Fuel
Four star or unleaded?
On paper, Fuel is a ridiculously ambitious racing title. Open-world racers might be nothing new, and we've seen more established franchises moving towards giving players complete freedom to go anywhere and race at anytime. From Test Drive Unlimited to Burnout Paradise, going open-world is the ultimate expression of driving on the open road, liberating players from track-based competitions: the world is your racetrack.
Fuel takes the free-roaming racer to new heights, with a record-breaking 5,560 square miles of terrain to explore at your leisure. It's an insane achievement, especially when you consider that the whole map can be driven across without a single loading time to interrupt the ride. Filling this vast expanse are numerous challenges, races and other distractions to keep you occupied; otherwise there's limited pleasure to be gained from simply driving around, enjoying the scenery.
You can only aimlessly thrash around the rough, rural landscape for so long before you begin to get bored. Thankfully, you can pause the game at any time and access any of the unlocked challenges and career stages, leaping directly into them after a short loading screen. When selecting a race, you can choose to tackle Rookie, Expert or Legend difficulties with victory earning you 'fuel', which is your in-game currency for purchasing new vehicles.
Jumping straight into races is exactly what you'll find yourself doing as there's actually very little impetus to explore Fuel's world. Beyond discovering the odd extra livery or a vista point, the only other reason to navigate the open environment is to drive to race markers on the map. Each objective marker is highlighted on a compass that can be toggled on or off using one of the face buttons, but when you can effortlessly begin a contest at any time, this is wasted effort.
If there were something genuinely interesting and meaningful to uncover or interact with in Fuel's vast, endless wilderness, then maybe you'd feel more inclined to appreciate and enjoy it. But sadly there's very little amongst the sprawling, flat and desolate plains to attract your attention. In creating such an enormous mass of terrain, developer Asobo has merely ended up with a marginally pretty playground where they seemingly overlooked the seesaw, swings and slide.
Races are largely made up of checkpoint to checkpoint affairs, wherein you're usually forced into slavishly following the floating red chevrons that show you the exact route to take, as without this visual aid it's far too easy to get hopelessly lost. In keeping with the game's mantra, Fuel revels in pushing you off-road wherever possible. This can be both confusing and frustrating without the help of the compass switched on in your HUD, which is somewhat invasive during a race.
It also doesn't particularly help when you compare Fuel to its non open-world, off-road competitors such as Pure and Motorstorm. Although it presents itself as an extreme racer with attitude, Fuel has none of the spectacle of Motorstorm with its elaborate crashes and showers of mud or the stunts and aerial shenanigans of Pure.
There's also very little real interaction between you and the scenery, with impacts either stopping you dead in your tracks, damage-free or initiating an impromptu reset.
Add to this lacklustre sound design consisting of indistinct music and samey engine noises and this Fuel is beginning to look as though it isn't going to be igniting many fires. Presentation wise, Fuel is generally quite slick, although the nature of its core career mode is misleading. Rather than what one might consider a traditional career, Fuel instead gives the player a series of challenges that grant stars each time you win. Accumulating stars gradually unlocks new regions on the map that you can then fast travel to at any time. The various terrains cover forest, desert, snow and ice, but whether you'll muster the patience to grind through and access every area entirely depends on how long you can stand to endure the repetitive racing.
Setting Fuel in a post-apocalyptic wasteland ravaged by global warming may sound like a great idea, but this actually serves as an excuse for the empty environments, inhabited by abandoned cars, logs and other irritating detritus. Sure, the dramatic weather looks fantastic and the lighting it throws upon your vehicle is beautiful, but they have no effect upon the racing whatsoever. A full day and night cycle adds to the illusion of a living, breathing world, yet ironically there's no real life to the barren land other than the swirling tornadoes of debris that are kicked up at random intervals.
Fuel's enormous ambition can't be ignored and it has been acknowledged as the biggest game ever with a Guinness World Record to show for it. However, when that ambition fails to live up to its promise by delivering a hollow and disappointing experience, you can't help but feel somewhat nonplussed by the final product. This should have been incredible, but having tried our very best to like Codemasters' latest racing IP, we can't help but feel like we've been taken for a ride. Fuel-ed, if you will.
55%
Comments
good review, sorry to hear the game blows
Wow. Considering they got information about the game flatout wrong makes me want to wait for other reviews.
I.M.O. the reviewer has missed the whole point of the game & should stick to track racers if that's what he prefers. Having a massive map populated by other people (similar to TDU) & not having anything particular to do is exactly what this game is about. When you're done with career racing @ any point you can go online with a bunch of friends (or randoms) & just enjoy driving. Full stop. That's what it's about, enjoying driving around without being told what to do. Having imagination & using it. If you must race... create your own races & invite others to try them, but just drive about & enjoy it. Finished.
NOOOO!!
This could of been a lot better....
I wanted this game so bad, but now I just feel... bad.
Little interaction with the environment? IT'S THE WHOLE POINT IN FUEL! DAMN IT!
@ Buddha
Yeah, I also agree with that.
I don't care what anyone else says. I am getting this game. The game will have impressive online play along with a huge world to explore.
How did this site that most people never heard of get the game before big name sites? I think he is basing the review off of preview builds of the game. On another note he has the release date of this game is 3 years ago. Skip this amateur review and wait for the pros to review it before making a decision.
i dont care what this shmuck says, if they dont realize, anybody who WANTS to play a racing game, will like the complete open world nothingness, and besides, ANY racing game can become repetitive, after all, every single one you basically just.......RACE! still getting it, dont care...
I dunno about you.. but I used to play 1NSANE for hours with friends on LAN.. just driving, jumping, crashing, exploring and more driving... and it was fun. Very fun.
I can't wait to do the same with FUEL.
Reviewer needs to relax and just drive for once.. look for a deeper experience elsewhere.
Hi all,
The review was done on code supplied by the publisher, certified for review purposes to an embargo set by them. "Amateurs" don't get the access to this pre-release material.
You may notice that the Metacritic score is rather low, with other respected publications such as Eurogamer giving a similar score (5/10)...
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/fuel-review
too bad, i was looking forward to this game, but i will try it anyway, no matter what the reviews say.
"How did this site that most people never heard of get the game before big name sites?"
My guess would be that they downloaded it from a torrent tracker, its already leaked for xbox.
it isn't a 5/10 game, since eurogamer gave a 5 to this game, everyone give the same mark. The one of the greatest non-free magazine EDGE said its an 8. This is very interesting... No it's not. It's frustrating for the developers.
I don't believe this. Waiting for reviews.
ppl gotta realize that it is there point on view. if u got it then fuk u might really really like it .
I've got my hands on this game early and I can tell you that reviewers have been way off the mark.
No, the weather effects are not nearly as dynamic as promised -- though no less impressive in their scale and spectacle.
And no, it doesn't have Motorstorm's perfected driving model -- though it's still solid and weighty nonetheless.
But what it does have, however, is an awesome sense of discovery and progression that no racing game has ever matched, or even attempted. Where Burnout insults your attention span, Fuel's philosophy is contrary.
I can't get enough of simply driving around to the tops of mountains and barrelling down cliffs, and I think that time and patience are the biggest factors in understanding and enjoying Fuel.
Funny, then, that reviewers are tight on both.
Red. How come you're looking at reviews if you've played the game?
Do me the courtesy and don't insinuate that I haven't played the game. That's foolish.
If you're going to engage a reader, do it with substance or not at all.
Well this game has been out for over a week now to ppl who have modded xboxs and burn there own games. im sure whoever has made this review has that. Because he is actually very accurate about most of wat he is saying about the game. Other then the fact that he gave it a bs score. the only thing i can say i dont like about it so far is the constant loading screens. that arent very short. ide say 20-30 seconds and and it really is constant if you are not just free riding
What other games have been given 5/10? surely they were a lot worse than Fuel.
good review very similar to others which ive read its a shame because you really want to like it but the nature of the races seems very dull
it always did seem a little too good to be true
I note that you didn't answer the question.
It's pretty clear that we didn't pirate the game, you shouldn't either.
do u think his review is accurate? it was a concern of mine with the enviroment bein so big wot things mite they do 2 encourage ppl 2 explore, like just cause 4 example big world but little interactivity with the enviroment got borin after a while, i so want this game 2 be gud, bit of an anti climax was so excited bout gettin it now im not at all!!!!!!!!
This is bull crap. Fuel hasn't been released yet (at least in the US). Also who the hell is dream catcher? I have never heard of them once in my life. Also has anyone noticed that on the box it says codemasters yet they don't put them on the publisher or developer. This testimony is all crap. I'd be better off waiting for gamespot or ign to review it than actually listening to this.
Red: So you did pirate it. Great. ;-)
Anyhow - checkout our E3 coverage on the homepage. Going gangbusters with Microsoft laying down the gauntlet. What will the Japanese counter with?
And again you claim to know my buying habits. I must say, you're pretty retarded.
Well done mate. Keep coming back :-)
Ouch....Red is stinkin this forum up w/ vast amounts of Nerd Rage.
Way off. the reviewer is comparing apples to oranges. A title like Burnout: Paradis offers "open-world" gameplay that is limited to only the roads you're able to drive on. And Motorstorm while the control is amazing, offers no real sense of exploration. Fuel offers great control and literally you can drive wherever you see fit. There's no sudden "wrecked" messages if you happen to venture too far off a road.
What Fuel is, is a racing game that gives you unending fun. The reviewer failed to actually discuss the multiplayer in addition to the customization of your driver and the vehicles. Taking your cues simple from driving in a game like this is rediculous. Not to mention I've been following this game for some time, and the reviewer seems to have cut and pasted certain aspects of his review and then tossed in his obvious hatred towards the idea of open-world. Wait for IGN to review this game.
To be continued.....
This game is pretty sick, which is why I totally disagree with your review. If your playing this game its cause you enjoy racing. Different tracks, weather conditions, etc are just part of the time. Doing it over and over again is negative as you put it: "endure the repetitive racing", but a part of what racing games are. For people who love raving games, it's fun!!!