Crossout - Free-to-Play Vehicle Combat MMO (ala Twisted Metal)

[clamum]

I recently watched a couple videos of this new game in development called Crossout. It appears to be somewhat in the vain of Twisted Metal in that it's a post-apocalyptic vehicle combat game (MMO) but there's also some crafting/customization in that you can really make your vehicle stand out from others. It's from the makers of War Thunder (Gaijin).

Right now it's just in closed beta and you can sign up for access, although if you buy a pack you can get in immediately (though it seemed to take a little bit for the forum permissions to be granted for me).

I played several rounds yesterday for the first time and had fun. It just looked like an interesting game that I could pick up and play quickly without spending a lot of time getting into and so far it's been that.

Some screencaps from a couple YouTube videos I watched (from BaronVonGamez and PhlyDaily):

In the garage, placing a part (there's mount points all over the vehicles):

Your Storage, where you can choose from to place on the vehicle:

 

[Newbian]

So it looks like world of tanks but with trucks judging by the score system.

 

[clamum]

So it looks like world of tanks but with trucks judging by the score system.

Well, not really. I guess that's true if you think Sniper Elite III is like Call of Duty (or insert some other vaguely similar comparison here).

I mean, both Crossout and WoT have two sides with vehicles and they shoot each other, and when you die you're done for the round. That's about it, from my experience.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Looks like Mad Max

 

[Stuka87]

It's from the makers of War Thunder (Gaijin).

So the russian trucks will be horribly over powered and rofl stomp all the other trucks?

 

[Newbian]

Well, not really. I guess that's true if you think Sniper Elite III is like Call of Duty (or insert some other vaguely similar comparison here).

I mean, both Crossout and WoT have two sides with vehicles and they shoot each other, and when you die you're done for the round. That's about it, from my experience.

That's about the gameplay I was thinking it looked like.

 

[Harabec]

How does it compare to Interstate '76?

 

[clamum]

So the russian trucks will be horribly over powered and rofl stomp all the other trucks?

Hahahaha Well there's no countries in the game so I think people will be safe from the legendary Russian bias.

How does it compare to Interstate '76?

I don't recall if I've ever played Interstate '76. It looks like it might share some similarity.

 

[drnickriviera]

How does it compare to Interstate '76?

I just started playing in open beta and I76 was the first thing I though of. Has tons of weapons to choose from and so far, looks like all types of builds can work. What I like is that there is no penalty for making a new vehicle. If i'm using a long range sniper and want to build a brawler, everything goes back into my storage and just make anew vehicle.

From what i read gaijin is only the publisher. Someone else is developing it. They have been pretty fast with patches in open beta. Still has some work to do. Hate it when people just run straight to cap and dont fight.

 

[local]

I've been playing since the start of open beta and I like it. It is setup to be pretty grindy but it has to do that I guess or we would run out of parts pretty quick. Building is nicely done but there could be more bodies and I would like a bit more freedom with frames and wheels. My biggest gripe is that some of the maps are very obstructed which leads to point blank instadeath. More open spaces to allow for longer range running and gunning is better in my opinion.

As for the comparisons to I-76, yes the fighting is similar. Think I-76 using vehicles from Mad Max and you are pretty close.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Have there been any other games in the same vein as Vigilante 8 and Twisted Metal? It seems the genre died off after the PSX era.

 

[Zenoth]

Have there been any other games in the same vein as Vigilante 8 and Twisted Metal? It seems the genre died off after the PSX era.

The 'genre' indeed essentially died off after PS2's Twisted Metal: Black, in my opinion anyway. A couple of years later they brought Twisted Metal again, but to the PSP with Head-On which was supposedly mediocre (I never played it, never been into portable gaming in general). Since it wasn't a home console release it probably didn't help to bring back the genre to the masses' attention. And around the same years XBOX Live got a 'new' (wasn't really "new") Vigilante 8, with Arcade, which on the other hand was supposedly decent enough but was simply too similar (if not just copy-pasted in some cases, especially when it comes to characters, maps and power-ups) to the previous two 'main' games. Then again, it wasn't released elsewhere than on Live as a digital download, so once more the masses probably didn't pay much attention to it and got very much overlooked.

Since then... not much happened with Vehicular Combat games, other than Carmageddon: Reincarnation, which I've seen and played a bit myself and was very disappointing on many levels. And that was the last attempt at making something in the veins of such games as Twisted Metal and Vigilante 8, or Interstate 76. I suppose that the genre reached its short-lived peak during the mid to late 1990s, and then became either just forgotten or simply 'undesired' by enough in the masses or... I don't know really, just speculating. But one thing is for sure is that no big developers would dare touching that genre now for a 'serious' new attempt at it. We need Indie studios and crowdfunding attempts to see such games being made again.

One studio I'd like to see attempt making a game in the veins (and feel) of either Vigilante 8 or Twisted Metal (probably more similar to Vigilante 8 if it came from them) would be Psyonix, makers of Rocket League. If not, then maybe Criterion Games... but they're not the same team as the ones who made the fantastic Burnout 3 back then (still, who knows, maybe they'd know how to bring that genre back). But the gist... big names don't touch that genre anymore. It's up to the ones who want to dare trying (and dare asking money for it first).

 

[Raduque]

It seems you play with human players against AI bots.

 

[drnickriviera]

It seems you play with human players against AI bots.

There are different game modes. PvP and PvE that will give different resources, so you need to play both. Well I guess you don' have to as it has an open market where you could play one, sell that resource to buy the other.

 

[gorcorps]

The 'genre' indeed essentially died off after PS2's Twisted Metal: Black, in my opinion anyway. A couple of years later they brought Twisted Metal again, but to the PSP with Head-On which was supposedly mediocre (I never played it, never been into portable gaming in general). Since it wasn't a home console release it probably didn't help to bring back the genre to the masses' attention. And around the same years XBOX Live got a 'new' (wasn't really "new") Vigilante 8, with Arcade, which on the other hand was supposedly decent enough but was simply too similar (if not just copy-pasted in some cases, especially when it comes to characters, maps and power-ups) to the previous two 'main' games. Then again, it wasn't released elsewhere than on Live as a digital download, so once more the masses probably didn't pay much attention to it and got very much overlooked.

Since then... not much happened with Vehicular Combat games, other than Carmageddon: Reincarnation, which I've seen and played a bit myself and was very disappointing on many levels. And that was the last attempt at making something in the veins of such games as Twisted Metal and Vigilante 8, or Interstate 76. I suppose that the genre reached its short-lived peak during the mid to late 1990s, and then became either just forgotten or simply 'undesired' by enough in the masses or... I don't know really, just speculating. But one thing is for sure is that no big developers would dare touching that genre now for a 'serious' new attempt at it. We need Indie studios and crowdfunding attempts to see such games being made again.

One studio I'd like to see attempt making a game in the veins (and feel) of either Vigilante 8 or Twisted Metal (probably more similar to Vigilante 8 if it came from them) would be Psyonix, makers of Rocket League. If not, then maybe Criterion Games... but they're not the same team as the ones who made the fantastic Burnout 3 back then (still, who knows, maybe they'd know how to bring that genre back). But the gist... big names don't touch that genre anymore. It's up to the ones who want to dare trying (and dare asking money for it first).

They released a new twisted metal on PS3, it just didn't respark that fire. It was well rated but it just shows that car combat doesn't really sell anymore.