Lake: A Pleasant Idyll

Played this on my X-Box/S and have finally learned how to take and transfer screenshots! Not easy, but I did it. 

I've finished the game, and even replayed the last section to get a different ending (turned out to be not very different). This is a sweet little game. The plot almost doesn't matter. The gameplay is mostly involved in trying to control the mail delivery truck that you're driving. That is no simple task. The controls are super-sensitive and the truck weaves all over the place if you try to go too fast and correct at all for steering. I found that constantly tapping the right trigger on my controller (the accelerator) was the only way to reasonably control the truck movement.

Driving along the pretty lake shore

The roads and street signs look completely realistic. The problem is in keeping the truck centered, or at least in, the traffic lane you're navigating. Our view of the truck is almost always from behind, so you really can't see things you'd see through the windshield. Still, I suppose it does give you more reference about when you're weaving in and out of your lane, especially with oncoming traffic moving toward you in the other lane.

However, the game doesn't care if you hit stuff. I hit plenty of stuff, although I did manage to avoid mowing down pedestrians and a deer. You can reverse with the right trigger and actually found that easier than driving forward. There are realistic bangs when you drive into a rock wall, and when you drive up over the sidewalk the truck does just that, quite realistically. I hit a car on purpose and nothing happened except the crash sound.

Getting through bridges, especially a narrow covered bridge, provides some suspense. Go slowly. Go very slowly. Somehow I never hit the side while within a tunnel, and I wonder if the game provides some assist there.

Can you get through it?

I was particularly proud when I managed to park the truck actually in a parking space. It was mostly luck, but I'll take the credit.

Not bad, eh?

Yes, I'm talking about driving instead of the plot. There is a plot, and even a few achievements. But it's the driving difficulties that make this a game more than just a little interactive cartoon. Driving is tough. The game itself is easy.

The main character is a lady who is taking two weeks off from her high-pressure job to return to the sleepy, picturesque little Oregon town where she grew up. It's 1984, and we get some nice references to that time: videotapes are how people rent movies; when the parents call they run out of coins for the pay phone they're using. But mostly it's just the story of a woman returning to her home place and reconnecting with the people she knew back when.

To fill the time, she takes over her recently-retired Dad's job as the town postal delivery person for two weeks. The other challenge of the game, besides driving, is finding all the addresses and actually delivering the mail, including packages. For that, we have a really handy, zoomable map.

Delieveries on the left

The map shows your current position and the direction you're headed. Plus, a small insert map helps guide you to the next address in the bottom left of the screen as you move. Very handy.

I managed to figure out most of the main delivery sites after the first game day. The game throws a few challenges at you by putting some deliveries in a wooded, hilly, cabin area (the area shown in the map above). Good luck not hitting trees or rocks in there.

Delivery to Burt at the fishing pier

As we deliver our stuff, we meet people, many of whom we used to know. A main challenge in the plot is reconnecting with the former best friend, whom we've neglected all these years. Also, there are two possible romances to pursue, and some cats to help (I regret that I did not take the cat-sitting job. Should have). When people ask us for favors, we can accept or decline. I advise accepting everything just to get more out of the game, but we have lots of choices.

Main Street

Main Street at night

I didn't find the plot to be all that compelling, but it works fine for this game. It's mostly about the choices. Of course, in the end, we have to choose whether to stay or go back to the lucrative but stressful career in the city.

One major complaint: the mail truck is equipped with a radio. That thing plays the same country-western song over and over and over and . . . . You can thankfully turn it off, but the same song is always playing in the general store, the video store, and the diner so it's impossible to escape. It isn't a bad song. It just goes on and on and on. I've still got an earworm of the thing.

We go fishing

For me, the game was a nice, pleasant time driving around delivering mail, which I enjoyed. The only real difficulty is in controlling the truck, but without that problem the game really wouldn't have much challenge at all.

And it's really pretty. I enjoyed the scenery everywhere: by the lake, looking at mountains, driving through forests, navigating twisty roads and driveways.

I found it worth my time.