Betatesting Auto Assault

[Antmeister]

Well I was invited to play NCSoft's latest game and so far I am impressed. What makes Auto Assault different than other MMORPGs is that you customize a vehicle and a character.

At the beginning, you create your character and you choose how to model your vehicle. They have a lot of fairly nice options to make both look unique.

But once I plopped into the game, it was a little bit confusing since I didn't have full command of the controls. After about 15 minutes, I got the hang out of driving the vehicle and decided to do a few missions.

At first, I thought the missions would be boring as I read their descriptions, but the fun was driving around the rough roads and landscapes, avoiding enemies, and using all the weapons in your arsenal.

Customizing the vehicle is a lot more fun that customizing the character. The current vehicle that I was driving can be equipped with a turret, front and rear weapons, powerplant, tires, armor and a few other options that I can't recall at this time. With the character, you can have unique skills and abilities that will translate into even more customizable options for your vehicle.

In fact, this game is like a 3D version of Car Wars. That's a game that I used to spend hours playing with my friends in the late 80's and I kept having flashbacks to that game as I was playing it.

At the current time, I saw a couple of bugs, but the game still plays with them. If you select multiple missions, there are times where you can't finish one mission until you finish another mission. That may not sound like a bug, but when you go to the last waypoint of a particular mission, there is no message telling you this and you spend minutes clicking on the last contact with no response. The other issue is that you may see an error messages at random times. Other than those two issues, I was very impressed with this game.

[Groundhog]

Nice, hadn't heard of this but it sounds like one MMORPG I'd actually be interested in playing.

[EagleFan]

Excellent. I was afraid that this one was going to be a great premise but end up sucking. I've been wanting something like this since the old Auto Duel days.

[Yellow5]

I'm also in the beta and enjoy it but man does it bog my system down when I get into a decent fight. I'm only running @ 1.6ghz with a Radeon 9800 pro so I'll have to try it on my new 3.6 ghz radeon X1900 system once all the parts arrive and I build it.

How does it run on your system Ant?

I'm still in the newbie area, running missions around some sort of quarry. I had to ask a million questions from other players about things they could have explained better in the opening missions. I've also run into a couple of dead end missions and had to go back to figure out where I missed a step which is annoying.

I hope they tidy this game up before it goes live next month!

[Antmeister]

I'm also in the beta and enjoy it but man does it bog my system down when I get into a decent fight. I'm only running @ 1.6ghz with a Radeon 9800 pro so I'll have to try it on my new 3.6 ghz radeon X1900 system once all the parts arrive and I build it.

How does it run on your system Ant?

I'm still in the newbie area, running missions around some sort of quarry. I had to ask a million questions from other players about things they could have explained better in the opening missions. I've also run into a couple of dead end missions and had to go back to figure out where I missed a step which is annoying.

I hope they tidy this game up before it goes live next month!

Ahhh...I have been playing this game on a Pentium 4/3.2 ghz, GEForce 6600 GT and it ran really smooth. When I get into fights, I don't notice any choppiness at all.

And in regards to missions that run into a dead end, it is probably because you ran into the same issue that I did. It seems that you have to complete other missions before finishing another one. It has always worked in my case, yet there is no message that tells you that is what you are supposed to do.

Yes, when I first started the game, the opening missions were a little confusing until I learned where to find all my info.

I should check to see how it run on my wife Athlon 1.0 ghz computer. I doubt it will run smooth, but maybe I could bring down the settings to see if I could get it to run decently.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I got a beta invitation today. I won't try it out tonight, but maybe I'll play tomorrow!

[Honolulu_Blue]

Sounds interesting. I loved Car Wars (tabletop game) and Autoduel (Apple IIE game) to death. Just loved 'em. I even liked "Interstate '76" a whole bunch. I've waiting for a new PC style RPG game based on this premise. Too bad it's on-line. I don't do on-line.

[SirFozzie]

Bleah. Much less then what I was hoping it would be. Went from a "OMG, I'm so glad I'm in the beta." To. "I just saved $65 bucks" ($50 game, $15 for the 2nd month) in 48 hours

No strategy, no skill, just hold down the mouse button and point in random directions

[BYU 14]

Car Wars was incredible and Autoduel a pretty good port. This game will be incredible if it can capture the enjoyment level of those games.

[Antmeister]

Bleah. Much less then what I was hoping it would be. Went from a "OMG, I'm so glad I'm in the beta." To. "I just saved $65 bucks" ($50 game, $15 for the 2nd month) in 48 hours

No strategy, no skill, just hold down the mouse button and point in random directions

Wow! $50 bucks? I like the game and may consider playing it once they get those bugs worked out, but $50 is asking too much at its current state. If it were like Guild Wars, in which I didn't have to pay for a subscription fee, I would do it. But I do like this game so far.

[JeeberD]

I got a beta invitation today. I won't try it out tonight, but maybe I'll play tomorrow!


Ah, so that's what the e-mail from PlayNC was that I automatically marked as spam. I may have to go fish that sucker out and give the game a try...

[Lorena]

Ah, so that's what the e-mail from PlayNC was that I automatically marked as spam. I may have to go fish that sucker out and give the game a try...

Yeah, do it. I got mine today and downloading the game as I type. I'll beta test it, but definitely won't spend $100.00 (between Ant and I) + $30.00/mo to play it... at least not yet.

I can test it from 3/17-3/21; hopefully it runs smoothly and not like it did with the CoV upgrade... that was just pathetic.

[chinaski]

I'll be on this weekend as well.

[stevew]

So even when you test the game out, you have to still pay 50 dollars for the software? That sucks. I might play some this weekend, as I also got an invite to the beta.

[SirFozzie]

no, the game was free.. but the idea was something I would've shelled out the $50 for automatically (again, a Car Wars player (still have all the books), and an Autoduel player).

Just.. it had no skill. Just drive at things, press the button and hope they blow up before you did. Plus driving the car was non-intuitive too.

[Lorena]

So even when you test the game out, you have to still pay 50 dollars for the software? That sucks. I might play some this weekend, as I also got an invite to the beta.

Oh, no. Sorry, re-reading what I posted, I can see how it might have confused you. What I meant to say, was that I couldn't see us buying the game ($50.00 each) + subscription fee ($15.00) for both of us... at least not now. In the next 2 months, yeah, probably. Beta testing is free.

By all means, try it out!! It'd be nice to hook up with FOFCers once again :)

[Antmeister]

So even when you test the game out, you have to still pay 50 dollars for the software? That sucks. I might play some this weekend, as I also got an invite to the beta.

You know what...now that I think about, we may not have to pay $50 for the game. When they gave out open invites for City of Heroes, my wife and I tried it out and after the trial session ended, all we had to pay for was the subscription. This may be the case for this game as well.

[stevew]

You know what...now that I think about, we may not have to pay $50 for the game. When they gave out open invites for City of Heroes, my wife and I tried it out and after the trial session ended, all we had to pay for was the subscription. This may be the case for this game as well.


I realize now looking back at what I wrote, it was pretty garbled. What I meant was, "If you download this free beta, can you continue to play for only 15 dollars a month. Or do you have to pay 50 dollars for a retail copy?"

If you don't have to pay 50 dollars for the retail copy of a lot of these MMORPGS, then why do people? Cause I know when i had a free trial of CoH that it was only gonna be 15 a month if i wanted to continue. I don't really have much of an issue with paying 15 a month for a game, if it's cool, but I really am not fond of the idea of spending 50 for the first month.

[WVUFAN]

Speaking of MMORPG, anyone tried Silkroad Online yet? Wanted to know if it's worth the download time.

[chinaski]

I realize now looking back at what I wrote, it was pretty garbled. What I meant was, "If you download this free beta, can you continue to play for only 15 dollars a month. Or do you have to pay 50 dollars for a retail copy?"

If you don't have to pay 50 dollars for the retail copy of a lot of these MMORPGS, then why do people? Cause I know when i had a free trial of CoH that it was only gonna be 15 a month if i wanted to continue. I don't really have much of an issue with paying 15 a month for a game, if it's cool, but I really am not fond of the idea of spending 50 for the first month.

im unaware of any MMORPG that has transferred beta players for free to the retail game. everyone, including 99% of all beta testers must purchase the game once it goes "live".

[Airhog]

If you don't have to pay 50 dollars for the retail copy of a lot of these MMORPGS, then why do people? Cause I know when i had a free trial of CoH that it was only gonna be 15 a month if i wanted to continue. I don't really have much of an issue with paying 15 a month for a game, if it's cool, but I really am not fond of the idea of spending 50 for the first month.


I think COH was different, you payed 30 dollars at the store, and you got 2 free months, or something like that. No different than just downloading it, and paying 30 bucks for 2 months service

[Yellow5]

Speaking of MMORPG, anyone tried Silkroad Online yet? Wanted to know if it's worth the download time.

Not bad for a free game, and I'd continue playing it if WoW and Guild Wars were not eating so much of my time.

The interface was ugly and a little confusing. It's really a hack n slash type of game geared towards level grinding more than questing.

[JeeberD]

You know what...now that I think about, we may not have to pay $50 for the game. When they gave out open invites for City of Heroes, my wife and I tried it out and after the trial session ended, all we had to pay for was the subscription. This may be the case for this game as well.


It sounds like you'll have to purchase another serial code to play the game once it goes live.

This from the e-mail...

Please note: After your free beta access time has expired, your Auto Assault(R)
Game Account will require a pre-order serial code in order to continue playing
in the beta. You can pre-order Auto Assault(R) at any leading retailer. Further
information can be found here:
http://www.autoassault.com/pre-order/

[Antmeister]

It sounds like you'll have to purchase another serial code to play the game once it goes live.

This from the e-mail...

Well that sucks.

[Lorena]

It sounds like you'll have to purchase another serial code to play the game once it goes live.

This from the e-mail...

Hmm... per the website:


PRE-ORDER INCLUDES:

An In-Game Weapon Exclusive to Pre-Order Pack Owners
Priority Access To Beta Testing
Get Into The Game Days Before The Official Release Date
A CD Including Sneak-Peak Art, Screens, Music, and Other Cool Items


We already have access to beta-testing, so I wonder if they'll do what they did with CoH and allow us to d/l for free and just pay the monthly fee. (?)

[Ajaxab]

Given this fact hxxp://www.gamespot.com/news/6145883.html, one would think that this game should be considerably less than $15/month if they should charge at all.

[JeeberD]

Heh, I totally forgot that I could play this starting today. Cranking the sucker up right now... :)

[Antmeister]

Oh crap. I am going on as well. I am already level 8.

[Lorena]

Heh, I totally forgot that I could play this starting today. Cranking the sucker up right now... :)

Hey Jeebs! Thanks for the reminder... OUT!

[Honolulu_Blue]

Here's a review from a friend of mine who was testing out the beta. I think his feelings mirror most of what's above.

Was mucking around the final beta event for the weekend. Only managed to play one character class of the three races and only to about lvl 6.

Short version: Eh. Feels like Diablo with cars. Lots of killing of things trying to find better gear.

Pros: Awesome feeling to drive full tilt into a shantytown,
flamethrowers spitting death, sheet metal and rubble flying everywhere
while peds die screaming - viscerally satisfying. Voice chat system
integrated with the game (finally!). Good jump in tutorials like in
CoH. Huge inventory system. Customizazble apartments that you get
access to very early in the game!

Cons: Didn't much feel like Autoduel, I really enjoyed taking work in
that game - getting paid for completing deliveries. None of that here
at the low level. Didn't feel engaged with the storyline. Didn't
feel there was any point beyond getting shinier stuff for your car.
I didn't feel immersed in my character, which is the selling point
of any MMO for me. Didn't have a chance to try PvP.

Messana's verdict: A resounding 'eh'. Save your monies. Didn't
feel enough like Fallout or Autoduel or Car Wars to really make
me want to pony up the bucks. It's a refreshing change from
everything else that's out there right now and there's a certain
novelty to driving around and 'sploding things - but I don't think
there's enough there to sustain it if they're releasing the game
in about 3 weeks.


Longer version:

Cars have four weapon points: Turret, front, rear, and melee. Turret
will lock on to an enemy, which handles most of your aiming. Your
turret will be your main weapon - the number of times anything sits
in your front fire arc long enough to get hit is not a large number.

Cars have to manage HP (dependant on your chassis), power (like mana,
dependant on your power plant), and heat (weapons will overheat if
your powerplant can't dissipate the heat fast enough).

Visuals are kinda neat - distortion from the heat of the road or from
the flamethrower - but the 'feel' is muddy: lots of dust, and grime
and haze. No place feels 'safe and refreshing'. It /is/ post
apocalypse though...

Three races and four classes each: 'warrior', 'healer', 'rogue' and
'crowd control'. Not sure if they're equivalent across all three
races or not. The 'engineers' are the healers of their races.

Moving around - /very/ good. You call in an airlift - you wait 10
seconds w/o moving and it flies you to any map in the world you've
already visited. Best system for getting places I've seen yet.

Death - good - airlift takes you to the nearest garage, you sit on a
pad for about 30-60 seconds to heal up and then get back out there and
do stuff. Obeys the 'ah, time to grab a drink' rule of the death
penalty.

Crafting - very interesting, but took a while to get used to - as you
blow up destructible objects in the world (old buildings, wrecked
cars, rubble, etc) you'll occasionally get crafting components out of
it (salvaged glass, salvaged metal, etc). You need to find a 'broken'
version of something to repair and make working. Once you have a
broken object and the parts to fix it, you can fix it. /Then/, you
have a chance to 'memorize' the pattern so that you can keep building
it (either to skill up on, or to make extras of). You can memorize 3
patterns, but can open more slots by buying more points in
memorization.

With any built object, everyone has a 'reverse engineer' skill that
gives you a chance to take a working object to a 'broken' state. This
is so you can try and memorize it in case you didn't memorize it with
your first repair.

About 16 different crafting skills to learn, of which you can learn 7
total. Skilling up in projectile weapons unlocks energy weapons, etc.


Combat - Very COHlike - You can take on a yellow no problem, orange if
you're lucky, forget about the reds. Very little skill early on -
Just lock the turret, stay in range, shoot till dead. It's a
remarkable hassle trying to keep the front weapon arc on target, they
move around so much.


Missions and backstory - Uncompelling. About 60% of your XP comes
from missions, and I found that I could not level quickly enough to
get access to higher level missions. Which meant grinding. Ugh.
Mutants are the 'enlightened stewards of the earth who want to
introduce the beauty of the Change to everyone' backstory. I wanted
real mutants. Missions were all of the 'take this to that guy'
or 'kill X things to get Y foobars and bring them to me'. Story
text was completely uninteresting to me.

Couldn't see any reason to group, but COH was like that at the early
stage too.

[Lorena]

Well, I have issues with my video card, so I wasn't able to test :(

[chinaski]

Here's a review from a friend of mine who was testing out the beta. I think his feelings mirror most of what's above.

Was mucking around the final beta event for the weekend. Only managed to play one character class of the three races and only to about lvl 6.

I played one character (Commando) over the beta weekend, got it to lvl 18. It took me a while to get into the game, not so much the game, but the flow of the game. Ive never played a faster paced mmorpg before, and the nonstop targetting and wildly spraying my turrent gun seemed a bit mindless. However, as soon as you get past lvl 10 or so, the games scope becomes clear. I blame my initial dislike on playing so many classic rpgs in the past, once I dove in and forgot all the rest of the mmorpg games, I really began to like AA.


Short version: Eh. Feels like Diablo with cars. Lots of killing of things trying to find better gear.

I agree to some extent, and i dont think the Diablo comparison is a bad thing. If Diablo used the Havoc 2 engine, had dungeons even half the size of AA and let me trick out my post apocalyptic SUV, id be playing that. :)


Pros: Awesome feeling to drive full tilt into a shantytown,
flamethrowers spitting death, sheet metal and rubble flying everywhere
while peds die screaming - viscerally satisfying. Voice chat system
integrated with the game (finally!). Good jump in tutorials like in
CoH. Huge inventory system. Customizazble apartments that you get
access to very early in the game!

Cons: Didn't much feel like Autoduel, I really enjoyed taking work in
that game - getting paid for completing deliveries. None of that here
at the low level. Didn't feel engaged with the storyline. Didn't
feel there was any point beyond getting shinier stuff for your car.
I didn't feel immersed in my character, which is the selling point
of any MMO for me. Didn't have a chance to try PvP.

Even tho i like it, I do agree with your cons. I didnt pay attention to the story line at all. I was on a mad dash to complete as many missions as possible (i finished almost every single mission that was open to me) and in the end, it just doeesnt matter what the mission is, all the matters is what you have to do or kill. Id accept and then i would just follow the arrow or blue dots to what I had to collect/kill/activate. I like the action, so it never got boring to me, but I would like to be forced to pay attention to the 'story' to some extent.

You do get a boat load of delivery missions, but they must kick in past lvl 6. I remember doing many. I didnt do any arena PvP either.


Messana's verdict: A resounding 'eh'. Save your monies. Didn't
feel enough like Fallout or Autoduel or Car Wars to really make
me want to pony up the bucks. It's a refreshing change from
everything else that's out there right now and there's a certain
novelty to driving around and 'sploding things - but I don't think
there's enough there to sustain it if they're releasing the game
in about 3 weeks.

Im not pesimestic on AA. I made it too 19 and only had access to 1 of the 5 zones and felt like the game was just starting out. But, I didnt group (convoy) or do any PvP, so without feeling those parts of the game out, i cant fully say how much potential it has. From what I did play and see, the game engine alone is fun enough to play around with for a couple more months.

[JeeberD]

I was so wrapped up in basketball that I really didn't take advantage of my trial. But for the little time that I did play it really didn't grab me right away, unlike CoH.

[WVUFAN]

It's on open beta right now. Free until Lvl 20, then if you pre-ordered, you have full access to the game until April 8. Then the "official" release occurs for pre-orders.

So, my suggestion is for everyone to get it a shot, since it's completely free until April 8

[Antmeister]

It's on open beta right now. Free until Lvl 20, then if you pre-ordered, you have full access to the game until April 8. Then the "official" release occurs for pre-orders.

So, my suggestion is for everyone to get it a shot, since it's completely free until April 8

Cool....thanks for the info.