Hard Truck Apocalypse
| Hard Truck: Apocalypse | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Targem Games |
| Publisher(s) | Buka Entertainment |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release date(s) | December 8, 2005
|
| Genre(s) | Vehicular combat, business simulation, post-apocalyptic science fiction |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Hard Truck: Apocalypse (Ex Machina) is an open world vehicular combat post-apocalyptic science fiction video game developed by Russian game developer Targem Games. It is a Privateer-like game on vehicles instead of spaceships set in a post-apocalyptic Europe. The player controls an armored heavy truck, and moves from one settlement. He trades with locals, completes quests, fights numerous enemies, upgrades his truck and purchases better weapons.
Plot
The story showcases the Earth of the future, and the world after a crash of an unidentified object. After the crash, the atmosphere becomes poisonous. Due to the invention of a special mask by an unknown genius, people manage to survive. Due to the masks, race, caste, religion,etc. vanish and the people unite. People start doing various activities like exploring, farming, trading, manufacturing, etc. They start living in small villages or big towns and make their unions or their clans. But some people are still thieves and raiders, who loot travellers and are the main source of destruction.
Ivan Go, the great explorer and discoverer, goes to another journey and gives the responsibility of his child to Peter, his friend. The child later grows up and a time comes when he is old enough that Peter allows him to ride his van alone and to do a small job. The young man is extremely happy, and goes riding alone.
During his journey, he meets a girl named Alice, which he later meets again in the story line. He faces the local gang, and refuses to pay money to the gang. While he returns home, he finds out that his village has been attacked, there is fire everywhere and no one is alive. In sorrow, he becomes extremely angry, and wants to take revenge for this. He suspects the local gang to have done it, but finally gets to know that it wasn't them. He feels that Alice must have seen all that so he goes for a long journey to find out Alice.
When he meets Alice, she tells him that it must be a big gang leader, who lives in an area namely Argen. She also says that it is very hard to defeat him. The player again gains power, and finally defeats the leader, but again he finds that it wasn't him who had destroyed his village.
Later they meet the Oracle, who helps them find that the attackers were no one else but the monsters from the Desert Of Death, who had lost control on their minds, and were mentally impaired.
The player thinks that it is no use to kill those people. He then goes to find his father, but comes to know that he was already dead. He comes to know the source of the poisonous air in the environment, and then goes to stop it, with the help of some Aliens. The Oracle, for some reason, tries to stop him from doing so. The player has no other option rather than fighting The Oracle. He fights The Oracle, and doing so also destroys him. The player then finally blocks the source of the poison.
Gameplay
Format
The player has to go for a long journey to avenge his father. He earns coins, by doing trade, selling loot and doing others NPC's jobs. He can buy various weapons and gadgets, and can buy better vehicles. He has to save himself from the attack by raiders.
Add-ons
Hard Truck Apocalypse: Rise of the Clans (Ex Machina: meridian 113)
The official standalone expansion to Hard Truck Apocalypse, also developed by Targem Games. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of North America. The player controls a vagrant who is searching for the mythical city of Edmonton.
The game reuses a lot of material from HTA; most of the vehicles, weapons, and enemies are the same. However, there are four brand new zones and a whole new storyline.