Full Auto

Twisted Metal created an entire genre when it strapped a machine gun
and a rocket launcher to the hood of a car and let it run free through
the streets. Vehicular combat became a recognizable and oft imitated
gaming staple that ranges from the cutesy Mari Kart to the gruesome
Carmageddon. Sega fills the 360’s tank with Full Auto, bringing
elements of Burnout, Twisted Metal and oddly enough Prince of Persia:
The Sands of Time.

Players race through a series of rural and city tracks reminiscient of
Need for Speed and driving one of 20 something un-licensed vehicles.
Each car is outfitted with one of 7 weapon combos you’ll use take out
opponents, traffic, buildings and anything else unfortunate enough to
be too close to the road as you pass. Like most racers, Full Auto
allows you to progress through a career mode, pegging your skills with
classes and working your way up the ranks, unlocking additional game
types. Rampages are beat-the-clock type races that mix in destruction
points, whereas Pink Slip races are straight driving without the guns.
Sometimes the goal is simply to survive, other times you’ll be required
to rack up a certain number of destruction points and still place at
leat 3rd in the race.

Smash your whip into a tanker and get
pushed back to 5th? No problem, hit the unwreck button and rewind time
back for a second or third chance to redeem your mistake. A few car
lengths behind in the final stretch? Hit the boost earned from trashing
your environment and hitting monster jumps.

I’m really split
on this game. On the one hand, just about everything can be destroyed:
bring down water towers, bridges, other cars and plow through corner
cafes. You can use your roof mounted rocket launcher to ignite a gas
tanker for a nice explosion, or pepper a gas station with your machine
gun for an even nicer boom. Graphics wise it’s very pretty. Though it
might sound odd, I was really impressed with the menu layout and icon
organization pre-race. The music is high energy techno-rock but nothing
main stream.

On the other hand, the driving physics feel off.
It often becomes difficult to stay on track, especially in the narrow
rocky areas in the moutains. Your car, regardless of model, wants to
flip over with every turn making some races incredibly frustrating. The
analog controls weren’t as responsive as what I’ve come accustomed to
with games like NFS, Burnout and PGR. What really got to me though was
the frame-lag. Hey, I get there’s a lot going on: racing, destruction,
recording the last few seconds as you race so you can rewind, but there
is no excuse for frame-lag on the 360. The slow down is frequent and
unpredictable, even in single player race games.

There’s a
lot to play through, but the tracks feel uninspired and repetetive.
Ultimately there isn’t enough replayability in the game to make it
worth a purcahse unless you can get some friends to play online
regularly. It’s worth a rent if nothing else to get your destructo-on,
but for good racing you may want to save up for Burnout’s debut on the
360.