""Total Destruction" is what you get all right."

Welcome to Full-Auto, what was suppose to the most destructive racing game ever! The hype was right except for one thing, the game is crap. Let's begin.

Story 0/10:
Um, well there is no story really. It's a racing game, you race and blow stuff up. I was suprised with this, even the cheapest racing games have stories.

Graphics 6/10
For a next-gen game the graphics weren't “Mind Boggling” like you see in a lot of the racing game for the 360 but this is expected seeing as how the levels are practically made to be blown to pieces, they spent time on the details of destructions then on beauty which makes it not look as good as it could of, although it probably would have slowed down the game I imagine even on the powerful 360. Still it looks good enough that in a battle you enjoy all that's going on, although sometimes it can be confusing!

Gameplay 3/10
Why such a low score? Where to start. For one thing the weapons are good and the racing can be fun but that's about it and makes it (weapons aside) like any other racer. Although you can “reverse time” for a few seconds to go back if you wrecked or made mistake which is useful.

But what this game was hyped for was its “Totally Destructible Environments”. And in game you can blow the crap out of EVERY SINGLE THING! From a building to a bike to a fountain and it all makes new things for you like new routes or maybe falling debris to kill an enemy…etc. But here is the problem, when you're going 150 MPH and trying to stay in 1st is all you care about! You never get to have fun with the game itself and its “Destructive Environment”. So the game becomes no more fun then any other racing game with guns!

There are other modes that let you play different ways and some let you “enjoy” the destruction a little more but then there are other things that take away from the game so much that by the end you could care and want to quit.

For one the physics are totally off! If your car hits something most of the time it reacts to it like a piece of tin and fly's in the air! Another problem is the AI is way better with the weapons then you ever will be, you can aim the weapons yourself but once again you never have enough time to!

Controls 5/10
The controls are easy, well if you don't want to use weapons! One of the problems with this game is it expects you to somehow aim your weapons while moving a car. This is rather difficult when you only have 10 fingers! It makes it more difficult in game modes where weapons matter and the AI can kick your butt because the controls are difficult to master!

This is why games would benefit from keyboard support!

Music & Sound 6/10
The music was nothing special so after awhile I switched to my own. And the sound wasn't anything special either, at least nothing that we haven't heard before. Although if you do have a surround sound system it does sound better.

Learning Curve 3/10 (10 being easy, 1 being hard)
This game is a pain to learn especially because there are things like learning how to gain boost and how to reverse time. More so it's a pain trying to learn how to aim the guns while driving.

Multiplayer ?/10
I can't honestly rate online, I only played one game and then returned the game. But the 4 people I played with didn't even bother racing and sat at the start line blowing stuff up and each other so I quit.

Pros and Cons:
Pros:
-First “Gun” racer for 360.
-It is fun to see destruction even if you can't see that much while racing.
-Cool cars and weapons.

Cons:
-Weapon controls are a pain.
-Physics are clunky.
-Don't get to see all the destruction you were told you could.

Overall 5/10
Overall it was hyped for destruction but in the end it's just a racer where you don't get to enjoy it big feature really. If you wanted something like Burnout then this is kind of like that, if you wanted something like Twisted Metal then this isn't it. With so many problems hopefully they will make a sequel where the game focuses on “arena combat” and the destructive environments instead of racing.

Defiantly a rental at least, not a buy.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/15/06