WinterMuteAu
27-06-2006, 08:18 PM
Developed by: Netdevil (http://www.netdevil.com) & released by NCSoft (http://www.ncsoft.com) (of CoH/CoV fame)
Home Site: Auto Assault
http://wintermute.users.misconfigured.net.au/joomla/templates/banner2.jpg (http://www.autoassault.com)
Genre: Driving MMO /Adventure
Hard Drive Space: 9Gb fully installed and patched (Comes on 1 DVD)
Players: Many(but not as many as wow)
Release Date: 12th April, 2006
Patch 1: 20th June, 2006
What is Auto Assault... no one can be told... oh wait, wrong review...
This (http://www.autoassault.com/flash/mini_site.html) is Auto Assault... it is a fast paced Sci-Fi MMO game of driving and destruction in the future of a destroyed world enhabited by mutated and alien creatures, and twisted and strange humanoids... (Warning: I will be using the slang from the game, so please reference it here (http://www.autoassault.com/gameinfo/lexicon.html) to understand.)
Basically, several years from now some meteors land on earth, brining contamination (goo) with it, it affects a lot of people, killing most, but changing some to have strange powers. As you can guess with Humans being Humans, things rapidly go downhill globally, economies crash, mutant hatred rises, human hatred rises. A leader among the mutants helps them build a new place for them to live away from the humans, but someone has him assasinated. The remaining 'Changed' (who worship the contamination) begin a war on the humans, The Humans fight back by creating the Biomek Raiders (a cybornetic fighting squad, immune to the goo) to help defeat the Mutants.
That defeat never comes. With the contamination spreading, mankind retreats to underground 'Arks' and nuke the planet, hoping to dispose if the mutants, biomeks & 'lowerclass' humans (as only the best were taken to the arks).
The arks open several hundred years later and begin reclaming the planet, only to encounter life that still exists, several years later you enter the game.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Herbie_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19383&c=209)
Herbie survived just fine ;)
You can chose from one of the 3 races (Mutants, Biomeks or Humans) and chose one of 4 classes.
Fighter class (Champion, Terminator, Commando)
Healer class (Shaman, Constructor, Engineer)
Rogue class (Avenger, Agent, Bounty Hunter)
Mage Class (Archon, MasterMind, Lutenant)
There is an immense background written into the game for each race, but for the lowdown and pre-history go here. (http://www.autoassault.com/gameinfo/history.html)
Graphics Score: 85%
Well, it looks like the future, with lasers and glowing things (the Humans must be all ravers) and lotsa booms....
It does look great, with explosions, buildings being destroyed, humanoids & animals flying off the windsheild. It needs DirectX 9.0c compatable video card for all the flash & bangs and uses the Havok physics engine to make thing fall, bounce and tumble around like in real life. Ragdoll physics on the animals and footsoldiers make for much fun, especially the old 'punt them further' games.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/HumCity_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19386&c=209)
Your basic Human City
Look out the the funny quotes in the loading screens.
Sounds/Music Score: 77%
The sounds are what you would expect, but the cars motors might not have enough grunt for some rev heads. The last patch has a solution for that, turn up the engine volume! The guns boom well, the lasers screech, as do the animals involved. The music is well chosen and nice as background.
(Re)Playability & Multiplayer Score: 95%
Being a MMO with a vast landscape, there is lots to see, do and get killed in. Each race has a large territory for themselves (called Highways), access to Ground Zero (the war zone) and the arena matches, where you can go and duel and fight for money & xp against other players. There are organised daily team contests in the Arenas for all races to compete in, and rankings to earn.
Highways are much more than just the roads that pass through the wastelands. Any given highway zone can be over 100 square kilometers in size. There are countless areas to explore and challenges to be faced offroad as well as onroad. Highways are the hubs of gameplay, with numerous towns and several private instance exits branching off of each. There are often large truck stops and repair stations on highways that can be a temporary refuge when all hell breaks loose and you need a place to escape to.
ONe great not is there is basically no death penalty in the game. The worst that happens is you get 'wrecked', INC (a nutral company) airlifts you back to the last repair station you were at, you heal and drive back to where you where and continue. No lost xp, items, levels or anything. Another bonus is items you find never brake, wear or run out of ammo. Pickup loot is random, so you could get a great weapon off that guy you just ran over, yet only get a few clink off that last firetruck you killed... that encourages you to total EVERYTHING. You kill everyone around, you destroy anything you can and loot the remains.
The simple joys of driving into town, and leveling it to the ground.
Speaking of driving, There are a huge number of chassis' (cars), armour, weapons and other items to collect and a Tricks & Trims shop to customise your ride. A new paint job, some glow bars here and there and you have a unique looking car. note you have to find the paint & tricks parts as loot before you can customise your car, and they don't do anything other than change the visual look of your car/tuck/tank.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Human1_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19385&c=209)
Who doesn't want a tank ???
When first launched, you could basically only talk to people in the same Higway area as you, which made for some quite gameplay most times, since the patch there is a faction wide (Humans/Mutants/Biomeks) chat area, so the game does feel like a MMO now.
Controls Score: 68%
The usual for a PC game, Mouse and Keyboard, but finally a MMO you can use a gamepad/joystick/driving wheel in!!! Hell, I have my MCE machine in the loungeroom with a xbox controller setup to play Auto Assault on the TV at home, how much cooler does it get. You can redefine almost all of the controls to a joystick/pad setup, a few you cannot, including Bounce. hopefully this will be fixed in an upcoming patch, as this has been commented on several times before. But that aside, it does have a lot of controls and buttons, like any good MMO.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Mek1_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19389&c=209)
Mek trying to get drive through service
ATMOSPHERE Score: 90%
It really feels like a 'leftover from WW3' feel, with partial houses dotting the terrain, critters & glowing green swamps hear and there, and finally in Ground Zero a crashed Alien spaceship. Nothing in the areas or terrains I have seen so far has felt forced or out of place. It all looks great, with goo glowing erily, fires burning around the place and cities being barely worthy of the name.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/HumGZ_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19387&c=209)
Your basic Human near a xeno crash site
Problems
Like all MMO games, there are continuous updates & patches that help with the bugs, yet somehow make more... there are not many real show stopper bugs that I have encountered yet, but there are some lurking. The Devs make a good effort to keep up the bug stoming and keep the content churning out.
ScreenShots
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Human_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19384&c=209) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Mutant_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19390&c=209) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Mek_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19388&c=209)
Your basic Mk2 Human, your basic Mutant and your basic BioMek
OVERALL Score: 85%.
Its a fun game to get into for a few hours at a time, leveling isn't a chore and its fun to just go looting around the place to see what you can get. And it isn't fantasy. The Sci-Fi competition in the MMO space includes Matrix Online, Star Wars: Galaxies, EVE Online and Planetside, so this game really does stand alone, with EVE Online being the closest it gets.
I see no reason why anyone reading this half-assed review shouldn't go get a trial key (https://secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/free_trial.pl?partner=10) and download the 730Mb trial (ftp://ftp.autoassault.com/client/Auto%20Assault%20Installer.exe) to play for the 14 days.
Seriously, get it, and try, you will be entertained, check out my playtime (http://www.xfire.com/profile/darths0kar).
External Links:
Ten Ton Hammer (http://autoassault.tentonhammer.com)
Auto Assault Vault (http://autoassaultvault.ign.com)
Update July 2007: THis game is being switched off at the end of August. So if ya didn't try it, you won't now. TS.
Shame, it had its fun moments
Home Site: Auto Assault
http://wintermute.users.misconfigured.net.au/joomla/templates/banner2.jpg (http://www.autoassault.com)
Genre: Driving MMO /Adventure
Hard Drive Space: 9Gb fully installed and patched (Comes on 1 DVD)
Players: Many(but not as many as wow)
Release Date: 12th April, 2006
Patch 1: 20th June, 2006
What is Auto Assault... no one can be told... oh wait, wrong review...
This (http://www.autoassault.com/flash/mini_site.html) is Auto Assault... it is a fast paced Sci-Fi MMO game of driving and destruction in the future of a destroyed world enhabited by mutated and alien creatures, and twisted and strange humanoids... (Warning: I will be using the slang from the game, so please reference it here (http://www.autoassault.com/gameinfo/lexicon.html) to understand.)
Basically, several years from now some meteors land on earth, brining contamination (goo) with it, it affects a lot of people, killing most, but changing some to have strange powers. As you can guess with Humans being Humans, things rapidly go downhill globally, economies crash, mutant hatred rises, human hatred rises. A leader among the mutants helps them build a new place for them to live away from the humans, but someone has him assasinated. The remaining 'Changed' (who worship the contamination) begin a war on the humans, The Humans fight back by creating the Biomek Raiders (a cybornetic fighting squad, immune to the goo) to help defeat the Mutants.
That defeat never comes. With the contamination spreading, mankind retreats to underground 'Arks' and nuke the planet, hoping to dispose if the mutants, biomeks & 'lowerclass' humans (as only the best were taken to the arks).
The arks open several hundred years later and begin reclaming the planet, only to encounter life that still exists, several years later you enter the game.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Herbie_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19383&c=209)
Herbie survived just fine ;)
You can chose from one of the 3 races (Mutants, Biomeks or Humans) and chose one of 4 classes.
Fighter class (Champion, Terminator, Commando)
Healer class (Shaman, Constructor, Engineer)
Rogue class (Avenger, Agent, Bounty Hunter)
Mage Class (Archon, MasterMind, Lutenant)
There is an immense background written into the game for each race, but for the lowdown and pre-history go here. (http://www.autoassault.com/gameinfo/history.html)
Graphics Score: 85%
Well, it looks like the future, with lasers and glowing things (the Humans must be all ravers) and lotsa booms....
It does look great, with explosions, buildings being destroyed, humanoids & animals flying off the windsheild. It needs DirectX 9.0c compatable video card for all the flash & bangs and uses the Havok physics engine to make thing fall, bounce and tumble around like in real life. Ragdoll physics on the animals and footsoldiers make for much fun, especially the old 'punt them further' games.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/HumCity_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19386&c=209)
Your basic Human City
Look out the the funny quotes in the loading screens.
Sounds/Music Score: 77%
The sounds are what you would expect, but the cars motors might not have enough grunt for some rev heads. The last patch has a solution for that, turn up the engine volume! The guns boom well, the lasers screech, as do the animals involved. The music is well chosen and nice as background.
(Re)Playability & Multiplayer Score: 95%
Being a MMO with a vast landscape, there is lots to see, do and get killed in. Each race has a large territory for themselves (called Highways), access to Ground Zero (the war zone) and the arena matches, where you can go and duel and fight for money & xp against other players. There are organised daily team contests in the Arenas for all races to compete in, and rankings to earn.
Highways are much more than just the roads that pass through the wastelands. Any given highway zone can be over 100 square kilometers in size. There are countless areas to explore and challenges to be faced offroad as well as onroad. Highways are the hubs of gameplay, with numerous towns and several private instance exits branching off of each. There are often large truck stops and repair stations on highways that can be a temporary refuge when all hell breaks loose and you need a place to escape to.
ONe great not is there is basically no death penalty in the game. The worst that happens is you get 'wrecked', INC (a nutral company) airlifts you back to the last repair station you were at, you heal and drive back to where you where and continue. No lost xp, items, levels or anything. Another bonus is items you find never brake, wear or run out of ammo. Pickup loot is random, so you could get a great weapon off that guy you just ran over, yet only get a few clink off that last firetruck you killed... that encourages you to total EVERYTHING. You kill everyone around, you destroy anything you can and loot the remains.
The simple joys of driving into town, and leveling it to the ground.
Speaking of driving, There are a huge number of chassis' (cars), armour, weapons and other items to collect and a Tricks & Trims shop to customise your ride. A new paint job, some glow bars here and there and you have a unique looking car. note you have to find the paint & tricks parts as loot before you can customise your car, and they don't do anything other than change the visual look of your car/tuck/tank.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Human1_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19385&c=209)
Who doesn't want a tank ???
When first launched, you could basically only talk to people in the same Higway area as you, which made for some quite gameplay most times, since the patch there is a faction wide (Humans/Mutants/Biomeks) chat area, so the game does feel like a MMO now.
Controls Score: 68%
The usual for a PC game, Mouse and Keyboard, but finally a MMO you can use a gamepad/joystick/driving wheel in!!! Hell, I have my MCE machine in the loungeroom with a xbox controller setup to play Auto Assault on the TV at home, how much cooler does it get. You can redefine almost all of the controls to a joystick/pad setup, a few you cannot, including Bounce. hopefully this will be fixed in an upcoming patch, as this has been commented on several times before. But that aside, it does have a lot of controls and buttons, like any good MMO.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Mek1_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19389&c=209)
Mek trying to get drive through service
ATMOSPHERE Score: 90%
It really feels like a 'leftover from WW3' feel, with partial houses dotting the terrain, critters & glowing green swamps hear and there, and finally in Ground Zero a crashed Alien spaceship. Nothing in the areas or terrains I have seen so far has felt forced or out of place. It all looks great, with goo glowing erily, fires burning around the place and cities being barely worthy of the name.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/HumGZ_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19387&c=209)
Your basic Human near a xeno crash site
Problems
Like all MMO games, there are continuous updates & patches that help with the bugs, yet somehow make more... there are not many real show stopper bugs that I have encountered yet, but there are some lurking. The Devs make a good effort to keep up the bug stoming and keep the content churning out.
ScreenShots
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Human_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19384&c=209) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Mutant_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19390&c=209) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/Mek_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=19388&c=209)
Your basic Mk2 Human, your basic Mutant and your basic BioMek
OVERALL Score: 85%.
Its a fun game to get into for a few hours at a time, leveling isn't a chore and its fun to just go looting around the place to see what you can get. And it isn't fantasy. The Sci-Fi competition in the MMO space includes Matrix Online, Star Wars: Galaxies, EVE Online and Planetside, so this game really does stand alone, with EVE Online being the closest it gets.
I see no reason why anyone reading this half-assed review shouldn't go get a trial key (https://secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/free_trial.pl?partner=10) and download the 730Mb trial (ftp://ftp.autoassault.com/client/Auto%20Assault%20Installer.exe) to play for the 14 days.
Seriously, get it, and try, you will be entertained, check out my playtime (http://www.xfire.com/profile/darths0kar).
External Links:
Ten Ton Hammer (http://autoassault.tentonhammer.com)
Auto Assault Vault (http://autoassaultvault.ign.com)
Update July 2007: THis game is being switched off at the end of August. So if ya didn't try it, you won't now. TS.
Shame, it had its fun moments