Crossout

Gaijin Entertainment, publishers of World War 2 combat simulator War Thunder, and Targem Games, developer of space combat MMO Star Conflict, have joined forces to create Crossout, a game reminiscent of Mad Max (the overall setting, not specifically the game by Avalanche). Crossout is a post-apocalyptic vehicular combat MMO that allows you to create and customise your own vehicle in any way you want, and then take that creation into combat against other players.

Crossout is a game that sits comfortably in its post apocalyptic setting. Taking place after an alien experiment gone wrong, sending most people insane or making them suicidal, it turned any survivors into beings that, while they were still fundamentally human, did not resemble any person you might recognise. After this turn of events humanity seemingly took the Mad Max approach to the post-apocalypse, crafting structures and transport out of anything they could salvage.

The unique gameplay ideas are where Crossout really comes into its own. The game allows you to design any vehicle you want based around a cabin. The starter vehicle you receive is a pick-up truck with a machine gun welded to the roof. At the end of your first few PvP matches (don't worry, the enemy team consists of bots up until roughly level 5, so you can learn the ropes in relative comfort) you will earn parts that can be used in the garage to customise your ride. Early in the game you will only get structural parts like fenders and roofs, however, later into the game it's possible to get cabins that resemble tanks, and missile launchers, or even parts that make your ride hover.

Crossout's gameplay is solid. Cars control as you might expect, with light buggies highly mobile with a high top speed and small turning circles. The heavier the vehicle gets, however, the slower it becomes. You can affect how your car controls by modifying it, for example, you can make the heavier vehicles lighter and faster by removing armour or parts, but doing so makes you more susceptible to damage. Another example would be if you had a long vehicle with 4 wheels that had a large turning circle, here you can add another set of wheels in the middle of the chassis to reduce the size of the turning circle. You control your vehicle with WASD, the camera moves with the mouse and lets you aim your guns. These two are independent of each other, so you can be driving in one direction and firing in another, which means that running away from trouble can still be a legitimate strategy.

Another factor that controls how your car controls is the destruction physics. If an enemy player shoots off a tire you can continue driving, but your performance will be severely hindered, however the damage can also be helpful, so if someone shoots some of the panels off of your vehicle it will make it lighter and therefore faster. Weapon impact feels powerful as well, whether you're firing a machine gun, a missile launcher, or a cannon; each has a satisfying audio effect. On top of that the weapons can affect your vehicle in different ways, for example a tank cannon on a light vehicle will send you bucking into the air due to the force of the shot.

As you play more games you get more gear for your ride. A lot of the part 'drops' are tied to your rank with the game's various factions. Each one is different from the last. The first you will interact with are The Engineers. They are the people that will supply you with pick-up trucks and vans. They will also be your starting point for getting used to how various aspects of the game work, helping you learn about things such as the crafting system and vehicle customisation.

The next faction are the Psychos, your traditional bandit types (lots of spikes and plenty of red). When increasing your reputation with them they'll give you the ability to unlock and build some of their cars. They will help you with the lightest and fastest of the pre-built vehicles, and generally some of the shorter-ranged and ramming weapons. The third faction are The Nomads, who tend to have medium to high armour vehicles equipped with high rate of fire weapons such as miniguns. The final faction in the game (at the moment) are The Scavengers. This faction supplies tank-like vehicles. They have the highest armour, and the largest vehicles they stock come equipped with cannons and homing missile launchers.

We mentioned a crafting system tied to faction reputation. The factions all have their own crafting sections from which they allow you to craft parts specific to them. So if you want a particular type of tyre from the Psychos then you need to increase your reputation with that faction and gather the parts needed to craft the item. However, if you wish to craft items from another faction you can, but you will need to gain reputation with them too, as it doesn't transfer over. Crossout also features a player-based auction house where people can sell parts for in-game currency, which can, in turn, be used to buy items from the auction house (or you can buy one of the early access packages - details here)

Crossout currently features four multiplayer arenas, two desert-based, a plains-style zone with a river running through it, and a semi-industrial urban arena. They each facilitate different styles of play. The desert arenas have large open spaces littered with obstacles, while the river arena consists of long 'corridors' formed from the river banks and the bridge. A match takes roughly five minutes to complete, which is short enough to keep the pace high, but long enough to let you get your teeth stuck in. The matches can take a while to get started, and the game really needs proper matchmaking, but we'd expect both areas to improve as the game nears launch and more people join the beta (you can get access to by buying one of the aforementioned early access packages).

Crossout is a solid game thus far. The vehicles control well and the weapons pack a punch, the crafting is in-depth and will let players create vehicles as crazy as their own imaginations. We've enjoyed our time spent playing so far; it's a high octane experience with a well conceived crafting system that's perfect for living out your Mad Max fantasies.