Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Sega's Full Auto for the Xbox 360 is a racer that will never be mistaken for a Gran Turismo simulator-clone. Full Auto has more in common with Criterion's Burnout racing series. What Full Auto does to distinguish itself from Burnout is the fact that each vehicle is armed to the teeth with all sorts of weaponry. I see this Sega arcade racer as the offspring of a marriage between Burnout and the Twisted Metal series.
The game is easy to pick up and play and get into. In fact, this is one of its advantages over other racers in that the racing physics involve in forgiving. The goal of Full Auto is not to show how well the game can simulate racing on the console, but to immerse the player in road rage-inducing mayhem. Everything about Full Auto is gearing towards a more arcade-type game. The driving controls are very simple. The game makes very good use of all the face buttons, bumpers and triggers on the 360 controller.
The gameplay is all about full auto destruction and the developers really spent alot of time making sure that everything on the screen is destructible. Whatever you can see and aim at can be destroyed either by running over and into it or by using your vehicle's choice of weaponry. One thing I've had alot of fun pulling off is jumping off the crest of a downslope on a track and at the same time launching off a few missiles at the top floors of a building at the bottom of said downslope. By the time my car lands from its jump the building I shot my missiles at are crumbling down to its foundation and taking out any rival racers that were ahead of me.
The one new innovation in gameplay that Full Auto has is the ability to rewind time back a few seconds if one gets totalled or makes the wrong turn. This going back in time part of the gameplay is helpful but not always available. Only by causing destruction on everything around you can you fill the gauge meter enough to make the option available. But with Full Auto that is easy enough to accomplish. It's a nifty trick and when used properly can help the player learn just how to make a certain sharp turn on the course without losing too much speed or learn which side track and ramps are best in overtaking a lead car.
The graphics in Full Auto is not as photorealistic as the ones in the 360's Project Gotham Racing 3, but what it lacks in breathtaking beauty it has in the amount of destructive particles and items that fill up the screen. The processing power of the 360 seemed to have been utilized in making the game's environment fully destructible while doing just enough to make the car models just slighty better than the previous generation of racers. The sound effects are great when heard through a surround sound system. Every roar and rumble of the cars' engines are distinct, but its in the weapons fire and explosions that surround sound really shines.
If I have any complaints about Full Auto its that the game on multiplayer doesn't allow for the use of the time-rewind option. This makes multiplayer a more conservative side of the game's fun. There's less reckless abandonment type of racing in multiplayer than there is when playing the single-player mode. The game also doesn't add anything else to the racing genre that Twisted Metal and Burnout hasn't already brought to fore. Full Auto did marry the those two games' best features together and pulls it off well enough. For those on a budget I would recommend this fun arcade-racer only as a rental. Rent it out and give it a spin to see if its to their liking. Those who want another racer for their 360 and can afford it then I recommend this game as a buy. It's a fun, no-nonsense game that is just a few things short of being great.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Full Auto
Full Auto combines fully-automatic, weapon-equipped vehicles with highly detailed and interactive urban environments. In the near future, the city of Staunton is held hostage by a mysterious group known only as The Shepherds. As a retired driver, you are coerced by the Shepherds into a series of lethal street races, where the cost is of competing is far greater than anyone ever expected.No pre-calculated or canned animations. Players will never see the same wreck twice!
