In praise of a nifty niche game

I first posted this in the ratings section, but since that messed up formatting, and it took me so long to write, I repost here:

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In a nutshell, after 6+ years of swinging swords or throwing fireballs in cyber-action, I was desperate for a change of pace, where I could play some kind of sci-fi game that captured why I loved Steve Jackson’s Car Wars paper chit and dice game, as well as the Mad Max movies.  I was hoping that AA would give me this kind of online virtual on-line adventure, with all the staples one expects from an on MMOPRG game, including:

Lush, graphical gameworld

Flavorful backstory of said world as played out via npcs and quests

Interesting ways of advancing character besides rinse-n-repeat grinding of the same few classes of mobs at “camps”

Meaningful but not griefing-prone PvP

Tactically-rich combat for both PvP and PvE

Player-made gear via crafting

Intuitive user interfaces for action as well as for character assets and development

Context-sensitive help menus or pop-ups.

Based on what I have seen in several sessions of play, Auto Assault has delivered, big time.  Many reviews by individual gamers on gaming sites have been unfavorable.  However, many of these reviews (as well as positive reviews) illustrate why some select few are paid to review things, while most hacks like me are not.  Professional reviewers are able to view and critique a film, for example, BASED ON WHAT THE FILM-MAKERS WERE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH.  Conversely, the slams several forum reviewers have made about this game are like ripping on The Bridges of Madison County because there were no flaming car chases, or like ripping on The Matrix because it didn’t have enough tender dialogue between Neo and his mate.

This game was explicitly designed to be a hybrid between the move-your-avatar-to-other-virtual-avatar and-stab-it-so-that-you-can-get-resources to-get-even-better-gear so-you-can-gank-e ven-tougher-code-driven-algorithms ….with the arcade feel of an auto-racer.  If you like car-racing action, and want to enjoy something extra in the way of a gradual progression of your own abilities and tricking out your ride, then you will probably enjoy this game.  If manual-dexterity-based car racing and the post-apocalyptic genre are not your thing, then you will not.  Also, according to many who slam this game on these and other forums, it would seem that any new MMORPG stinks unless it has EACH and ALL of:

The graphics of EQ2

The extensive gameworld of 5+ years of EQ1

The flavor of WoW

The PvP of Dark Age of Camelot

The grouping commands and tools of City of Villians

The absence of a monthly fee of Guild Wars.

...in the INITIAL RELEASE!!!

IMHO, I think the developers have done a good job of delivering what they intended the game to be.  Getting to race around with the challenge of keeping your target in Line-of-fire is a lot more engaging to me than hitting a /stick command to move and stick to a foe and hitting a key to autoattack, or even issue a series of clicks of weapon styles in the same endless cycle.

Another big criticism is “All you do is drive around and blow everything up.  I’ll be bored within two weeks.”  Not only is there more to the game than that, but I suspect these same people would be bored with ANY new MMORPG.  When I compare AA’s endless series of quests with interesting backstory flavor in the text, I think back to trying to level up toons in EQ years ago, and how absolutely mind-numbing that was!  If EQ were launched today, its dated graphics, lack of meaningful weapon styles/skills, and brutal old-school death penalty would have people giving it poor marks.

The fact is, there are only so many ways you can dress up move-your-avatar-to-other-virtual-avatar and-apply-your-damage-algorithm-so-that-you-can-get-resources-to-get-even-better-gear-so-you-can-gank-even-tougher-code-driven-algorithms…  So many games are out there that really differ only in the details—how many quests, atmosphere, UI, how they handle character death, how does PvP loot work etc…. At least with AA, the developers overlaid the NOVEL challenge of high-motion, dexterity driven combat atop all the traditional elements of an immersive MMORPG.  This game really DOES play differently. 

The three factions play markedly differently, and the backstory actually provides some rationale for why the three would be at war with each other.  This flavor seeps through in the quests’ text, if you actually bother to read them.  A few sessions of playing a biomek, and I felt like a borg.  Even the background music reflects the different moods of the different factions.  In contrast, DAoC never made me feel like a part of a realm, and never really gave flesh to the bones of the conflict—why we should be out fighting others.

The loot system is great!  Even going to merchants to get low-end gear, you will find several different variants of the same make and model weapon, but with slightly different DPS, range, and targeting arc.  Nice to be able to be able to spend a little more to get a better specimen of the “acme flechette gun.”

The one drawback, which is eminently fixeable with patches and expansions, is that the designers made the game so solo-friendly (to enable casual players to not have to blow precious gaming time in cobbling a group), that grouping is actually a disadvantage when coldly calculating XP/hour when considering time to form a group.  This will hurt NetDevil, because gamers are not accustomed to paying a monthy fee for a game that they can play  all by themselves, like Half-Life.

Bugs are fixable.  Nuances of content are fixable.  The core designs and mechanics are not.  Fortunately, the latter hold great promise, and even if you just play the heck out of this game for the “free” month of online play that comes with purchase, and never subscribe past that, the 10 gigs of content will keep you plenty occupied.

See you on the dangerous, dusty, roads.
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To sum it up, I think this game is pretty decent for people who really like cars and the idea of tricking them up, and who understand that post-apocalyptic scenery is not supposed to be pleasant.  There are plenty of solid reasons why NOT to like this game.  In fact, I gave it a lower aggregate rating than the mean.  However, a lot of posters just flame it based on their personal preferences in gameplay regardless of what the devs intended to create.