Extreme Forklifting 2

Developer: Devm Games | Publisher: Devm Games | Release Date: August 5, 2016 | Genre: Racing / Simulation | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

There are simulators for almost everything these days. Farming. Truck driving. Power washing. Lawn mowing. Extreme Forklifting 2 asks the question nobody else was brave enough to ask: What if we picked up a pallet and then put it down somewhere else? That is essentially the entire game.

Extreme Forklifting 2 places players behind the wheel of a forklift and tasks them with moving pallets from one location to another. There is no story, career campaign, or complicated business-management layer to worry about. A pallet appears somewhere in the environment, a destination is marked elsewhere, and your job is to introduce the two. The concept is extremely simple, and Extreme Forklifting 2 makes very little attempt to disguise that fact.

Driving uses the expected acceleration, reverse and steering controls, while the forks themselves can be raised and lowered independently. Lining them up correctly is initially the most demanding part of the process, particularly when approaching a pallet from an awkward angle. The forklift steers from the rear, so it takes a little adjustment before swinging the back end around becomes second nature. Once the forks are underneath the pallet, it can be lifted and transported to the highlighted destination. Deliveries earn money, but taking too long can result in receiving nothing for the job. Carrying the load carelessly can also cause problems because pallets respond to the movement of the forklift. Taking a corner too aggressively or approaching an obstacle badly can send the cargo somewhere it was definitely not intended to go.

There is a reset option for situations where the forklift ends up stuck or overturned, which becomes rather useful once Extreme Forklifting 2 stops pretending to be remotely sensible. The game gradually increases the complexity of its delivery locations as players progress. Early jobs resemble something that might conceivably happen in an actual warehouse. Pick something up here. Drive it over there. Put it down.

Later deliveries can involve ramps and moving platforms which means this isn’t exactly a conventional “simulator.”  Despite the store description advertising realistic and accurate controls, Extreme Forklifting 2 is not particularly interested in recreating an authentic day operating industrial machinery. Cargo shifts around as the forklift moves, the vehicle can tip over, and pallets can be destroyed. Raising a heavy load and then throwing the forklift around recklessly is an excellent way to discover why real forklift operators tend not to approach their jobs like rally drivers.

There is some skill involved in learning how aggressively we can drive without losing the load. Unfortunately, there is not much variety in what you are actually doing with that skill. The main objectives always revolve around picking up pallets and delivering them somewhere else. That is it. Different pickup and delivery locations make later jobs more complicated, but the underlying task never changes. There are no alternative vehicles, warehouse-management systems or substantially different job types waiting further into the game.

The other major activity is Time Trial mode. There are four courses: Short Track, Long Track, Crazy Spinning Track and Extreme Stunts Track. These push the arcade side of the game considerably harder. Instead of carefully transporting cargo between relatively sensible locations, players race the forklift through checkpoints as quickly as possible. The later courses introduce moving and rotating platforms along with jumps and other obstacles that make any remaining claims of realism rather difficult to take seriously. Time trials were a welcome change of pace because they give us something different to optimise. Learning the route, figuring out how much speed we can carry into corners and trying to shave a few more seconds from a previous attempt is more immediately competitive than simply making another pallet delivery. Crashing also invalidates a potential record, so throwing the forklift around with complete abandon is not always the fastest solution.

The problem is that there are only four courses. Like almost everything else in Extreme Forklifting 2, the idea is entertaining but underdeveloped. Progression is similarly basic. Completing deliveries increases your experience and rank, while successful jobs earn money. The money sounds more exciting than it actually is, as there is nothing meaningful to spend it on. You can continue earning increasingly impressive amounts of forklift money, but there is no economy surrounding it. You cannot buy better forklifts, upgrade the engine, improve the forks, or invest our earnings into anything else. The number simply gets bigger. That feels like a missed opportunity. Even a small upgrade system could have given repeated deliveries more purpose. Earning money towards improved handling, different vehicles, or additional equipment would have provided a reason to keep working after the basic objectives had been exhausted.

Customisation instead comes primarily from achievements and progression. There are eight Steam achievements in total. Some are straightforward milestones for delivering pallets, while others ask players to destroy a pallet, tip over the forklift, discover the secret Red Room, or complete specific time-trial challenges. These achievements also tie into cosmetic unlocks. Your driver can exchange sensible safety equipment for considerably less sensible headwear, while the forklift can receive decals and other cosmetic additions such as spoilers. None of this changes how the forklift performs, but putting a huge spoiler and ridiculous decal on industrial warehouse machinery has an undeniable appeal.

Unlocking all eight achievements therefore provides the closest thing Extreme Forklifting 2 has to actually finishing the game, as there is no traditional ending. Once the achievements are complete, players can continue delivering pallets, accumulating money and attempting faster time-trial records for as long as they like. For us, that was not very long. Extreme Forklifting 2 is a very short game. It does not take long to see essentially everything it has to offer, and achievement hunters can work through the full list without committing much time. Once the customisation items have been unlocked and the time trials completed, there simply is not much motivation left unless chasing personal records or endlessly increasing the delivery total sounds appealing.

Normally that lack of content would be a much bigger criticism but the price makes it easier to forgive. This is an extremely cheap game, and it never pretends to be some enormous forklift career simulator. The whole thing is essentially a small, silly arcade game built around the surprisingly entertaining process of manoeuvring pallets with industrial equipment. Taken on those terms, it works reasonably well.

The controls deserve some credit too. Driving feels deliberately heavy enough that the forklift does not behave like a normal car, and manoeuvring into the correct position requires a little care. The independent fork control means a successful pickup involves more than simply touching a pallet. The camera can occasionally make lining things up more awkward than necessary, but multiple viewing angles help. There is even support for most steering wheels, with force feedback available on Windows where compatible.

Visually, Extreme Forklifting 2 is functional. The environments are basic, textures are simple, and the models are never going to trouble a modern graphics card. This was hardly cutting-edge presentation even in 2016. However, it does what it needs to do. Pallets are easy to identify, destinations are clearly marked and obstacles remain readable while driving around the environment. The exaggerated forklift customisation also adds a little colour once enough cosmetics have been unlocked. There simply is not much visual variety. Most of the appeal comes from watching the physics react when something goes wrong rather than admiring the scenery.

Audio is similarly serviceable. The forklift produces the expected mechanical sounds, crashes and interactions have adequate feedback, and music accompanies the pallet-moving action. Unfortunately, there is very little musical variety. The soundtrack becomes repetitive fairly quickly, although the game itself is short enough that this never became unbearable.

That description applies surprisingly well to Extreme Forklifting 2 as a whole. There is not much here. But what is here works. Moving a pallet successfully is oddly satisfying. Trying to do it quickly adds just enough tension. Watching a badly balanced load fall off the forks because you attempted a corner far too aggressively is amusing. Racing a forklift across rotating platforms is stupid. Sometimes stupid is fine. What prevents the game from becoming something more memorable is simply the lack of development around its central idea.

As it stands, Extreme Forklifting 2 introduces a surprisingly entertaining little gameplay loop, plays around with it for a couple of hours, and then effectively runs out of things to say. At least it is priced accordingly.