Full Auto – Review

Full Auto is a new driving title for the Xbox 360 that utilizes cars equipped with weaponry, where the aim of the game is to blast your opponents out of existence—a little like arcade classic Chase HQ but with a much more prominent arsenal. It features fully destructible environments and a decent selection of vehicles and tracks. So, will it burnout over the course of this review or cross the finish line with no additional need for speed (ahem—Ed). Let’s see, shall we?

First of all, Full Auto’s gameplay is certainly a lot of fun—for the opening 20 minutes, before you’re then struck by the hard and fast realization that the experience is going to become rather repetitive. The main problem here is that while a racing title like Burnout has a game mechanic that’s fair to the player and allows the game’s addictive qualities to come to the fore—regardless of the repetitive nature—Full Auto is much less forgiving and it subsequently promotes player frustration. All things considered, not a great start when you’re struggling to finish the tutorial level with gold. That said, the game isn’t ‘all’ bad and it’s certainly playable. If you examine the actual game mechanic of any racer, you’re going to come up with a list of the same things: speed, power sliding, and varying tracks. But, in a bid to instill some creativity to the overcooked street-racing genre, Full Auto opts for adding weaponry to the mix, and it’s an ingredient that leaves a fairly good aftertaste. Furthermore, it also utilizes an ‘unwreck’ function, whereupon you can rewind time at the tap of a button and therefore undo whatever crash or enemy attack has suddenly befallen you. This addition is actually very cool and is a good use of the chronological rewind facet we’ve all come to know in other videogames like Blinx and Prince Of Persia. Game controls are simple, with the usual trigger buttons for brake and accelerate; steering is the left analogue stick; handbrake is ‘X’, primary weapon is ‘A’ and secondary weapon is ‘B’. The aforementioned unwreck element is executed by simply holding in the controller’s right bumper, while boost is assigned to the left bumper. Overall the controls are spot on; all the included cars feel and handle differently from one another and some of the tracks are a lot of fun and sport some notable backgrounds.

From a visual standpoint, Full Auto’s graphics initially appear somewhat substandard and ill fitting to the next-gen Xbox 360 platform; yet, prolonged game time sees the graphics become slightly smoother while exuding an improved level of detail. Some of the reflections and light sourcing on the cars adds considerable depth to the graphics, even if the backgrounds are slightly less detailed than in other racing games presently available on the 360. Even so, Full Auto’s backgrounds are still extremely interactive and you can literally drive into or through a vast array of items—including buildings. Thankfully they’re fairly consistent and there are no issues with driving into certain objects one time and then through them the next. The draw distance is also fine and there’s no noticeable pop-up in the distance either. The option to change the race camera helps too (directional pad), and it’s nice to have the game on a third-person perspective with the rear view mirror relaying what’s happening behind. Unfortunately, when there’s a lot of on-screen action, there are instances of noticeable slowdown and the framerate can also feel rather sluggish—again, not great considering it’s a 360 title, especially if you’re accustomed to playing the likes of Ridge Racer, PGR3, or Need For Speed: Most Wanted. Top-tier comparisons aside, Full Auto’s graphics do a fairly good job but could have been even more finely tuned to provide a better overall experience.

Not to be overtly picky in terms of vehicular physicality, but I don’t suppose it crossed the developers’ minds that bonnet-mounted rocket-propelled missiles (hood-mounted for our American readers) and machine guns may be a bad idea in reality? Rocket burn and spent cartridges when traveling at high speeds would wreak havoc on one’s windscreen. Sorry.

There are some really nice graphical touches in game, though, and the destructible environments and the unwreck (rewind) feature are really well implemented. The time rewind sequences all work seamlessly from the moment you press the unwreck button, moving into sepia tones and playing out in reverse until your car is safe once more. Needless to say, the unwreck feature is not available during online play. The game’s cars also feature a lot of detailing, and damage infliction is also graphically solid, even if not handled that well in terms of reality, i.e., windows not smashing despite huge force or bullet impacts.

Full Auto’s sound occupies a similar quality niche as its graphics: it isn’t all that bad, but then it isn’t exactly great. The sound effects are fairly decent and there’s enough screeching, crashing, and shattering to suit any gamer who enjoys liberally blowing things up. The game’s musical accompaniment can only be described as, well, thoroughly generic techno-rock. It’s nothing out of the ordinary and feels a little flat, whereas a more considered depth of taste to the soundtrack could have greatly improved the overall feel of the game. Deaf gamers aren’t likely to be at any kind of aural disadvantage when experiencing Full Auto as it can easily be played with the sound off—and, personally, I did end up doing just that on numerous occasions, preferring instead to opt for some of my own background music choices.

Gender selection, or lack thereof, is never an issue in Full Auto, and the entire game is totally gender neutral. You’re ‘you’, driving around in cars while blowing other cars to scrap heaven…and that’s generally the overall point of the game. That said, when your car crashes out and its driver abruptly flies through the windscreen, he/she definitely ‘seems’ to be more male in build, though it’s really not that important as the game is all about flashy cars that look funky while pulling excellent manoeuvres and dishing out obliteration to opponents.

The multiplayer aspects in Full Auto are pretty decent and, although the object of the gameplay is generally to race, there’s far more fun to be had blowing your opponents into scorching-hot fragments. Xbox Live has a ranking system for this game but, unless you have good friends to play with, it may well prove to be one of those titles where it’s utterly pointless playing with strangers as they’ll continually blow you away with absolutely no sense of fair play. Boo!

Ultimately, driving fans may like Full Auto as a secondary option to the other street-racing titles currently available on the Xbox 360. You get the opportunity to drive a variety of cars that look like classics and have delicious chrome trims and funky weapons mounted on the front, roof, or rear. The in-game rides range from old Cadillac-styled cars to more modern sports cars and SUVs. The aim of the game is similar to Burnout in that you have to race around smashing stuff up, but with Full Auto you also have to cause as much damage and wreckage as possible by using an expansive arsenal of weaponry. For those gamers looking for scant little depth, just some fast-paced bullet-addled fun, Full Auto is a great selection. But, for those of you who prefer a lot of depth within their racing titles, this probably isn’t going to blow your wheels off. I hate to compare it to existing titles, but for those gamers who’ve already played Burnout and/or Midtown Madness, this is like an amalgamation of both with vehicle-mounted firepower cobbled on to boost the carnage. Full Auto emerges somewhat better than initial play suggests, but it’s still nowhere near the top of the 360’s racing chart.

Review by Angela

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