Date: May 31, 2006 - Author: Rob Williams - Editor: Rowan Fraser
One of the best things about Auto Assault, is that you can finally strap yourself into a cool looking vehicle and wreck stuff! Does AA have what it takes to become a long lasting MMO, or will it run out of gas early?
Destruction! You know you love it. Even if you don't admit it. When NCSoft first released the idea of an MMO game that had vehicles at the primary source of getting around and killing, there was a lot of skepticism. I was not excused from that. I thought it was a crazy idea.. but who knows, it might just work. I've played all of NCSoft's titles, and each one has been unique in it's own way. City of Heroes had similar skepticism when it was announced, but it has a very active online community.
Generally, most MMORPG's are not -that- different from one another. They all have multiple classes, a questing system, experience points and levels, clans and monster killing. Take everything from your typical Medieval online game, such as Lineage II, and replace everything with cars. Throw it in a blender and you have what's known as Auto Assault.
I wrote a first impressions article on the game a few weeks ago. That article was to give a general idea of what I thought about the game after the first week. Since that review, I have leveled up a bit more, explored deeper and trolled forums to see just what else this game has to offer.
As mentioned in the intro, Auto Assault is, and isn't your typical MMORPG. Just as you would expect, the general aspect of leveling is going for a drive and killing everything you pass. Think of it as an online Destruction Derby, but far better looking. When I went into the game for the first time, I was quite surprised by how much the game reminded me of City of Heroes. Not the theme itself, but the UI and character creation. The heads-up display also reminded me quite a bit of the game. This is a good thing though really, because I was pretty impressed with both CoH and CoV.
The character creation was quite interesting to play with. Reminiscent of CoH, the options to customize your character are near limitless. You can not only choose the colors, but your height and build of your character. Of course, you can tailor your vehicle to your liking also. While each class has it's own set style of vehicles, you can customize the color and other such things right off the bat. You can further customize it by looting or crafting new parts. Not only will your vehicle be a wicked killing machine, it's going to look pimp.
There are only a few races in the game, but each one are very unique, whether it be their physical attributes or the look of their homeland. What is similar between the races though, are the classes available. There are a total of four classes, and each race has each one of those to choose from. They will just be named something different. As always, each class has a special purpose. Because I like destruction and only destruction, I chose to be a Human Bounty Hunter.
Like most MMO games, you begin out in a training area to learn the game a little bit. This was actually quite fun, primarily because you can level up as you go through it. In no time though, you are free to go out into the main world and start kicking butt and leveling up.
Right off the bat, you will be introduced to a new contact to begin a mission. Quests are called Missions in AA, but function basically the same. All missions begin with a NPC who gives you directions to go do something, whether it be killing so many of said monster, collecting some samples or defeating a boss mob. Missions sometimes roll right into each other also. Once you finish one, the same NPC may have another immediately available.
Missions are also one of the primary aspects of the game that will help level you up. Some quests, as you can expect, award you items. In this case, they could be new vehicle upgrades, or even some rations to use out in the battlefield. Even the missions that award you items will still give you XP. Needless to say, you better like questing if you want to level quickly ;)
All the way up to my level 21 status, I didn't have to go out and 'grind' monsters for experience to level. Missions did a fantastic job of that. However, before I left off, I was finding missions harder and harder to find. Many missions I stumbled upon could not be soloed, and if they could be, it wouldn't be until I was much higher level. I expect that I was missing out on an entire area or overlooking something, because I have not heard of having trouble finding missions until far later into the game.
What the game also offers, which is somewhat unexpected to some, is a crafting system. It's not a small, simple system either. It's a full fledged system that you must use in order to understand and further your crafting skills. I didn't get too much into crafting, but I did throw together around 20 finished products. It's rather simplistic at first, but it will be more tedious and time consuming later on in the game. Especially if you have to go out and grind for a specific component used in a recipe.
One thing that lacks in Auto Assault is a good story. In fact, I really don't know what the story is. Fact is, the game was meant for jumping in and destroying things, and it's a good thing, because it's fun as heck. During your journey, you can destroy almost anything in the game. This could include small buildings, fences, barrels, towers, walls and so much more. Sure it sounds fun... but you have to play it to understand just how gratifying it is. Not only is it fun, but you can also earn salvage for use in crafting from destroying things.
As you play, you can also unlock medals.. appropriately named. These medals will be displayed in a panel, but cannot be shown to other players. Unless you screenshot them, of course. What these medals can signify, is just how much time you have wasted in the game! For instance, I unlocked a medal for completing 250 missions. As you progress, you will unlock new medals to earn. This is not an important part of the game, but it's somewhat gratifying to see all of the medals you have unlocked.
As I've said in the past, it's hard to properly review an MMO unless you play it for months. That's why I like to seek out those who have played for awhile, and have become knowledgeable and experienced. I had the opportunity talk to with GFaust, who is a max level player on Carnage. Here is a quick bio:
I first started playing AA about 2 - 3 weeks before the official release. I picked up the pre-order, so I was given a chance to muck around a bit before committing to a specific class/faction when the game went live. I first started out playing with Humans and my main character was a Bounty Hunter, and my alt was a Constructor. While it was fun to play for a while, I got annoyed by all the blue lights on the Human vehicles, so I decided that once the game went live, I was going with the more crude and dirty Biomeks!
Techgage: First off, I appreciate you taking the time to talk about the game with us! I guess the first and most obvious question would have to be, “What do you personally like about AA, and what originally ‘drove’ you to play?
GFaust: Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share with you! Well, I guess I could say what 'drove' me to play AA is it's unique style of fast paced play in an MMORPG setting. I've always been a fan of car games and the 'Mad Max' theme of things and with those merged into my favorite game genre, well, I simply had to play it.
TG: Besides being able to pimp up your own vehicle and drive it around, what does this MMO offer that others may not?
GF: The game offers a good pace at which gamers can play at. A casual gamer can login for a night and accomplish quite a bit in terms of moving forward thanks to the abundance of missions. At that, they do not need to rely on others so it is quite possible to play a good portion of the game on your own time and terms. If you like to take it slow you're still given that chance to savour what's offered with regular grind-style gameplay, just stay away from the missions and do your own thing.
The other trait of this game I like is that almost everything is destroyable. I don't think I've ever satisfied my twitch impulses with a MMORPG so much before and it's really a breath of fresh air to be able to incorporate such a manner of play. Usually if I'm in the mood to destroy stuff I play games like F.E.A.R. or Battlefield, but now with AA I find that I get what I like from those games with the feeling of accomplishment that MMORPG's typically offer. You get progression and destruction, it's quite addicting actually.
TG: During my playtime, I didn’t come across too much mention of Clans. How important are Clans in the game overall, and do you recommend new players seek out one right away?
GF: I would recommend joining one simply because I think playing with others is the main point of any MMORPG, and what better way then to get associated with a group? I think throughout all the games I've played online , joining a group was most important in regards to keeping things fun and myself interested in a game. Clans offer a means and a reason to help out one another or a place to simply chat when you're feeling like it.
At the moment however, at least on my server, clan affiliation isn't really revered as in most other games. I think that may be because there are no 'clan tags' that popup by someone's name. It hasn't been implemented into the game yet, so you can't really keep a consistent tab on who's with who and who's powerful. Eventually though, things should flesh out and as in all MMORPG's, clans will be a staple in the community and keeping things interesting.
TG: As an extension to the previous question. Are Convoys (Parties/Groups) important to the game play? There are some missions that clearly will require more than one person to complete, but will the lone player be able to play through the game and enjoy it?
GF: In all honesty, it depends on the player and the class. I can only say coming from playing a Biomek Terminator, that I found the game quite solo able all the way up to level 80. There are some spots some people may have trouble with, but if you have patience and apply some tactics and common sense, here's no reason you'd really have to depend on another player to advance in the game. There are a few bosses however that have been noted to be bugged in regards to specific classes and damage, but those are being looked into so it shouldn't be an issue too much longer.
I have helped others complete missions mind you, but in regards to needing to myself, no, I never saw it as required. I really like to be independent when it comes to leveling so that made me a happy gamer. One thing you have to think about though is if you want to have a good time and make some friends on the road. There's a balance you need to keep, because if you go to fast you don't know what you'll miss, you also don't want to crawl otherwise you'll get bored. Since this games layout can take you both ways , you have full control of your experience. I actually liked soloing while leveling considering it was a decent challenge for myself to try and play a game without needing or having to ask for help. The feel of most missions and tasks in the game are quite simple as I said, given some common sense. But once again, it does break down to your chosen style of play and choice is always good.
TG: Crafting seems to be a massive part of the game. Is it ‘required’ for players to learn how to craft, or vital to the game play or your character? I know there are many who are unwilling to learn how to craft, myself included ;)
GF: I've not really gotten into crafting too much as of yet, even though I am at level 80 and have not much else to do. While the crafting system is rather appealing because of it's mass amount of experimentation and options, I based my decision to hold off on it simply because I don't really see it's profitability. You essentially need to find something broken, that is better than something you found that is not broken, then gather resources so you can fix it. Usually as well, if you find something of worth to fix, the rare resources are a pain in the neck to track down.
At this moment the amount of dropped broken items is lesser than that of functional items it seems. Also the items that are broken aren't usually worthwhile to remake considering you probably have found something better in the heaps of functional items you've already accumulated. I think this can easily be remedied though by simply making better items drop that are broken, so there's more incentive to craft and worth in your invested time.
It almost seems as if you'd be better off farming a boss and using functional equipment that drops and selling off the rubbish items to make your clink income. This may all change come the auction house where trading should and will be able to pick itself up. Then players can get access to building materials easier and sell their creations more freely with such a venue. Given that, I will probably start to craft, but until then I'll just save my resources and see if they're better for gaining skill or just simply selling off.
TG: After a quick stroll through the official forums, I was surprised to notice that there is a –lot- of unhappy people regarding various issues with the game. What’s the biggest issue with the game currently?
GF: My views will definitely be biased towards my characters needs, so I'll have to say a major issue is the endgame. I know as well that my frustration is shared by the others in the game that have hit 80 and are in the 'drought' of content. There are definitely PvE challenges provided by some big mean bosses, but at the moment their loot tables are a bit skimpy so most people don't find the risk and time payable by the reward so they just don't do it.
PvP is also somewhat of a moot point of enjoy ability. I definitely do enjoy kicking up dust and throwing down with the other factions, but it's hard when you're faced with rampant server desync'ing that results in 'invisible' enemies. It doesn't do any good either that there's no real incentive in game yet to even PvP. A ranking system will come along soon enough, but even at that , alot of people are accustomed to being rewarded for their time and effort and that's not the case currently.
I could go on as there are many other issues, such as in any MMORPG. But to me the endgame is most important as it's where the majority of dedicated players will end up in AA, and the ease of leveling amplifies this issue's severity. Players need something to do after they hit level 80 so I think this will be very important to address soon. I think it should be interesting to see where the advancements are made in the future, it could very well define AA's longevity.
TG: Since you have been playing quite a while, I am sure you’ve encountered a lot of bugs. What is the biggest issue you’d personally like to see taken care of?
GF: I would have to go back and say that the desync'ing during PvP is the biggest bug right now I'm concerned about. With it in existence it usually tends to ruin the PvP scene and alot of players that have experienced it are tending to not even want to PvP anymore until it's fixed. It's arguable that this game is strongly situated with solo play, however once you arrive in the final zone you soon realize a new aspect to the game and that is the larger scale of PvP on the contested layer of Ground Zero. You can definitely get to level 80 through the missions provided and a bit of grinding, but once you're there you most likely will end up wanting to try your hand in some PvP. So getting this fixed would definitely be worth to stress as needed and quite quickly at that.
TG: One thing I was surprised to see, was that many people have already hit the max level of 80. Is this game really –that- easy to level up in?
GF: In my experience of online gaming, I would have to say that this is one of the easiest games to progressively level up and cap off. This is of course the appeal to some players of this game. But in the same stroke, with the endgame really lacking at the moment it can also be a negative attribute. As I noted earlier, some may like to stop and 'smell the roses' and do things at a slow pace to take in the rich storyline and generally drive around aimlessly wreaking havoc.(Which I have to admit is really fun at times when you have access to a monster truck!) Others however may see the leveling as something to do as quick as possible so that they can get into the endgame PvP, real action versus other players.
I think it can be best summed up with; If you want to level quick you can, if you don't want to you have that option. The hitch with this games advancement is quite ingenious if I may say so. The missions offer the majority of the experience earned in game, so if you like to farm a particular mob, you can do so and not typically level for quite some time. This way you can stay more in tune with the missions and their challenges and not worry about missing out on content and challenge if you want to venture off course for a bit.
TG: Though I am only level 20, I have noticed that a lot of missions are quite similar to each other, although there is the odd one that is far different. From low level to max level, are the missions all generally the same? Do they get boring after a while, especially due to the repetitiveness?
GF: I kind of felt that they were the same throughout the game so I never really paid much attention to the missions. Don't get me wrong, the storyline of the game is great and it really works you up for wicked-cool settings, but then you're sent off to scrape slime from rocks or go run over cockroaches [figuratively speaking] and the whole premise really loses it's gripping hold on your attention.
They are generally all the same sort of "Kill x amount of y mob" or "Gather x amount of z from y mob", there's some patrolling missions, some missions that ask you to destroy bunches of structures, escorting and even some crafting ones earlier on I believe. But I couldn't say that I was too terribly into any of them at all. When I first started playing AA I promised myself I'd try take it slow, but instinct took over and I blazed through everything rather quickly because the majority of the missions were so much alike. However there are some missions in the works for the endgame that sound like they can offer some challenge and variety, so I'm definitely looking forward to those. This games platform of cars and carnage has so much potential for things we've not seen before in MMORPG's I feel almost like a kid waiting for Christmas day.
TG: The game has been out for a little over a month, but what do you see for the future of Auto Assault?
GF: This is a somewhat newer style of MMORPG and alot of people are hesitant to try it, so I never really expected it's release to be all too large. If the publicity of this game starts to expand and the servers start to fatten I can easily see it becoming one of the better MMORPG's out there. But this is a big 'if' and it will definitely run down to how well the developers take the opinions of the community and how they manage to satisfy an almost split player base of challenge seekers and those that want it easy. If I were to make a prediction, I'd say that the game has the potential to run steadily and flourish gloriously, it just needs some polish and attention. Here's to many years, this game is definitely a worthwhile investment!
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Thanks a lot to GFaust for agreeing to an interview. It was fun! GFaust currently plays on Carnage as a level 80 Terminator, and is a proud member of the 1st Mechanized Infantry. The clan currently has near 100 members, and welcomes more Biomeks! If you are interested in getting hooked up with a great clan, you can check out their site here.
I personally played the game for about two weeks, and I have to say, I was impressed. When I first logged into the game, I really had absolutely no idea what to expect. I mean.. a vehicle MMO? Come on! Once you are finally in though, you don't even care that it's a vehicle MMO. It's an MMO, plain and simple. It just has a huge twist, that's all ;)
One problem with many MMO's, is that they require a -lot- of time in order to get anything done. As GFaust mentioned in the interview though, this game is designed to not give you any sense of a 'grind'. Missions streamline into each other quite well, and are actually quite fun to do. Even with the repetitiveness. The loot system is an aspect of the game that keeps things interesting also. You never know what you will find out there. Though you find a lot of useless junk, your pack will get full very quickly.
The graphics in AA are extremely well done. If you have played City of Heroes or Villains, you will know what to expect here really. They are not the same, per se, but they have their similarities. Each town and environment you enter is far different than the last, and really keeps things fresh. It also encourages you to go out and purposely explore just for the sake of finding new areas.
The crafting system, while creative, could have been better implemented. It get's boring after a while, especially when all you seem to find is useless broken products that are virtually worthless. It's not a required system to learn by any means, but if it's there, it should be fun, not boring and tedious.
There are many monsters out in the battlefield waiting your challenge. Not all the monsters are the same either. There are mutants walking around crying to be run over, deformed plants, massive insects, and of course other vehicles. Not vehicles just on the ground either, because it won't be long before you encounter helicopters in your travels. Each area has varying monsters, and that helps keep the game fresh. For instance, while there are regular army trucks in one area, in Thug Town, you will find low-riders and other gangsta ve-hickles.
In addition, you may occasionally enter an area that will warn you about a powerful opponent nearby. These are like mini-bosses, that usually require a small group to kill. Usually, the only way you will kill them solo, is it you are much higher level than them, where they can barely touch you. You can also bash them a few times then die and go back, but often their health will have regenerated.
I have actively played many MMO's in the past, but due to other things in life, I can't play them as much as I'd like. With so much MMO goodness on the market, it's hard to choose which game to stick to. When each MMO costs you $15US a month, it makes you want to choose wisely.
Is Auto Assault worth a purchase? Yes, even though it won't get an incredible score. While I actively enjoyed the game for two weeks, the game still has a lot of bugs and problems that need to be addressed. Despite these issues, this is a great MMO, especially given that you don't need to devote 8 hours a day in order to accomplish a lot. You can literally jump in for an hour and log out satisfied.
Even though there are a lot of missions available, I'd like to see more added, to decrease the chances of a player having to grind in order to reach the next level. Granted, many MMO's out there require grinding to level, but it just doesn't seem to really suit a game like this. Because you can die rather quickly without some looted rations, grinding does become a chore. Each time you die, you will respawn at the last health station. So, if you die quick, you will be driving to the same hunting spot each time you die. It's a loop, really.
If you have not tasted MMO culture before, then this is a great game to get you started. Though the longevity of the game is currently unknown, NetDevil is diligently adding new content and stomping bugs as they see them. Since the game only costs around $30 on average, it's hard to really go wrong here. If you still can't fathom the idea of a vehicle MMO, I can assure you... you will likely be surprised. I am awarding Auto Assault a 77%.
BMW's and Pinto's
+ Unique idea for an MMO
+ Superb graphics
+ Large world to explore
+ Leveling is rather quick
+ You get to blow stuff up!
- Missions can get repetitive
- Some bugs still not ironed out since beta
- Crafting system could be more 'fun'
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