Ad critic: Auto Assault MMORPG

I’d say the add is…beautifully executed…but could use a wii bit more polish.

people within the ad industry wouldn't even really consider this to be an ad worth judging because it doesn't contain a real headline or any concept. It's just a bunch of screenshots. And they aren't even particularly exciting screenhots. I don't know who should be more ashamed, the ad agency or the marketing manager at the client (probably the second, I doubt the agency is at all proud of this)


There haven't been any good video game ads in years (not since atari jaguar, really) because the culture level of the game-magazine reading audience is so abysmally low. Gaming has become such a specialist culture that it's difficult to talk to "gamers" in the same way you'd talk to a broader consumer culture. So you have to speak to the lowest common denominator: a stoned fourteen year old boy who is reading the game magazine on the toilet in between masturbation sessions. (or the 24 year old version of same)

So does it get through to that mindset? Maybe. Is it good advertising, as far as advertising goes? Not even on the map.

P.S. next time you do this can you list the agency that made the ad?

Fora game supposidly about crashing cars(I think?), half the page is filled with people with glowing eyes. This ad confuses. I'd say poor choice of images. An a little text explaing exactly what the game is about might help. I give it a 4.5/10

Same with most game ads: too cluttered, too many 45 degree angles, and has that over-photoshopped background of random colors and images.

The mistake: is this game a MMORPG??? I havn't played it, but from what I recall on all the previews I've read for the game, the most "RPG" this game gets is allowing you to customize your vehicles. Am I wrong?

This ad kind of blows. It is a boring mix of screenshots that don't even look all that exciting, with little explanation of the game itself. The screenshots don't really show off any apperaling graphical quality and even the cars in them are kind of bland looking.
The tag line is actually kind of confusing, especially considerin the fact that an mmorpg with crashing cars in the screenshots really requires some more explanation than "fastest, most destructive".
And, aestheticly, I just dont think it fits together well. The screenshots are bunched awkwardly and the header at the top leaves too much blank space with the tag line formatted wierd as well. It looks like they just typed three lines into a text editor and pressed the spacebar once on the second line by accident. Yuck.

Mistake: it doesn't come out on April 13, but rather April 11 (at least thats the ship date, perhaps the 13th is more accurate, as thats when the stores will have the game available, at the latest).

Thats according to the IGN Release Date function.

I feel like it doesn't do a very good job explaining what the game is all about. I can't pick up on what kind of feel it would have and it doesn't really look like an MMO from the pictures.

April 13, huh? It seems as if the May issue shouldn't have a release date like that.

Hmm... If the ad is declaring the game to be a fast-paced, destructive, racing (that one being a key feature), than why is about 50% of it taken up with boring shots of people standing around, not moving, staring into space, while a crapton of action is happening around them. Reminds me of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Or Super Friends.

But, I give them points for at least having shots with good-looking glow and particle effects, which I would imagine requires a video card with a hefty price tag at the resolutions shown. I guess that's why there's an nVidia logo. I also find it not hard to imagine Dell sponsoring the game, which would explain their logo, so they can try to win the appeal of PC gamers, since they don't have much the last time I checked. But then again, I think their aquisition of Alienware would've changed that.

It's an excellent ad. You see autoduel combat with not only weapons but ramming physics, jumping physics, and damage model physics. There also appears to be a great deal of variety among your player character types (there really isn't though). Yeah, it's about car combat, but it also implies to the MMO fan that you can also be an individual of your own design (which isn't the feeling I got when I played in the beta). The ad is almost enough to tempt me to try playing it again.

God damn, Nork got my culture down pat, execpt for the stoned thing, its more or less natural stupidity. Only thing truly interesting in that ad is the car thats 50 feet in the air without its wheels that all magically fell off. It would be much better if they had screenshots of the cars demolishing buidlings, or a head to head crash. This doesn't make me wanna get Auto Assault at all, just maked me want to grab a PlayStation 2 and play either a HotWheels, or Twizted Metal game. Burnout too. Just not Auto Assault.

Having played Auto Assault I will call it a good add. Why? Because the game is kinda crappy imho and this add makes it look better then it actually is. The game has a good concept with bad execution like most MMO's now a days.

Yes the most RPG it gets for the most part is vehicle custimization. You do run around doing quests like most MMO's but they are pretty bad and boring. The controls I think are what really kills teh game I think.

Nothing to really comment on at all. It has all the usual requisites of any video game ad: game title, tagline, screenshots, esrb rating, website, release date, and corporate logos. Just a run-of-the-mill game ad. In it's defense, what more could you really expect?

I wouldn't presume to criticize you, Vlad, for posting this; it is your job after all. I did, however, enjoy the post about the Hitman ad much more since its controversy made it worthy of discussion.

BTW, the Dell logo is there due to a deal with NCSoft and Dell that's been going on for a while. If you go to the Dell website, you'll notice a lot of City of Villains screenshots on Dell monitors. I guess this is NCSoft's part of the deal.

What isn't mentioned is that this piece of junk uses the infamous starforce 'protection' and will kill your dvd writer - something I only found when I tried to make my weekly backup disk.

No mention of this insidious, near-criminal stupidity is made anywhere. Don't touch this one if you want a stable PC.