With Twisted Metal being on hiatus for a number of years, there has been a void in the seemingly forgotten genre of car combat. While some poor imitations have popped up through the years, no one has been able to capture what made Twisted Metal such a joy to play, nor  have they matched its success. Can Auto Age: Standoff fill that void, or is it another knock off that’s going to crash and burn? The answer to both is kind of.

The game’s narrative is brief and consists of a power struggle between Val Vega and the dastardly Dark Jaw, which is explained via a short intro video prior to loading the game. Between missions there is some chatter between the characters, but nothing noteworthy that added to my experience. With so much effort going into making this feel like a nod to GI Joe and other cartoons from the time, Joe’s omission (for obvious reasons) makes the game feel unfinished.

While you can play solo with bots or split screen with another human counterpart, the bulk of your time with the offering will be spent with the online community, was next to non-existent before release (outside of the set online times). I feel like an arcade or ladder mode with a proper story would have been a huge improvement to making this seem like a complete package. With only four stages and a handful of modes being offered, there is a severe lack of content here.

The cel-shaded graphics that accompany the game suit the storywell. As a huge fan of this style, it was the one thing that kept me interested. The only aspect of the presentation I was turned off by was the music. While I found the synth music a great callback to the 80’s, it quickly grated on my nerves and was promptly turned off before I was forced to stab myself in the ears with sporks.

The combat itself is fun and frantic; I especially enjoyed the rush I got when interrupting a battle between other combatants and taking them both out at the last second. However, it quickly became stale due to the barebones content. At launch, the game featured four stages, a few game modes, and a limited number of vehicles to choose from. You’ll see all that this game has to offer in a few hours, if not less. While you can modify the vehicles to reflect paint schemes from either faction as well as its loadout, I found myself struggling to find a good balance and going back to the default offerings.

While only four maps are offered, they are designed well for the game modes featured. There are plenty of areas to hide and wait for the right time to pounce on your enemies or interrupt a battle in progress, as well as places to set up traps if playing a team based mode. You’ll also find hidden power-ups and repair pick-ups scattered about the level. While not always a necessity, since the vehicles are fairly well equipped, these can turn the tide of battle.

The controls are responsive and feel natural, with controller support being a preference. One thing to note if you plan on playing on a TV opposed to a monitor: you cannot navigate the menus with a controller, which means you will have to keep going to your setup to make changes or initiate a new game between rounds. This was only a mild inconvenience; and let’s be honest, I can use the exercise.

Your experience with Auto Age: Standoff is going to depend on the availability of other players online, or if you have friends wanting to play. While games are auto filled with bots if legit players are unavailable, their AI is lacking and often would drive into walls or completely ignore me. You can also play locally in a split screen mode. I can confirm the game did suffer some minor hiccups in the frame rate when shit really hit the fan on both screens, but ran well overall. With the Twisted Metal franchise on hold, I would recommend this title above other similar options for a few hours of mindless fun.

5 out of 10

Pros:

• Nice Cel-Shaded Style
• Fun Gameplay

Cons:

• Lack of Content
• Music
• Menus Require Mouse to Navigate

Auto Age: Standoff was developed and published by Phantom Compass. It was released on PC September 21st, 2017 for $19.99. The game was provided to us for review on PC. If you’d like to see more of Auto Age: Standoff, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

 

Check out OpenCritic for a better idea of how our review stacks against others.