Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

It's post-apocalyptic. It's massively multiplayer AND you can drive a semi. Hooyaa....this is a game that looks like flat-out fun.

NCSoft and some members of the NetDevil team were kind enough to sit down with us at E3 and let us take a look at their drive by the seat of your pants with all guns blazing world.

At startup you can choose from three races, the Humans, the Mutants and my personal favourite, the Biomeks. Each race has its own super power or "hazard mode" which can be used once and then is out of play until you regenerate or recharge it. The Human "hazard mode" was shown turning an enemy base into rubble during our E3 demonstration.

The first thing you notice about Auto Assault is the speed. This is a MMOG that puts you in the cockpit of a tricked out vehicle, armed to the teeth and careening over the landscape like some crazy character in a Mad Max movie. Pretty much anything that you can see, you can blow up which though cool on its own, is even cooler because loot drops not only from blowing up NPCs, but from blowing up buildings and structures as well.

Many people have asked me if the vehicle was actually your "character" in this title. The short answer is, "no". Each character can own multiple vehicles ranging from motorcycles to transport trailers. Mmmm, transports. Each car type represents a classic character type from RPGs. A transport truck would be a tank, the dune buggy type vehicle we saw in the demonstration was a ranger (complete with stealth). Unfortunately, the other two classes were not mentioned in the meeting and there was not enough time to ask what they were.

Targeting the bad guys (or buildings as the case may be) is handled by two arcs that shine out from your vehicle. You are the most accurate when you can keep the arcs overlapped. Of course, bouncing across the countryside at breakneck speed tends to make aiming a challenge. If you sit still your accuracy is high, but you are also a stationary target which is a bad thing with a capital BAD.

There will be open PvP areas called "wastelands" where you are free to blow up other players and they in turn are free to blow you to teeny, tiny pieces. There will also be closed PvP areas called "arenas" where players can wager on matches and be ranked on a PvP ladder. The arenas are serverless. In other words, it doesn't matter which server you play on, you will be able to compete against anyone who owns the game in the arena.

How many times have you been playing a MMOG and finally had some great loot drop only to get the message, "Your inventory is full " ? In Auto Assault there is a separate inventory for quest items. They won't be taking up prime space and forcing you to bypass some much needed loot in the process.

A mentoring system is built into the game. High level players can group with their low level friends, but unlike some other titles, they will receive experience like they did at the higher level.

From a purely "Fun" factor, Auto Assault was my favourite game of E3. It is one of the most promising MMOGs coming out of E3 not only because it is unique, but because it looks like so much darn fun to play.