Full Auto

"Burnout" meets "Twisted Metal" in the very first Xbox 360 game worth owning.

Xbox Live is where Full Auto really comes into its own. Without access to Microsoft’s online world this title becomes more like Half or even Quarter Auto, such is the rather uneventful single player mode or the glaringly overlooked multiplayer.

As for the on-screen display, it's top notch - everything you need to know is on the screen - boost and unwreck bar, speed, a handy map showing the road layout and locations of competitors, your weapon availability (complete with an overheat display, which if filled up causes the weapon to jam for a few seconds before you can use it again) and your armour display.

It is fun to blow stuff up for a while, but with a bit longer, this game could’ve been much much better.

The framerate drops, the maps aren’t varied enough, and the Xbox Live interface is a little clunky, but the core gameplay of Full Auto is truly fun.

A chaotic, testosterone-filled mess of car wrecks and bulet holes. I love it. [Mar 2006, p.96]

Full Auto may not push the boundaries of in-depth, innovative gameplay, but for all intents and purposes it is a blast of a game to play nonetheless and delivers non-stop explosive thrills from start to finish.

This is pure, unadulterated four-wheeled destruction on an epic scale, and I haven't had this much fun playing a racing game in ages.

A variety of wheels and weaponry ensures there'll be loads of destruction, while the online option gives this gas-guzzler some extra mileage.

Full Auto may be viscerally stimulating and strangely soothing, but the real reason to buy this game is the overwhelming amount of content presented in the game's different modes.

Graphically, the level of detail in the tracks is simply stunning compared with the scenery on "Burnout," a reflection of the superiority of the new Xbox over the old.

This title is incredibly fun in short bursts, but it’s hard to play for hours at a time.

Serious sim racers may want to rent this first, if you’re in it for the fun and excitement of total destruction, give Full Auto a shot.

The game could use a bit more variety, but the included race types, different cars and weapons, and decent replay value somewhat balance it out.

If you are of the old school class that enjoys the simple things in life you will undoubtedly find a lot to like about this game.

If you can get past the wonky physics and the occasional slow down you’re looking at a fun time that ultimately should probably be limited to a rental.

Full Auto is a lot of fun, but it's more style than substance especially if you have no plans of taking it online.

With different organization and a free-roam mode, this would've been amazing offline. With luck, the sequel will make some online adjustments, too.

If you don't approach it expecting any clever gameplay angles on the combat or the mass destruction, you can squeeze a respectable amount of enjoyable racing out of Full Auto.

Fun while it lasts but probably best played in short doses.

Full Auto features one of the coolest game mechanics on the Xbox 360 to date and that is the “Un-Wreck” or rewind time.

There are a lot of cool ideas at play in Full Auto, and the races can be giddily enjoyable, especially online, but overall it doesn't quite reach the heights that a weapons-based racer could. [Mar 2006, p.110]

There's nothing that boldly stands out about the progression, presentation or general set up in Full Auto; it's just a kick to get in the car and plow to the finish line for the next event. [Mar 2006, p.42]

Surprisingly, Full Auto controls quite well.

Huge-scale destruction is only awesome when used in moderation, not when it’s non-stop for hours on end.

Pushes the pedal to the metal but it runs out of speed way too quickly. It’s a game with all the right elements to give "Twisted Metal" a run for its money but as it stands this is really just a simplistic racing game that could have been a lot better considering the power of the Xbox 360.

Full Auto is a blast to play...at first, but it doesn’t have a lot of staying power. Before long you’ll have raced around every track, fired off every weapon and seen most of the car classes.

Full Auto could have been much more than the measly arcade shooter it is. It doesn’t have a soul like I thought it would have.

It's fun to play through though and the Career mode is quite long and challenging but a few more game modes such as a couple of arena style levels and a few extra weapons to mix things up a bit definitely would not have hurt.

It can be fun to play, but there's nothing refreshingly new or unique about it to compensate for its shallow gameplay. The only way this title is going to survive more than five or six hours in your Xbox 360 is if you play online, but the lag issues could definitely turn you off.

There’s a slight lack of presentation, continuity, and flow to the entire title, which unfortunately breaks Full Auto down to its core elements- combat and racing. While combat and racing are great together, most of us will be yearning for more from next-gen software.

Fans of combat and racing will enjoy it and it has some cool features and tough competition. It's just not the type of game that you will play for hours.

It boasts much originality and despite the unimpressive sound and graphics, there is plenty of fun to be had with the game.

With a vulnerable frame rate and lack of variety and depth, Full Auto feels like it was rushed out to release before the superior Burnout Revenge. In theory, it’s a good idea and while it does indeed provide cheap thrills, it soon wears thin as you realise it hides it’s insecurities behind a blanket of rubble, debris and gimmicks.

The level of destruction you’re capable of is phenomenal. If you’ve ever played "Burnout" and wished you could do as much damage to the scenery as you can do to cars, then this is the game for you.

The number of play modes is impressive at first glance, but since most are only slight variations of "drive-fast-shoot-to-kill" scenarios, the typically entertaining action can grow repetitive quickly. The control is also reliable and spot-on, but the wonky, loose arcadey physics are entirely unpredictable and make some driving scenarios tough to predict.

Full Auto can easily be recommended to those who don't mind a heavy amount of vehicular carnage in a racing game, along with the high speed thrills that come with it.

As an excuse to consume as many explosions as humanly possible, it’s an extremely wholesome affair. [Mar 2006, p.107]

Full Auto goes from an Xbox 360 technological demo to a full-on game, and one that thrills us with fast-paced racing and truly destructive weapons.

Although fun for a while, Full Auto isn't the type of game which you can spend hours upon hours playing.

A deliciously shallow, easy-to-pick up marriage of arcade racing and wanton destruction. Hampered by occasional confusion, slowdown and questions over its long term appeal, it’s nonetheless – while it lasts – one of the 360’s most enjoyable games.

Sure, the graphics in Full Auto are great and lots of stuff goes boom, but so many other games just plain play better.

The objectives get repetitive after about two hours of play, and that's when tedium starts to set in. The unsteady framerate and soundtrack bug don't help matters much either.

Full Auto is a neat idea, but unfortunately it's just one neat idea, stretched across the entire game. And that wears thin pretty quickly.

Whilst Full Auto is an enjoyable game, it's still an ultimately limited title that isn't going to hold your interest for nearly as long as you would expect. This is a game you play in short bursts rather than for hours on end.

Get this game if you’ve got a 360 and friends to play against, you’ll have a blast.

This game won't change your life or the way you think about gaming, but for those nights when you just wanna turn off your brain and shoot things, you could do far worse.

It needed to kick your arse more, and give you something mechanical to lure you back, not just canned explosions. You'll enjoy playing it, but you're not actually being entertained.

Full Auto desperately wants to be "Burnout" with guns, and the sad fact is that falls well below such an esteemed mark.

Full Auto feels like someone came up with a good concept and a few fresh ideas, and just expected the game to design itself. It didn't, and we're left with tons of wasted potential. You need gameplay and modes to tie together the combination of racing and shooting.

The racing isn't as deep as it could have been, and the game's race-first, shoot-second design keeps the player from making full use of all the armaments at your disposal.

The combat is entertaining, but with its poorly balanced racing, Full Auto just ends up feeling rather hollow.

Pseudo may have avoided the formlessness that afflicts so much vehicular combat, but it has failed to play to its game’s strengths. The greasy, weightless, unmodulated handling and largely unimaginative course design aren’t remotely as satisfying as the raw, explosive scraps between racers. [Mar 2006, p.84]

The shallow, kiddie-pool of content only provides for a brief bit of splashing around when all you want is to dive right in. It's exciting for a while, but gets stale rather quickly.

It's missing the polish of the games from that era, and it eventually succumbs to a samey sameness. But until it reaches that point, it satisfies the need for speed and shotguns. [May 2006, p.92]

What in the end keeps Full Auto from being worth the steep $60 price of admission is its lack of depth. Honestly, in just a couple of hours you can see most of what this title has to offer.

Full Auto isn't quite the Xbox 360 showpiece as expected originally, but it has a certain addictive quality to it that sets it apart from your typical arcade racing game.

Cars with guns should equal good times, but Full Auto’s skin-deep thrills last only as long as it takes for a quick easy test drive. [Mar 2006, p.77]

As far as racing games go, Full Auto’s arcade handling provides a welcome change to the rigours of the superb "Project Gotham Racing 3," but the slowdown and – in some cases – downright bugginess means that it won’t ever take you to gaming nirvana.

It might supply tons of carnage, but without a solid game surrounding it, this is little more than a frantic, gorgeous wreck.

A big selection of different events suggests variety but the action soon becomes repetitive. Full Auto's main competitor, Burnout, offers significantly more diversity in its challenges.