AutoDuel: Won!

My final mission is to aid the FBI in capturing Mr. Big, the east coast criminal kingpin, by stealing a brain tape from his Watertown hideaway and bringing it back to them. The password is "Rumplestiltstkin," and surely with this password they will hand Mr. Big's brain backup over to me and not recognize me or my truck.

Before taking this job, there's one side task I want to complete. The Arena holds unrestricted championship duels once a month, and I figure I haven't truly completed the game without winning at least one. I really don't need the money or the prestige.

 

For this, I customize a luxury sedan with maximal armor in the front and rear, and a laser and machinegun in the front and rear. This gives me tighter turns than a truck, but I have to forgo the underside armor and just be very careful not to drive over any landmines.

On one hand, this is the most difficult fight I've been in yet, and I come pretty close to death, but I still beat it on my first try without much strategy. It also proves beyond a doubt that I should not use the laser gun on courier missions.

I sell this car, retrieve my truck, and buy an oil slick dispenser - I have a feeling it might be useful. And then drive to Watertown.

And I skedaddle. This time the highways are more heavily patrolled than ever, but I make good use of my oil slicks.

 

One last repair at the Albany garage, and then I'm on the home stretch to NYC, and victory.

  

 

In case you're wondering - and I did - nothing happens if you take Mr. Big's brain to its intended destination in Pittsburgh, though bad things will happen to you if you step inside any truck stop or bar.

GAB rating: Above average. AutoDuel is ambitious and original, and I admire its intentions, but the execution is flawed, and I rarely felt like I was having fun playing it. Balance issues plague AutoDuel from the start; the first several hours are harsh, with consequences for failure so severe that the game effectively has permadeath, but the challenge evaporates once you no longer have to worry about money, and the gameplay loop becomes repetitive until the endgame.

AutoDuel offers lots of customization possibilities, but so much of it is wasted potential. Once you aren't destitute, you can just max out your suspension/chassis/engines/tires, leaving the weapons and armor distribution as the only areas to consider, and most of the weapons just suck regardless; the starting machineguns are the only offensive weapon worth putting on any vehicle other than an unlimited-class Autodueler, and if you're rich enough to afford one then you don't need it.

I'm not sorry I played AutoDuel, and it's nice to see an early Origin game that isn't Ultima, but I'm confident I won't be playing it again. 

AutoDuel: Delivery boy

Dead again, and now revived in New York but without my ride, all isn't lost. My mechanic skills are great, and I know I can make some good money salvaging. But for now, I can focus on my quest without a car; I've still got about $3000 post clone replacement, which can buy me some bus rides. Which are perfectly safe, oddly enough.

Unfortunately, with my last death, the quest line begun by my previous incarnation is stale. The Scranton weapon shop has nothing to say to me now, I wasted $200, and I've got to start over again. Back to the New York Arena with me. Thankfully, I've kept a good chunk of my experience, and though I'm not a newbie, the manager sees that I'm too broke to buy my own vehicle and lets me come in and slaughter waves of fresh autoduelists in a rented go-kart.

I climb my way up the divisions as before, only this time my in-game and real life experience makes it that much easier. Once I have enough for another armored truck, which I make sure to armor even more heavily than before, I take and complete another courier job, which is enough to reset the quest line.

This time, I go to Scranton by bus.

 

I'm shuttled around the mid-Atlantic to hit up Dover and Syracuse, picking up another password in each, and finally Harrisburg, where the complete password "SAN ANTONIO ROSE" entitles me to a secret job delivering decoy trophies, but I'll need to fetch a vehicle first.

Good time for an upgrade, I think. After selling scrap, spare weapons, and my old car, I have nearly $40,000 for a new one. For half that much, I can pretty much go all-out in every regard except weapons, and I do.

Think I have enough machine guns?

The job is a run to Manchester, which is quite a drive, requiring no fewer than five stops, but if I take a route of Scranton-New York-Albany-Boston-Manchester, there will be a mechanic in four stops, and a weapon shop in all five. I think I'll be okay.

The Mass Pike never has traffic this light. And the drivers are often more aggressive.

And I am. There's a higher amount of bandit activity on Route 64 between Scranton-NYC, but frankly I am hilariously overprepared for this trip.

Manchester, NH

My delivery complete, I soon learn from the locals that they're looking for me in Washington. Quickest way to get there is by bus, so I leave my truck here.

Map scan by MOCAGH

 

Washington sends me on another bus tour, to Buffalo, and Pittsburgh, to learn the password "GREAT WHITE WHALE" and that New York's Gold Cross has a heart transplant they need delivered.

Back to New York by bus. I just buy myself another truck here, pick up the heart, and transport it to Boston without much difficulty.

 

This loop continues for at least two more missions without much variation or difficulty escalation. The feds in Watertown, NY have a case against the Philadelphia mafia and need evidence delivered to the D.A. - it's either cute that they think a little thing like "evidence" can totally bring down the mob in post-apocarlypse America, or horrifying if they are correct. This one is a long haul since the pickup point in Watertown lacks a vehicle assembly, so I have to drive my own there from Boston where I left it. After that, feds in Washington want me to bring proof of fixed races to New York. Same formula, same series of bus trips to get the password first.

The combat is not, at any point, challenging, nor are the bandits ever all that numerous. The machine gun shreds through most of them, and when it doesn't, I can tank a few hits as I destroy them with sustained close-range fire.

There comes a point where driving past them is easier.

When I arrive at the FBI headquarters in New York, they immediately have an important assignment. No east coast runaround this time.

I think I might be near the end!