Auto Assault review

How do you take control of a scorched planet that's been infected with an alien, mutating virus, battle scarred by years of war between the "pure" humans, their mutated cousins, and a race of cyborg hybrid worker drones? You do it in your car, of course - an armor-plated monster with unlimited ammunition and a desperate driver behind the wheel. That's Auto Assault, a mix of automotive mayhem and online role-playing games that will tax your rig to the max.

Fortunately for each of the three warring races, there seems to be a surplus of equipment, food and other supplies to scavenge from the broken remains of long-dead civilizations. But there's more to life than merely picking the carcass clean: you have to help your race maintain of its safe zones, fight off the constant onslaught of outsiders and make a place for yourself in the world.

Since it's a massively multiplayer online game, the deadliest enemies are other players. Not that you'll see them outside the protective steel shells of their rides. You'll spend most of your time inside four armored walls, rumbling across the tundra. Each of the four classes drives different vehicles, from motorcycles to massive trucks. Like-minded players can join up in mission groups - "convoys," natch - and go out to cause mayhem together.

The publisher calls Auto Assault the most fast paced, destructive MMO ever, and they're not wrong: chewing through enemies at high speed while flying through the air and getting shot at from all directions is the norm. The highly destructible environment offers everything from highway guardrails to rubble piles for you to blow up.