Auto Assault

Billed as the fastest, most destructive MMORPG ever, Auto Assault Online lives up to that, but content will prove the key to the longevity of the game.

But what is Auto Assault? 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 different post-apocalyptic world.

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.

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.