[Review] Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game (Nintendo Switch)

Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading. In this installment, we’re covering Expeditions: A MudRunner Game by developer Saber Interactive.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game: (The Explanation)

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game joins the Nintendo Switch alongside previous ‘Runner’ games MudRunner American Wilds (2018) and SnowRunner (2021). The game series has been a staple in my gaming library since coming out. I have spent many hours traipsing across various landscapes hauling logs, metal beams, and exploring. 

 

The newest game Expeditions: A MudRunner Game shares a lot of the same mechanics as the previous entries. In my early EXPlay hours I played a primarily tutorial focus area which teaches the new mechanics. There are subtle changes to the UI controls in how you change gears, switch between gears, and distribute repair points to your damaged vehicles. My muscle memory took a bit to adjust to these new UI controls, mostly because the swapping of L1 and R1 had been ingrained in me and kept messing me up. 

 

In Expeditions: A MudRunner Game you are tasked with exploring various areas, set up bases, and uncover secrets within each section of the map. These secrets might include discoveries like an airplane crash, dinosaur bones, caves, and other unique places.

 

The main gameplay of Expeditions: A MudRunner Game sees you navigating from point A to B using a variety of vehicles. Sometimes you will want to use nimble scouts that don’t have a lot of fuel, but make up for it in being able to scurry up and down hillsides quickly. In a mission I took on during my EXPlay I needed a truck that had mud tires and a raised frame to prevent from sinking into water and mud I came across. 

 

Like a puzzle game where you can see your destination, Expeditions: A MudRunner Game sees you planning your ascent up mountains and down into vallies navigating hillsides. You will need to use your various tools like the newly added drone to set way points to help you navigate. More often than not you will also use the winch to pull yourself up to trees or your small inventory of anchors. The new item, anchors, lets you place a winch point into the ground within your green circle.

 

One area that Expeditions: A MudRunner Game suffers on the Nintendo Switch is the graphics and framerate. Like I have said earlier, I have played the other games in the series. I have played on both Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S. Recently, I have been putting more time into the later years DLC in SnowRunner alongside a friend of mine. 

 

From the opening moments, it is easy to see that Expeditions: A MudRunner Game took some hits in the graphics area. While the game is full of a lot of moving parts, like water, mud, rocks, trees, and more, most of those pieces come together in a very muddy (no pun intended) way. Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is one of those games that looks like vaseline has been spread all over the screen giving the game an almost slimy look.

 

There were times that I noticed how hard it was to differentiate some of the background areas and know if I could easily drive over certain rocks. There are also other inconsistencies in the graphics of the game where some textures have pop-in and shadows that would get out of sync seemingly glitching in and out.

 

Overall, Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is a decent game that includes a lot of the things I enjoyed about the previous games in the series. There are other additions in the game like hiring crew members that augment your abilities and can be used to grow your reach across the various maps. These crew members are valuable in how you will navigate the locations reaching further into the woods, higher heights of mountains, and more.

 

If you are itching for a MudRunner style game and enjoy the other games in the series, I would first recommend looking into either the PC, PS5, or Xbox version of Expeditions: A MudRunner Game. If you don’t have another system to play on, the Switch version is serviceable though it has noticeable shortcomings that may make you wish you could play it elsewhere. 

 

If you can see past the rough edges, and yet to be released co-op mode, jumping into a 4-wheel drive vehicle and driving across the land is bound to be fun, a different kind of fun, but a type of enjoyment that I get each time I turn on my truck’s engine.

 

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game: (The Gameplay)

Game Specifications:

Developer: Saber Interactive
Publisher: Focus Entertainment
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Simulation 
No. of Players: 1 player
Release Date: March 5, 2024 (EU & NA)
Price: $49.99
File Size: 3.4 GB
Nintendo.com Listing