It would be easy to dismiss Over the Hill as just another casual game with very simple graphics in a world where AAA releases are the main focus of the enthusiast press. But where a lot of current titles feel like work, with endless variations of mostly the same activities ad nauseam, developer Funselektor Labs’ plucky little game delivers on what those big boys tend to miss: the fun found in the basest of tenants in gaming design.
Over the Hill scratches the same kind of itch that I have previously had a grand time taking care of in stuff like Snowrunner and Alaskan Road Truckers, where the most mundane activities become the center piece and, surprisingly, the highlight of the experience. Stripping away the graphical realism and distilling mechanics down to the most necessary bits, however, Over the Hill manages to be a step even above those for me when it comes down to having a relaxing time.
I’ve been following this game for quite a while at this point, ever since I saw its announcement over one of those post-E3 presentations, when I immediately kept an open tab on my Internet browser, to the point of getting to chat with one of its developers – sadly, I never got their name – and mentioning how excited I was to play it down the line. After having a brilliant time with their previous release, The Art of Rally – has it REALLY been six years since that happened? – I was sure I would be over the moon with this one.
There isn’t much to the game looking in from the outside, though. In it, you basically drive a truck in the wilderness, exploring it in order to unlock new base camps, sights, and doing activities like finishing checkpoint-to-checkpoint sprints, climbing up tall mountains, and rescuing lost vehicles, all the while having to deal with rough terrain and the weather. It’s in that relationship that lies Over the Hill’s true strength, a balancing act of being open enough to let you cut loose and offering just enough tips at objectives to push you to keep going.
While a lot of the ground that the game treads has already been trampled by the likes of the aforementioned titles, Over the Hill lands on all four wheels without a whole lot of the complications that make up the moment-to-moment gameplay of those. All without losing any of the fun that’s in just getting over a particularly tricky section intact. Here, it’s just a matter of picking the right gear and sometimes using your truck’s winch if you happen to get stuck. The interface lets you know the horizontal and vertical angles you are travelling in, as well as the direction, and that’s about it.
You’re given two regions, each broken up into separate areas to explore. Canada provides your initial thrust into the game by giving you the basics and slowly having you tackle tougher scenarios, with Algeria, in its natural beauty and variety, throwing you into the deep end, or as deep as things can get in this game, meaning even more beauty to stumble into while driving. Best of all, if you’ve buddies to play this with, you’re welcome to bring them along. You never know when you’ll need a quick rescue when out and about.
Considering that Over the Hill is coming out with native mod support, it’s also bound to get even more content if the initial wave of fan-made projects, a day after its release, is any indication. So far, they come in the form of more liveries to customize your ride even further, but I wouldn’t count Funselektor Labs not adding further options to be custom made too down the line, like special objectives and such. That would be cool for those looking to add a bit more spice into the proceedings.
As with Art of Rally, Over the Hill is a spectacle to the eyes. Colorful and relying on contrast to always keep your sight busy as you plink away in your tiny jeep, the game’s presentation is deceptively bare, hiding a lushness that can be noticed whenever you stop to just take in the scenery. Blades of grass follow the flow of the wind, your car gets dirtier the more mud you roll your wheels over, and the vistas – oh man, the VISTAS – in this are absolutely breathtaking! All under a relaxing, contained, and, most importantly, contained, chill soundtrack.
Over the Hill is the type of game that anyone can easily keep tucked away in their hard drive to play whenever they need to take a breather. It’s far from demanding either technically (hardware or gaming skill-wise) or mentally, and works as a decompressor after a long day or even when you just want to play something that won’t have you aiming for a high score or keeping up with any bologne that modern games tend to worry so much about. Just worry about the drive and enjoy the ride.
