The most poorly received driving game ever has just been re-released for $4.79.

      Margarite Entertainment via Steam

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      Among the list of terrible video games, few rival Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing. I first encountered this infamous title while watching X-Play on G4 during my childhood, and it’s the kind of experience that sticks with you. Released in 2003 for PC, it was allegedly developed by an anonymous team in Ukraine and released while still in pre-alpha—developer jargon for “far from complete.” The outcome became legendary for numerous reasons that we’ll discuss, but today we’re focusing on how Big Rigs is back and available for purchase on Steam for the low price of $4.79 for the first time in decades.

      Is $4.79 a reasonable amount to spend on a game famous for epitomizing the worst aspects of the medium? Should we, as a society, reward this type of work? I don’t have the answers to those inquiries, but I can say that I’ve spent $5 on far less entertaining things, so there is a case to be made.

      The game’s description—which has remained unchanged for 22 years—excites players with promises of “some brake jamm’in, CB talk’in, convoy roll’in action across America! From Portland, Oregon to Miami, Florida [sic], you’ll be hauling loads and trying to stay one step ahead of the law as you climb into your Big Rig for non-stop driving action.”

      Margarite Entertainment via Steam

      Sounds thrilling, but none of this actually happens in Big Rigs. Instead, races start with your opponent either moving jerkily or not at all. If you try to drive over a bridge, you simply fall through it into the ditch below and emerge unscathed on the other side. That’s typically the first indication to players that they are in for something unique.

      Inclines are irrelevant in this game—they have no impact on your truck’s performance, nor do any environmental features like buildings or trees, as you can pass through anything in your way. You can even exit the map entirely and keep going in a void for as long as you wish. When you switch into reverse, your speed will increase exponentially without limit, as the speedometer needle spins wildly. If you release the accelerator at that moment, even at incredibly high speeds, you will come to an immediate stop. Alex Navarro’s notorious video review for GameSpot from back in the day illustrates all of this more effectively than any written description ever could.

      One of the amusing aspects of this new Steam release is that, for about a dollar extra, publisher Margarite Entertainment will include the game’s soundtrack. This is peculiar because, as anyone who has played Big Rigs knows, there is no actual soundtrack. There was supposedly always music on the disc—one of the tracks can be heard in that GameSpot review—but it never plays during gameplay. However, there is engine noise that sounds like a cordless drill when you reverse for an extended period.

      There’s more. For some reason, many screenshots display green numbers in the lower-left corner of the screen, which seem to indicate the player’s coordinates, and they’re just…perpetually present, perhaps evidence of that pre-alpha claim. Additionally, a modified last-gen Toyota Celica is featured on the loading screen, a car that never actually appears in the game. And if you somehow make it across the finish line, you are rewarded with the ultimate prize:

      You’re Winner! Margarite Entertainment via Steam

      Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing currently holds a “positive” consensus among 40 user reviews on Steam, with one of its most popular user-defined tags being “psychological horror.”

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