It’s time to splash some mud, discover places, and go on expeditions with Expeditions: A MudRunner Game.
Almost every genre of video game brings some sort of excitement to their players. Action and adventure enjoyers go on a wild rollercoaster of emotions and follow their character’s evolving, FPS gamers try their best to match skills with reactions, but what do simulation gamers do? Do they sit all day and… Be boring? Well, that is not the case if you have ever tried to play some simulation games before, at least the ones that aren’t too complicated or require a 500-page manual- I am looking at your Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Indeed, some vehicle simulator games take themselves too seriously, but that is exactly what they are built for. The reason why old Microsoft Flight Simulator games had that booklet was to give the best immersion of flying a plane without buying one for yourself. Same with other games like iRacing where you can compete against other racers online in a serious lobby with one-to-one creation of motorsports. There is, however, another subgenre of vehicle simulation games and that is the sandbox.
Ever since I was a child, I thought of having a game with soft-body physics of cars, because ultimately, crashing cars is fun to do so. I also liked the way I would create my own obstacle for the toy cars I had and watch them traverse through the terrain. Years later, I find myself having the same fun playing Expeditions: A MudRunner Game and its stable take on off-road-centric gameplay.
The MudRunner series isn’t a new franchise by any means, it used to be one of the beefy games to run on your gig due to its real-time simulation of mud, terrain deformation, and obviously vehicle physics. It wasn’t on par with the next big simulation game, BeamNG.drive, as it took more resources to run than MudRunners. But both had off-roading with certain cars, and they both delivered a quality simulation as many aspects of real-life off-road climbs were showcased one-on-one.
MudRunner then became Snowrunner, letting players explore arctic places instead of rainforests and barren lands. And now, Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is here to give the same experience but with advanced mechanics, a storyline, and more space to climb than ever before. As I stated earlier, Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, or any other MudRunner game in this case, is a sandbox experience, so if you find yourself being bored with tasks, you can freely drive your 4×4 around the map at heart’s content.
The game starts with five tutorial missions to showcase what your vehicle is capable of doing, such as traversing through rough terrain, diving deep down onto rivers or pools of water and not submerging, using differential locks to move every tire on its own, and so forth. Some other tutorials also show certain unlocks you can utilize to make your expeditions easier or let you upgrade your cars.
Since Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is built around off-roading vehicles, let’s talk about them. This is going to be a long one so bear with me. There are two different off-roader types and each is suited for certain situations, situations as in your expeditions and missions to clear. Scout cars are suitable for easy missions where your only goal is to scout- duh- or retrieve a basic item such as a black box and transmission from a site. It says easy but in a rough terrain, small jeeps can be hard to control as they do not pack a lot of punch in terms of power. So it’s best if you can get engine and suspension upgrades to your scout class as soon as possible.
Despite not being that useful, I found scout class to be most enjoyable to drive as they are the most “civilian” grade cars you can have in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game. The rest, such as off-roaders and heavy-duty trucks are meant to be used in special cases and barely can be seen in real life so scout cars are somewhat enjoyable due to their balanced driving style. However, the other classes I just mentioned can also be fun to drive if you start picking up how they respond to your driving.
Off-roaders are meant to be middle-ground class and can be used to transport goods that can be carried on scout-class vehicles. They tend to have huge amounts of horsepower, therefore the off-roading doesn’t cause too much issue- until you tip it over of course. Since they happen to have lifted-up suspension, it is rather easy to make a mistake and completely turn a massive 4×4 in a sudden so be cautious while handling an off-roader. Handling a heavy-duty machine is a hassle of its own.
Since heavy-duty off-roaders are meant to carry a lot of stuff, they do not like bumpy roads often, making you think twice or thrice before setting your route. Climbs, one of the many marked areas on a map, can be easily exceeded with both scout and off-road type of vehicles, but it is not advised to try going through a climb a heavy-duty one. I know because of… Experiences I had during some runs of my playthrough in the past.
Instead of going through all the tutorials, I wanted to see the real deal in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game. So, after Little Colorado, your first destination is Arizona, and there are a lot of missions to go through. Around 40 missions are available per map in four different sub-sections, and the game has two unique places, which makes a total of 90 or so missions to go through, ranging from easy to normal to hard. The game is generous enough to give clues on what to do before starting and during your expedition. The menus are clean and the objectives are easy enough to read, therefore the only problem you’d come across is how to make it over certain plateaus or crests- not which step you should drive to.
Dropping on my first mission, I picked up a scout car and looked around completing the objectives with ease. Although the premise is just “drive around and pick up an item, then bring it back”, the tools you have can make the game more realistic and let you approach your next move with more enthusiasm instead. For example, drones can let you explore places without leaving your seat. It is an absolute game changer for undiscovered areas as it can also spot climbs or flat surfaces for you to drive. Then you can mark them on your map to create the most optimal route.
The inclusion of this item seems a bit redundant in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, but, binoculars also help a lot with your discovering sprees too. Drones might be just what you need, but sometimes you can sit on top of a hill, park your vehicle, and take your binoculars to spot any crash sites, drop-off points, or even points of interest for your sidequests. There are a few more tools that can help you with your adventure, but I felt they were too niche to have them equipped all the time. For example, the sonar to find certain items scattered around the map can be only equipped by scout class and sometimes it is not allowed to be used due to the nature of the mission you are going through.
With all being said, every class has its own way of customization, which adds more variety in terms of looks, and performance- and get this- the inventory system. I feel like adding an outside factor to your inventory system is great. Some parts like bumpers, outside rails, and front bumper additions can let you add spare tires, fuel cans, and extra carrying space if needed. Same with heavy-duty vehicles where you can buy extra beds and attachable trailers to let you carry heavier weights after finding what needs to be brought back to base.
If you want to progress more thoroughly by trying every vehicle available to you, you’re going to need some extra time as Expeditions: A MudRunner Game also lets you purchase new vehicles. From the shop, new cars from all classes can be found and purchased for a hefty amount of credit. It seems to be rather expensive at first, but no worries, the game gives out an even payout system as the expeditions get harder, so you can find yourself treated with new toys- but as I said, it will take some time.
The main aspect of Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is obviously its driving mechanics and overall physics, otherwise the game wouldn’t have its trademarked stories and challenges to go through, right? While driving the vehicles available, it felt quite different from another, which is great because not every car has to handle the same terrains provided. With changing grip levels, every vehicle would act in some way, for example, muddy terrain would be easy to overcome with heavy-duty and off-roaders, but scouts would somewhat have problems plowing through.
As much as the review is about the game I am currently playing, I had to turn back and take a look at the old titles from the series to compare some of the driving and mechanics, unfortunately, the physics seem somewhat the same, if not, it has been slightly altered for a better handling and realistic off-road crossing. Yes, there were times I saw some of the rocks and branches of trees not having a proper hitbox, nor climbs having true collisions, but it does not matter as you do not closely inspect what is going on with your tires. It is just important to keep your vehicle on its wheels.
Unlike how it seems, climbing rough terrain has a lot going on in the background. Almost all cars and trucks come with a few mechanics to let you drive more easily and overcome obstacles much more in an efficient way. I do not know why someone would keep an RWD configuration on, but all vehicles have a high beneficial factor with 4WD configuration. It is quite essential to turn on 4WD drive whenever possible because it highly helps you with traction and drive through rough terrain such as mud and gravel.
During a rocky climb, the vehicles highly benefit from having their tires “popped” intentionally. It might sound unusual but most of the rock climbing vehicles come equipped with tire deflators, which is mirrored well in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game. By deflating your tire, the tire gets more of the area covered, giving you more grip and better traction. Unfortunately, it is only suited for rock climbing so no need to reach the button whenever you get stuck in a watery area.
I would like to say one of the best live savers in the game is the differential lock. In my playthroughs, it was always the “last resort” mechanic to mess around with. What it essentially does is, it lets each axle of the vehicle act independently, preventing wheelspins that would occur during a regular climb. When traction is nowhere to be seen, cars usually spin one of the wheels that is struggling to climb while the other wheel tends to just do nothing at all, with differential lock, it essentially gives power to each wheel to get more grip, which is very much helpful in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game.
While experiencing the game, I didn’t have many gripes about how I got feedback from my expeditions or my own way of picking adventures through the vast lands. The title is generous with helping newcomers while veterans already know what to do in their planned drives. What I did not like about Expedition: A MudRunner Game was the sound design. I did try to play with music on to at least mask the continuous engine sounds with no variation but the country music with the same tones really, really hurt my brain so I had to shut it off for a while.
And that seemed like a bit of a double-edged sword for me, on one hand, I had the most basic country-rock-filled expeditions, and on the other, I had the terrible engine sounds that looped over and over again. I think it is one of the weakest points of the Expeditions: A MudRunner Game that needs special attention. Yes, every vehicle sounds different from another, but constantly pushing down the throttle or giving some gas always gives you the same sound over and over again, which becomes quite repetitive. So do not expect a sound design pulled straight out of a Gran Turismo or BeamNG.drive.
Graphically, the game has a lot to offer with a real-time render of physics, such as water being splashed around or carving tire marks into muddy areas. It also acts as a way to find your destination, as many missions in-game require you to go to base after doing the research in specified areas. The only thing in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game that made me question is the deformation of cars, which seemed a bit unrelated to the crashes you have. Some of the crashes can affect the internal mechanism of your cars, such as the transmission or engine, but the outside deformation seemed to be rather, not-so-realistic, I’d say.
For more immersive and realistic climbs or expeditions, you could try the first-person camera. It is nothing new in the series but it gives you the feel of actual struggle with only the vehicle beneath you. In 3rd person camera, at least you know what you can do once you are stuck, but for a real challenge, try to vaguely guess the terrain and move your car accordingly. It’s actually more fun than playing with the far camera, but for aesthetic purposes of watching your vehicle overcome the rocks and mud, it can be great to have an outside view too.
The game runs well on moderate hardware, and it is planned to have a co-op campaign in future updates, which is great as the online counterpart of the series is known most of the time. Modding and new terrain updates are confirmed in the first year span of the title, so you can expect to find new content during your playthrough. Let’s just hope that the physics don’t freak out during an online play like they used to back in the day.
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is ultimately what players have known the MudRunner series for. And it is very great to see them employ the “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” mentality, where the game is already fun and engaging enough that it doesn’t require any changes to its core approach to off-roading. You can still find excitement and planning yourself ahead with the title and it’s ultimately one of the best simulators for the specific genre of automotive fans. It is highly recommended that give Expeditions: A MudRunner Game a shot if you like to play dirty- I mean, in the mud and rain of course.
