Auto Assault Review - Edit

Auto Assault has a lot of potential. As you'll see from other user comments, there's still a long way to go. There are a lot of requests for user driven modifications, and changes to the game, and the user base is absolutely dismal right now, which hinders the "role playing" experience for the user. In a few months, perhaps this game will show its true potential and become the great game it could be.

That being said, the game is very enjoyable. On many different levels, the game shines and has a lot to offer the user. However, there are a few mismanaged things that tend to slowly destroy the game experience if you let them get to you (which have gotten to me a couple of times) and I will discuss them here based on my playing experience of this game thus far.

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Graphics

Compared to other MMORPG's, the graphics in this game are very disappointing. In games such as WoW, we have vivid environments with dynamic lighting, and many different landscapes to look at. Granted that AA is set in a post-apocalyptic war zone, but that being said, no matter what class you are, your landscapes are unchanging. The loading from map to map can sometimes get a little slow and clunky, and inside a particular map, when you travel in between smaller sections, sometimes the air/lighting changes and that can cause a little bit of slowing as well. All in all, the graphics tend to be a lot of the same, and even on full blast with all settings turned on, this game doesn't amount to graphics that we see in other MMORPG's.

Sound

The sound is actually quite good in the game. Each class of weapon, whether it be lasers, flamethrower, or physical bullets, offers a different experience. The music has some great moments, and comes on while the game is loading to "rev up" the user before they hit the game environment.

Role-Playing

The game has virtually no user base yet. You may come across a user once every half hour of game play or so, depending on what part of the map you're on, and the further you advance the less likely you are to see players based on the fact that the user base is so small, there hasn't been enough users play the game to higher levels as of yet. That being said, the players you do meet are mostly available for trade or for chat (there is a global chat function where you can send messages to all users).

Because of this problem there is a fatal flaw in the game regarding classes. The game was designed to have "convoys" of users attempting missions, and therefore each character class would have something different to add to the convoy. I've been playing the game mostly with the Human - Bounty Hunter class, and have come to several situations where I'm just not strong enough to survive certain altercations with particular enemies. The game is set up with a very strong single-player focus, and if you wanted to play the game as a single player with no interaction with other users, it could be achieved. My advice to you: play the Commando (fighter) class. The game is centered around the idea that you're out there, killing everything in sight, so you might as well have killing as your primary skill.

Story

Like most massive role playing games, the story is somewhat fragmented and allows you to go into different directions. This game is quite similar, and sometimes the story gets lost in the gameplay. As mentioned above, the game has a strong single player component, but this becomes monotonous after a while when all you are doing to gain levels is getting missions where you have to kill so many of one enemy, or kill a particular kind of enemy until they drop a certain number of particular item. The missions hardly ever differ from this formula, and along with these missions there comes small parts of the story from different perspectives. These "story bits" do not necessarily advance the greater story, other than to tell you the history of your particular race and the history of the land you're playing on, as well as introduce to you some major characters who continue to give you missions while you're on certain parts of the map.

Gameplay

Vehicles

You have the opportunity throughout the game to buy new vehicles. In each character class, you're only allowed to purchase certain kinds of vehicles and they're all pretty much the same with slightly increasing bonuses. The game gives you certain mods that you pick up in the field to be able to change the look of your vehicle, but these are purely aesthetic and give no bonuses to the game. While you can own more than one vehicle, there's not really any bonus to switching vehicles as usually the new vehicle is much better than the old one and you would most likely want to stick with your new purchase.

Crafting

This is a very good idea. Instead of going to the store and purchasing components for your vehicle at outrageous prices, you have the opportunity to learn skills in many different areas to be able to collect commodities in the field and craft them into weapons or armor or other vehicle components. However, at the beginning of the game, the crafting system requires you to spend a lot of time searching for uncommon items to fix certain items, as well as having skill levels that would take ages and levels to obtain. The crafting system really needs to be simpler in the beginning and more obtainable.