TMC Player Reviews: CyberASSAULT

Review Submitted By: Jodah
Author Status: Player
Started on CyberASSAULT: 2011
Submission Date: Jul 11, 2012
TMC Listing: CyberASSAULT

The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Jodah] and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.

Let me preface this by saying that I've been playing the game for 
under a year now and have generally enjoyed my time.   Nevertheless,
this is my attempt of an unbiased review of CyberAssault and not as
a fanboy.  

Let's start with some of the negative things CyberAssault does wrong
so we can get those out of the way and focus on the positives.  Many
of these negaives are also positives, as I'll explain.

1.  No organizations or clans.  While the playerbase may not be large
enough to support such a feature, it would still be nice to have the
option as I have talked to several players that have been interested
in the feature.  

2.  No vehicles.  This is a post-apocalyptic world and the perfect 
chance to ride around in motorbikes or even tanks.  No such mechanisms
exist, but it's possible one is in the planning stages.

3.  Taxi Cabs.  Taxi cabs are a very nice feature and it gives the 
illusion of riding the taxi to many different areas of the mud, 
negating the need for directions (it's not a vehicle you can drive).
Unfortunately the time it takes to hail a cab is excruciatingly long.
Player complaints of this feature have fallen on deaf ears, the 
reasoning being the taxis are a luxury,and they really are since you
don't have to walk to places.  It would still be nice to cut the wait
time in half and it wouldn't lessen any of the fun.

4.  Immortals.  The immortals are generally laid back and cool.  They
follow the spirit of the law, well until they decide they don't want
to any more.  Then you just have to hope your punishment is light and
fair, and sometimes it's not.

5.  Progression skills.  A while back, the class and skill system was
completely revamped into more of a skill tree.  While great in 
theory, this gave many classes the same skills, limiting the 
uniqueness of classes to a few select skills and class-specific 
equipment.  For examples, borgs are almost identical to mercernaries,
save a few skills and pieces of equipment.  To combat this, there was 
a plan to create progression classes and progression skills.  While 
I'm sure this is still (hopefully) in the works, this has turned into
a 'vaporware' type situation.  At the moment, the only reason for 
remorting is equipment (and a few stat points).

6.  The world.  The game employs many exit loops to give the 
appearance of a larger area, which I'm never a fan of.  The world in 
general is small.  This is a work in progress as they are adding new 
areas all the time. 

7.  Cities.  The main city's name is Motown, as in R & B music Motown.
To this day, I have no idea why they decided to put a musical name 
on a post-apocalyptic sci-fi town.  

8.  Map.  The ascii map is the standard tbamud map and is buggy, but
it's better than no map.

9.  Money.  Money is fun to collect and easy, but there's not a whole
heck of a lot to spend it on after you make your first half of 
billion.

Positives

1.   Taxis and transporters and scripts.  For people that don't know 
directions, taxis and also transporters (and rift tower) can help 
teleport you to the area of your desire.  This can save time and 
frustration.  As I said earlier, taxis are also a good feature.  
LOFTCO vending machines are your best friend starting out.  I 
absolutely LOVE LOFTCO vending machines. 

2.    Equipment.  The equipment system with all the different stats 
make for very interesting equipment combinations.  This is probably 
one of the greatest features of the game and has a real 'wow' effect.

3.  Holiday quests.   Holiday quests occur just about every holiday, 
an attestment to the immortals' dedication and fondness for players.
Most of the quests are creative and enjoyable.

4.  Quests.  While some regular quests offer no clues on how to 
complete them and have harsh penalties, many of them are also very 
good.  

5.  Quest points.  Probably my favorite form of currency, questpoints 
are hard to come but they buy the best equipment in the game.  Gather 
enough qps and you can create custom equipment to really deck out your
character.  Most players shoot for custom equipment.

6.  The areas.  The areas are pretty creative.

7.  Restrings.  This is now an automated feature that players can
perform if they find a rare restring ticket.  This allows you to 
change the name of any equipment.

8.  Immortals.  Generally laid back and very helpful to new players.
Gahan is a riot to talk with, Bossstone is probably the friendliest,
and Warblade is the most helpful to new players.

9.  GUNS GUN GUNS.  One of the coolest features, the ranged combat is
complex behind the scenes, yet simplified when it comes out on the 
screen.   Guns and ammo are very cool.

10.  Explosives and sniping.  If you have a sniping gun, you can snipe 
a mob in a different room.  Likewise, you can lay mines on the ground 
and trigger the mobs to walk into them and explode.  You can also drop
grenades, just leave the room before they explode!  Every now and 
again a player will step into your mob trap.  It's a complete riot.

11.  Coding.  When the coder gets going, he can put in some of the 
best features you'll find on any mud.  The trick is getting him 
motivated.

12.  Bionics.  Bionics are implanted pieces of equipment that give 
your character additional bonuses.  

These are just a few features that I enjoy and the game contains many
more that I haven't mentioned.  Overall I can declare CyberAssault to 
be an enjoyable ride.  If you're looking for a different flavor than 
the standard fantasy dwarf slashing mud, give CyberAssault a try.  You
may just find guns to be more fun than swords.