Full Auto Review

By Tom Bramwell Published 10 February, 2006

Here comes undone.

Version tested: Xbox 360

I have two main problems in life-at-6am. 1) Bad posture and poor circulation in my hands contributing to the phalangeal equivalent of skipping barelegged through a stretch of frosty thistles every time I make a downward stroke on, ow, a, ow, key, ow. 2) A kind of neurological solar eclipse that occurs at the apex of the ante meridiem, restricting my movements to those of a drunkard negotiating the slippery deck of a seabound dinghy in a gale under attack from a biblical leviathan.

This morning, as I sat down to work, they combined forces rather impressively, allowing me - in one spellbinding gesture of punchdrunk arthritic dementia - to direct the Worcester sauce intended for my cheese-covered toasty treat downward into the pores of my keyboard with enough resultant neurological confusion that I swept the entire keyboard and breakfast tray onto the ground before moving to solve the problem by standing on a freshly hewn blade of Worcester-sloshed china. Now my foot is bleeding, I'm using my backup keyboard (a sturdier beast that I long ago discarded because thistles had evolved into barbed wire), and I'm really bloody hungry. The only thing sadder than that is that you probably think I make these intros up. I don't! I really am this cack-handed!

So, there's a cautionary tale for all you early morning people. Things may sound better the more tasty fun you try and soak into their cheese while typing, but if you try and do too many things at once the balance will not necessarily follow.

Now, what do we have here then? Ah, time-rewind in an arcade racing game with turbo boost, guns and destructible environments - wonderful idea!

Man, a time machine would make my breakfast mishap much more palatable.

Full Auto is a brave attempt to strike a new balance. The idea is that you're in an eerily uninhabited city that's overburdened with traffic (cars, buses and fire engines, tankers, trucks and lorries) and street furniture (boxes, crates and plastic chairs, parasols, pipes and lamp-posts), racing around like a bull that's just been kicked in the testicles, in a china shop, while a collection of similarly testicularly inflamed fellow-bulls rampage around on your tail. And you all have guns. The idea is to slide and blast your way from start to finish, with slide success channelled into a nitrous boost bar and carnage wrought into a "wreck point" total that helps fulfil race objectives and simultaneously stocks a time-rewind function, which lets you undo a collision or badly taken corner up to a certain point.

'Full Auto' Screenshot 1

Blowing a raspberry! Mmm, raspberries.

The combat is a straightforward case of hitting A to use a primary weapon like a missile launcher or - probably best - shotgun, and B to deploy grenades, mines or smokescreens in your wake, depending on your setup. You can use the right analogue stick to direct your bonnet-mounted primary weapon sights a little if you're dextrous enough. Destruction, meanwhile, is technically impressive - the whole game is like one enormous china plate impacting on my floorboards, but swept past you like fluff and splinters into a dustpan - but decidedly logical. You're always clipping or smashing something - and when you're not you're firing randomly at the scenery to bank a few more wreck points - but it's always obvious what's going to break and what's going to make you go "splat!", Burnout-style, forcing a reset-to-track.

Structurally, Full Auto arguably takes its cues from the likes of PGR3 (or, given its strict car-for-task mandates, probably PGR2), with objective-based races that cut a variety of paths through the city-and-outlying-hills environment that Pseudo Interactive's constructed, asking you to finish somewhere between first and third minimum, and perform some secondary trick to achieve a higher medal ranking - take down a certain number of rival cars (distinguished from general AI by little double-arrows), destroy civilian cars, complete things within a time limit, achieve a certain wreck-point total, and so on. With shortcuts to be found and your pick of weapon arrangements pre-race, there's scope to improve if you should fail first time.

But, often as not, success is guaranteed by your burgeoning skill with the "unwreck" rewind button. The 360 does a great job rendering it, immediately reversing the action for the duration of your button-press and running the graphics through the developer-favourite sepia filter, allowing you to correct mistimed corners and, more frequently, adjust your path to avoid someone's shotgun blast or dropped mine to survive a few crucial seconds longer. Given that it soothes the usual pain of shotguns-in-a-racing-game, and given the range of career goals and the general atmosphere of arcade fun, it's perfectly feasible to sit down and smash your way through Full Auto in a day or two that you'll quite enjoy.

'Full Auto' Screenshot 2

That totally wasn't me. A gun? This? This is where I hang my towels. And my bullets. But mainly my towels.

But ultimately Pseudo's bravery hasn't paid off, because bravery isn't the attribute you need when you're trying to spin fourteen different plates at once. The retrograde arcade racing model is the main issue. It's one of those nail-driven-through-the-centre-of-the-car OutRun-style swivel affairs that immediately cuts loose the sense of traction until you drop into bonnet or bumper-cam view, which is about the only way I could play the game, but it's not about that. It's not even the sense that FA's ongoing destruction is more firecrackers than fireworks. It's a lack of subtlety, and, worse, a setup that pushes you in the opposite direction.

Consider my relationship with PGR3. By the time I finished it, I had a solid idea of how to gun a car through a bend under pressure, how to correct over- and under-steer, how to maximise the loss of traction to gather kudos points, and where my limits were and what pushed me closest to them (cough Nurburgring in a Mclaren cough). My knowledge and love of these things meant that I wanted to go after platinum medals, time trial scores, online records, because the thrill of correctly judging the braking point on a fast right-hander for minimal loss of speed and traction was always enough to justify the pain in the aching claw that gripped the shoulder button. Always satisfying.

By the time I finished Full Auto, I was starting to understand what kind of left-stick steering movement governed the best powerslide, but I didn't need to, because I could use unwreck to undo any mistake that costs me a place. Throwing the car into a fast right-hander gave me nothing; the margin for error is vast and unwreck's a handy store of in-game Tipex anyway. The other cars rarely prevented me getting at least bronze on the first attempt; the percentage split between gold, silver and bronze medals was something like 30/40/30, and I was in a hurry. There are only a couple of championships where it said "do this with one life" or "do this without unwreck" to the extent that I failed more than once or twice. Played online, where unwreck doesn't feature, it's certainly a bit more exacting, but without the elasticised AI you're just left to drive around a city popping off rounds at windows, rarely having to do more than brake on a couple of corners. Overall, there's little incentive to actually learn how to drive the car, and little satisfaction to be had from doing so.

'Full Auto' Screenshot 3

YOU CAN THROW ALL THE POPCORN YOU LIKE I'M NOT STOPPING.

Without that driving hook, FA has to rely on combat and destruction, and it only does these passably well. Combat is just bang-bang-bang-BOOM. The problem is the bang-bang-bang part. The reason Burnout's crash balance is so good is that you're ridiculously fragile, and without being able to destroy AI by nudging their cars into traffic or kicking stuff up in your wake, without being able to level a shotgun at high speed, pull the trigger and score an unlikely explosive hit, here it feels like there's a constant buffer between you and reward. Meanwhile the carnage rarely benefits you beyond wreck points, and slows you down - it's decorative without being desirable, which is a pity since it also knocks the frame rate down into the 30-per-second range. Occasionally a smoother game peeks through, but then it disappears again.

That's fairly representative of the whole. It's never bad (my tolerance for my own shortcomings notwithstanding, I can't endure those of a game for nine successive hours without a break if said game is the wrong side of good), but it's never good enough. Pseudo hasn't necessarily hit upon the wrong features, but the wrong balance; the racing model is too simplistic, combat and carnage too laboured or detrimental, and unwreck's a perpetual mulligan, a get-out-of-jail-free subscription.

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, just mollified if ever you put a foot wrong, and I'm a big enough boy to want to learn from mistakes rather than have my plate reform on the desk in front of me with a fresh toasty or have the snack glued into my hand. If my foot wasn't bleeding and I wasn't still hungry, I wouldn't know to be more careful with my 6am feeding; Full Auto doesn't seem to understand that, and therein lies the problem.

6 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (63) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 6 years ago

    6? Hmmm about right I guess maybe a small 7 ;)

    I also found it fun but not inspiring and it couldn't grab me for long periods. Still to be honest I think there is a market for this and I am sure it will do fairly well.

  • Eighthours #2 6 years ago

    I heard talk of sub-10fps frame rates in the finished game at some points (like the demo). Is this true? Sounds unfinished to me...
    Edited by 1 at 10/02/06 @ 09:32

  • reality_cheque #3 6 years ago

    So the handling hasn't been improved then :/

    One game that'll never appear on my gamer profile...

  • Eighthours #4 6 years ago

    You read the Digitiser review then Eighthours? :)

    Wasn't them, it was someone else. Can't remember who, though. Anyway, that's 2 reviews saying it then!
    Edited by 1 at 10/02/06 @ 13:45

  • Carlo #5 6 years ago

    LOL.

    So.... Who's getting Dungeons and Drgaons Online today then?

  • Dizzy #6 6 years ago

    "I heard talk of sub-10fps frame rates in the finished game at some points (like the demo). Is this true? Sounds unfinished to me... "

    Not true

  • Viktor #7 6 years ago

    The frame rate is atrocious in its fluctuations in the final retail copy, although it's not as bad as the demo.

    For some reason, bonnet-cam has higher fps than the high 3rd person. Don't know why.

  • BEAR-ONE #8 6 years ago

    I downloaded the demo from XBMP, and had a try. Too many slowdowns, no subtlety at all. Not a game for me. Can probably be fun with a few mates, pizza and bear, but I wont bet my 60€ on it.

    Oh well.

  • OfficerSlade #9 6 years ago

    I seem to have read a number of reviews that say the game has frame rate issues in 50hz but is silky smooth in 60hz, you sure you have your 360 set-up right? This should arrive to day so I'll be able to tell if you didn't :p

  • InfiniteFury #10 6 years ago

    Shame, was looking forward this.

    Gawd, is there anything good coming out on the 360 that isn't a sport title in the next three months?
    Edited by 1 at 10/02/06 @ 09:54

  • ali-uk #11 6 years ago

    Not me Carlo.

  • Moogrose #12 6 years ago

    Gawd, is there anything good coming out on the 360 that isn't a sport title in the next three months?

    That depends on you definition of good. But Ghost Recon: AW, the Outfit, Burnout and a couple of others i can no longer think of are coming in march.

  • Darren #13 6 years ago

    Good review.

    I agree with what was written but I'd be inclined to give it 7/10 at the moment, mostly because I'm not yet tired of blowing things up and the game has a real one-more-go appeal that kept me playing it into the early hours of this morning. Shame about the chuggy framerate though...

    But how long will the game's "buzz" last?

    I've a feeling this game will ultimately be to the Xbox 360 what Wreckless was to the Xbox, a game that's great fun at first but then rapidly wears thin to reveals that it's all style with very little subtance.

    It's good fun online though and oddly the framerate is better, probably because there's no other traffic to slow the game down...

  • Lagto_Soa #14 6 years ago

    Can probably be fun with a few mates, pizza and bear

    There aren't many games that wouldn't be improved by a pizza-eating bear.

    the phalangeal equivalent of skipping barelegged through a stretch of frosty thistles

    Tom's writing 4tw - even if he is a ham-handed gibbon!

  • InfiniteFury #15 6 years ago

    I suppose Obilvion's out soon but then, it's out for the PC an all, and cheaper to boot.

    Don't get me wrong, Geometry Wars is shit hot but I'm not sure it's got six months in it.

  • neon #16 6 years ago

    XBOX360 IN NEW DULL GAME SHOCK. ITS ANOTHER!

  • MrGrumpy.au #17 6 years ago

    InfiniteFury, Gridwars 2 (Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved clone) is out on the PC/Mac and is fantastic. Great with dual sticks if you've got them and no need for a 360 and its delays.

    Pity about Full Auto I thought it would have been better than that. /shrugs
    Edited by 2 at 10/02/06 @ 10:49

  • Furbs #18 6 years ago

    NEON IN NEW DULL COMMENT SHOCK. ITS ANOTHER!

  • neon #19 6 years ago

    FURBS THE X360 FANBOY. NOTHING NEW THERE.

  • Furbs #20 6 years ago

    Yeah neon, I'm praising this game to the hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh heavens arent I? :)

  • neon #21 6 years ago

    /waves white flag

  • statix101 #22 6 years ago

    I love these 360 reviews.....every time i read one, i feel a smug satisfaction in knowing i didnt fall for the hype and buy one.

    Not because im a fanboy for the other consoles, because i would buy a 360 if there was a game worth playing.

    Mediocrity like this just reinforces my belief that the 360 isnt worth buying in 2006.

  • Razzajazz #23 6 years ago

    It's a pretty shocking indictment that at the moment the only reason I'm considering buying a 360 is for the Media Center Extender functionality. Are there any 360 owners out there who can give me some valid reasons for buying one, 'cos I'd actually like to, but can't justify the outlay!

  • Furbs #24 6 years ago

    /sigh

    No, if theres no games out there that say "buy me" then dont get one, dont let other people sway you. Theres good games out there, but if not even one grabs you are you really foolish enough to spend £300+ on a new machine which is its infancy?

  • morriss #25 6 years ago

    So, as enjoyable as DOA4?

  • Furbs #26 6 years ago

    Tom != Shinji ;)

  • gazareth #27 6 years ago

    <em>Not because im a fanboy for the other consoles, because i would buy a 360 if there was a game worth playing.

    Mediocrity like this just reinforces my belief that the 360 isnt worth buying in 2006.</em>

    Tosh! PGR3 is hugely fun, and I'm still enjoying playing it 2 months after getting it. The online play adds such a lot of playability to it.

    I also think the EG review of DOA4 was very unfair - I've only experienced lag when playing certain people (I think it's down to who has their router ports forwarded, and as I often play the same bunch of people who have all sorted that issue out, the lag isn't really a problem now), and the AI is certainly very hard but it's not so difficult as to make it impossible. Seriously, Condemned, PDZ and Kameo were all criticised for being too easy or for leading you by the hand, and DOA4 is criticised for being too hard? You can't win...

    And then there's the great Arcade games. I'm utterly addicted to Hexic, and Geometry Wars is perhaps the best way to kill 20 minutes since Mario Kart.

  • tengu #28 6 years ago

    "Seriously, Condemned, PDZ and Kameo were all criticised for being too easy or for leading you by the hand, and DOA4 is criticised for being too hard? You can't win... "

    Uh... yes you can. It's about finding balance for your game's difficulty. Other games seem to manage it alright.

    Full Auto never looked that good imo, too 'Twisted Metal'. Sad to see Sega's continuing decline though. Condemned was the worst 360 game I've played yet, and this doesn't sound much better.

    Shame.

  • jozz #29 6 years ago

    Yea, if you're not the early adopter type then there really is no point ;)
    If you feel smugly satisfied about not getting one fine, you've made your choice and there is nothing to persuade you otherwise. Doesn't mean other people will have the exact same tastes as you though :)

    /writes down names on 'Fanboi list of shame'.
    /administers the test
    /disapproving head shake at Carlo and neon

    Tested positive im afraid. I'm so sorry.

  • Dizzy #30 6 years ago

    "I love these 360 reviews.....every time i read one, i feel a smug satisfaction in knowing i didnt fall for the hype and buy one. "

    Oh god.. another one....

    I guess that is why 360 has a big game sold/console ratio. All those stupid f*cks that fell for the hype! I am glad you obviously are a very smart individual and didn't go for one. Leaves more 360s for teh stup1d people I guess. Well done!
    Edited by 1 at 10/02/06 @ 12:01

  • Stickman #31 6 years ago

    "Maybe one to pick for a tenner in a few months... "

    \o/ I love you LeDil!!

    Mustn't...slate...XBox game...

  • Carlo #32 6 years ago

    jozz, don't drag my name into your little girlie-fight...

  • kangarootoo #33 6 years ago

    @gazereth

    "I also think the EG review of DOA4 was very unfair - I've only experienced lag when playing certain people (I think it's down to who has their router ports forwarded, and as I often play the same bunch of people who have all sorted that issue out, the lag isn't really a problem now)"

    Surely XBLive doesn't require users to set up port forwarding to improve performance? That would suck if its true. I thought the connection to XBLive was always initiated by the client (the XB360 in this case), but then I'm no coder so if anyone has more info please shout out.

  • posh_geordie #34 6 years ago

    Post deleted at 18:45:04 02-01-2012

  • OfficerSlade #35 6 years ago

    @kangaroo

    Xbox Live requires ports opened on some routers as they have stupid NAT stuff going on that stops folks connecting to each other. It is a router issue rather than a Live one. As for the 360 games, Full Auto included, there have been plenty of great games. Kameo, Ridge Racer and DOA 4 have all been unfairly slated by various folks to busy trying to look cool to actually enjoy a game that is doing what it is supposed to.......entertaining you.

    Not regretting my purchase of a 360 especially with GRAW on the horizon :)
    Edited by 1 at 10/02/06 @ 14:07

  • Genji #36 6 years ago

    Damn, I'm so cool for not enjoying Kameo. DAMN.

    EYYYYYYYYYY

    Anyway... I'll pick up an X360 the second I see something that interests me. Cars and shooty games generally don't.

    We'll see how Ninja Gaiden 2 turns out.

  • Shinji #37 6 years ago

    Kameo, Ridge Racer and DOA 4 have all been unfairly slated by various folks to busy trying to look cool to actually enjoy a game that is doing what it is supposed to.......entertaining you.
    I'm sorry, but that's utter bollocks. I can't comment on Ridge Racer as I haven't played it yet, but Kameo and DOA4 are both games which are, frankly, average at best. Kameo (which I didn't review, and just played for fun) is just bloody dull and uninspired - it's by no means offensive, but it's utterly derivative, repetitive and completely signposted at every point. DOA4 is still probably my favourite game on the platform (as someone who isn't a racing game fan), but I stand by my original conclusion that it's an above-average game, but no more, since the online and singleplayer modes are broken enough to actually *not be any fun* for what I believe to be a significant majority of players.

    You're welcome to disagree with reviews, and by and large reviewers will discuss those views with you happily. That's why comments exist. But if you're going to start slinging around baseless allegations that people aren't being honest in their reviews, then frankly you should go back to the playground.

  • Cubfan #38 6 years ago

    "then frankly you should go back to the playground."

    Was that necessary?

  • jozz #39 6 years ago

    'girlie-fights'?

    Umm ok then.

  • Furbs #40 6 years ago

    LeDil, the irony in your post is overwhelming me ;)

  • Scimarad #41 6 years ago

    I think people who are dead set on buying a 360 are going to try and get one regardless of the reviews. They've obviously already made up their mind and no review is going to change it.

    For the rest of us I think I know whose is the more credible opinion...

  • morriss #42 6 years ago

    Well, I agree with LeDil. It'd be better for all concerned if certain members of EG just came clean and said they don't like the 360. Then we could all move on.

    People say it's all opinions, and anyone who smells a rat (more than half of the people in comments) should go back to the playground are sounding as aggressive as their 'accusers'.

    I'm a fan of Bob Dylan. I like his music, always have. When he has a new album coming out, I don't want someone reviewing it who thinks Dylan's voice is whiny, or someone who simlpy doesn't 'get' Dylan. I don't want it reviewed by someone who's recently said Dylan's lost it, or his last album was 'one too many' or by someone who at every opportunity has a little dig at Dylan.
    I want it reviewed by someone who likes Dylan, by someone who can display an affection for his albums in a way that reflects my own; a general understanding of Dylan's work. I don't mind that person criticising Dylan, because that person has displayed he understands the musician, what to expect from him given his previous triumphs, and is maybe as disappointed as any fan would be that his latest album just isn't up to it.

    That's thebest analogy I can think of...

  • tengu #43 6 years ago

    EG's anti-Bob Dylan bias is sickening :)
    Edited by 1 at 10/02/06 @ 22:19

  • morriss #44 6 years ago

    :)

  • Rambaldi #45 6 years ago

    @Shinji

    RR6 is shite online..unless you disconnect your PC in the system blade.

    And....DOA4 suffers from similar issues.

    Re-write?

  • Rambaldi #46 6 years ago

    @morris

    I love you:)

  • Genji #47 6 years ago

    "I'm a fan of Bob Dylan. I like his music, always have. When he has a new album coming out, I don't want someone reviewing it who thinks Dylan's voice is whiny, or someone who simlpy doesn't 'get' Dylan. I don't want it reviewed by someone who's recently said Dylan's lost it, or his last album was 'one too many' or by someone who at every opportunity has a little dig at Dylan."

    But then, there might be other people - just imagine this for a second - there might be other people who think Dylan HAS lost it and done one album too many. I'm not one of those people, but I'd imagine that they're out there, somewhere. They may not like a review of his new album done by someone who worships the ground he walks on, who thinks that everything he touches turns to gold.

    The point being, is that you can't please everyone. If you don't like the review, or the reviewer, that's fine and dandy. There are plenty of other reviewers out there that will share your opinions about Dylan. Finding a reviewer that shares your interests/dislikes is one of the most accurate ways of guaging whether you'll like an album or game or whatever.

    But is this a justification to go questioning the credibility and professional integrity of a reviewer that has different tastes than you? I don't think so. Well, it might be for some people, I guess.

    As for an anti-X360 bias here. I don't know about anyone else but, personally, I don't hate a console in itself. I might hate the games on it, but what reason could there possibly be to hold a grudge against an entire system? Aside from a few harmless jokes at the expense of Mr. Gates, I don't really see much of that here. I'm sorry, but I don't.

    And it's not like it matters, anyway. It's a bloody console! Why are people getting offended? You would think EG had a bias against puppies or Jewish people with all the snide comments in these threads.

    I mean, really. Lighten up, people! Happy faces! :-D

  • morriss #48 6 years ago

    Genji, it seems by your response you completely missed the point I was making.

    I never said you had to worship the ground he walked on. I never said I only wanted good reviews. I didn't say everything he touches turns to gold. In fact, as a life-long fan I'm one of his biggest critics.

    There has been incidents of anti-360-sentiment (sentiment being the operative word) from various people on here, not ONLY in REVIEWS they've written, but in news articles, or gaming previews etc. It's not an isolated incident. I don't want my 360 games reviewed by these people, I think that's fair enough.

    You don't have to take my point to it's extreme, flip it on its head, and then argue the opposite as though that were also true.

    Edited by 1 at 11/02/06 @ 09:37

  • Scimarad #49 6 years ago

    That would be all very well if the reviews were wrong but there is no denying that most of the games released so far for the 360 have been nothing special. As far as I'm concerned it is a reviews entire purpose to point things like this it out...

    If you still want to buy the game then fine. Just don't shoot the messenger!

  • Genji #50 6 years ago

    moriss, your points seemed extreme enough without my help. I'm sorry if I misunderstood.

    What would you like EG to do? Hire a new bunch of people to review X360 games, on the condition that they gave them a similar score that the other publications gave the games? REMEMBER TO BE OBJECTIVE, PEOPLE. WE DON'T WANT YOUR STINKING OPINIONS IN YOUR REVIEWS.

    Would you like them to tone down the humour so it doesn't offend anyone, especially those who take their gaming far too seriously? They might be able to have a monthly quota of anti-Xbox/Sony/Ninty jokes that they have to fulfill, just so everyone can be offended equally.

    Hey, if they hate X360 that much, maybe they should stop mentioning the console altogether. They could call themselves Euro "everything except X-Box" gamer.

    If you cannot handle this so-called bias, then why are you still here? The reviewers aren't going to change, so aren't you just wasting your time trying to argue that their opinions are somehow less valid?

    And again, why is anyone taking this seriously? If you enjoy the games, go ahead and play them. Who cares what anyone else thinks? When it comes to stuff like this, your own opinion is ultimately the only one that counts. Trying to force it on other people, however, just creates conflict. People are different. Get over it.

    Bah, this is going nowhere. I can tell. I'm going to the pub. Cheers!

  • Mephistopheles #51 6 years ago

    Game's brilliant. Especially online. Gets 7-8/10 from me.

  • #52 6 years ago

    I don't see anti anything on EG. What I do see is that they will sing the praises of good games, and hop up and down quite nicely on the bad.

    5 is average, 2 is crap, 8 is great. Arguing incessantly about it is meaningless. Really, go play some games or something!

  • morriss #53 6 years ago

    So Genji, you prove my point again. I've implied nothing to which you have stated.

    If you cannot accept that (in keeping with my anology) music publications don't employ a 'Heavy-metal' reviewer, a rock reviewer, a pop-reviewer etc, then get used to it, because they do. I don't want a heavy-metal reviewer reviewing my fav boyband (an example!!). I don't want the dance music reviewer reviewing Metallica's new album.

    In every field where taste is involved there's bias. Which is why the publications I speak of employ these people, because even though the heavy-metal reviewer might hate Metallica, he still knows more about the genre than the other journos working for the publication so his opinion is more 'qualified'.

    Now, some EG'ers don't like the 360: they're heavy-metal fans, with all the love for their genre and their pet loves and hates within that genre and all the bias towards other genres. 360 games are like dance music. I don't want heavy-metallers commenting on the new Chemical Brothers song that to them, "sounds exactly the same as the last one".

    I can't put it any clearer than that.

    Oh, and why am I still here? Because winding people up has and always will be 90% of my motivation to get out of bed in the mornings! ;)
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/06 @ 12:10

  • morriss #54 6 years ago

    "When it comes to stuff like this, your own opinion is ultimately the only one that counts. Trying to force it on other people, however, just creates conflict. People are different. Get over it. "

    You do see the irony here don't you?

  • Rambaldi #55 6 years ago

    Not wishing to jump on the bandwagon AGAIN, but I've just spent the last four hours playing Full Auto and it's a right laugh! It's quite demanding at times, looks great, doesn't take itself too seriously, has a few twists of it's own and is a ball online.

    There is no way that this deserves a 6. A solid 7, perhaps even a generous 8, but not a half-hearted barely above average 6.

    Sorry EG, but once again (for me) you're being a miserable bunch of gits. Please cheer up:(
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/06 @ 18:13

  • tengu #56 6 years ago

    "Repititve... It's not really is it?"

    Afraid it is. Fighting the exact same boss fight every 45 minutes or so for example? The game felt very repetitive imo, which wasn't helped by how unimaginative and dull all the dungeons and 'towns' felt. Don't even get me started on some of the elementals controls and moves. It may not be a shit game, but it's a long way from being a great game.

    Compare the feel of this game compared to the feel of any Zelda game and it's pretty obvious Kameo's not in the same league, not even close. I would have been annoyed at having paid standard game prices for something so painfully average, but inflated 360 prices? Makes it much worse.

    /Waits for one of the other usual suspects to jump on the bandwagon
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/06 @ 19:34

  • tengu #57 6 years ago

    Er, no, I want something that's fun to be play, and doesn't give a feeling of 'going through the motions' while playing. It's not my fault if the Zelda games always manage to check the right boxes and show games like Kameo up as being dull fare. If a new IP can come along and match or better Zelda, I'd be perfectly happy, but Kameo, as I said, isn't even in the same league.

    As for same boss fights: Shadow Trolls? Those fights were identical every time. Hit the ghost things, pick them up, throw at Shadow Troll, repeat until dead, then repeat fight ten or so more times. This came off as incredibly lazy imo.

  • miiiguel #58 6 years ago

    I'm bored with the Zelda's and Doom's, and alikes comparisions...
    Nostalgy in video games, how sad is that ?

  • Stickman #59 6 years ago

    \o/ morriss likes boybands!

  • morriss #60 6 years ago

    /wiggles

  • deem #61 6 years ago

    EG giving this a 6 just about sums up why I don't bother reading reviews anymore.

  • Genji #62 6 years ago

    I'm back from the pub! Did I miss anything?

    ...oh. Guess I've lost this one, then!

    ...well, back to the pub!

  • Gouki #63 6 years ago

    Do you know there was once a time when forums provided a fun place to talk about games, ideas etc..... Now with every ten year old having a PC in their bedroom its just a free for all for rubbish. I am so fed up of hearing PS3's crap or Great, 360 Sux or fantastic. You've paid your money or you will on that given item. Stop it with the mind numbing war. Great you like like your purchase then play it! You dont like the 360 well dont buy it, its that simple. PS'3 gonna blow all away how do you know?! Its not released.

    oh wots the fkn point.

    leaves this forum and avoids all games related forums.

  • Calgon #64 6 years ago

    Morriss I aggree and Ive tried to say the same thing before(pointless here). Well if you look at it another way, you can say: they might end up looking like caring about 360 gamers more, while PS3 gamers buying games that dont meet the higher standards EG expect from 360 games will be dissapointed more often when they buy those games ;)

    You can argue that you can just ignore it("its just opinion... yadda yadda";) but they are giving the people who come here the wrong impression of the console(which could deter potential buyers). As a gaming publication/site they have that responibility, but theres always the hope that more people will atleast try it and make their own mind up for a change. Once the AAA heavy hitters arive with alot of marketing behind them, people will buy, there'll be alot more good word of mouth then and none of this will matter. By then even if EG dissagree with other reviewers and gamers, the site will just be seen as an overly harsh - perhaps bias source for 360 reviews by many.

    There are lots of people here who are obviously trying to convince themselves(and much worse... everyone else) more and more each week that they dont want the 360 beacause it has nothing to offer. I myself am sure when the PS3 comes out alot of these people will be dissapointed, even though Im thinking of picking up a Revo as a sencond choice console(I like what I hear thus far) that too will have its share of dissapointments.

    Ive yet to pick up a 360 but from where Im standing it looks pretty positive, even at this early stage the vast majority are really pleased by the console(the ones who have it) and the future looks way brighter than it did for Xbox at the start(a favourite of mine this gen, so this is very encouraging). Theres more games worth picking up than normal IMO, granted theres no blockbuster but its never good when all the focus is on one game because then we get other developers trying to sell the same idea again(clones and the like). I dont understand those complaining about not enough games(have you ever followed a console launch?... its only been a couple of months!, what were you expecting?) because for me I could pick more games if I was to pick one up now than I could with ANY of the consoles last gen near launch personally.

    By the way Morriss could you change 360 games as Rock/Metal and the 360-haters as Dance fans that sounds much better to me ;)

  • Fatnick #65 6 years ago

    I don't agree with EG's Full Auto score - but to be fair to them they do seem to be breaking the general media trend of giving popular franchises an easy ride whilst trying to appear objective by clamping down hard on less popular titles. DOA 4 is almost exactly the same as the previous entries to the series. The changes to the system will only be noticed by the kind of obsessives who clocked up one gajillion hours on DOA:U. A six may be a little harsh, but it certainly doesn't deserve 8s, 9s and 10s. As for Full Auto, it seems to get criticised for lots of odd reasons. It may be one of the most brainless games on the system, but thats what it was meant to be. In my mind, the only thing that lets it down is minor technical issues - other than that, it does pretty much what it says on the tin.

  • Calgon #66 6 years ago

    Maybe a 7 would have been fairer but I can't say myself untill I play it, it would be one that I would atleast like to try because it sounds different and well Sega are publishing it(perhaps a rent first buy later). Theres always going to be games that you find well worth playing but no one seemed to feel the same, it's bad on the publishers but as a gamer it doesnt bother me too much(unless its had really poor sales as a result of unfair reviews), I'll probably remember it more because of that(a suprisingly better than you expected sort of thing).
    Edited by 2 at 13/02/06 @ 12:32

  • Rambaldi #67 6 years ago

    12 hours in now - and it's still putting a bit fat grin on my face:))

  • homerramone #68 6 years ago

    Well I cant argue with the fact that this does suffer from technical problems - frame rate, and some minor bugs in the online lobby stuff... (Lets quit calling problems issues eh ? There problems M'kay. :-) )

    Bottom line though is that this is just plain fun to play both on and offline.

    Maybe it isnt nearly as good technically as PGR3, but you cannot destroy almost everything in PGR3 and you can with this, which suggests to me that its possibly doing just as much as PGR3 you just dont notice.

    I bought PGR3, and completed it on Silver in less than a week. Furthermore I have no urge at all to go back and do it all over just to get Gold/Platinum medals. Playing PGR3 online is all well and good - but unless the players are fairly evenly matched then online it turns into a time trial. Which isnt especially entertaining IMHO.

    As for any burnout comparison. I liked burnout 3, but EA's apparent relucatance to correct major online problems tainted the product quite badly. As for burnout 4 - played it, hated it, sold it.
    Edited by 1 at 13/03/06 @ 16:35