I'm a UK player of both ETS2 and ATS and I love both games equally. There's a huge sense of freedom in ATS due to how massive the US is; but also negotiating the compactness of Europe's roads is also fun. I've never been to the US so I can't speak from experience but I feel that even going through towns in the US, it doesn't have much detail going on, very sparse. To be fair though, this may be due to the vastness of states. In ETS2 the UK needs a massive overhaul. The cities feel like you are just entering and leaving an industrial estate. It doesn't feel like you are driving through a city. In the European maps, it feels a lot more detailed. They're probably the best truck simulations out there, though. Well worth checking out. Great review and happy trucking. :)
Nice review! I love driving cars. I built a rig for racing games not too long ago. From arcade to more sim titles (BeamNG, Dirt Rally, ACC, F1, Forza, Grid Legends, Wreckfest) but I never was into Truck or tried ATS or ETS2. Fun fact, my son asked for ETS2 last Christmas. He also play this game on his PC with a mouse & keyboard. Maybe with a gamepad, not sure. He loves the game for sure. Anyway, it's time for me to try this game myself. Thanks for this great video!
Nice review. I became hooked on ATS some time ago, and got quite a few of the state expansions. I think I stopped playing just before the Texas update was released. Watching your video makes me want to get back in to it. I will have to pick it up again. I also really enjoy the special things they do around the holidays with the holiday loads and the community challenges. I think it is fun to make deliveries to the North Pole!
@@AlmightyBigD001 Thanks! SCS has done a good job with the recent dlc. Texas and the midwest don't have the most exciting geography but they really capture the unique feel of each state. I haven't caught one of the holiday events but those do sound cool. Thanks for the comment!
Great review, one of the most thorough yet concise ones I've seen for ATS. You pretty much cover it all. I've got both ATS and ETS2 and though I'm a Brit I honestly play ATS way, way, way more than ETS2. Europe is a pretty dense place, and it just feels weird to have crossed a country's width in twenty minutes. As each European country has a different distinct style in architecture and landscape, this means it feels more like you're traversing a series of biomes than being in a real living, breathing world. The dense, compact nature of Europe also means that you're hopping between cities pretty quickly with less open road. (However some players prefer this as it makes for a more visually varied game.) By comparison the very nature of America's tract housing, chain stores and interstate network means that it's far easier to slip into that dream-like conviction that you really are traversing America on a big road-trip. I've been on two major American road-trips in real life, one from Seattle to Chicago and one from Boston to Chicago, and on choosing a long-route in ATS I really get the same feeling as I did in experiencing those road-trips. I get to see a surprising amount sights that I remember first-hand - even banal ones - and some breath-taking scenery as I move from state to state. However with a long enough route planned the aforementioned conformity of American housing, commerce and freeway means that I never really feel as if I'm in a game. I can just slip into a headspace where I imagine I'm driving across one big state. I think it's this American 'monoculture' of architecture and road networks that helps ATS maintain a higher quality than ETS2 also. I don't want to take away anything from the hard-working ETS2 teams, I just think that as they have to continually change up their housing and vegetation and signage and road networks from country to country they have less development time to get all the charming details and carefully refined vistas down that the ATS team do. In addition to your review I'd just like to highlight the wonderful in-game radio network feature which allows you to tune into real-world radio stations. Listening to real streaming American radio from the very states I'm passing through with their frankly bizarre multi-disclaimer legal and medical adverts and local small-state gossip news really adds to the immersion. I also play with an old flight-sim joystick instead of a wheel, and it works remarkably well, and I have to say I could never give up driving from the interior cab view. That just adds so much more for me. If you're reading this and new to the game and want to dip your toes in be assured that the base game will get you a good sixty hours easy of exploring everything. Of the three states you get California is magnificent after the rework, Nevada is very, very dated and frankly a bit ugly except at night where it oddly blossoms in part, and Arizona is a mixed bag but has enough atmosphere to carry you through. If you fancy splashing a bit of extra cash go for the North West Bundle which will get you five excellent states in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana and some very varied scenery, along with a great cargo pack and a nice paintjob pack. By the time you've chewed your way through all of those the new states will probably be in the old discount sale bundles. Happy trucking everyone!
Excellent review. As someone who has played both ATS and ETS2 extensively, I have to agree with your conclusion. ATS feels far more immersive, with more dramatic and geographically nuanced landscapes, more interesting company locations, and a more authentic overall feel. ETS2 feels like a lot of copy-paste, which is unfortunate given the actual diversity of landscapes on the European landmass. Maybe SCS should just shelve ETS2 for a few years and have all hands on deck to finish off the remaining contiguous 50 states in ATS.
The crazy thing about ETS2 is that parts of it are really good. The recent DLC - Balkans, Iberia - is great to drive through. But then you go to the UK and it's like stepping into a time machine. The reworks have been good but they still have so much to do. I'll likely do some videos in the future comparing the games in more detail and doing a deep dive on the map state of ETS2. Thanks for the comment!
The new Germany update is great though. They should really try to push the ETS updates. There's still too many old areas there. ATS is almost flawless, especially the latest California update.
I am a 72-year-old woman whose dream was to drive a truck ever since I can remember but has never been able to drive anything in real life at all due to seizures. ATS is hands down my favorite simulated driving game. I have tried several, and the immersive experience in ATS (and ETS2) is far and above almost every other game. I have 10,685 real time hours invested in ATS and 7,183 in ETS. Your review is spot on! I have every map expansion and many mods - only ones that make the game as immersive and realistic as I have observed in real life. My gameplay is as close to reality as I can achieve, ranging from no speeding, going through red lights, crashes (on purpose), etc. I rarely go above 60 MPH. I have just recently started SCS's Driving Academy and discovered I still have a lot to learn about the realities of trucking. I started out with 18 Wheels of Steel, then tried ETS2, then went to ATS when it was first released, and did not like it at all. The trailers seemed way longer than in real life and I could not figure out how to make turns without crashing into signs, bridges, etc. (Probably, this was due to my lack of experience driving at all.) So, I stuck with ETS2 for a couple years. Trying out ATS again, I was impressed with the marked improvements SCS had made. I totally agree with your assessment of the difference in feel between the two games. Now, as I mentioned, ATS is my favorite driving simulator, hands down. Thank you for a factual and concise review of ATS/ETS2! A job very well done!
Driving with a Keyboard must have been Brutal, i can drive comfortably with the keyboard or the controller, it needs some sort of automatic assist to keep it centered in the lane. The wheel makes it much easier and its ergonomic friendly for older people. I can't drive using the outside camera tho, i keep drifting but yeah it does look cool from the outside, on arcade racing games i prefer the outside camera too but ATX outside camera is hard to steer with. Sure i would like the maps for Central America and South America would be sweet 😎🚛
NOW THIS IS A REVIEW! and to think you did a 100% on MnK. Complete and concise also did a comparison with ETS2 all in one video.
I'm a UK player of both ETS2 and ATS and I love both games equally. There's a huge sense of freedom in ATS due to how massive the US is; but also negotiating the compactness of Europe's roads is also fun. I've never been to the US so I can't speak from experience but I feel that even going through towns in the US, it doesn't have much detail going on, very sparse. To be fair though, this may be due to the vastness of states. In ETS2 the UK needs a massive overhaul. The cities feel like you are just entering and leaving an industrial estate. It doesn't feel like you are driving through a city. In the European maps, it feels a lot more detailed. They're probably the best truck simulations out there, though. Well worth checking out. Great review and happy trucking. :)
Nice review! I love driving cars. I built a rig for racing games not too long ago. From arcade to more sim titles (BeamNG, Dirt Rally, ACC, F1, Forza, Grid Legends, Wreckfest) but I never was into Truck or tried ATS or ETS2. Fun fact, my son asked for ETS2 last Christmas. He also play this game on his PC with a mouse & keyboard. Maybe with a gamepad, not sure. He loves the game for sure. Anyway, it's time for me to try this game myself. Thanks for this great video!
Thanks, hope you enjoy ATS! It's a very different vibe from racing games but there's no reason you can't play both.
Nice review. I became hooked on ATS some time ago, and got quite a few of the state expansions. I think I stopped playing just before the Texas update was released. Watching your video makes me want to get back in to it. I will have to pick it up again. I also really enjoy the special things they do around the holidays with the holiday loads and the community challenges. I think it is fun to make deliveries to the North Pole!
@@AlmightyBigD001 Thanks! SCS has done a good job with the recent dlc. Texas and the midwest don't have the most exciting geography but they really capture the unique feel of each state. I haven't caught one of the holiday events but those do sound cool. Thanks for the comment!
Great review, one of the most thorough yet concise ones I've seen for ATS. You pretty much cover it all. I've got both ATS and ETS2 and though I'm a Brit I honestly play ATS way, way, way more than ETS2. Europe is a pretty dense place, and it just feels weird to have crossed a country's width in twenty minutes. As each European country has a different distinct style in architecture and landscape, this means it feels more like you're traversing a series of biomes than being in a real living, breathing world. The dense, compact nature of Europe also means that you're hopping between cities pretty quickly with less open road. (However some players prefer this as it makes for a more visually varied game.)
By comparison the very nature of America's tract housing, chain stores and interstate network means that it's far easier to slip into that dream-like conviction that you really are traversing America on a big road-trip. I've been on two major American road-trips in real life, one from Seattle to Chicago and one from Boston to Chicago, and on choosing a long-route in ATS I really get the same feeling as I did in experiencing those road-trips. I get to see a surprising amount sights that I remember first-hand - even banal ones - and some breath-taking scenery as I move from state to state. However with a long enough route planned the aforementioned conformity of American housing, commerce and freeway means that I never really feel as if I'm in a game. I can just slip into a headspace where I imagine I'm driving across one big state. I think it's this American 'monoculture' of architecture and road networks that helps ATS maintain a higher quality than ETS2 also. I don't want to take away anything from the hard-working ETS2 teams, I just think that as they have to continually change up their housing and vegetation and signage and road networks from country to country they have less development time to get all the charming details and carefully refined vistas down that the ATS team do.
In addition to your review I'd just like to highlight the wonderful in-game radio network feature which allows you to tune into real-world radio stations. Listening to real streaming American radio from the very states I'm passing through with their frankly bizarre multi-disclaimer legal and medical adverts and local small-state gossip news really adds to the immersion. I also play with an old flight-sim joystick instead of a wheel, and it works remarkably well, and I have to say I could never give up driving from the interior cab view. That just adds so much more for me.
If you're reading this and new to the game and want to dip your toes in be assured that the base game will get you a good sixty hours easy of exploring everything. Of the three states you get California is magnificent after the rework, Nevada is very, very dated and frankly a bit ugly except at night where it oddly blossoms in part, and Arizona is a mixed bag but has enough atmosphere to carry you through. If you fancy splashing a bit of extra cash go for the North West Bundle which will get you five excellent states in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana and some very varied scenery, along with a great cargo pack and a nice paintjob pack. By the time you've chewed your way through all of those the new states will probably be in the old discount sale bundles. Happy trucking everyone!
Excellent review. As someone who has played both ATS and ETS2 extensively, I have to agree with your conclusion. ATS feels far more immersive, with more dramatic and geographically nuanced landscapes, more interesting company locations, and a more authentic overall feel. ETS2 feels like a lot of copy-paste, which is unfortunate given the actual diversity of landscapes on the European landmass. Maybe SCS should just shelve ETS2 for a few years and have all hands on deck to finish off the remaining contiguous 50 states in ATS.
The crazy thing about ETS2 is that parts of it are really good. The recent DLC - Balkans, Iberia - is great to drive through. But then you go to the UK and it's like stepping into a time machine. The reworks have been good but they still have so much to do. I'll likely do some videos in the future comparing the games in more detail and doing a deep dive on the map state of ETS2. Thanks for the comment!
The new Germany update is great though. They should really try to push the ETS updates. There's still too many old areas there. ATS is almost flawless, especially the latest California update.
Thanks….the best over view of the game….well done❤
@@cards7651 thanks for the kind words!
I am a 72-year-old woman whose dream was to drive a truck ever since I can remember but has never been able to drive anything in real life at all due to seizures. ATS is hands down my favorite simulated driving game. I have tried several, and the immersive experience in ATS (and ETS2) is far and above almost every other game. I have 10,685 real time hours invested in ATS and 7,183 in ETS. Your review is spot on! I have every map expansion and many mods - only ones that make the game as immersive and realistic as I have observed in real life. My gameplay is as close to reality as I can achieve, ranging from no speeding, going through red lights, crashes (on purpose), etc. I rarely go above 60 MPH. I have just recently started SCS's Driving Academy and discovered I still have a lot to learn about the realities of trucking. I started out with 18 Wheels of Steel, then tried ETS2, then went to ATS when it was first released, and did not like it at all. The trailers seemed way longer than in real life and I could not figure out how to make turns without crashing into signs, bridges, etc. (Probably, this was due to my lack of experience driving at all.) So, I stuck with ETS2 for a couple years. Trying out ATS again, I was impressed with the marked improvements SCS had made. I totally agree with your assessment of the difference in feel between the two games. Now, as I mentioned, ATS is my favorite driving simulator, hands down. Thank you for a factual and concise review of ATS/ETS2! A job very well done!
Driving with a Keyboard must have been Brutal, i can drive comfortably with the keyboard or the controller, it needs some sort of automatic assist to keep it centered in the lane. The wheel makes it much easier and its ergonomic friendly for older people. I can't drive using the outside camera tho, i keep drifting but yeah it does look cool from the outside, on arcade racing games i prefer the outside camera too but ATX outside camera is hard to steer with. Sure i would like the maps for Central America and South America would be sweet 😎🚛
This is a really good review! I’m thinking of getting the game.
@@NonoTheKing Thanks! It's a great game; hopefully you'll enjoy it as well.
Mouse and keyboard and 3rd person is wild bro. This vid made me buy the game 👍, keep on trucking
You're not wrong, but it's still a zen kind of experience most of the time. Hope you enjoy!
as someone who still does not know why people like these games, this did a good job explaining why people like them.
Yeah they're definitely not for everybody. But for a certain person I think these games can have a zen-like vibe. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for informative video!
I have nearly 5000 hrs between both games and love them.. of You try México map it ID Even better
100% of what?
Usually it means that he did all the contents that the game have.
.