You’ll spend a lot of your initial time with the game completing missions as
the experience gained from doing so makes this far more efficient than roaming
the countryside killing MOBs. Unfortunately there is not a lot of mission
variety here – they fall into the same general categories of kill X of this,
gather Y of that, and patrol these waypoints. What’s most unusual about all this
is that it is a totally solo experience. All quests can be completed on your
own, so there’s not much need to group up. Furthermore, there’s no death penalty
and you’re brought back into the game at the nearest base which is never that
far away. So you can plug away at a harder mission, dying and returning until
you complete it. In fact, the game’s chat channels are eerily silent and group
invites very rare indeed. If you’re a solo player this is great stuff, but you
social types out there will be left wanting.
 |
| Radiation everywhere but not a drop to drink. |
Once you reach high enough of a level you’ll find more teamwork in the PvP
areas of the game, but it will take you some time to get there. PvP consists of
the Organization for Combat Driving (OCD) and Ground Zero. The OCD is a
tournament and ladder system in the game in which you compete in matches that
range from one on one duels to larger team vs. team bouts. These events take
place in special arenas filled with obstacles and hazards to make things a
little more interesting. Ground Zero is a persistent PvP environment in which
the game’s three races battle to capture outposts. At the center of it all lies
the original alien landing zone and there are plenty of quests to be had that
are tied to the alien invaders. Ground Zero is where the game really shines, so
it’s disappointing that the entire game is not like this and that you have to
play for a while before your level is high enough to let you experience it.
While there’s no shortage of loot drop by enemies in the game, there is also
an extensive crafting system for those who want to build their own custom
weapons and other auto accessories. To craft items you’ll need to begin by
finding and repairing broken items. As you repair them you may learn how to
build them. If you can’t find the broken item you’re looking for, you can even
break a functional item on purpose so that you can repair it and try to learn
how to craft it. Memorization is not permanent though and you can forget how to
make a certain item after a while. There are a number of crafting disciplines in
the game, but you’ll eventually need to specialize to reach the master level.
Crafting is not as vital a part of Auto Assault as it should have been. A
post-apocalyptic driving game should be all about building custom mods for your
cars, but there are so many weapons and other parts to be had simply by hunting
MOBs and completing missions that it is relegated to a side exercise in the
game. Furthermore, there is no auction system in the game, so if you want to
sell your creations you need to run around the towns hawking your wares over
chat.
Auto Assault can certainly be fun to play, especially when you finally reach
a high enough level to join Ground Zero. However, the repetitive nature of its
missions, total lack of player interaction, and the long wait until you can
enter the PvP realm will turn off a lot of players. If the game seems like it
would be of interest to you by all means check it out; you’ll know within the
free trial period whether or not it is the game for you.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
74%. It’s not quite Mad Max, but it can be fun to hit the open road
and blast a few mutants along the way.
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