I’m sorry, what? Oh… the giant supercomputer is called SAGE, you say. Oh. Well… I still think my version is better.
Pointless backstories aside, Full Auto 2: Battlelines for the PSP is – as one might expect – a high-octane, mayhem-fueled blast through city streets in a mean machine from hell. On paper.
Is that a gun in your bonnet, or are you just happy to see me?
Coming hot on the heels of versions released for the Xbox 360 and PS3, one might also expect the PSP version to be a stripped-down affair which pales in comparison to its big brother console counterparts. And one would be correct.
Full Auto 2: Battlelines offers several modes of play, including career mode or single Event Attack mode, each of which is comprised of 3 types of race – Circuit, Point-to-Point and Arena. As anyone familiar with Need for Speed: Underground might surmise, Circuit mode and Point-to-Point differ in that one offers a set amount of laps on a looping course, whilst the latter is a set course that starts off in one part of the city and ends in another. Arena mode is a destruction derby affair, pitting the armed-to-the-teeth vehicles against each other in an enclosed space in a nail-biting fight to the death. A dull, nail-biting fight to the death.
But, unlike Underground and similar contenders, the winner in Battlelines isn’t necessarily the car that crosses the finish line first. Different races sport different “win” conditions, whether it be destroying “x” number of opponents or transforming half of the city into a smoking crater. (Ever get the feeling that the theme of the game might just be “Destruction?”)
It's like Mad Max. Except not in the desert. And not good.
If you do happen to enjoy the story mode introduced at the beginning of Career mode, don’t get used to it, as it rarely comes into play as you move from area to area, wreaking all manner of vehicular carnage. At least the Career mode gives you a certain degree of freedom, as you are able to choose which areas you want to explore, as opposed to being set on a linear path. But whilst freedom is nice, a finely-tuned linear progression could have proved superior, especially for a portable title which should have more pick-up-and-playability.
The main disadvantage with the Career mode, however, is that it’s simply too easy – and even when the win conditions pile on top of each other, quite often you’ll have accomplished half of them before you even have a chance to blink. The Career mode at least allows you to unlock extra vehicles – 15 in total, including sports cars and somewhat more unwieldy trucks. These will come in handy if you dive into the 4-player AdHoc mode, as newcomers will be limited to the early (i.e. useless) vehicles and weapons, leaving you free to wreak the kind of destruction that would make Godzilla look like a disgruntled gecko.
'Okay, so that's one heat-seeking missile. Did you want to upsize that?'
There is an admirable (almost daunting) array of weapons available, including rockets, homing missiles, chain guns, mines and the over-popularized EMP. Weapons can also be mounted on the sides of vehicles, allowing for some truly devastating combinations. In reality, however, you needn’t get too strategic with your arsenal, as the destructive power of your weapons is more than enough to reduce your enemies to twisted wrecks in a matter of moments, allowing you to leisurely cruise by. Ever wondered how the turtle beat the hare? He was packing heat.
The face buttons handle to acceleration, brake and boost, with the triggers delegated to independently firing your chosen tools of destruction. As with many PSP games, the absence of a second analog stick is somewhat alleviated by the presence of an auto-aim – similar to that employed in Wipeout Pure.
'Please ensure your seats and tray tables are in their upright, locked position.'
The graphics in FA2 are somewhat of a mixed bag. Obviously, it’s unfair to expect the same level of highly detailed cityscapes as the console versions, but the game remains far from pretty. The framerate remains admirably solid, although it’s not all that impressive to begin with. The game has more than its fair share of explosions and debris, though they – like the city itself – remain inherently mediocre, with little variety on display. The vehicles are pretty enough, though you pay a hefty price when it comes to load times.
The soundtrack is one area in which Battlelines shines (depending on your tastes), with groups like Wolfmother having tracks on offer. The sound effects are also of high quality and add to the experience by giving you the satisfying aural feedback that only a machine gun peppering white-hot lead into solid metal can. There’s no spoken dialog, but given that the story mode seems to take a backseat for the majority of the game, it’s not particularly missed.
There’s a certain degree of satisfaction in the mindless pursuit of violence, but the game is nothing we haven’t seen before… looking, sounding and playing far better, to boot. Those unfamiliar with the series will fail to see the appeal, and hardcore fans would do better to stick with the superior versions they fell in love with. Full Auto 2: Battlelines doesn’t so much crash and burn, as it slowly limps over the finish line like the end of Cool Runnings (but without the applause).
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