AutoDuel

The Good
The game world is very large and has a lot of different cities. The roads between the cities branch and you need to learn the best routes unless you are prepared to drive round in circles.

The gameplay is completely open ended and you can play the game any way you like. There are courier missions to transport goods between towns, you can fight in the arena, or drive out and find battles on the highways to increase your stats and money. You can even just play poker in Atlantic city to raise your money and prestige if you prefer.

There are countless options for building a car with no ultimate set-up. Depending on how you want to play you can have a heavily armoured tank or something much faster and smaller. You can have your big weapons on the front of the car for attacking head on, at the rear for taking out pursuers or in any other direction you wish. You can own up to 8 cars and store them in garages, so you can even have a car for every occasion.

The Bad
What Origin achieved with one floppy disk on an Apple II is impressive, but the technology still limits the game. There is no real variety in missions and the graphics on the roads are very basic and quite slow. There is hardly any traffic for the standard missions, usually just a couple of cars between cities.

The drives between cities can get dull, especially if you go the long way round. You can be following the roads along for 5-10 minutes with nothing to do.

There are very few plot missions, and they don't really give the game any storyline. The game is more about building your car and it feels as though the plot missions were added just to give you a way to win.

The Bottom Line
This is a good game for 1985 and if anyone made a modern remake, I'd go out and buy it. It's a cross between Grand Theft Auto and Privateer, years before either of them came out. Unfortunately the Apple II wasn't really capable of doing justice to the idea and the game is a bit limited as a result.

The Good
Building your own vehicles was by far the best part of the game. Almost every weapon was useful, and you had to make a lot of tough decisions to balance the offensive, defensive, and cargo capacity of your vehicle.

The Bad
The plot of the game was silly and cliched.

The Bottom Line
Autoduel was one of the first games of its time to combine arcade action with role-playing, and it worked very well. You not only got to build up your cars, but you got to build up your driver as well and there were a lot of ways to win the prestige you needed to ultimately win the game. Whether you chose to be a delivery boy or master of the arena or both, the game was chock full of action and fun.

The Good
You could do anything you want in this game. In order to earn more money you had to keep updating your cars or building your cars from scratch. There were arenas that you could test your car and your abilities in, as well as courier jobs that you could fulfill. Sometimes, while listening to the rumors in the truck stop you could find out that the FBI wanted you to do some jobs for them or the clone hospital in Boston wanted a heart delivered. Or you could sell your courier jobs to the fixer at the bar for the price of your prestige. The choice was yours. Top it off with long roads between cities filled with enemies that you could blow up and salvage and you have the makings of one of the most fun games ever made.

The Bad
Animation was bad, but understandable when considering the age of the game. Only the biggest cities contained the most services, but some were ridiculous, as Providence, Rhode Island contained only a truck stop and nothing else.

The Bottom Line
A primitive Privateer anchored to wheels and land.

The Good
This game allowed the creation and development of character that you could truly make your own. From your skills to the body types, weapons, armor, tires and power plants in the car; you got to make whatever choices you saw fit. This flexibility made the game. The side jobs and different ways of making money meant there was always more than one option or path to follow. Another great feature was the need to buy ammunition and make repairs... this meant mistakes truly did cost you. The types of weapons and speed capability of a vehicle also made a big difference with what tactics you would use. Damaged tires and poor driving skill made cars extremely difficult to handle.

The Bad
The graphics and plot both needed some further attention.

The Bottom Line
Autoduel is a good adaptation of Car Wars (Steve Jackson Games) on a computer. Considering the time it was made and the scope of the concept of Car Wars gameworld; Autoduel was a truly great game that suffered from the limits of the time. This game allowed a great degree of freedom and therefore the chance to play as one would see fit. Create your character, save money to buy your car and go explore the Northeastern US in a version of the future where you can make it as a courier, duelist or vigilante!

The Good
Autoduel was one of the first role-playing/action hybrids for the Apple II. Building your vehicles was very engaging and challenging. Do you add weapons to your courier car, or do you leave it stripped so you can haul that extra cargo? Do you use the laser which had a huge number of shots but drains your battery or the Recoiless Rifle which is very heavy and has limited ammo? Bigger engine or more armor? And so on....

It is fortunate that the game allowed you to have several vehicles, because it let you explore all the ways of playing. Autoduel had a storyline and a cursory plot, but the real point of its non-linear play was to complete deliveries and to see just how many vehicles you could destroy, salvage, or escape (depending on your playing style).

Driving from town to town was fun even if there wasn't much traffic (that is, enemies). You always had to be careful to not get lost or you would have to abandon your vehicle and walk to town, defenseless against any onslaught. Some of the roads, particularly the route you had to take to finish the final delivery quest, were particularly long and convoluted.

Finally, despite all of the weapons and armor you could put on your vehicle, driving your vehicle and firing/switching weapons was straightforward. It was easy to learn the basics, but once a few enemies were chasing you and you had to rely strictly on your tires and driving skill, well, that separated the Speedster from the roadkill.

The Bad
The only thing not to like about Autoduel was the lack of a real plot. Sure there was a quest once you had built up enough prestige, but it would have been fun to have more types of missions such as bounties on enemy drivers.

The Bottom Line
Autoduel is a fast-paced action/RPG that puts you in the driver's seat of a fast killing machine. You design and build your own vehicles to earn money and prestige fighting in the arena, delivering valuable packages, or just salvaging what's left of the bandits you left in a melted, smoking heap on the open road.