Since 2004, racing games have had a lot to live up to. As Final Fantasy 7 set the standard for RPG's, and when Halo set the standard for First Person shooters, no racing game has been able to come close to Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.

Where does one begin in describing such a game? Big Rigs puts you behind the wheel of one of several mean trucks. The object is to pass a checkpoint race before another truck, while avoiding conflicts with the law. The brilliance is in the simplicity. Big Rigs doesn't put you through all the lengthy truck endorsments for trucking related products. It doesn't add in a billion different modes you'll never play. Big Rigs gets straight to the point, and in seconds you can zoom off on your way to victory.

The races run extremely smoothly. In fact, you don't even need a load of cargo. Big Rigs spares you the extra annoyance of carrying a load of cargo that may get detatched, damaged, or fall prey to an act of God, despite defeating the purpose of driving a truck. In fact, the trucks you drive in Big Rigs are somewhat magical. With brakes of steel, you'll never have to worry about spinning out when you come to a sudden stop. This is especially useful if you want to stop and go in the complete opposite direction. The other magical abilities your truck possesses are incredible traction and the ability to move through objects. The moving through objects ability makes moving through heavily crowded areas easy. However, while moving through buildings may be useful, this backfires at bridges. You must use caution while on a bridge or you may sink right through. The incredible traction of your truck makes driving up a mountain easy as driving across flat land. Needless to say, your truck is so awesome and incredible, there's a really good chance that the other driver may be frozen in awe, and forget to move. The police will probably give up, or better yet, not even bother chasing you. Though it is not stated on the box or in the instruction manual, is pretty obvious, as there is no other explanation to how your truck can be that awesome.

Though your truck is probably the most awesome vehicle you'll ever drive, Big Rigs is not without danger. Since this game is so awesome, you'll likely want to take the longcuts across the mountains as opposed to the actual road you're supposed to race on. On the edge of these mountains however, there is a demonic abyss which will try to suck your car into nothingness and eat your soul. Needless to say, this makes the game extremely exciting. Along with the bridge and the worrying if maybe the cops do decide to show up, and the other driver gaining his senses and start to drive, there are enough dangers to keep the game tense.

Few games call for an experience this exciting. In fact, the prospect of racing a truck without any cargo against a bewildered opponent with a police force who wants to bust you for no apparent reason but suddenly decided not to show up is enough to get any gamer excited. If you haven't picked up Big Rigs yet, then you're missing out on something special.