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.
