Full Auto Review

Buckle Up

Full Auto is sort of a combination between the Burnout series and the Twisted Metal series. It combines vehicular combat with old fashioned racing. I’m not going to go in-depth with what vehicular combat contains, as I’m sure everyone knows. Needless to say, it involves shooting all the other cars around you with various weapons mounted on your own car, with the ultimate goal, in Full Auto, of winning the race. You get two weapons at a time; one in the front and one in the rear. As you progress in career mode, you’ll unlock new weapons. However, they only come in sets, which I’d imagine is their way of keeping the game balanced. It is possible to change your weapon’s power, but doing so will modify your other weapon to balance it out.

The first thing that blew my away (no pun intended) is how destructible all of the environments are. You can blow up nearly everything you see. Even if it doesn’t look it, try anyway. You’ll be surprised. This somewhat makes up for the lack of variation in the different tracks.

The game offers various modes of play, but they’re nothing more than variations of racing and they all feel pretty much the same. Career mode is the main mode of play and what you’ll be putting the most time into, as it allows you to unlock different items for use in the game.

If I Could Turn Back Time

One of the coolest features in Full Auto is the ability to “unwreck”, that is, rewind time in order to undo disaster. It works similar as in [[Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Review|Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time]. You build up your unwreck meter by blowing things up and causing destruction. It’s not always a saving grace though. I can’t recall how many times I’ve rewound time just to crash all over again because I didn’t go back far enough.

Graphics and Audio

The game looks fantastic, as it should. Watch the destruction you cause will make you as giddy as a schoolgirl. The effects are magnificent and really look exactly how they should. The sound effects work nicely and help convey the destructive mood that the game puts forth.

Wrap-Up

Full Auto has the unfortunate distinction of being the first new Xbox 360 title to come out in a while, so gamers that are thirsting for new blood are likely to have their expectations set super-high. Full Auto isn’t bad though. It might not be anything new, but it’s definitely a step-up in terms of vehicular combat games. When things get really action packed, and the screen is full of chaos and destruction, things do tend to slowdown a little bit, but it’s not enough to really matter. If you like these types of games at all, I recommend giving the game a whirl. Better yet, grab a couple of friends when you do.