It’s Hot
Wheels tumbling and jumping, spinning and zipping through jumps, both created
and invented on the spot.
It’s Mad Max
meets Death Race 2000 – in a post-apocalyptic world.
But the real
question is does Auto Assault Online have legs. The answer to that will be
determined in the future but for right now, it is a solid massively multiplayer
online game that is not attracting a lot of people, making the wide-open world seem
empty and sparse.
The problem
with MMOs is that they are meant to be shared with other players. Auto Assault
Online, from NetDevil and NCsoft, has four active servers. Even during prime
playing hours, the severs barely rise above the “very low” population level to
just “low.” And that is a shame because this is a fun and entertaining game of
vehicular mayhem.
Those
looking for a sequel to the defunct EA racing machine known as Motor City Online
should look elsewhere. Auto Assault is mission-driven gameplay with upgradeable
vehicles, a crafting system that is a bit of a grind and takes some reasoning to
figure out, and a progressive skill system.
There are
three races – biomeks (cyborgs), mutants (tribes of the changed – they have
glowing eyes and draw power from mutated plants), and humans. All three are at
odds with the others, and while they may be able to battle down the road,
players can also take to arenas for some player-versus-player action.
The
create-a-character option is somewhat limited, but is not too bad. Most of the
foot missions you do will simply require running from one NPC to another. Most
of the action takes place in your vehicle, which can also sport unique looks
through customization of armor add-ons or paint jobs.
You are
given a small starter vehicle to begin with, and look for NPCs with towers of
light illuminating them. They are the quest starters or quest contacts. You talk
to them and get missions that will pay off in coin of the realm and sometimes
items you can put on your vehicles. Get enough money or a lucky drop and you may
end up with a new vehicle. The vehicles range from motorcycles up to huge
transport-sized monstrosities.
While the
classes sport different names per race, there are four basic classes – there is
a healer class, which can repair vehicles in the field; there is the command
class that can summon ground support and give buffs to those in their convoy;
there is a scout class that is based on hit and run damage, relying on speed;
and the tank class, which is heavier, can take more damage and dish it out.
In addition
to a variety of elements you can put on your vehicle to decorate it and bolster
armor, there are four weapon slots that can be equipped. (Weapons are level
specific, just like armor and other elements.) There is the front ranged weapon,
which generally has a cone targeting field, there is the turret weapon that will
turn to keep on locked-on targets, there is a rear ranged weapon and then melee
weapons. The latter are essentially spikes and pikes that you can attach to your
vehicle for running over mobs and doing damage.
The mission
types are escort, patrol and kill, generally speaking. Of course, as you level,
you get the ability to sink points into several categories. There are the
research points that can be allocated to four categories – experimentation,
memorization, tinkering and reverse engineering. In reverse engineering, you
essentially deconstruct a device and if you can rebuild it, you can memorize the
plan to build from scratch later.
As you kill
things, you can get drops. Sometimes it will be armor or weapons, or it can be
just saleable junk, or perhaps it is crafting material. The more points in
memorization, the more recipes you can learn. Experimentation allows you to add
enhancements to crafted items, and tinkering allows players to put gadget slots
on weapons and armor, which can provide buffs. One of the drawbacks to the
crafting is that you have to grind through reverse engineering for a while
(deconstructing and then reconstructing items) to gain enough skill to actually
get into the crafting of new items. And at the low level, the cost output
outweighs the value of the crafted item.
The idea of
the game is simple – drive around, kill stuff, level up via experience gained
in missions and random hunting, and explore.
As you
level, you will also get points that you can allocate to four categories –
combat, tech (affects hit points and heat capacity – if weapons overheat through
constant use, they will shut down until they cool down), theory (power capacity
and exploiting enemy resistances) and perception (affects critical hit
percentage and defense). Points are also available for skill upgrades, which are
in two categories – faction and specialty. Certain skills unlock according to
level, and some are for damage output while others act as buffs.
While the
cargo space in your vehicle (or vehicles) is limited, once in a town, you can
place items in a locker, which is four times the size of a vehicle cargo hold.
The nice aspect of this is that if a craftable item is in your locker, you can
access it without moving it to your vehicle’s cargo hold.
When it
comes to finding your way around the world, missions have waypoints and
distances displayed on the screen when you are getting close. Another drawback
here, though, is that even if the distance is several miles away, the range to
target cuts out at .75 miles.
The game
uses rag-doll physics on mobs, giving a very satisfying effect if you happen to
hit them with your vehicle. Playing as a mutant, the task was to find Pike (a
humanoid race) cargo in encampments. In stealth mode, the vehicle edged close to
the camp, and tabbing through the targets, a Pike Gasman was spotted. In went a
rocket, blowing up the Gasman (who, for whatever reason, runs around with a tank
of gas under his arm) and taking half the camp up in the explosion.
The game has
a few odd clipping problems and the camera function can feel a little stiff at
times, but this is generally a pleasing game in terms of vehicle physics and
special effects. The sound can be repetitive and with most of the quest elements
text-driven, you can play this game with the sound turned down without missing a
lot.
But Auto
Assault has some solid ideas and is fun to play. It may not have great depth at
this stage, but as the game continues to grow, and the community (the few, the
proud, the fast and furious) ages, the dev team will be forced to expand the
content. The graphics can be a source of entertainment, especially when you just
try jumps for the sake of trying them, or slide-skid into a group on bipedal
humanoids to watch the bodies fly.
The core of
the game is fun, and to that end, there is no penalty for dying except having
your vehicle returned to the last repair station you visited – which can be a
fair distance from where your mission is at. Leveling is not that hard, and
missions seem plentiful, as long as you are willing to explore the highways and
byways of the game.
The Limited
Edition of the game comes with a Creative headset (which is very cool and quite
comfortable) to use during convoys (the game has server-based team chat when in
a convoy), a CD soundtrack from the game, an in-game pet that follows you around
but doesn’t do much else, a starter set for the online trading card game, and
the game itself on DVD. There are no differences in the gameplay.
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Gameplay:
7.8
There are load
times between the zones, and the crafting is a bit of a grind without a lot of
rewards as you begin. The game will support a keyboard-and-mouse combination, as
well as a joystick. All the commands are programmable, allowing players latitude
in customizing the controls.
Graphics:
8.0
The
post-apocalyptic world has a bit of a sameness that can grow monotonous as you
traverse distances for missions. There are some small clipping issues, but the
physics are solid and the special effects are entertaining. Also, some
environmental elements were seen floating about 15 feet in the air at odd times.
Sound:
7.0
Solid but nothing
that is all that special
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The game is not
all that hard to control or understand – drive, shoot, blow up the world.
Missions are not all that hard to accomplish.
Concept:
7.8
The game is
continuing to grow, but there is a redundancy in the gameplay that needs to be
addressed. Every MMO has a grind and Auto Assault is no different. When you hit
the teen levels, the grind in this game begins to become apparent.
Multiplayer: 8.3
The few that are
in the game are approachable and will answer questions. Kudos to the AA
community.
Overall:
8.0
Is it fun? Yes.
Is it graphically pleasing? Yes. If Auto Assault suffers from any problems they
would be a repetitive influence in missions, and a lack of players, giving the
sparse world an even sparser feel. Of course, that means you don’t have to fight
for quest mobs. But this is a game that fits a different space in the MMO genre
and the folks at NetDevil have proven that they are not above making changes.
Whether or not AA will survive long enough to realize its potential remains to
be seen. For right now, though, it is a pleasant break from cookie-cutter MMOs.
