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With the huge success “Rocket League” received from both fans and critics alike, one could imagine that a post-apocalyptic vehicle combat game would knock it out of the park with ease. Well, that is what developer Targem Games hopes to achieve with their recent release of “CrossOut”.

“Crossout” has an advanced damage model. So that means that each vehicle could get damaged or destroyed in a lot of different ways (Think “Twisted Metal” meets “Destruction Derby” but with a much more advanced damage model).

The game centers around various types of vehicles loaded to the gills with weapons causing full-blown chaos, reminiscent of “Twisted Metal”. You’ll find yourself weighing the pros and cons of heavy defense or maneuverability. This is all made incredibly deep by the massive amount of customization available to the player. You can mount shields, turrets, spikes, and much more basically anywhere on the vehicle. Customization items are unlocked via challenges, mission rewards, and of course can be purchased with in-game credits. Visually, the game isn’t anything to call the mayor about, but for its size and performance it looks just fine. Damage effects is particularity well done, and the environments are crafted in both an interesting and realistic way. The game won’t ‘wow’ you, but it will please you with its smooth frame rate and lack of screen tearing; it’s all about the gameplay.

There are plenty of different weapons that you can use to destroy your enemies in “Crossout”, and I’m talking about everything from power-drills, machine guns, chain saws to flying drones.

Speaking of gameplay, the combat is fun, tight, and exciting. It really feels like a more fleshed-out “Twisted Metal”. While the default driving controls are utterly atrocious, there is an alternate control scheme, and it legitimately boggles my mind why they didn’t use that one as the default. Perhaps it works better on PC? I don’t know, but dear lord is it garbage on console. Once you change the controls, the game is pretty enjoyable. While the offline AI has its moments of utter ridiculous difficulty, the online mode is an pleasant and balanced experience. Despite being a free-to-play game, it doesn’t seem to suffer from the pay-to-win mentality… yet.

You can create some rather neat and unique vehicles and parts in the game’s workshop. Furthermore, you can also sell stuff via the built-in marketplace. So there are quite a lot of other things to do in “Crossout” besides just racing and vehicle combat.

The biggest flaw at the moment is the lack of variety in the gameplay. While there is PvP, storyline quests, and even raids, each objective is basically the same. That’s not to say they won’t flesh things out in the future, but if you’re looking for more than straight-forward vehicular combat, keep looking.

Pros:
+ Great vehicle combat
+ Fun online gameplay
+ Amazing amount of customization

Cons:
– Lack of variety
– Shoddy default controls

Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 3/5
Sound and music: 3/5
Controls: 2/5
Replay value: 3/5

tgg grade 3 out of 5

Verdict: 3/5
In the end, Targem Games “CrossOut” scratches the Twisted Metal-eqsue itch you may have, while remaining its own entity. With loads of customization and unlockables, this free-to-play game will provide you with endless hours of vehicular combat, just don’t expect anything more than that.

Title: CrossOut
Developer: Targem Games
Format: PS4
Genre: Vehicular Combat
Resolution: 720p
Release date: 2016-05-30
Difficulty: Medium
Spent time: +10 hours
Average grade internationally: Unavailable
PEGI age rating: Unavailable
Price: Free-to-play