"Speed's just a question of money. How fast can you go?" So sayeth Grease Rat in the movie classic Mad Max, and it's the rule of the road in the post-apocalyptic MMO Auto Assault, too. The main differences are that your money goes to a subscription fee in this online battleground, and this time it's you in the heavily armored driver's seat.

In this crumbling, violent future world, players choose to fight on behalf of the totally toxified Mutants, the cyborg-like Biomeks, or the lowly let's-hide-underground-until-everybody-else-dies Humans. Your character and your vehicle can be completely customized from the start, but as you rise in ranks and collect salvage around the huge game world (it's 10 kilometers square), you'll be able to pimp your ride with spikes, paint schemes, carbon fiber parts, and other aggressive personal touches. You're drawing from a finite pool of accessories so you'll never be truly unique, but there are plenty of options, so you should have a hard time finding your twin online.

All character classes can play solo, but you can team up with others temporarily in a Convoy or form a more permanent union as a Clan. (Thankfully, voice chat is integrated, so you can stay in touch without tons of typing.) And since you'll be out on a mix of destruction, collection, and waypoint missions, it's worth owning multiple vehicles for different tasks. Armaments include flaming oil slicks, caltrops, and turret-mounted slug-throwers that rotate automatically to blow the hell out of your locked-on targets. Weapons can be swapped easily too. So if you want to change that speedy but lame machine gun for a laser that slices and dices, just open your wallet and see one of the shady arms dealers in the nearest town. Expect to be a frequent customer; the game should carry around 1600 different weapons.