Auto Assault

Submitted by Hoza on February 13, 2006 - 10:26pm

Auto Assault by NetDevil & NCsoft is a fast-action MMORPG centered around heavily-armed vehicles... really heavily armed vehicles.  Mass destruction is the big trademark of this game, where their big push is the use of the Havok 2 physics engine to make almost everything in the environment fragment and fly apart upon explosion. 

If you're not familiar with Havok yet (you haven't played Half-Life 2 yet?!?), just think about thousands of individual 3D objects/parts reacting to gravity and explosions... tell ya what: go grab a box of toothpicks and fling them across the room and watch what happens.  That's what I'm talkin' about here.  Now, please forget it was me that told you to do that as you go pick up that mess.

Auto Assault lets you play as one of three different factions/classes (Biomek, Human and Mutant, if that matters).  Your virual life in this game is spent collecting, crafting and customizing a more lethal vehicle.  Here are the key points about the game from the mouth of the marketing folks:

  • Destruction: The only MMORPG to make use of the Havok™ 2 physics engine. Destroy buildings, level towns, send enemy foot-soldiers flying through the air
  • Speed: Other MMORPGs are left in the dust! Combat, travel, finding a group…everything is designed to get you into action fast
  • Customization: Choose your vehicle and swap out weapons, armor and more for looks and performance; paint jobs and ornaments make your vehicle your own
  • Power: Choose incredible skills and powers as you level up and become a member of the road warrior elite
  • Combat: Take on other players – skirmish on the highways, group together for massive outpost raids or enter the Arena: find out who’s the best on the arena ranking page of autoassault.com
  • Loot: No two loot items are the same! You’ll always be on the hunt for that perfect gun, engine, armor and more to add to your unique vehicle
  • Create: Repair and back-engineer guns, engines and more to equip your own vehicle or sell to others. Be the only person on your server to know how to make an incredible engine or powerful weapon

That's your basic rundown, so if you're interested in more, here's what you need to know:

Official Site: Auto Assault 

Buy it now!:  Buy Auto Assault with Bonus!

Developer: NetDevil

Publisher:  NCsoft

Release date:  Well, should be in 2006... maybe spring or summer if you're lucky.  November-December if you're not.  The game can only be in beta for so long, ya know? (In this case, "so long" is pretty darn long!)

Our Anticipation Level?:  Pretty high, since I'm anxious to see how well it handles all the high-speed action with the dose of RPG it's supposed to have.  I love a good visceral experience as much as the next guy... I just hope this has the depth to justify a monthly fee.  Not just a lot of missions, but gameplay depth.