Ah, the pickings
have been slim to be sure but that, my fellow Xbox 360 owners, will change with
the coming weeks. The console may have launched with Project Gotham Racing 3
and Ridge Racer 6 but what racing fan wouldn’t welcome a game that
mixes the usual racing essentials with a touch of Twisted Metal and a
dash of Burnout? The result is Full Auto, a destructive racing
game where you have to do anything to win … including blasting your enemies away
with your mounted guns and rocket launchers.
If you’re
expecting a story mode or a career mode that explains why a collection of shiny
cars are racing across the streets of various different venues you’ll be
disappointed. Full Auto is about the racing and the destruction you cause
in order to get to the finish line. There are three playable modes in this game:
Arcade, Career and multiplayer (both online and offline using a single 360
console). Career mode is that main mode since here you will get to unlock new
vehicles, race courses and a few extras you can use in the game’s Arcade mode.
You start your
career by playing through a few Tutorial races that help you get to know the
game’s controls, racing style, weapons and special features. As far as the
racing is concerned, it’s nothing we haven’t already seen in a racing game.
There are the usual circuit races that have you going through two laps, a
point-to-point race that has you going from Point A to Point B and a
Down-And-Back race that has you racing to the finish line then quickly racing
back to the starting point. There’s even a standard Lap Knockout that eliminates
the last racer at each checkpoint and a Rampage mode that has you destroying
enough cars and buildings for points.
The cars you get
to drive may not be licensed vehicles (they have funny names like the Honcho,
and the sleek and sexy Ardent) but they resemble real-life vehicles. There are
muscle cars that resemble classic Ford Mustangs and one that looks like the new
Dodge Ram but rest assured that these cars drive the way they should. Did I
mention the mounted guns and rocket launchers? There are selectable weapons you
can equip each car with and that include forward mounted weapons and secondary
rear weapons. For example, you can have twin machine guns as your primary front
weapon and have explosive mine canisters as your secondary weapons or have
mounted rockets up front and smoke screen for when you want to give your rivals
the slip. The cool part is that each weapon type has three levels that can be
unlocked the more you play.
What sets Full
Auto apart is the fact that not only can you blow up your enemies but you can
also destroy oncoming traffic as well various buildings and other environmental
details. You can, for example, blast open an auto dealership and use it as a
shortcut or destroy an oil tanker and watch its burning remains get in the way
of the other racers. Want to give your car an extra push, the more unique moves
(like power slides and near misses) you make the more you fill your Boost meter
to give you a short burst of speed. The real unique twist, however, comes in the
form of Unwreck. Unwreck allows you to “rewind” back time before you made that
most fatal crash or accidentally ran over a mine and get another chance by
pressing the RB button.
As far as the
controls are concerned, this game manages to make the driving uncomplicated and,
thusly, easily accessible. Of course, there are a few times the game runs into a
few stutters, especially when the rockets really start tearing the environments.
There are race courses to unlock along the way and each venue adds its own
twists and turns and shortcuts. The problem is that by the time you get to the
last few races you’ll feel as though you’ve seen it all and done it all.
Visually,
Full Auto will not knock your socks off. Sure, it displays some sharp and
nicely detailed vehicles that are shiny and break apart to the point that you
can even see the driver get ejected out of the vehicle most gruesomely. The
environments look decent enough but the real treat is in watching them crumble
from a rocket as chunks of concrete and shards of glass shower down on the
streets. You’ll be glad for the One-Touch Replay that allows you to replay a
particularly spectacular crash or destructive act. Even the black and white
warping effect of Unwreck is just Ok.
The game’s sound
effects are only passable at best, which is something of a disappointment for a
game that’s big on nasty crashes and explosions. If you’re hooked up to a good
sound system everything from machine gun fire to crashing into a deli is
slightly enhanced but we’re talking only minor improvement here. There’s a
soundtrack, mainly electronica tunes that sound the same, just aren‘t very good.
Full Auto
is game that
could have been a deliciously destructive racing game since it does have all the
right elements in place but sadly the game isn’t innovative enough to keep the
racing fresh. Sure it’s great to be able to blast away at your rivals and tear
through environments that fall apart but with very little variety this Xbox 360
game provides just enough fun to make this a good weekend rental.
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Gameplay: 6.9
Drive to the
finish line while shooting or blowing up your opponents … that’s pretty much all
there is to this game. There are a few variations to the race modes and that’s
what hurts this game the most. These simplistic controls make for a
pick-up-and-play racing game.
Graphics: 7.5
This isn’t the
most visually amazing Xbox 360 game you’ll find but at least the cars look good
in action and the destruction is actually impressive. There are some stellar
moments that will have you wishing there was a way to capture particular moments
during a race.
Sound: 6.5
The game’s
tunes are repetitive and not very good but at least the sound effects are
handled just right. Still, it would have been nice to have more detailed crash
sound effects and louder explosions.
Difficulty:
Medium
The opponent
AI makes for some brutal races at any difficult setting and the environments
play a role in either aiding you or get in your way if your driving gets out of
hand. It’s a challenging game, all right.
Concept: 7.0
Many of the
vehicles, especially the muscle cars, are actually cool and adding various
weapons to the mix makes for a real destructive action-packed experience. The
destructible environments are great but being able to “rewind” mistakes on the
fly works perfectly.
Multiplayer:
8.0
Sure you can
play the game using a single Xbox 360 (split-screen action) but the real action
is online where the game moves at a somewhat steady framerate.
Overall: 7.3
Full Auto
pushes the
pedal to the metal but it runs out of speed way too quickly. It’s a game with
all the right elements to give Twisted Metal a run for its money but as
it stands this is really just a simplistic racing game that could have been a
lot better considering the power of the Xbox 360.This one is a definite rental,
indeed.
