Crossout – Beta test review

Crossout is an action-packed MMO centered around multiplayer vehicular combat. This game is being developed by Targem Games and will be published by Gaijin Entertainment (known for War Thunder, Star Conflict). Crossout is still in development and is only on the PC platform.

Game  Description

First and foremost, Crossout is a game about explosive multiplayer combat using the players' personally crafted vehicles. These vehicles can be anything the player wants, but within the building limits of the game. I.E., it must have a set of wheels, a weapon, and a cabin for the player to "ride in". Under these limitations, the possibilities are endless. The player can choose to make a small, quick buggy to maneuver around the enemy or a giant tank-like vehicle that has armor for its only defense. Crossout supplies tons of parts for customization including melee weapons (saws, spikes, etc.), a plethora of ranged weaponry (cannons, rockets, miniguns, etc.), and many other neutral parts used for cosmetic purposes or as armor! The game size consists of eight players on eight players. Players can enter battle under certain "missions" that grant specific trophies. The combat consists of the sixteen players engaging in team deathmatch. Once all of the players from one side are destroyed, the match ends. If no one teams is fully destroyed by the time the timer runs out, it becomes a draw. 

Currently, there are around four maps to play on and they suit the combat well. The maps are large scale and allow the players enough time at the beginning of fights to strategize. Along with the intense combat, the player must scavenge for parts and customize their vehicles. The earlier mentioned "trophies" are rewards given when the player is granted experience points for kills or damage done. Trophies act as rewards for completing games that consist of parts for your vehicle. Experience points level your account up, which earns your rewards as well.

As a hub for the customization aspect, the player is in control of his/her own garage. Here, the player can construct buildings, customize their vehicles and test drive them, shop for parts at the market, or research them by hiring craftsmen. Along with doing all of these tasks, the garage is also the place the player departs for missions.

As the players level up, they recruit more followers to be employed in their garage. These employees can be put to work doing things like researching specific parts to unlock them for use. While building, the player has to juggle limits placed on the construction of their vehicle. There is a TEC limit which restricts the amount of parts that can be used when customizing a vehicle. There's also energy. This is required when the players chooses to use energy-draining parts like engines or boosters.

There are a few currencies within the game that the player must manage. Oil is consumed when departing on certain  missions. Money is used to purchase  parts off of the market. Scrap is  used to construct buildings.

Lastly (there are quite a few aspects of this game to cover), the function of buildings is to allow the player to undertake certain missions. These missions that the player can go on offer specific trophies, metals, and more. So far there are four categories of missions, and twelve missions in total.

What’s good about this game?

• Large, fun maps.

• Intense, immersive combat.

• Destructible vehicles.

• Quick rounds.

• No re-spawn.

• No rage-quitting!

• Nice mini-map.

Crossout has many redeeming qualities as a game so far, even in beta. The maps within the game are large and expansive with enjoyably detailed terrain. The combat, which is the bulk of the game, is extremely fun and satisfying. Blowing an enemy up and seeing their vehicle explode into tiny bits is reason enough to subscribe to this game. The combat gameplay is especially fun because of the destructible vehicles. Blowing up is not the only outcome to a fight. Tires pop off, car doors break, every part is destructible in this game and can be destroyed if targeted carefully. The rounds in the game are quick and last around five to ten minutes. Also, there is no re-spawn. If a player succumbs to enemy gunfire and their vehicle gets destroyed, they have to wait until the end of the round. At that point, the player can choose to either continue playing or return to their garage.

Next are just a few things that I found to be positive aspects of Crossout. If a player chooses to concede and leave a battle early, they will suffer durability damage to all parts on their vehicle. This is great because it deters players from developing a habit of quitting games early or “rage-quitting”. Speaking of part damage, if the player’s vehicle suffers damage to vital parts on their machine, those parts may cease to work or completely break off. The mini-map is another small detail of this game that greases the wheels of combat a bit and something that I appreciate.

What’s bad about this game?

• Repetitive trophies.

• # of maps.

• Odd vehicle physics.

• Randomly spawning AI.

• Lack of players & no auto-balance.

Now, first and foremost, this game is currently in a state that the developers like to call “Battle Test”. Whether this is an alpha stage or a closed beta stage, either way, it’s unfinished. With that being said, all things that I am going to state here are to be read with a grain of salt considering they will most likely change and be updated in the near future. The developers of Crossout are hard at work developing this game and, from the looks it, are very involved with their community of fans and players. Along with this, I would love to see new game modes added to the game. Capture the flag and king of the hill are some basic great game modes that would work fantastically well with the combat and gameplay of this game.

The trophies, or rewards, that are earned at the end of rounds are somewhat repetitive. The parts you unlock are regularly parts that you already have. So, by the end of an hour-long game session, the player is left with five practice bumpers, four windows, etc. It would be nice to add a little variability with the trophies, and have rarer parts appear more occasionally. I would assume that this will happen in time anyway and will coincide withthe developers adding more parts overall.

As well as repetitive rewards, the maps are  repetitive also. This is obviously because there are only about four. Once again, this is to be expected for a game in closed beta. The maps they have right now are solid and enjoyable, and I look forward to seeing what other maps they can create.

Something about the way that the vehicles fall and tumble struck me oddly. The rag-doll physics of the vehicles when they roll around and fall off of cliffs is decently smooth, but I feel as though it could use some fine tuning. All of it just sort of feels blocky and unrealistic and can smear the immersion of the game.

During one of the patrol missions, I noticed that the AI enemies that were attacking me and my allies seemed to just appear  out of nowhere. Not always, but sometimes (especially when we were defending a capture point) they would just spawn right in front of me. The other times they would roll over a hill or speed around a corner cinematically, which was awesome.

Most of the games that are entered usually consist of two or three human players all on one side, while the other side is completely filled with AI bots. I understand that when more people begin to play this game and it receives more traffic, this issue will be resolved; however, this brings to my attention the lack of an auto-balance feature within the game. This is just something to think about.

Lastly, there is an issue buzzing around the Crossout community which must be addressed. This is the issue of "seal clubbing". There is the possibility that when a player joins a match (especially a newer player), they will be opposed by a "clubber". A clubber is a player who has been playing for a very long time and has unlocked the most powerful (and arguably overpowered) parts for their vehicle and then has decided that they want to troll new players by entering easier matches. The clubber then one-shots every vehicle in the match and undoubtedly stands undefeated. This is a massive issue and is somewhat game-breaking. The developers must listen to their fans within the community and deal with this. Somehow there must be a system installed that restricts higher level players from doing this through the statistics on their vehicle.

Final Thoughts

Here are a couple things that I took note of and thought about while playing this game. A kill-cam might be something players might enjoy to watch after they die. The graphical effects of a vehicle death are spectacular in this game and would be awesome to watch once again. The battles are eight on eight. It would be neat to have even bigger battles, also smaller ones.

This game has a lot of potential and I  intend to follow it into further development! I recorded also a let's play video and if we will get the approval to publish it on our YouTube channel we will let you know. Right now it is not allowed.