Crossout. Craft and Destroy. Read The Review!

Crossout is a craft-and-combat MMO set in a post-apocalyptic world. Players craft their own vehicles and participate with these war machines in combat across different terrains against real players or AI. For a free-to-play game, Crossout packs quite a pleasant surprise.

Graphics: 4.0

While Crossout’s graphics are quite decent, I experienced quite a number of framerate dips. The vehicles are aptly designed, and the harsh environment also looks real enough. There are, however, limited maps, and sometimes it feels like you are staring at the same green map that you just played on. They are also quite limited in their expanse. The combat scenes are what gives the graphics juice, and vehicle destructions are quite excellent.

Gameplay: 4.0

Crossout is set in a post-apocalyptic world where an alien eugenic experiment made to turn the DNA of humans into that of super soldiers goes dreadfully wrong and instead leads to a release of a pathogen which kills most of the human race.

You need to build a war machine and customize it to take on other players and survive in this harsh, dystopian environment. Weapons are strapped on top of these vehicles and vary from chainsaws, machine guns to power drills, etc. The economy is player-driven, and you can trade to purchase your craft and customize your vehicle. You can also craft parts in a workshop and sell them to other players. Vehicle mechanics cannot be ignored when crafting your vehicle.

Battles are won by destroying enemy combatants and capturing their bases. Factional objectives earn you XP points, and you start out in the lowest tier (Engineer faction), rising through the ranks as you complete objectives to Lunatics, Nomads, Scavengers, all the way to Firestarters.

Controls: 3.0

The worst part about Crossout is its clunky controls. Operating a vehicle and customizing the various parts is quite difficult. Targeting vehicles are cumbersome, and it takes quite a bit of experience to get used to aiming and shooting finally. Since the controls are responsive to actual build mechanics, heavy vehicles or those with high centers of gravity might tip even with the best controls, and this is a slight nuisance. Customizing vehicle parts is quite difficult at first without solid tutorials and creation tools that might take a class to understand.

Replay Value: 3.5

The best part about the game is its co-op raids which is why I’d replay it, and you’ll have a blast taking part in these missions. However, gaining XP to rise through the factions is difficult, and you will feel like you’re grinding too much just to reach the next level. There are few maps which are almost similar in their appearance. At least Crossout offers you different modes which keeps everything a little bit more exciting.

Conclusion

Crossout is an average combat MMO at best. It makes attempts to bring out some echelons of brilliance but falls squarely in all quarters. The combat is exciting to a degree, but I didn’t feel the storyline coming to life. Vehicle customization is cumbersome for newbies, and it should be a no-brainer to the developers to at least include a tutorial. Leveling up will get you a migraine due to how difficult it is.