 Preview By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Pseudo Interactive |
| Publisher: | SEGA | |
| Genre: | Racing | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1-8 | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | Memory Card, Xbox Live (online play) | |
| Estimated Release: | 02/14/2006 |
Sega has shown strong support for the Xbox 360, with no less than four titles already announced and more undoubtedly on the way. These include Chromehounds, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Full Auto, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Full Auto is perhaps the most intriguing, as it's from developer Pseudo Interactive AKA the guys responsible for those XNA crash demos that wowed crowds at 2004's GDC and E3. It may also be the one with the most promise.
Basically, Full Auto takes arcade style racing and infuses it with intense combat. Virtually everything in the environment is destructible, from small objects on the side of the road to large buildings standing in the way. Aiding this mass destruction is a large arsenal of weapons, including machine guns, rocket launches, grenades, cannons, and more.
On its surface, simply racing and blowing things up seems to be a fun, but ultimately shallow premise. Pseudo is looking to add some variety to this simple premise however, by including an advanced physics engine and a feature called "unwreck". Sega's claiming there will be absolutely no pre-calculated, canned animations, which if true will mean a dynamic form of carnage where you'll never see the same wreck twice. Many objects in the environment can be used to slow down the competition, meaning there will be actual strategy in determining which buildings or objects to blow up. If you don't like the results of an action, you can always use the "unwreck" feature to manipulate time. Basically it works like the rewind function in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, where the player can rewind recent events or slow time down.
There will also be a lot of variety in the action, with different modes including Career, Pursuit, Arena, Crash, and more. Over 10 are promised overall, along with mini-games to add even more replay value. There will also be 20 unique cars to choose from, although it's unclear if these will have different statistics or simply different weapons.
Of course a game like this is begging for multiplayer support, and Pseudo has obliged with four player racing offline or up to eight online. While not officially announced, one would assume that the "unwreck" feature will be disabled for multiplayer racing unless they find a really inventive way to include it without making the other players feel cheated.
Overall, Full Auto could be the premiere title (whenever it ships) for gamers simply looking for a good time online. The premise is simple, the elements familiar, and the advanced physics (if implemented properly) could open up a whole new racing experience.
Posted: 2005-10-15 07:55:34PST