Expeditions A Mudrunner Game PS5 Review –
By now I’m sure that a lot of people will know the franchise that brought us Spintyres and Snowrunner. Mudrunner, for me, has always been a fun and challenging set of games that I have lost hours to playing.
Well, here we are with a new release thanks to Focus Entertainment; Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game, to give it its full title is the latest instalment. If you are expecting a lot of the same that the series has given us in the past, then think again.
Expeditions A Mudrunner Game PS5 Review – Climb Aboard
Expeditions sets you up quite nicely with a short staging area set in Colorado to get everyone back up to speed. Learning how to shift gears, use the low range gearbox, winch etc. You know, the usual kind of thing but there are some new features to learn which have been brought into this game.
Now, instead of driving huge off-road trucks and hauling enormous loads over some of the most inhospitable areas known to man, Expeditions takes a more scientific approach. We now have the option of being able to lower tyre pressures to be able to allow more surface grip from the tyres on rough terrain, something that works really well on steep, rocky climbs.
There is also the addition of a ground anchor, something which was missing from previous games although I didn’t realise until now. The number of times that I had been stuck and desperately searched for a tree to attach my winch to with no avail became silly. Now you can use the ground anchor where there are no trees available to hook onto making life a little easier.
Once completing the few challenges in Colorado, the game opens up to allow you to continue on to Nevada’s Grand Canyon area and also a lush, wooded area of the Carpathian Mountains. These are the three areas that the game comes with and each of the latter two games have areas outside of the starting map to unlock the further you progress as with Snowrunner.
Expeditions A Mudrunner Game PS5 Review – Onwards and Upwards
As you would expect, the missions involved with each area start off pretty simple; reach this area, get up that steep hill, scout around with your drone for a while, put your feet up and have a spot of lunch. Things do seem to ramp up pretty quickly though. I found that the first 3 or 4 missions were easy and then all of a sudden it changed quite steeply.
Its only when you are first tasked with rescuing a stranded vehicle and towing it back to base that you can actually feel the difference in the games physics from say Mudrunner. The real core of the Mudrunner series has always been its physics, how the vehicle reacts to the terrain and how that terrain chews up the more you run over it. A task that is only a few hundred meters away can feel like a huge slog to get to depending on what stands between you and your goal.
On top of the physics, Expeditions does give you a whole host of new gadgets to use to try and make things a little easier. I have already mentioned the ground anchor above, but you can now attach metal detectors to the roof of your vehicle and water depth sensors to see just how deep a seemingly harmless puddle ahead actually is.
If you do get stuck, there is the option of sending in a second vehicle to get you out, but Expeditions is pretty forgiving when it comes to this. You can recall your truck to base for free once every mission which can be a time saver as well as a truck saver depending on just how damaged the vehicle is.
Expeditions A Mudrunner Game PS5 Review – Vehicle Choices
Luckily there are quite a few vehicles to be able to choose from in the garage. A lot do unlock after completing certain missions or tasks but do feel a lot easier to gain than previous titles. You can choose from small scout vehicles to hulking trucks right from the start and you can use them for most missions, but obviously they all have their strengths and weaknesses depending on how you want to tackle each assignment.
There is also the addition of team specialists which give some boosts to your gameplay, but these do come at a small cost as well as the additions which you can make to your vehicles. Luckily the rewards from completing missions are pretty generous and you can easily get hold of some upgraded suspension and Engines as long as you have either completed a mission to unlock them or found them in the wilds abandoned.
Obviously, these builds start to become important, especially when nighttime driving becomes a part of the longer missions. A good spotlight can make the world of difference over just your headlights to see where you are heading.
Expeditions A Mudrunner Game PS5 Review – What’s it all about?
Expeditions is all about finding the right path to your goal. Everything that is in front of your vehicle is an obstacle. As you would expect from the previous titles, the game makes great use of mud and rocks but also anything you see ahead of you can throw a shock your way. It’s all designed to deform, bounce you off onto a completely different trajectory and damage your vehicle if you don’t take things slowly enough. These games have never been about speed, it’s all about precision.
One of the major issues I encountered in the game however is the horrendous graphic pop ins and shading. It’s far from complete and I’m hoping that a day 1 patch comes out to correct this. The surfaces look awful and then all of a sudden, they become detailed, but can also flash between the two. There is defiantly a texture streaming issue somewhere. This does make it hard to see the surface to be able to judge what you are about to drive over.
This did spoil what are some seriously detailed visuals in the game. OK, it’s not a game that some people will enjoy. You’re not going to find yourself blasting down a road at 100mph, it’s a slow burner but God, it’s so addictive. Getting to the top of a particularly difficult climb is really rewarding when you are allowed to take it the view that is presented ahead of you. Sit back, put your feet up and take it all in through your binoculars. You never know, they may reveal some hidden items in the terrain.
Expeditions A Mudrunner Game PS5 Review – Final Thoughts
Expeditions A Mudrunner Game is a slow burner. Its not something you can just rush into. It will need some strategic planning to get the most from the game, but once you have cracked it, it is impossible to put it down.
Expeditions offers more in the way of slow and steady precise driving than any of the other games in the series and is a little easier to get into than previous titles. For the fans of the series as well as new payers it is defiantly a must buy.
