Auto Destruct

Variants

• There are no known variants.

Misprints

• There are no known misprints.

Review

(Originally published on Game-Rave.com’s previous site. A re-review of the game will eventually be written.)

There are often surprises in the PlayStation library that for whatever reason I never tried the first time around. I’m pretty sure I was in my severely jaded / elitist gamer mindset during the late 90s, so it’s my own fault. Now that I’m older, arguably wiser, and more laid back in my retro-active gaming duties, I’m happy to say another (slightly tarnished) jewel has popped up in the PlayStation library.

In Auto Destruct (I love that pun, seriously) you play a newly widowed husband and father faced with an interesting prospect: take revenge via an armored and heavily armored car belonging to an underground group that has ties to the police forces around the world. Your target is a nihilistic cult called Lazarus, whose recent attack on a mall left your wife and child among the dead. Through your new employer The Temple, you will travel the world as you assist finding the various cult members and assuring they no longer function in the darkest sense.

Your quest for revenge will take you across the globe in several locales, with various missions ranging from offensive, defensive, and assistance. Here’s where the game’s main kink comes into play. Too many of the missions seem like distractions to the main cause – how can you attend to revenge when you’re too busy playing bodyguard for various characters, or constantly running cross-town trying to find weapons to fight the bad guys who are on the opposite side of wherever the weapons are?

That snippet aside, the rest of the game is amazingly well done, and holds up very well to this day. From a graphic standpoint, Auto Destruct is clean, has a pretty well laid out cityscape across its multiple locations, and never really suffers from slowdown and terrible texture warping. Truth be told, the game actually looks like a beta for Grand Theft Auto III on the PS2. While the amount of pedestrians and traffic is pretty thin, there are enough hidden areas, surprise ramps for jumps, and other little secrets that make the game fun to run around in. I played the game in both HDMI and through S-Video on the original PlayStation, and it looks great both ways. Voice-overs are well acted and clear, with a good variety in the sound and effects department.

Your miles will vary with the control – I’ve never been a fan of sliding cars, but there’s just enough kick in the brake button to snap the car around when you need it to, just avoid grass above all else. More often than not there’s a nice little pool of water you go diving into and lose the mission.

Your weapons cache provides various missiles, machine guns, mines, and other fun little toys to hurl at the bad guy vehicles. Vehicles, I might add, that include every type of car you can imagine along with tanks and helicopters. Tanks…that happily roam the streets without anyone noticing…maybe that’s connected with the lack of pedestrians in the city! The tanks all got them…

In the end, the only thing stopping Auto Destruct from being a 100% awesome game is a pet peeve that should have been fixed. The game has no mid level progress save function – if you die, that’s it, start from scratch on that level. Having had to suffer through the tutorial 7 times because I kept dying in the first stage made it that much harder to continue on. If you don’t mind repeating yourself often, Auto Destruct is a pretty fun time in the city.

Final Score: NA – No Review

Summary Text

Screenshots

Videos

• There are currently no videos for this game.

Trivia

• Auto Destruct features a Memory Card screen where you can actually over-write a different game’s save file completely. Why this was not made mandatory in all games is beyond me.
• Small problem with the morality in the game. Your character is bent on revenge for the wrongful death of his wife and daughter – yet you can unintentionally run down pedestrians and the game shows no remorse for those innocent you just splattered.
• The 2 Blocks required for save data is actually split between the two modes, Story and Time Trial.
• The game features a plethora of cheat options, but they can only equipped after activating a master cheat code, which I could not get to work.
• There are so few human models that it looks like there are only two kinds of clothing offered in the cities.
• Auto Destruct is another EA released game that has no inner tray artwork on the back insert.

Secrets

Auto Destruct has a ton of programmer cheats!

Programmer’s Cheats

• Enable Cheat Mode
  Pause the game and Press: Up, Down, Left, Right, Down, Right, L1, R1, R1. The words ‘Cheat Menu’ will now be at the bottom of the menu. Choose the Cheat Menu option and press Cross. The game will instantly give you access to Grandstand Camera Mode and Infinite Cars. You can now enter the codes below.
• Add 1 Minute To the Timer in Time Trial
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: Down, L1, L1, Circle, Circle, R1, Up, Square, L1
• Unlock All Time Trials
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: R1, L1, Circle, Left, Circle, Circle, Left, L1, Circle
• Blood Mode
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: L1, Down, R1, Left, L1, Right, R1
• Angel Mode
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, enter the Cheat Menu and activate the Blood Mode. With that good to go, enter: Up, R1, Down, L1, Up, Left, R1, Right, L1
• Car Tune-up Menu
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: L1, R1, L1, Up, Down, Circle, Down, Right, Left, Square, R1
• Double Laser
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: R1, L1, R1, L1, Up, Down, Up, Left, Right. This will only be active once you obtain the laser weapon.
• Extra Money
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: L1, R1, Up, Circle, Down, Square, Right, R1, L1
• Additional Nitros
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: L1, Circle, Down, L1, Up, Square, Circle, R1
• Infinite Fuel
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: L1, Circle, Left, L1, Circle, R1, L1, Up, R1, Down
• Invincibility
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: L1, L1, L1, L1 Left, Circle, Circle, Square, L1
• Additional 5 Swarmer Missiles
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: Up, Down, Up, Left, Right, R1, L1, R1, L1. You’ll need to have the weapon already for the code to take effect.
• Unlock New York Time Trial
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: L1, Right, Down, Left, Up, R1. A sound will confirm, and then you can find it in the Time Trial Menu.
• Unlock Tokyo Time Trial
  After enabling the Cheat Mode above, in the Cheat Menu enter: L1, left, Right, R1, Left, Right, L1. A sound will confirm, and then you can find it in the Time Trial Menu.
• Unlock Subway Time Trial
  At the Main Menu, enter L1, Left, L1, R1, Right, R1. Choose Time Trials and Press X. The hidden subway track should now be playable.
• Unlock Debug Mode
  Pause the game and enter Up, Right, Left, Down, Circle, L1, R1, R1, L1, Circle, Down, Left, Right, Up. A sound will confirm, exit out of Cheat Menu and the Debug Manu will be below it.
• Skip to the Next Level
  Pause the game and enter Square, Circle, R1, L1, Circle, Down, L1, Up.