Auto Assault

by NCsoft Corporation

Product Features

• Massive multiplayer gaming combines both vehicular combat and roleplaying elements
• Interact fully with the uniquely designed dynamic environment where nearly everything can be destroyed
• Play more than you travel with the aid of a unique map system designed to cut down on traveling and maximize gameplay
• Participate in fully scripted missions designed for both groups and solo gamers
• Experience a realistic environment with the Havok 2 physics engine

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• ASIN: B0007D9OZC
• Item model number: 892566000606
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 7, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,968 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Players create characters who specialize in vehicular assault, driving through the hostile environment for power, wealth, and fame. Solo players, cooperative players, and PvP (player vs player) gamers will all find something to do, making friends (or enemies) along the way.

Take a spin through the Auto Assault universe, and here's what you can expect:

Destroy anything that moves--and most things that don't.

Design your own character

• Massively multiplayer gaming at the wheel of your combat automobiles
• A uniquely destructible world where you can destroy everything that moves (and most things that don't)
• Realistic effects! The Havok 2 physics engine makes jumping ravines, smashing through barriers, and sending buildings crumbling to the ground incredibly realistic
• Unique mission system--level up while playing, rather than playing to level up
• 3 distinct player races, each with an individualized, epic mission campaign
• Unprecedented world map system minimizes travel time and maximizes actual gameplay
• Intricate handcrafted map generation--highways, enemies, and spontaneous world map events allow for virtually limitless replay ability
• Highly scripted scenarios: solo, group, and common areas
• Gain fame in the arenas, create wealth by trading, or complete missions to advance your standing

Have you played other MMOGs before? Here's a few more features that might interest you:

• No heavy death penalties.. you'll never lose hours or days of progress
• Road maps and airlift system minimize travel times, getting you to the action faster
• Demanding action-oriented gameplay, where collision and momentum matter.. no click-and-wait combat
• Scripted PvE campaigns for solo and cooperative provide hours of enjoyable questing
• Blueprint crafting system allows for experimentation or reliability for all character classes
• Prefixed & enhanced loot generation means the same base item can have different stats & capabilities
• Unique and varied special f/x sounds and a professionally composed soundtrack for each environment
• You can actually have fun and make progress in small amounts of time.. even playing solo!

Product Description

Massively multiplayer gaming at the wheel of your combat automobiles!

Players create characters who specialize in vehicular assault, driving through the hostileenvironment for power, wealth, and fame. Solo players, cooperative players, and PvP (player vs player) gamers will all find something to do, making friends (or enemies) along the way.

Take a spin through the Auto Assault universe, and here's whatyou can expect:

• Massively multiplayer gaming at the wheel of your combat automobiles
• A uniquely destructible world where you can destroy everything that moves (and most things that don't)
• Realisticeffects! The Havok 2 physics engine makes jumping ravines, smashing through barriers, and sending buildings crumbling to the ground incredibly realistic
• Unique mission system--level up while playing, rather than playing to levelup
• 3 distinct player races, each with an individualized, epic mission campaign
• Unprecedented world map system minimizes travel time and maximizes actual gameplay
• Intricate handcrafted map generation--highways,enemies, and spontaneous world map events allow for virtually limitless replay ability
• Highly scripted scenarios: solo, group, and common areas
• Gain fame in the arenas, create wealth by trading, or complete missions toadvance your standing

Have you played other MMOGs before? Here's a few more features that might interest you:

• No heavy death penalties.. you'll never lose hours or days of progress
• Road maps and airliftsystem minimize travel times, getting you to the action faster
• Demanding action-oriented gameplay, where collision and momentum matter.. no click-and-wait combat
• Scripted PvE campaigns for solo and cooperative providehours of enjoyable

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This online game is now shut down., October 8, 2007

By 

S. Brady "PC617" (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Auto Assault (CD-ROM)

The Auto Assault servers shut down as of the end of August 2007. With no single-player capability, this game will no longer function.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent game, with it's own little problems., April 22, 2006

By 

Kevin Fee "Hydrith" (Anchorage, AK USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Auto Assault (CD-ROM)

Another excellent game published by NCSoft, Auto Assault excels at keeping players entertained by bringing back the pleasures of Twisted Metal in the form of an MMO. But unlike Twisted Metal, Auto Assault boasts fully destructible environments, realistic game physics, and an impressive graphics engine that makes the game incredible fun to play. And, to make the game easier to play with friends, Auto Assault incorporates built-in voice chat, something that many other MMOs do not.

What Auto Assault offers in terms of PvP action makes the game equally exciting. While combat between factions is limited to specific zones, there is Arena-based PvP where players compete in ladder-type tournaments for in-game cash and experience.

But, like many MMOs freshly released to the public, it has it's own set of problems. Every now and then, you'll see the Bug Report window come up, and ask you to report what's happened to the technical support teams. While it can be irritating, it does help the tech support teams to fix the game (and trust me, they do fix the problems :D).

Overall, at it's current phase, Auto Assault is an excellent game. Once several of the in-game problems get fixed, it will be outright incredible.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the years sleeper hits, April 30, 2006

By 

Cosmos (Clearwater, FL United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Auto Assault (CD-ROM)

Explosions, chaos, destruction, mayhem, rumbling vehicles and mutants galore -- Auto Assault delivers on full-fledged action in a game that borders on being a niche hit of the year.

The reality is, the game has a wide appeal to gamers of many sorts though it does lack some polish (for some that stands as part of the attraction to the game) and needs some additions to bring it into a fully developed offering. Despite its minor failings the game is surprisingly well done and manages to offer some features that simply cannot be found in any other competing game.

Perhaps even more surprising is the setting. NetDevil (the developer) has conjured up a solid foundation for a role playing game, MMO or not. More importantly, they have delivered on their setting by providing three races and a world that captures the variance and flavor it all in astounding color and depth and futuristic chaos.

Of course, the setting begins to shine as you overcome the mild learning curve and realize that the game holds a huge amount of depth beyond the extremely addictive "Mad Max" style of game play. Combined with an intricate crafting system, tournaments and PvP Arenas, the massive world to explore and literally destroy at every turn makes for the sort of addictive play found only in the likes of games made by giants such as Blizzard. If you found yourself spending vast amounts of time pouring over a game like Diablo or WoW, chances are this game will also sink its hooks into you in a way that you haven't experienced for a long time.

It's difficult to sumarize the many influences that can be seen in the game. For example, at times while speeding across tattered highways or blazing into some "Pike" stronghold (a group of crazed humans who scrap together junk in attempts to fend off invaders of every type, including players), the undeniable sense of influence from other games will wash over you. At some points you might half imagine you are playing in one of City of Heroes more destroyed and hazardous regions, for example.

There is little doubt that the experience of PlayNC and their growing umbrella of MMO's have been borrowed from in a myriad of ways for Auto Assault. That is, in part, what makes this game a success. They have managed to extract "what works" from other games they have dealt with and, at the same time, created an all new style and mode of MMO gameplay that is at least as enticing and entertaining as anything else on the market. For one thing, it seems well balanced whether you look to solo/co-op play or within the PvP arena.

Having said that, if going absolutely beserk and being able to destroy virtually everything you come across in the world (beyond just the enemies ... we're talking about ruins, forts, cities, pretty much everything), if that sort of thing doesn't hold any appeal to you then neither will this game. It has an edgy and warped flavor that might not hold the interest of everyone, but for those who find the setting and notion of driving Mad Max styled vehicles into a forboding and troubled post-apocalyptic word, well, this game certainly demands a run behind the wheel.

Happily to suit, the developers have been active and involved -- they really seem to have an interest in this game and it shows through interactions on the forums. That bodes well for the future of the game and for the ongoing enjoyment of the players there. It also signals that some of the things the game does need work on are being addressed.

Overall, I'd recommend the game to most anyone -- certainly a month of playing it will reveal whether it is not to your taste or whether you have become hopelessly addicted. I might add, it is fantastic for solo play and is even more fun when you get a convoy of destruction minded friends to join you. Of all the problems the game has, the "Convoy" (read "Group" from other MMO's) matching system they have in place does need some improvements to make it easier to find and get into a convoy, but I haven't had a lot of problem so far finding others to group with.

With fun game play, stable servers, a well crafted setting and more mayhem and destruction than any MMO available, its hard to think that NetDevil and PlayNC don't have something on their hands worth pushing harder than they have. Plain and simple, its a fun game!