retire from the family business. So she pits her four children, cletus, Earl Ruckus, and Bobby Sue, to a trial by trucking, and she gives them 60 days to make various deliveries to various cities in Hick State County. And the company goes to whoever has the most money in the end, right?

Whoever can make the most trucking.

Yeah. So trailer trash succession.

Absolutely. 100%.

Is that an original take? Has no one said this?

Who the fuck would have said it?

I would assume that since succession came out, nobody has played this game but.

Us that has any kind of ability to make that connection.

Yeah, but that's the entire story. And this is all told in the first five minute cutscene. And there is no real story afterwards.

No. I mean, there's no more story.

Yeah. Zero. Zero story. But hey, you're not playing this game for the story. You're playing it for the 3D generated breastises.

Oh, yeah. Jiggly breast.

The very early 2000s sense of humor. And for the fun driving aspect. The gameplay.

The gameplay.

So let's get into that.

Yeah. Yes.

I got me a stack of bills here says this old rig will get to any time before you I'd even put money on it. Are you familiar with the phenomenon of, like, big rig simulators?

I am, very tangentially. Only because I've played that car mechanic simulator, and I looked into what else that simulator world entailed.

So there are sickos out there that take it very seriously. I know a couple perverts or whatever that do, like racing sims, where they have the chair and the five monitors.

They have an actual F one steering wheel, pedals and all that. Yeah.

And it's like, go outside and touch some grass, kid, please. But people do that with big rigs. And I did not realize this, but I was very familiar with the driving thing. And also people that are really into flight simulators yes. Which flight simulators I kind of get. Right, of course, because you can fly a plane consequence free. That's the cool thing about, I think, the gears and stuff and all that is the cool thing about a plane. You can go drive a fucking car.

Well, but I will say the ones who are, like, on I racing, or all those big race car simulators were actually going against semi pro people, and they're talent scouting, and there have been drivers from those. I get that, too, because who's going to get to drive an F one car in real life? Same thing, though, where it's this unreachable adventure thing you're probably not going to.

Ever really do in your life, I guess.

Ever.

Isn't this the premise of the grand tourismo movie, too? Some fucking nerd plays Gran Turismo and then gets to drive an actual car or something.

Very loosely, yes.

Yeah. I don't know. We'll have to review that movie.

Yeah, I think we should.

But I bring up the trucking simulator because I think it's very interesting that a job that seems awful.

I mean, just the hemorrhoids alone oh, my God.

People want to simulate. And if you're looking for that kind of authentic big rig trucking experience, this isn't it.

No, this is not fucking it not even fucking close.

But I will say that I think if you are a fan of hit and runs gameplay aside from its connection to The Simpsons right. You might like this game.

It has that kind of wandery adventuring driving around shit. Pretty dialed in, I'll say that.

Yeah. And I mean, the whole gist of the game is that you're hauling freight. Oh, yeah. You're hauling freight. And it ranges from cell phones to beer. But there's also mini games and challenge races.

Races.

Yeah. But this game is, like, low key, an open world game.

Yes, it is.

You can kind of do what you want. And in that way, it's a little grand theft autoe.

Sure.

Because you can piss off cops.

Yes.

And cops will get you.

Oh, they'll fucking get you. These Hick County cops are not fucking around.

They're not messing around with your trailer trash garbage. But you can avoid getting caught by the cops by driving. Good.

Yeah. Following the rules of the road. No speed and no bunny running into shit.

But what that won't save you from is bikers.

Yeah. Bikers are outlawed.

Yeah. It's like, I feel like this game might somewhat be the inspiration for Sons of Anarchy.

Yeah. Kind of.

It's like the same level of quality as Sons of Anarchy.

I think, at the very least, it kind of exposes just how kind of tired all the biker outlaw tropes are.

Absolutely.

Say what you want. I've watched Sons of Anarchy. It's horrible, but I enjoyed watching it. But you realize that there's nothing new happening.

I don't think there's anything to mine from it anymore. No. And I think there wasn't anything left well, after Sons of Anarchy or well before Sons of Anarchy.

Well before sons.

Yeah.

I think it had been covered. And because we can't name the thing that covered it I think is a testament to how little of that world there actually is.

Yeah. Like, Sons of Anarchy, I guess, is really like, in the beginning, I actually thought the premise was better than it became because it's like, what if you have this small town and it's basically ran by a biker gang?

Right.

Which is, I guess, kind of interesting. But then it quickly becomes, oh, but what if these biker gangs were clever?

Yeah.

What if they had ambition? And it's like, well, if they had this big ambition, they wouldn't be in a biker gang. That's really what it is.

Almost anything else.

If these dumb motherfuckers were so smart, they wouldn't be doing this. So you can get attacked by bikers and they can blow your head off, basically.

Sure.

You also get extra money by smashing into vehicles which I don't understand, but.

Hey, doesn't make a goddamn lick of sense.

It doesn't have to.

No. True, it doesn't.

And there are three hotspots in the city. There's a garage, a bar and a store. And in the garage, you can patch up your truck, fill up with gas, swap your trailer so you can haul different shit. You can upgrade your rig or you can design custom logos for your truck. And the bar is where you get intel and where you buy and sell specific cargo. And there's a whole loan shark mechanic.

Which I didn't really I didn't get into that.

Yeah, it didn't seem very interesting. And then there's the store, and that's where you buy trading goods. But depending on where, you know, the prices are an economy in this game.

Such as it is.

And when you're making a pit stop at Big Mother Trucking Incorporated, you'll find Ma Jackson in place of the bar.

And store, just like Logan Roy.

Yeah.

Telling you to fuck off.

The bar is also where you'll get like your side missions and stuff.

Quite a few of those.

And I wouldn't say the maps are like massive, but there is a lot of place to there's a lot of driving. Yes, you can do a lot of driving. And in that way, I think this game kind of nails what it's going for.

I guess that's the question is we'll get more obviously into it when we get into review, but I feel like they set the bar pretty low for themselves on, as you say, what they were going for. But they did clear it.

Yeah. This game reaches exactly what it was going for. Right. And I think the biggest, I guess, challenge this game has is I feel like this game is begging to be an arcade game.

I was shocked when I looked up a bit that it wasn't like one of those really loud arcade games that no one's ever playing but you walk by and it's got a really cheap steering wheel with no feedback and a pedal that it doesn't even have a sit down version. I was sure that this would have been an arcade game.

I think this would be a fun arcade game.

Yeah, I think so.

Because, you know, what's a good comparison, but obviously a way better game. Crazy Taxi.

Yes.

It's that kind of open, world free will in mission to mission kind of thing with a very loose story.

Right.

Crazy Taxi. Crazy Taxi is a better version of this game.

Yes. Yeah.

And with a better soundtrack.

Much better soundtrack.

God damn, that Crazy Taxi soundtrack is so good.

So fucking good.

I would say two most influential or two most like yeah, influential video game soundtracks that were just all needle drops. Not the score of the game, but just the soundtrack. The Tony Hawk series and the crazy Taxi series.

100% true.

Absolutely. But let's see what everyone else thought about this because I'm very interested.

Yeah.

Hey, before you ask, we only take cash, so this is way more mixed than I thought it would be.

Yeah.

This game is begging for pretentious video game reviewers to shit all over it and it's not as bad as you would think.

Right.

So the Metacritic and mind you, this game came out on a lot of platforms. This game came out on the GameCube came out on, PS Two, came out on PC, Xbox and DS. There's also a Game Boy advanced version. And from what I understand, the DS and the Game Boy advanced versions are basically different games.

Oh, yeah. I can't imagine they wouldn't be.

So for Metacritic, the GameCube version got a 63 out of 100. PS Two got a 62 out of 100. PC got a 61 out of 100. Xbox got a 59 out of 100. This seems to be a reoccurring theme if it's cross platform almost always. And GameCube is one of the platforms. GameCube almost always comes out on top.

Almost always. Yeah.

So I think there's a bump just for it being on GameCube.

They were so happy.

Yeah. Came out on GameCube game spots. Alex Navarro gave it a 6.2 out of ten. And he acknowledged the game's earnest attempt to be fun, but couldn't overlook its presentation flaws and lack of varied gameplay. In his words, as a full on purchase, big Mother Truckers just doesn't quite measure up, which I can agree with that there is not a lot of game to this.

Unlike Psychonauts, where I said there's a lot of game, there is not a fucking lot of game here.

If this game were to come out today, I think this is like an 899 download only. And you're probably pretty happy with that purchase.

Yeah, I actually think you said this would be a good arcade game. I think this almost begs to be an iOS game with microtransactions for good cargo and upgrading your vehicle. Takes three.

Yeah, this could be that kind of thing. What, is a game developer just going to hire us to give them the good idea?

I know. Just do it.

Yeah.

And we're giving it away for free now. But we're not always going to.

Yeah, we're keeping some in the tank. Absolutely. Game Spies. Andy Mahood. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. If I'm not, sorry.

What's? He going to come after you?

Yeah, come at me. Andy Mahood. He echoed a similar sentiment about the game's repetitive nature, regardless of the dressing it wore and how it could grow tiresome after just a few hours of play. This game isn't made for long game sessions. Certainly not if you are playing this game for 5 hours. You need a therapist or something like.

You need to get another game because this is probably your only fucking game.

But you know what? If you're playing for 45 minutes, I think this is fine.

If you don't overstay your welcome with it, it won't overstay your welcome with you.

Yeah. So let's get to the reviews. Edge gave it a six out of ten. EGM gave it a 5.83 out of ten. Eurogamer gave it a six out of ten. Game Informer gave it a seven and a half out of ten. Game Spot gave it a 6.2 out of ten. Game Spy, two out of five stars. Game Zone, six out of ten. IGN a 6.3 out of ten. Official PlayStation Magazine gave it a three out of five stars. Playboy gave it a 53%.

Good old playboy.

And The Village Voice gave it a seven out of ten. And none of these really seem egregiously out of line.

No village voice, though, by the way.

Village Voice on the high end.

On the high end. It's also the first time I think we've heard about them reviewing a game. And this is the game like, oh, we'll review this game. Certainly.

And this is why I think they might have I remember this game having a massive marketing campaign. Really? You can go on YouTube and see the commercials. There were tons of commercials for this game.

I do not remember a single fucking one.

Yeah, I remember a lot of commercials for this game. So I think that might be why. That might be the deal.

Yeah. They were like this fucking iconoclast coming out that's had such a marketing machine behind it. We got to make sure we review that for our people in the Village Voice. Absolutely.

Playboy had to be in on it. They're like, this is our jam.

This is our wheelhouse.

Yeah, but you didn't come here to listen to what the fuck these losers think. You want to know what we think? The geniuses at the disc Read Error podcast.

It's true.

So, Ian, in your patent approved out of 1000, did it come through? It did.

I didn't hear that. That's fucking wonderful. All right.

In the mail today.

Beautiful.

In your patent approved out of 1000 rating system, what are you rating? Big mother truckers.

It's not a good game, okay? It's a little bit of fun. It's very limited. But again, as I said earlier, what it sets out to do, which isn't a lot, it does exactly that. It's a dirty joke. It's a two minute fucking web show thing. It's not trying to be anything else. However, I can't give it credit because it didn't try to do a lot. So it's not a lot of game here. As I said, here's where I'm going to go with my patent approved. This is my patented you all can't use it without asking me first. Out of 1000, I'm going to give Big Mother Truckers 631 out of 1000.

That's not bad.

It's not bad. I can't say this is a bad game. If you're going to go by the Christmas test of if you got this game for Christmas, you'd be very mad. You'd be very like, oh, I beat this in the afternoon, or, I'm bored of this already.

You'd probably be fine if you got it in a stocking.

Yeah, the stocking stuffer is great, but this is the gift. If this is your parents paid $39, handed this to you, you'd be like, oh, yeah, that was fun. Oh, you're not playing your new game. Yeah, I'm just taking a little break. And then you're like and then a couple of years later, you sell it to game Spot for a quarter. Yeah.

I can't call this game a good game. I can't necessarily call it a bad game. Exactly. I think this game desperately needed a multiplayer option that would have been fun if it were more geared towards that. I think it would be more fun.

It needed that next level on something.

Yeah. Because as a single player game, you're a fucking loser if you're sitting at home playing this game for 8 hours.

Right.

That's just what it is. But there's also something kind of endearing about it because it is so clearly goofy. We didn't even go over the character's name. We did go over them, but you look at the character's cletus. That is Earl Raucous and Bobby Sue. Bobby sue of mean. You know what you're getting into. So there's like a little bit of oh, okay. I remember when this stuff was, like, funny universally, right?

When we were into those tropes.

Yeah, that's funny.

Right?

Exactly. This is beginning of like the blue collar comedy losers. The Jeff foxwell. You know, you're redneck when right, exactly.

This is in that fucking wheelhouse.

Yeah, absolutely. This is like this time of American history. It's a time capsule, but it is not that fun.

No.

So I'm gonna have to give it I'm gonna give it five out of ten missing teeth.

Nicely done. Yeah, that feels I mean, I like my numbers, but we feel both, right?

Yeah. This is middle of the road.

Yeah.

Pun intended.

Nicely done. Nicely done. It's not trying to be more, but you can't credit it for not trying. Like, if you go out there as a fucking sports team and you say, yeah, we're going to win one game, and then you win one game, are people going to clap you on the back and be like, oh, my God, good job? No, you don't get credit for not striving.

Yeah. Nobody is rooting for the dude who's fine being the third string quarterback.

Right.

That's not how this works.

You don't have a party for the valedictorian of summer school.

Yeah, I don't know. That might be more effort than someone put into this game, but hey, it's not our job to only review the great games. And it's not our jobs to only review the worst games.

No. We can be in the middle of.

The road, and that's what this is.

Absolutely.

I would not spend more than and I did not spend more than $5 on a complete copy of this game.

No. $5 seems high.

I can't even recommend you actually buy this. But if you do own this and you want to emulate it because that's legal.

Yes. If you own a copy. Go ahead and do it.

If you own a copy. If you don't own a copy, I mean, I'm not going to tell you what to do. I'm not your mom. As the Bagel Boss once said, I'm not your father. I'm not god.

We got to get the bagel bus on this show.

Yeah, but yeah, that's big mother truckers.

Well, thanks, everyone, so much for listening. Don't forget to, like, follow, subscribe, hit the bell, click the thing, vote in.

The polls, smash the buttons.

Smash buttons. Just fucking do it. We are here every PS Tuesday and we also are here on Fridays, where we talk about other shit. Right now, we are talking about the Twisted Metal Peacock series. We had our thoughts on that gem, so you don't want to miss that.

And keep in touch with us. And as long as you're following along, we do have some big news about the future of the show coming up in a couple of weeks, we're making some changes. Bagel Boss is going to be third chair on every episode. We're going to get his take, but he's not going to play any of the games. We're just going to show him a long play of it on YouTube.

Yeah, we're just going to have women who made fun of him on dating sites play the game. And he gets to yell at them.

And he gets to criticize.

Yes, exactly.

For being three and a half feet tall. And we're going to keep on referring to him as three and a half feet tall the entire time.

Fucking head explode.

Yeah. He's going to be our Beetlejuice.

Beautiful. He's perfect Beetlejuice.

Perfect Beetlejuice. With less charisma, of course.

Very much so.

But yeah. So keep an eye out for that. Make sure you follow us on social media. You can find us on Instagram at Discretarepod, or you can find me at Funeral Casual Games.

I'm at Ian Golding Games.

And we will see you on the next one.

We will see you then.

Baraboom. Bar.